has delivered 50,000 more unemployed, and has 50,000 more people on benefits, costing us $1 billon. That is a zero growth Budget, a zero hope Budget, and a zero reason Budget for staying here in this country”. The Prime Minister, Rt Hon.
Hon. Bill English, MP
On 24 May 2012 the Minister of Finance, Hon. Bill English, MP, delivered his fourth Budget, in which he stated that the government was “on track to post an operating surplus in 2014- 15, when we will start bringing debt down to prudent levels”. However, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr David Shearer, in moving an amendment expressing no confidence in the government, said that Mr English
John Key, MP, countered by saying that to believe Mr Shearer’s contention that New Zealand was not doing very well on a relative basis “you have to
a range of economists, over the next three years New Zealand will grow faster than the United States, the United Kingdom, the entire eurozone, Canada, and Japan. In fact, we will be growing at the same rate as the minerally very wealthy Australia over the next three years”. Dr Russel Norman,
(Co-Leader, Green) called the Budget a “zero hope Budget” and said that the National government was “slowly grinding middle and lower income earners into the ground while giving generous tax cuts to the wealthiest. The current account deficit, the key marker of whether we are living within our
Mr David Shearer, MP
live on ‘Planet Labour’. On ‘Planet Labour’ New Zealand was not in recession in 2008. We did not have an overpriced housing market that was getting out of control; we did not have an export sector that had been in recession for five years. “On ‘Planet Labour’ the
Rt Hon. John Key, MP
had “delivered a Budget that has the worst growth in 50 years, has 50,000 people going to Australia,
218 | The Parliamentarian | 2012: Issue Three
global financial crisis never happened. On ‘Planet Labour’ the Christchurch earthquakes never happened. The trouble is that that will not wash with anyone, because back in the real world New Zealanders actually know what is going on. According to
Dr Russel Norman, MP
means, is currently running at four per cent of GDP, and Treasury is projecting it to increase to nearly seven per cent by 2016. This one simple fact is an unmistakable sign of an imbalanced economy that is becoming only more imbalanced. “One of the most fiscally
reckless parts of [the] Budget is National’s signature policy