3. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Does she stand by her comment that National is a Government that is “willing to listen to ideas outside the Beehive, and that’s what we’re there to do.”?
Has the Minister seen the programme arranged for Auckland’s regional employment summit, held yesterday; if so, does she believe that setting aside a total of 10 minutes for ideas from participants out of a 3-hour talking heads session indicates a Government that is willing to listen?
Well, so much for the public! If the Government is so keen to hear the views of New Zealanders, why did not a single National member of Parliament turn up to the Auckland regional job summit that was held yesterday, or did those members not want to be insulted by the once-over-lightly pep talk that told participants to “read a book” and to “think with the mind of a cunning fox.”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
The feedback I have had from regional job summits has indeed been positive. The summits are giving a snapshot of what is happening regionally. Local businesses and chambers of commerce are stepping up with ideas, and doing a very good job of that. The feedback coming back to this Government has been hugely impressive.
Tim MacindoeWhat examples can the Minister provide of ideas, generated by New Zealanders, being put into action by this Government?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
We are certainly a Government that is prepared to listen and to put ideas into action. For example, tomorrow we are holding our third meeting with community and voluntary sector groups about working through the Budget process and what happens there. The 9-day fortnight job-support scheme, which was actually an idea formed by unions and businesses, has already been announced. Officials are working through about 40 ideas and are doing a fine job on that.
Does the Minister agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “improving insulation in New Zealand homes will play an important part for social, health, and climate change reasons.”; if so, why did she label those same ideas, when outlined in a Labour Party pamphlet, as “petty politicking”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I certainly stand by the Prime Minister’s comments. That is why we are already insulating State houses, and why this Government has gone into action—and the private sector is next. I think the petty politicking was in a Labour taxpayer-funded brochure that was brought along to a regional job summit. It was blatantly, quite frankly—[ Interruption] Oh, sorry—yes, there are three nice photos of Mr Goff on the inside of the brochure for taxpayers to have a look at.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I actually think that the “rainy day” that a member talked about previously was coming long before we came into power. In the last three financial quarters under the Labour Government, unemployment was rising. In fact, just 9 months ago the Hon Ruth Dyson said that losing 29,000 jobs was not “bad news at all”. The Labour Government had all that time to start doing something; this Government is about action.