30 November 2009
Media statement

Goff: Brash report a sham and waste of time

Today’s report by Don Brash’s 2025 Task Force is a sham designed to cover up the fact that National has done nothing to help hard-working Kiwi families struggling to make ends meet now, says Labour Leader Phil Goff.

“The taskforce has been a waste of time. National will never accept the proposals in this report, and taxpayers need to know why it is persisting with the farce,” Phil Goff said.

“The whole exercise has been a case of jobs for the boys, and trying to create the impression the Government is doing something.

“Taxpayers can see through this taskforce for what it is. It is designed to try to conceal the fact National has no workable proposals to help create relief for stretched family budgets,” Phil Goff said.

“There is not one proposal in this report that will help struggling Kiwi families right now. The Brash report is all about giving more to those Kiwis who are on top of the heap anyway.

“You can’t make the country richer by making hard-working Kiwis relatively worse off.”

Phil Goff said he questioned why National set up the task force in the first place when it knew what Dr Brash would recommend. "It was entirely predictable that what he'd say is what he's been saying every year for the past 25 years."

Phil Goff said he feared the government was simply using Dr Brash as a stalking horse for other ideas that would look less extreme by comparison.

"There's no doubt National would like to do what Dr Brash is recommending. National opposed Working for Families, early child education and student loans, but they promised they would leave those things in place, and going back on that promise now would have savage electoral repercussions for the Government.

“It's not good enough for John Key to simply say National won't carry out Dr Brash's agenda, but pick and choose bits of it. What he must do is come up with an urgent plan to lift Kiwi incomes and reduce household costs, and do it now.”

ENDS

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