Katherine Rich MP
National Party Small Business Spokeswoman
27 February 2006

Govt stretching the truth with small business report

The Government has stretched the truth with the claims it has responded to the concerns of its small business advisory group, says National Small Business spokeswoman Katherine Rich.

“In its second round of recommendations released today, the group reveals how it really feels about the Government’s response to its 19 initial recommendations – lukewarm,” she says.

In December Small Business Minister Lianne Dalziel said the Government had supported 18 of the 19 first round of recommendations from the group ‘outright’.

“But the group’s marking of the Government’s response shows it barely gets a pass," says Mrs Rich.

“The Government averaged a 5/10 rating. Some of the their ratings were a pathetic zero, or two out of 10.

“That falls nowhere near an ‘outright’ rating as the Minister claimed in December. She has been caught up to her old tricks and is trying to coverup what is an inadequate response.

“Caught stretching the truth, the Government has panicked and released the whole document as an attempt to defuse negative publicity.

“What people may not know is that the Government shifted the release of this second report today from March 14, showing the Minister is more interested in political spin than the group’s own views.

“I note that group member Murray Cleverley has told the Business Herald that under the NCEA the Government’s response would have been a fair pass – but under School Cert it would be a 'C'.

“That’s not good enough for the country’s small businesses, who are struggling under a mountain of red tape and compliance costs. The Government must do more.”

ENDS

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