2025 Report: We’ve Yet To Start Catching Australia
Press Release by ACT Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas, Wednesday, November 3 2010

The second report from the 2025 Taskforce confirms that sadly not enough has been done in the past 12 months to reverse New Zealand’s ever-widening income gap with Australia, ACT Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today.

“If we don’t address this issue, Australia will continue to look more and more attractive to our best and brightest New Zealanders. Australians will enjoy better health care, better housing, better education, and better standards of living, while we slip further behind,” Sir Roger said.

“ACT has consistently warned successive Governments of the need to control spending. The Taskforce recognises this as a key issue. Too much spending strains our economy and draws resources away from the productive sector.

“Government spending ballooned under Labour and has continued under National - costing us dearly. High spending has driven up our interest and exchange rates, choking our exporters. We need better institutions to control public spending.

“One solution recommended by the Taskforce is ACT’s ‘Taxpayer Rights Bill’ – which caps growth of core Crown expenditure.

“The ‘Taxpayer Rights Bill’ - which forms part of ACT’s Confidence and Supply Agreement with National – would make politicians more accountable to the public and would force them to operate within set budgets, tying spending to increases in population and inflation. Kiwi families have to live within a set budget, and so to, should politicians.

“Cutting core expenditure is crucial, as no country with a Government as large as ours has managed to sustain high growth rates. The Taskforce estimates that cutting expenditure by 10 percent of GDP could increase growth by five percent over a decade.

“OECD projections suggest that, without significant changes, the gap will continue to widen until – based on these forecasts – Australians will be 42 percent wealthier than Kiwis by 2025. The Taskforce makes it clear that this will see an estimated 412,000 New Zealanders – the equivalent of all residents in the Wellington Region – leave for Australia over the next 15 years.

“With the correct policies in place the gap can be closed - all we need to do is start,” Sir Roger said.
To view Sir Roger's latest flyer go to: http://www.act.org.nz/files/2025_Taskforce.pdf

ENDS

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