1. Prime Minister—Statements
1. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister : Does he stand by his statement: “We have a plan, and that plan is working for New Zealand.”?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Absolutely !
Hon Member : Just a few of them.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : You will hear it in the campaign, son.
Mr SPEAKER : Order! Supplementary question, the Rt Hon Winston Peters. [Interruption]
Rt Hon Winston Peters : Well, you think manual labour is the Prime Minister of Mexico, don’t you?
Mr SPEAKER : Order! The interjections coming from the right-hand back of the House will cease.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : Thank you for bringing order, Mr Speaker. If the plan is working, why are well over 148,000 Kiwis unemployed and a further 100,000 seeking much more work than they have currently got?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Firstly, the unemployment rate in New Zealand is falling. The participation rate in New Zealand is dramatically increasing. I would be a bit cautious about quoting those numbers, because that is off the household labour force survey and it indicates anybody who is looking for 1 hour of work or more.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : If the plan is working, why is New Zealand’s total international debt at a staggering $150 billion?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY : It depends on how the member is measuring that, but I would indicate that, of course, over the last 5 or 6 years the Government has borrowed. If the member is going to come with me down to Christchurch and tell the people of Christchurch that New Zealand First does not care about them and would not have borrowed money to support them, then I really look forward to the member standing next to me and saying to the people of Christchurch: “It’s common sense just to leave you behind.” A National Government would not do that.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : If the plan is working in what a former Prime Minister called a property-owning democracy, why is homeownership at its lowest percentage rate since 1951? [Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER : Order! I want to hear the answer.
Rt Hon JOHN KEY : We might dispute the fact, but what we can say is that the Government has a comprehensive plan that is actually starting to work in relation to homeownership, and if the member wants to support us in terms of reform of the Resource Management Act, which will allow us to speed up that process even more, again, he should feel free to come over here and put his warm little hand in mine and together we can sing a song. It is common sense to have reform of the Resource Management Act.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : If the plan is working in a country where a former National labour Minister knew the name of every unemployed person because there were only 29 of them, how come 22 percent of Māori and 25 percent of Pasifika people aged between 15 and 24 are unemployed in their own country?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I think that the time at which a Minister of Labour could name every single person who was unemployed was the time when moas were around in New Zealand. I do not think that has worked terribly well. But the reality is that the Government has been investing heavily in a range of areas to deliver economic growth and it is working for New Zealand.
Rt Hon Winston Peters : If the National Party was “working for New Zealand”, why would it have to say it and spend millions in public relations trying to hawk that delusional message?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY : The party is running a campaign message that it is working for New Zealand because that reflects a Government that over the last 6 years has worked very hard for the people of New Zealand across a wide range of areas. It also reflects a party that has received significant support from New Zealanders on the back of the fact that they do believe, in fact, that it is working for New Zealand.

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