Oral Questions

1. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by the statement in the Speech from the Throne: “Building a truly prosperous country means sharing the wealth generated by our economy”; if so, under current law how much less tax will a teacher without children on the full-time average wage pay per year from 1 April 2018 compared to now?

2. to the Minister of Finance: Does he support using a wider set of measures of success for the economy; if so, why?

3. to the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction: Does she consider material deprivation as an important indicator of children in poverty; if so, will her Government use it as one of their measures to show any reduction in child poverty?

4. to the Minister of Education: Does he accept that there is a major shortage of teachers going into the 2018 school year; if so, what will he do to address it?

💬 Hon Chris Hipkins: Sadly, yes—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Hon Chris Hipkins.

5. to the Minister of Finance: Is it his intention that in the year commencing 1 April 2018, each superannuitant couple will receive $681 less in New Zealand superannuation payments than they otherwise would under the law as it currently stands?

6. to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he stand by all his statements?

7. to the Minister of Defence: What reports has he received on cost pressures within Defence projects?

8. to the Minister of Education: Does he agree with the Treasury statement that the removal of National Standards should “be delayed until the new assessment framework is ready for implementation. This is to prevent a gap in systems-level information on the overall performance of primary schools and the foundational skills of reading, writing and maths, which are critical to later success in education and training”; if not, why not?

9. to the Minister of Police: Has he received any advice from officials about recruiting 1,800 additional police over the next 3 years; if so, on what dates did he receive that advice?

10. to the Minister of Health: What reports has he received about the Southern Partnership Group?

11. to the Minister for Social Development: Of the 276,041 people currently on working-age benefits, how many have been on a benefit for more than 20 years and how many people will she reduce it by in the next year?

12. to the Associate Minister of Health: What recent reports has she received on Māori and Pacific adults’ access to primary health care?