Braindrain Minister Lianne Dalziel should be put in charge of switching off the lights after every other New Zealander has left, ACT MP Penny Webster said today.

“Statistics New Zealand figures show that 21,015 skilled workers fled New Zealand last year. In comparison with arrivals, that’s more than ever before.

“Labour must finally admit that their policies aren’t working. With the Alliance’s heavy-handed support, they are making New Zealand leap backward, not forward.

“At any airport, Ms Dalziel, Ms Clark or Mr Anderton could see the true results of Labour’s much vaunted ‘Knowledge Economy’. The trio could wave goodbye to our skilled workers escaping from their restrictive policies.

“But it’s not just the highly-skilled leaving. In all, more people fled last year than in any twelve month period since Rob Muldoon was in charge of the country.

“We lost almost 80,000 people in twelve months – that’s the entire populations of Nelson and Gisborne combined.

“While Labour spins tired rhetoric about helping the poor, they refuse to recognise that thousands are simply scraping together enough money for a ticket abroad, before they take flight.

“If we could actually trust Ms Dalziel with a single, simple task, then it would be to switch off the lights after every other New Zealander has left,” Penny Webster said.

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