1. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
What is the agenda for the Job Summit next week?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) Link to this
The agenda is publicly available on the Beehive website, and I suggest that the member looks at it. She will see a list of working groups and chairs. I can advise the member that much work on that agenda is going on outside the Beehive as we speak.
Why has the Prime Minister sanitised the agenda by excluding the research and development tax credit proposal when businesses, unions, and Treasury are universally supportive of this important measure to grow the economy and jobs?
The member may be interested to know that the agenda has been largely set by the chairman of the summit and the chairs of the different groups, unlike when the member was in Government and nothing could happen without agreement from the ninth floor.
Nathan GuyJudging by the strong interest in the Job Summit and the intensive work being put in by participants, those people share the Prime Minister’s judgment that we need an opportunity for people at the coalface of employment, who do not usually have direct interaction with Government, to share their views on how to deal with rising unemployment and to provide advice to the Government.
Who else interested in attending the Job Summit was declined admission by the Prime Minister, apart from some political parties; and why does he think that elected representatives of the people are not appropriate participants for his summit unless they come from the ACT Party, United Future, or the Māori Party?
A large number of people have been excluded from the Job Summit because there has been enormous interest in attending it. Attendance has been limited to a couple of hundred places. In my experience, elected representatives have ample opportunity to put forward their views, but people who are busy running businesses that are now struggling because of the economic downturn are not often asked what they think. The summit is an opportunity for them.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
When the Prime Minister said to the House last week that his Government does not distinguish between green-collar jobs and other jobs, because all jobs are important, did he mean that he does not care whether the parts of the economy that grow are sustainable, whether Kiwis build weapons or wind turbines, and whether Kiwis teach children or manufacture plastic Mickey Mouses?
Of course the Prime Minister cares about whether New Zealanders are using their time productively and in the public good, but I think the Prime Minister would say that now is not a time for high-level philosophical debates; it is a time for direct action that will preserve any job and help create any other job that may be available to a person who has become unemployed.
Why has the Prime Minister decided to limit the involvement of some political parties in the search for measures that would create jobs to the parliamentary process only, as he stated in a letter to the Leader of the Opposition yesterday?
Hon Dr Nick SmithThat is one reason: the Labour Government had 9 years. This country has had the benefit of many, many thousands of attempts by the former Labour Government. This summit is the opportunity for people who are at the coalface to be heard. The Opposition can be heard every single day Parliament is open, and every other day in the media.
Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban Link to this
Can the Prime Minister give us assurance that there will be adequate representation of Pacific peoples at the Job Summit next week, and that all Pacific members of Parliament have been invited to attend?
The Prime Minister can give the member assurances about representations of Pasifika people. In fact, this morning I attended a fono here in Wellington that was intended, in the same way as the Māori hui held a couple of weeks ago, to elicit ideas that representatives of that community can present to the summit.
Catherine Delahunty Link to this
What percentage of non-government groups invited to the Job Summit are women’s organisations, given that women make up 46.7 percent of the workforce?
I cannot tell the member the answer to that question, but I would say that the summit is not intended to be representative of everybody. The focus of the summit is on people who are at the coalface, in workplaces that are struggling because of the economic downturn, having their views heard, because they are a group that has little direct interaction with Government.
Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban Link to this
Can the Prime Minister assure the Pacific community that the Job Summit next week will be more than a talkfest and will provide real solutions with real outcomes that will keep Pacific workers employed during this economic recession; if so, how?
The proof of the capacity of the Job Summit’s ability to deliver real action to make a real difference has yet to be seen. We have not held the summit yet. But the Prime Minister can reassure the Pacific community that the Government will do as much as it possibly can to preserve the jobs that are there, and to help businesses to create the opportunities to replace any jobs that are lost. I do not believe the summit will find one simple answer, but I hope it will come up with a range of practical propositions.