6 April 2005

Cynical Collins insults parents

Associate Revenue Minister David Cunliffe says Judith Collins' statement on child support today cynically misrepresented the facts and insulted responsible parents.

"She claimed the government should chase all parents believed to be living in Australia. This implies all liable parents in Australia are evading child support. This is patently untrue, grossly misleading, and an insult to hard working parents," Mr Cunliffe says.

"To add hypocrisy to injury National achieved nothing to recover debt from Australia while in office. Our reciprocal agreement with Australia has gone from strength to strength since it was signed it in 2000. This year we upped the budget by $17 million to increase collection and there is more to come.

"Even worse, while Ms Collins is asking for more government intervention her party wants to cut the budget and the number of public servants who do the work."

Mr Cunliffe says this further exposes National's hypocrisy.

"On one hand they want to cut the public service, on the other hand they complain the public service is not doing enough. They can't have it both ways," he says.

ENDS

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