Oral Questions

6. to the Minister for Women: Is it her responsibility to stand up for and improve the outcomes for women in New Zealand?

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Yes, absolutely.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does she still think that “Many women have had unsafe experiences in the workplace. This needs to stop.”; and, if so, does she consider the grabbing of a woman’s buttock in her place of work to be an indecent assault?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: In response to the first part of the question, yes.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does the Minister agree that an indecent assault—

💬 SPEAKER: No, sorry. I am going to ask the member to ask the question again.

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Do I have to answer both parts?

💬 SPEAKER: I know there were two parts. They were very clear and it is something which is very important.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: My first supplementary: does she still think that “Many women have had unsafe experiences in the workplace. This needs to stop.”; and, if so, does she consider the grabbing of a woman’s buttock in her place of work an indecent assault?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes, I do consider it a very serious issue. Sexual harassment and assault in the workplace or anywhere else is serious, and that’s why this Government is taking significant steps like having a cross-ministerial working group on sexual harassment and assault, which is being led by my colleague the under-secretary for sexual and domestic violence, Jan Logie. That’s why we’ve asked the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to improve—in fact, start for the first time collecting data on sexual harassment in the workplace. And it’s very important that we do everything possible to ensure survivors of sexual and indecent assault are able to come forward and encouraged to come forward and make complaints.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it is trivialising sexual assault in the workplace when the Minister of Justice calls a woman at work who is grabbed on the buttock, then followed and intimidated, as merely a “pinch on the bottom”?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I agree with the Minister of Justice when he said that indecent assault, including—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! Sorry, I am going to ask for this answer to be heard in silence. This is an important issue, and I think that having someone shouted down while they are giving an answer to it is inappropriate. The rest of this series of supplementary questions will be heard in silence. Start again, please.

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: As the Minister of Justice has said today and on previous days, indecent assault, including the case that the member is referring to, is insidious and unacceptable. I agree with him.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it is trivialising sexual assault in the workplace when the Minister of Justice calls a woman at work who is grabbed on the buttock, then followed and intimidated, as merely a, to quote him, “pinch on the bottom.”?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I agree with the Minister of Justice when he said that indecent assault, including the case the member is referring to, is insidious and unacceptable.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does she still think that “the more people know about the scale of the problem, the more we can do to address it.”; and, if so, does she think describing an indecent assault in the workplace as a low-level offence helps or hinders understanding of the scale of the problem that New Zealand workplaces have with sexual misconduct?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: It is absolutely the case that there is a problem with under-reporting of cases of sexual assault and indecent assault, and disproportionate sentences of seven years without parole under the three-strikes law make it harder for survivors to come forward and harder to convict people of assault.

💬 Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the Minister think that trichophilia, which is an obsession with female hair, should also be an offence?

💬 SPEAKER: Not an area for responsibility.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Will she speak to the Minister of Justice about his appalling comments trivialising sexual assault in the workplace and ask him to publicly apologise to the hundreds, if not thousands, of women who feel hurt and stigmatised by his antiquated describing of “a pinch on the bottom” comments?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: As I’ve said earlier to this member, I agree with the Minister of Justice when he says indecent assault, including the case the member is referring to, is insidious and unacceptable. I believe that the Minister is doing very good work, including working very closely with my colleague the under-secretary for domestic and sexual violence, and ensuring that women have greater access to the type of justice and the type of support that they need from this Government, and I won’t ask the Minister to apologise for raising issues with our broken criminal justice system.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it’s acceptable for the Minister of Justice to refer to a sexual assault in the workplace that stigmatised and traumatised a woman at work as merely a pinch on the bottom?

💬 Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I have every sympathy with the woman who experienced this at work. We take it very seriously and, like the Minister of Justice, I think that that case is insidious and unacceptable.

Families Package—Impact

7. to the Minister for Social Development: Will low- and middle-income families be better off because of the Families Package; if so, how?

People will be better off due to some of the changes already in place, including the accommodation supplement increases and the reinstatement of the independent earner tax credit as of 1 April this year. Further changes effective as of 1 July that will support New Zealanders to be better off include the introduction of the winter energy and Best Start payments; increasing the Working for Families tax credit and abatement thresholds; increasing paid parental leave; and increasing the rate of the orphans’ benefit, unsupported child’s benefit, and foster care allowance. An estimated 384,000 families with children will be made better off by an average of $75 per week because of this Government’s Families Package.

💬 SPEAKER: I’m just going to say that that was a very extensive answer and I expect the supplementary answers, if there are any, to be short.

💬 Priyanca Radhakrishnan: How do these changes work in practice?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: There are lots of scenarios that could be used to show how the thousands of families will be better off. Here is one. The changes mean that after 1 July 2018, a couple with a five-year-old and a newborn born after 1 July living in Nelson earning $58,000 a year would be better off by $123.24 per week due to the Working for Families and Best Start changes, even when taking into account that their 1 April 2018 granted accommodation supplement will decrease by $4 when the 1 July measures kick in; $123.24 extra a week would mean a lot to many New Zealand families.

💬 Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Has the Minister received feedback about the Families Package?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Yes—lots of positive feedback on a range of the measures in the Families Package. One person wrote in saying, “I wanted to sincerely thank you for the energy payment being made to my family members. This makes an enormous difference and relieves some worry from my mind about them not using heating to save money. It’s honestly incredible.” People are doing it tough but are starting to see a tangible—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I think we’ve got the general idea.

Transport—Fuel Tax Modelling and Projects

8. to the Minister of Transport: Does he stand by all his statements, actions, and legislative drafting instructions on matters to do with fuel taxes?

I do, including my statement that “The Opposition is asking us simultaneously to have less revenue, run less debt, and spend more. The maths [of that] just don’t add up.” National needs to come clean on what Auckland transport projects they would cut.

💬 Jami-Lee Ross: Did he consider the formal modelling carried out by the Ministry of Transport to assess the possible impact of price spreading prior to issuing drafting instructions for the regional fuel tax bill?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes, we did consider the advice around price spreading, and this Government has made very clear its attitude on price spreading to the fuel companies. We’ve initiated changes to the Commerce Act, which will give the Commerce Commission more teeth to deal with anti-competitive behaviour. My colleague the Hon Megan Woods has called in BP to make very clear our attitude on anti-competitive behaviour. I’ve directed officials to monitor price spreading. I think that the fuel companies are in no doubt about our attitude to this.

💬 Jami-Lee Ross: Did he read the formal modelling carried out by the ministry to assess the possible impacts of price spreading?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes.

💬 Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki: What advice did he receive on the ability of the National Land Transport Programme to fund the promised projects when he came into office?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I was advised that the transport plan that I inherited contained $4.5 billion more spending than revenue, and an 8.2c a litre increase in petrol excise and road-user charges would be needed just to balance the books. That didn’t include the billions of dollars of unfunded expressways promised by the Opposition during the last election.

💬 Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki: What projects does the regional fuel tax fund?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The regional fuel tax will lead to $4.3 billion worth of investment—$900 million for roading improvements and new roads, $750 million for the Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative busway, $700 million for Mill Road and Penlink, $550 million for road safety, $400 million for electric trains, $340 million for walking and cycling, $330 million for bus improvements, and an additional $300 million for other public transport infrastructure. Without the regional fuel tax, there would be no money for these projects.

💬 Jami-Lee Ross: How does he reconcile his answers this afternoon that he, firstly, considered the modelling done on possible price spreading, and read the modelling on possible price spreading, when the answer given to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee for the Estimates, to the question, “What modelling has been done on the possible impact of price spreading as a result of regional fuel taxes?”, was “No formal modelling has been carried out.”?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well, I’ll have to go back and check the answer to that Estimates question. But my answer to the earlier question stands: there was advice on price spreading, I read it, and we subsequently made the decision to move ahead with the bill.

💬 Jami-Lee Ross: Is he in the habit of stating in the House that he has read advice on an issue, when answers that—I’ve checked with the Clerk’s Office—were provided by him to the select committee say no formal modelling was carried out? How can he say he read something but tell the select committee it didn’t exist?

💬 Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I told the member I’ll go back and check the advice that was given to the select committee. But I’m telling him again that there was advice on price spreading as an issue. I read it, and we subsequently made the decision to move ahead with the bill.

Environment—OVERSEER Tool

9. to the Minister for the Environment: Is the Government assisting the primary sector and regional councils in measuring nutrient use and greenhouse gas emissions; if so, how?

In Budget 2018, the coalition Government announced we will work together with the primary sector by boosting funding by $5 million over the next four years to improve the OVERSEER tool that helps measure nutrient use and greenhouse gas emissions.

💬 Angie Warren-Clark: How will the increase in funding for OVERSEER improve farming practice?

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: As the Minister for Primary Industries, the Hon Damien O’Connor, has emphasised, improved—

💬 Hon Nathan Guy: He’s Agriculture. He’s Minister of Agriculture.

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: —land management priorities. As the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon Damien O’Connor, has emphasised, improved land management priorities are key to improving water quality. This funding opens up opportunities for farmers to utilise new technologies and techniques to improve water quality in our rivers and aquifers. The extra funding will enable quicker adoption of environmentally friendly and profitable farm practices, the inclusion of a wider range of land types and farming systems, and a more user-friendly interface for the software.

💬 Angie Warren-Clark: Why is the coalition Government backing practical, science-based tools such as OVERSEER?

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: Because the Government wants to help farmers and growers, as well as councils, to manage their respective environmental responsibilities by improving land use so that we can clean up our rivers to enable young and old to swim in them safely.

Oranga Tamariki—Consultation with Iwi and Finding Caregivers

10. to the Minister for Children: Does she stand by her ministry’s policies and actions in finding caregivers for children in care?

I do support the ministry’s efforts to attract more caregivers. It is a priority area. Oranga Tamariki needs more caregivers, and there is a lot of work to both recruit and retain a diverse pool of caregivers who can provide safe and loving homes for tamariki. Since its establishment a year ago, the number of family, whānau, and non-family/whānau caregivers has increased by more than 150.

If the member is referring to the caregiver advertisement that was placed on TradeMe, it has been recognised and acknowledged that the level of information contained within the advert, while not breaching the individual’s privacy, was an error in judgment. The chief executive has apologised. I know the staff are disappointed that they did not recognise this before posting the advert, and I am confident it will not be repeated.

💬 Hon Alfred Ngaro: How does the Minister then reconcile her ministry’s reported statement yesterday that it worked hard for three months to try and find the girl a home within her whānau, iwi, or hapū, when Ngāti Ruanui head, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, said, “We are constantly being told, as iwi, to be part of the solution, but it’s bloody hard when they don’t engage with us.”, or iwi leader Marty Davis: “Just talk to us in the first instance and there are a number of things we can do when we actually talk with each other.”?

💬 Hon TRACEY MARTIN: My understanding from the chief executive is that conversations had been taking place with members of that particular iwi over the last three months. It would appear that there were other members of the iwi that had not been part of that conversation—we will seek to rectify that immediately.

💬 Hon Alfred Ngaro: How does the Minister reconcile the comments from the CEO about a TradeMe advertisement for a foster family that “we acted immediately to take down [that] information.”, when two of the iwi leaders said that Oranga Tamariki did not remove the advertisement for at least 1½ days after the complaint was first laid?

💬 Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I thank the member for the information. It had not been drawn to my attention before this moment. I will go and see if I can clarify the situation now that I have that information.

💬 Hon Alfred Ngaro: How does the Minister reconcile her ministry’s comments by her CEO, who said, “We’ve now engaged with the appropriate iwi.”, when as of today and this afternoon neither iwi Ngā Rauru or Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi have been engaged at all?

💬 Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I thank the member for his question. That is contrary to the information that I have been given. I will now take his comments back and I will seek to clarify.

💬 Hon Alfred Ngaro: When her ministry’s CEO said, “We’ve now engaged with the appropriate iwi, which is fantastic. That’s going to create more opportunities for children that we didn’t have before we made the mistake.”, does she believe that making mistakes is the ideal way to create more opportunities for children?

💬 Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I thank the member for his question. Oranga Tamariki was set up under the previous Government, and quite rightly so—and quite rightly so. It was set up to change the way we dealt with the complex situations for New Zealand’s children. Part of that is changing the way that we did things from how we did them before. Sometimes, mistakes will happen. This is one of those mistakes. It will be rectified, but Oranga Tamariki must change the way that we look after our children and our young people in this country because if we keep doing what we did before, we will keep getting the negative outcomes we got before.

💬 Hon Alfred Ngaro: Will the Minister, then, change the way and the appropriateness of operating, and herself as the Minister taking leadership, to contact the iwi leaders such as Marty Davis, who in his comments says, “The TradeMe site, by its very name, suggests a commodity as being sold, bought, or swapped. Some may see that with this little child.”—will she take leadership, contact them, apologise personally for the mistake that was made?

💬 Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I thank the member for his question. Can I just clarify that this is not the first time that TradeMe has been used and the job section of TradeMe has been used. It is a practice that actually started under the previous administration. However, to go to the substance of the member’s question, I have no difficulty whatsoever ringing the iwi in particular, having a conversation about how myself and the ministry can create stronger relationships for the better outcomes for the children and the young people of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Office of Ethnic Communities—Premises

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I note the Minister is not in the House and I seek leave for the question to be deferred until the Minister is present, next Tuesday.

💬 SPEAKER: OK, and I want some clarification. Is the member trying for an extra question, or just holding it back.

💬 Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Just transferring the question.

💬 SPEAKER: And the member wants an extra question when the Minister’s next here. Is there any objection to that? Yes, there is.

11. to the Minister for Ethnic Communities: Are the statements in the Onehunga Community News that “The Office of Ethnic Communities is moving into premises in Onehunga, which will be shared with list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan.” and the quote by her parliamentary under-secretary saying, “We’ve boosted support that we’re providing in terms of connecting with ethnic communities, so we have more staff members working in our ethnic communities’ outreach teams.”, correct?

on behalf of the Minister for Ethnic Communities: On behalf of the Minister for Ethnic Communities, in answer to the first quotation the member has used, no. In answer to the second quotation that the member used in his question, I have no ministerial responsibility for Parliamentary Service’s funded staff or the comments that MPs make about them.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: Did the parliamentary under-secretary tell the Onehunga Community News that the new premises included the Office of Ethnic Communities?

I’m advised no.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: How can the Government claim that the Onehunga Community News report is the fault of the publication, when the editor has stated that no correction will be made to the story, as it is consistent with her recording of the interview with her parliamentary under-secretary and Government colleagues, or is the Government saying that the editor is being untruthful?

I’m not saying that the editor is being untruthful. I am saying that the editor has confused two different issues. There are Parliamentary Service staff employed under the Labour Party Parliamentary Service’s allocation, for which I have no ministerial responsibility, who are doing ethnic community outreach, who are in that office. There are no staff from the Office of Ethnic Communities working in that office. That would be inappropriate. Nor has there been any suggestion that there would be staff from the core Public Service working in that office.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: Why, if the parliamentary under-secretary had no intention to mislead that there was anything other than Parliamentary Service staff, did the parliamentary under-secretary specifically promote the Office of Ethnic Affairs and the provision of funds in the Budget for expanding the staff of the Office of Ethnic Affairs at those premises?

I reject the assertion in the member’s question. I have the article in front of me, and it is abundantly clear from reading the direct quotes of the member of Parliament who has made them that he was speaking of Parliamentary Service staff and not staff of the Office of Ethnic Communities.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: Will she ensure that the parliamentary under-secretary Michael Wood respects the political neutrality of the Office of Ethnic Communities and stops using the role to promote the Labour Party?

💬 Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Despite the numerous denials from this Government, that member is now making a very serious allegation, and he cannot substantiate it, and there’s a more appropriate place if he thinks that’s right.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: Speaking to the point of order.

💬 SPEAKER: No. I don’t need any further help with this one. I don’t think, in my listening to the question, the member had suggested that Mr Wood had acted inappropriately. I think the request was: did he not? So Chris Hipkins can answer the question.

I have received no evidence to suggest that he has done so.

Trade Agreements—Negotiations with European Union

12. to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: What announcements has the Government made regarding trade with the European Union?

Today, the Government officially launched negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmström. The EU is already the third largest trading partner with two-way trade worth more than $20 billion. A free-trade agreement will increase trade substantially, bringing significant economic gains for New Zealand and the European Union. Wages, business profits, and the New Zealand standard of living will rise. Perhaps as importantly, it’s critical to our interests that New Zealand works together with like-minded countries to combat the rising tide of protectionism around the world, and that’s what this coalition Government is doing.

💬 Mark Patterson: How has the coalition Government got trade negotiations with the EU started?

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: This coalition Government has, for a start, worked to rebuild public support and confidence in trade needed at home after the past Government abandoned bipartisanship. The Prime Minister deserves significant credit, particularly in respect of land sales, actually. The Prime Minister deserves significant credit for getting the negotiations across the line by advocating strongly for New Zealand’s interest in her meetings with President Macron and Chancellor Merkel. European leaders were, clearly, receptive to our leader articulating the values that New Zealand shares with the EU. We’re fortunate to have a Prime Minister who represents New Zealand so effectively on the world stage.

💬 Mark Patterson: How will a potential EU - New Zealand FTA benefit New Zealand’s environment, economy, and workers?

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: We expect a high-quality agreement which will give greater market access for New Zealand’s exports, both goods and services—

💬 Hon David Bennett: Except dairy and beef.

💬 Hon DAVID PARKER: —and that it’ll include—he says except dairy and beef. Well, let’s just wait and see, Mr Bennett. We might do better than your hapless crowd on that side. The EU itself forecasts the agreement could add $2 billion a year to the New Zealand economy—or billions a year to the economy—and increase wages for New Zealand workers. The launch of these negotiations with the European Union is yet another example of this coalition Government building the foundations for a sustainable, fair, high-wage, high-value economy