10. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Economic Development
Does he agree with the Sydney Morning Herald headline “NZ wage gap with Australia widens”?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Economic Development) Link to this
I do not have an opinion on an Australian newspaper’s headline.
Well, then, does he agree with Claire Trevett of the Dominion Post, who said of his performance yesterday: “the statistics proved him wrong no matter how they were presented.”?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
No. I can do no better than to quote the World Bank, which makes a comment about these things. It says, basically, that there are two ways in which those statistics can be calculated, but the method chosen by the member is, if I may quote, “likely to lead to unreliable” and misleading results.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The member who asked the question has chosen no method in this question time today, so to rely on referring to “the method chosen by the member”, when I think the Dominion Post and the Sydney Morning Herald have been quoted, is, I think, misleading the House.
Mr SPEAKERNo, we will not go as far as that. But I accept that the Minister introduced unnecessary information in answering the question. Strictly, that should not be done.
Will the Minister now announce measurable interim targets to close the wage gap with Australia, so that New Zealanders can hold National accountable for its election promise?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I fully accept that the nation will hold National accountable for its election promise, just as it did Labour, which promised to get New Zealand into the top half of the OECD but failed to do so during its 9-year term.
If the Government will not give New Zealanders those milestones, will the Minister at least give them a date by which the New Zealand - Australia wage gap will be reduced to what it was at the time of the last election?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I believe that the very extensive economic development programme that the Government has put in place will see those results become available to New Zealanders very, very soon.
Why can the Minister not see that his unwillingness to agree to any milestone for closing the gap before 2025, plus his refusal today even to give a target date for getting back to where we were at the time of the election, makes a mockery of National’s central election promise to close the wage gap?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The first point I make is that New Zealand has been on the track of a widening gap between New Zealand workers’ wages and Australian workers’ wages for over two decades. I think that to expect that we would put in milestones just 18 months into our programme is completely unreasonable. I know that New Zealanders understand that we are engaged in a comprehensive relook at the New Zealand economy, whereby we are expecting growth to occur that will deliver higher incomes.
If the Minister is not willing to give any target date to reach the interim target for closing the gap, will he at least come to the House and give us a date by which he expects that the gap will stop growing wider?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I think it is very unwise for the Labour Party to mention anything to do with closing the gaps, which was one of Labour’s targets that was also a spectacular failure. The Government is engaged in an extensive programme to encourage growth in the New Zealand economy, and New Zealand workers will feel the effects of that in due course.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think that was a tight supplementary question. I know that you will not insist on a yes or no answer, but I think that the question, in summary, was—
In the interests of saving time I invite the Hon David Parker to repeat his question, because I must confess that I did not hear a lot of answer to it.
If the Minister is not willing to give any interim targets as to the date by which the gap will close, is he at least willing to come to the House and give us a date by which the gap will stop getting wider?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The two questions are simply the reverse of each other. I have already answered the question in that regard.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think that saying a question has already been answered used to be allowed in this House, but I do not think it is now, unless it is obvious to all members. Without bringing you into the debate, Mr Speaker, I could see from the height of your eyebrows, which were nearly as high as mine, that you did not understand the answer, just as members on this side of the Chamber did not.
Today has been an interesting question time in relation to points of order around the adequacy of answers. I have ruled on a couple of occasions that Ministers do not have responsibility for certain things, but on this occasion this Minister has made statements about closing the gap with Australia, and the question did ask whether the Minister would be prepared to come back to the House to tell it when the gap would stop increasing. The Minister could say that he is not prepared to do so or that he would be prepared to, and that would be an answer, but to say nothing related to it is hardly an answer. This is an issue of public interest, and I would not mind hearing an answer.