Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
ORAL QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS
Question No. 1—Prime Minister
1. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government’s statements and actions?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Yes.
Nicola Willis: Why won’t he inflation adjust tax thresholds given he now accepts the case for inflation adjustment of payments to superannuitants, beneficiaries, students, and others?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I’m not going to get into a speculative conversation about future decisions that Government may take on tax. The Government has been clear, however, that we are not going to be adopting the type of tax cut policy that the National Party has been promoting that would see the vast bulk of that money going to the highest income New Zealanders.
Nicola Willis: Why, under his Government, do everyday tax-paying workers always come last?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: They don’t.
Nicola Willis: Well, does he think New Zealand workers earning an average wage and struggling to keep up with the prolonged cost of living crisis are being taxed too much?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that New Zealanders earning the average wage have seen their incomes increase significantly under this Government, something the National Party don’t seem to be able to decide whether they’re for or against.
Nicola Willis: Does he acknowledge that, in fact, real wages have fallen behind the cost of living, and that’s exactly why he had to do the make-up policies yesterday?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I reject that last part of the Members question.
Nicola Willis: Isn’t it begging credibility for Ministers to claim the Government can’t afford tax reduction when it can find billions of dollars down the back of the couch for other priorities?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No.
Nicola Willis: Why did it take the Government this long to work out the Minister of Transport was committed to a host of wasteful spending projects, and how can New Zealanders have confidence in his Government’s prioritisation process, when even in the midst of a prolonged cost of living crisis Ministers were signing up for such wasteful spending?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: New Zealanders can have confidence in this Government because we are absolutely focused on dealing with the cost of living crisis that’s in front of New Zealanders and supporting New Zealanders through a significant natural disaster. That is absolutely our focus and the announcements in recent days have absolutely highlighted that.
Nicola Willis: What does he think should be a higher priority: a childcare tax rebate of $75 a week for young families, or an extra $400 million for Government consulting and contracting arrangements?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Once again, the member seems to be highlighting the confusion that the National Party seem to have around consultants and contractors, because the member himself has both pledged to reduce the spending and keep it at its current level. So it’s still not clear exactly how the National Party would pay for the policy that they’ve already announced.
Nicola Willis: Wouldn’t it just be more efficient to adopt National’s policy program, admit that his Government has been addicted to wasteful spending, and reduce taxes for working New Zealanders?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: It would be interesting to know what National’s tax policy actually is because it seems to change every time Nicola Willis does an interview on it.
SPEAKER: Question number two in the name of—
David Seymour: Supplementary. Supplementary. Supplementary. Point of order.
SPEAKER: Sorry. Point of order—
David Seymour: I was calling for a supplementary question.
SPEAKER: Sorry. Supplementary, David Seymour.
David Seymour: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Does the Prime Minister stand by Grant Robertson’s statement to the House on 22 November that “This side of the House is able to offer New Zealanders wages growing faster than inflation”?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I absolutely stand by the Minister of Finance’s answers.
David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister think that the Minister of Finance was referring to wages before or after tax?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well, the member might like to ask the Minister of Finance that question himself.
David Seymour: Point of order, Mr Speaker. It was a very down the line question about the Prime Minister’s opinion. To simply say, “Ask someone else.” is not to address it. It doesn’t reveal anything about the Prime Minister’s thinking.
SPEAKER: It is an opinion and it is an answer.
David Seymour: Can the Prime Minister confirm that in 2022, inflation increased by 7.2 percent, but the average wage after tax increased by only 6.2 percent; and does he accept as one of the reasons that wages after tax didn’t keep up with inflation last year is because his Government is taxing more?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I will go back and check the figures that the member has put before the House. But what I can say is that there is a synergy between the overall movement in wages, which was 7.2 percent; the rate of inflation, 7.2 percent; increases in the minimum wage, 7.2 percent—something that members opposite have opposed; and increases in benefits and superannuation, which also sits at 7.2 percent.
David Seymour: Did the Prime Minister notice that he left out of that list people who rely on actually working for an income to pay their bills in a cost of living crisis, because if he didn’t, they sure will?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That once again highlights the distain people on the other side of the House have for people who are on the minimum wage. They don’t seem to think that they work for a living when in fact they work damn hard for a living, Mr Seymour.
David Seymour: Why didn’t the Government announce it will cut taxes for low and middle income earners so that their wages keep up with inflation when he was very happy to announce yesterday that he’ll be increasing benefits, pensions, and student allowances to keep up with inflation?
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In answer to the last part of the question, I’m absolutely proud of the announcements we made yesterday, which are normally made ahead of the 1 April changes, and they have been this time.
