PSA MEDIA RELEASE

May 19, 2011

For Immediate Use

Double Downer Budget Won’t Build a Better Future

The Budget is a double downer for all New Zealanders – it’s visionless and attacks much needed public services. Finance Minister Bill English has shown he has no idea how to “build a better future”, says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott.

Mr English has failed the basic test of leadership. He’s set big targets but has no plans for how to get there. Instead he’s gone back to his default setting of more cuts to the very services that New Zealanders need to help them through tough times. He doesn’t even have the courage to spell out where the cuts are going to fall. Instead he leaves it to his Chief Executives to make the tough choices that he won’t make himself.

Rather than take decisions himself, he’s trying to disguise $650m worth of cuts by forcing departments to fund KiwiSaver and superannuation themselves. They will not be able to avoid cutting front line services.

“The Government needs to come up with a better plan than simply cutting public services and throwing those who provide them on the scrapheap. More public sector pain means more pain for New Zealanders who rely on vital public services.”

Brenda Pilott says this government is obsessed with the debt crisis myth despite New Zealand having the third lowest government debt in the OECD. Most of New Zealand’s debt is private money owed mainly to Australian banks and cutting public services and selling key strategic assets won’t help that at all. In fact what would help is more KiwiSaver investments – the very thing Bill English is attacking. Brenda Pilott comments on the Budget on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq-T06Xyb3I&feature=player_profilepage

ENDS

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