Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:677;Page:653] 
1. 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by all his recent statements? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his statement at the Job Summit 3 years ago this week that “I don’t want to spend much time talking about how difficult economic conditions are at the moment. … I’m here to do something about it.” and is he aware that there are now 53000 more unemployed in New Zealand? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I am not entirely sure I would say that 3 years ago is recent because Labour has gone through about three leaders since then. But anyway putting all that to one side the country has gone through like the rest of the world— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: I can’t count the three.  
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: One never knows when another one is coming along. It is like a bus: you know you just wait there long enough and they turn up. Look at Mr Cunliffe; he is just waiting.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Paula Bennett 
: He’s laughing. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the Minister getting short-sighted? She knows I am on my feet and there will be silence. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The member will be aware that the world has gone through the worst recession since the global Depression. I think if you look at the New Zealand economy it has grown in nine of the last 10 quarters and has an anticipated faster growth rate than the UK the European Union and the United States. I am not saying things are perfect in New Zealand but I would argue that we are in a lot better shape than most other countries. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition I accept that part of the first part of the answer was provocative and was bound to lead to interjections. But where the Leader of the Opposition is asking serious questions I would ask his own colleagues to be a little reasonable on the interjections. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his statement that “There are plenty of jobs out there for people if they look really hard.” and are there plenty of jobs for Carolin Jentzsch with two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s in speech therapy who says “It seems like this is just not the year for getting jobs and I am looking everywhere all over New Zealand and there is just nothing there.”?  
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I stand by my full statement which I actually read out in the House yesterday and which was quite comprehensive. I also stand by the statement I also made in the House yesterday that if one looks at the ANZ jobs report there are currently 30000 jobs being advertised. I think TradeMe has over 10000 jobs being advertised. If one looks at Work and Income there are about 1300 to 1500 vacancies a week being advertised. There are around 3500 on the books at any one time and 80000 people went off the benefit into work last year. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Churn! 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: And I tell you what it is no wonder Trevor Mallard has got a loud voice because when you are trying to scalp tickets you want to make sure people know where you are. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his statement that “…I for one would rather invest your taxes in jobs for our young people than in unemployment benefits.” when there has been a sevenfold increase in youth on long-term unemployment benefits since he became Prime Minister? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The first thing I think we need to acknowledge is when there is a global recession those that are most—[ 
Interruption 
]  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I apologise to the Prime Minister but I presume the questions from the Leader of the Opposition are serious and his own senior colleagues should respect their leader. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: As I have said before if one looks at a global recession what one recognises is that those who are most disproportionately affected are always lower-skilled and younger people. That has been the same pattern here in New Zealand over the last 3 or 4 years. It is also true in every other developed country around the world. It is also true the Government has been working very hard on making sure those young people have training and skills. The very purpose of the changes that we are making in our welfare reforms is to target those 16- and 17-year-olds I assume the member was talking about to wrap a provider round them to make sure they are in training or in some sort of opportunity to get into work so they do not go on a benefit. I would have thought that the member would want to come over to this side of the House and actually congratulate us on doing something about it.  
David Shearer 
: When he made his statement: “our Government campaigned on a Jobs and Growth plan for New Zealand.” did he consult his finance Minister whose opinion of the job market is that it is what it is? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I have consulted the Minister of Finance and while I was consulting him I also thanked him for his economic leadership where in nine of the last 10 quarters this country’s economy grew and where 62000 people had jobs created for them in the last 2 years. Actually the Minister of Finance is right. What creates jobs in this country is when the right incentives are there to invest when people think that they can make a return and when they feel that the Government is not going to overload them with costs and regulation. Quite frankly that has been the ethos of this Government: unwinding the mess we inherited after 9 years of Labour. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by this statement that he expects high standards from his Ministers and he will take action if necessary and why has he not insisted on high standards from Minister McCully who is laying off 300 of his ministry’s staff while at the same time building a swimming pool in one of his embassies? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: There are a couple of things. Firstly the member should know that staffing responsibilities are a matter for the chief executive. It is not a matter for the Minister; it is a matter for the chief executive. Secondly I can assure the member as I can assure New Zealanders that the Minister has made it quite clear to the chief executive that his expectations are that in this time when the ministry is going through restructuring spending should take place in areas of capital investment only where it is absolutely necessary like in Beijing where there is some work going on. That edict was delivered by the Minister I understand quite some months ago. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does that mean that Minister McCully will not be going to the Budget round with Treasury on this year’s budget and that he will send the chief of his staff along in his stead? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well I am not sure how the member did it when he was the Minister but I am sure the Minister will turn up with his chief executive.