1. Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does he stand by all the statements he made on TVNZ’s Q+A programme on Sunday, 22 March?
Hon JOHN KEYDoes he stand by the Government’s promise at the Job Summit that the 9-working-day fortnight would help 100,000 people keep their jobs, given his statement on Sunday that he did not know how many people had signed up to it, but, anecdotally, one or two companies were taking a look at it?
There was no promise at the Job Summit; there was an estimate before the Job Summit. But, in broad terms, that might be the case. I take it as a sign of success that New Zealand companies are able to keep manufacturing for 5 days a week; Mr Goff takes success as being put out to retirement—something that may well happen to him quickly.
Was the Prime Minister aware when he went on the programme on Sunday that his other promise to the Job Summit, which was to build a cycleway from North Cape to the Bluff to create 4,000 jobs at a cost of $50 million, was utterly unachievable, given the estimate that he will have from environmental engineers that the real cost would be six times that amount, and for many fewer jobs?
Again, they were fairly rough estimates at the time. Just before the Leader of the Opposition gets too excited, I have good news for him. He should go out and buy himself a bike, because he may well get to see a lot of New Zealand.
Does the Prime Minister understand why the interviewer on Sunday’s Q+A programme, Guyon Espiner, was saying this morning that the Job Summit had failed to deliver, and that the reality had not matched up to the rhetoric, given that the two key proposals to emerge from the summit are now falling well short of expectations?
Let us get a few facts right. Firstly, it was Mr Goff who was saying that the Job Summit would be a talkfest and nothing would come out of it. In fact, within weeks of the Job Summit a 9-day fortnight was rolled out, with the full support of the Council of Trade Unions. It is Mr Goff who does not want to believe that the cycleway will happen. It is Mr Goff who does not want to believe that the 40 other proposals that Cabinet is considering will become an option. Overall, it is Mr Goff who was not involved in the Job Summit, and who, therefore, does not really know what is going on.
How did the Prime Minister calculate the figure of $40 billion, which he said on Q+A was the amount that National was borrowing over the next 3 years to preserve public sector jobs; or did he just make that figure up, as well?
I can read and that figure came from the December Economic Fiscal Update. Quite frankly, this Government is going to borrow somewhere in the order of $40 billion over the next 3 years. The reason we—
—are doing that is we are preserving—that is right—the vast bulk of public sector jobs. We are preserving the entitlements that we campaigned on. There will be no cuts to New Zealand superannuation, no cuts to Working for Families, and no cuts to the entitlements New Zealanders need. We are borrowing to do that in the short term, but we are making sure we get on top of the expenditure, so that we can afford initiatives in the future—something that member’s Government never did.
Is the Prime Minister, then, telling the House that he is borrowing $40 billion just to preserve public sector jobs—that is what he said on Q+A—and how does that match up with his claim earlier that he was borrowing to pay for superannuation, when, in fact, everybody knows he is borrowing to pay for the tax cuts?
I can assure the member that we are not borrowing $40 billion for tax cuts. What we are doing is borrow $40 billion over the next 3 years, over and above—
You’re not borrowing $40 billion to pay for public sector jobs, either, and the Prime Minister knows it.
The Leader of the Opposition needs to get out the Crown accounts and understand what is happening. Over the next 3 years, about $200 billion will be spent by the Government. There is a shortfall of about $40 billion. The reason the Government is borrowing is because at this time that is the appropriate thing to do in order to maintain those entitlements and those services.
Is the Prime Minister now reneging on his promise not to cut Public Service jobs but to cap them, given his comment on Sunday that he did not know how many jobs would be lost but the number would not be as high as 4,500?
The Minister of State Services will be making an announcement later in the week, but the policy is very straightforward. We will be capping the size of the State sector. It grew enormously under the Labour Government, which had no control over its expenditure. We will not be cutting 4,500 jobs; what we will do is move some jobs from the back office to the front office, but, by and large, the vast bulk of Public Service jobs will stay.