2. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
What reports, if any, has she seen on the impact of the recent GST increase on low-income families?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) Link to this
I have seen reports from today’s Dominion Post that state that recent tax cuts, which are part of the tax package that includes an increase in GST, have added “$30 to the national median weekly take-home pay packet in October”, driving home affordability to the most affordable level in recent years.
Would a drop in income and an increase in GST have an impact on the budgets of low-income New Zealanders?
Of course, if that happened in an individual case they may be worse off. A drop in income, which I am sure is the drop the member will refer to, occurs when people, for instance, lose their jobs. A whole lot of Māori and Pacific people lost their jobs because those jobs were reliant on excessive Government spending and excessive borrowing, and they were not sustainable jobs. We are going to create sustainable jobs so that when people get the jobs, they can keep them.
Can I take from that answer, then, that the Minister has seen the information from Statistics New Zealand showing that the median income for Māori has dropped by 11 percent and the median income for Pacific people has dropped by 19 percent in the 2 years under a National Government, and does she think this will impact on the ability of families to cope at present?
As I pointed out, those figures take account of all sources of income. For those who have kept their jobs, wages have gone up. As for those who have lost their jobs, Labour should be apologising to them, because those jobs were created by wasteful Government spending and a mismanaged economy. They were not sustainable jobs.
Mr SPEAKER
Jo Goodhew
Hon Parekura Horomia Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Minister seems quite clear on why things have happened. Can he give us a response as to why the unemployment rate for Māori is the same as what it was before—
I—[ Interruption] There will be no comment. I am not sure what the member was trying to do—whether he was seeking to ask a supplementary question. I thought he had raised a point of order, and that was why I came back to the member after I had called Jo Goodhew. If I had that wrong I apologise to the member. Was it meant to be a point of order—
Hon Rodney HideI raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I will make a quick comment through you to help the member. I am sure that if the member Parekura Horomia sought leave to ask a question, we on this side of the House would grant it.
What support has the Minister seen for the reversal of the Budget tax package, including the GST increase and across-the-board personal tax cuts?
I have seen no support for a reversal of the Budget tax package, even from the Labour Opposition, which has had the national focus of a by-election to promise to unroll the policy, which it keeps opposing in the House.
In light of the Prime Minister saying New Zealanders would be better off after the tax switch, how can that be the case for Pacific people, whose inflation-adjusted median weekly income has dropped by $89 per week, and for Māori, whose same income has dropped by $60 per week, in the 2 years under a National Government? It has nothing to with a Labour Government; it occurred under a National Government, according to Statistics New Zealand.
As I have explained, the drop in the median income has occurred because Māori and Pacific unemployment has gone up, and it has gone up because of the recession induced by the Labour Government through its damaging economic policies, and a global financial recession. The wages of Māori and Pacific people who have kept their jobs or found new jobs—if they are among the 40,000 who have found new jobs—have gone up. We will create sustainable jobs for those on benefits.
Do I take from the Minister’s answer that he is saying that the job of a Pacific Island woman—a job she has lost—providing home care to an elderly person under the Labour Government, which was providing such care, was a waste of money and time?
No, I am not saying that. I am saying that the promises made by the Labour Government to Pacific Island communities that it had performed some magic and created jobs for them turned out to be false promises. This time round, we will manage the economy properly so that sustainable jobs are created, and so that once people get new jobs they will keep them.