Thursday 23 May 2002

ACT leader Richard Prebble says the Budget provides zero funding for the nation's security.

"The total budget for Police and Corrections is, in real terms, falling," Mr Prebble said.

"The government is completely out of touch with the public's concern about rising violent crime, and its cut in the Corrections budget is funded by releasing dangerous criminals from jail early.

"In contrast with the Australian government, which has just increased its national security vote, this government is cutting defence spending - an extraordinary response to September 11^th.

"The ACT Party says the government should be funding a Zero Tolerance for Crime campaign, to cut crime, and a Truth-in-Sentencing policy to ensure that dangerous criminals sentenced to jail, stay there.

"In February, Dr Cullen set the objective of 4 percent growth. Yet even Treasury's own growth projections show that in four years time growth will be just 2 percent - half the figure Dr Cullen himself says we need.

"The Budget repeats the claim that New Zealand doesn't need tax cuts. Yet the tax cuts of the early 1990s produced a growth rate more than double Treasury's predictions," Mr Prebble said.

ENDS

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