7. JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Did she state in relation to Hon Sir Roger Douglas’ proposed bill which would reintroduce the youth minimum wage, that “we will not be supporting the bill, as we are not convinced it would reduce youth unemployment”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
No, I did not say that about a proposed bill.
Mr SPEAKERNo, we do not table Hansard. The member has further supplementary questions to ask; that is the best way to test the Minister’s answer.
As the Minister with responsibility for employment, does she believe that a youth minimum wage would reduce unemployment?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I am open to looking at discussions on that at the moment. I think we need to concentrate on what actually does work. I am a member of Parliament and a Minister who likes to look at a number of options, and I can be convinced in a lot of ways.
Can the Minister explain to the House what has changed in the past few months from when she would not support Roger Douglas’ youth minimum wage bill to now, when she is considering it as an option?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
That is different to a proposed bill. What happened was that months ago, when the bill was before the House—
Hon David ParkerI raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. We have been forced to waste a question because she talked about the difference between a bill and a proposed bill. I think that is really dallying with question time. That first answer of hers was out of order.
I am on my feet. I do not know which National member wants to take an early shower, but that was a point of order and there was just a barrage of noise. I ask members, please, to show a little more respect to the House. In respect of the answer to the question, the Minister did answer the question. But the Speaker cannot judge whether or not an answer is accurate; that is the idea of having supplementary questions. If a member can pin down a Minister on the accuracy of an answer, it is a pretty effective thing to do. It seems to me to be a shame if members go on and follow a pre-prepared line of questioning, instead of listening to the answer. If the answer is not what is expected, the member should dive into it. Points of order are of no use, because I cannot judge a Minister’s answer; I can judge it only as far as it appears to be an answer to the question. Some answers clearly are not, and I give members a chance to repeat their question or I ask Ministers to answer the question. But in this case it seemed to me that the Minister answered the question, and I cannot judge the quality of the answer. I do not believe that it wastes a supplementary question to dig into a Minister’s answer and test its accuracy.
Did she state, in relation to the Hon Sir Roger Douglas’ minimum wage bill, that “we will not be supporting the bill, as we are not convinced it would reduce youth unemployment”?
Darien FentonDoes she stand by her statement that “any job is a good job”; if so, does she have a bottom line for the minimum wages of young workers?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
Yes, I do—yes, I do. In fact, I stand by a young woman who wrote to me just yesterday, on Wednesday, who said that she had been looking for work for quite some time. She had applied for over 300 jobs, and she starts work tomorrow at a supermarket. She is damned proud to be going off the benefit. She has said: “At 52 years of age I am so proud to be a checkout chick, and I’m going to love my job.” So, yes, I back her in her job.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
That job wouldn’t be good enough for the Labour Party—it wouldn’t be good enough for the Labour Party.
A point of order has been called. The Minister for Social Development and Employment will cease interjecting when a point of order has been called. She has just given the Opposition a further supplementary question.
The original question that Jacinda Ardern asked is set out on the Order Paper, so I do not need to re-read it. It included the words “proposed bill”; the bill was proposed, but the question was identical in substance to the question she just asked. Yet the Minister, playing with the House, said “No,” to the first question and “Yes.” to the second. I suggest that that is trifling with question time.
The Speaker cannot really hold Ministers to what members might intend with their questions, because, in fairness, members asking questions often insert claims into questions that are totally outside the Standing Orders. Yet I allow them to go forward, because I do not want to limit the Opposition’s opportunity to question Ministers. Ministers have to be careful, obviously, because some people who are listening will have been surprised at the change of answers; they might have interpreted the question in the same way as the Hon David Parker did. Therefore, they will wonder at the answers given. But the member will note that because the Minister did not cease interjecting when a point of order was called, I have now given Labour a further supplementary question. So I do not believe that Labour has suffered through this question, at all.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
Because at that time the caucus had not seen the sorts of results from there, so we were not convinced. If a bill comes back to the House or is drawn from the ballot, then the caucus will make its decision, as it does, accordingly.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. What specific initiatives is the Government undertaking to reverse the disproportionately high levels of unemployment for young Māori?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
We are working alongside Māori on a number of initiatives. To give the House an idea of the issue, of those aged from 18 to 24 on the unemployment benefit, 36 percent are young Māori. However, that is mirrored by the numbers coming off the benefit; about 37 percent of those are Māori youth who are cancelling their benefits. We know that Job Ops and Community Max have made a big difference for that population. We also do a lot of work with our Māori strategy, which is partnering with iwi to implement programmes and services that assist Māori into employment. So far we have done an extra six iwi partnerships, and we are very close to signing up another few, which we think will make a difference.