ACT Finance spokesman Rodney Hide said today the government’s monetary policy review was a costly sop to stave off the Alliance who want a return to the days when politicians manned the printing press to print money whenever they were short. “Dr Michael Cullen disagrees with Jim Anderton, but has bought into a costly review that won’t serve any good purpose.

The danger is that the review becomes a Trojan horse for the loonies that Jim Anderton takes his advice from,” Mr Hide said. “The taxpayer at best is paying out $200,000 to $500,000 to find out nothing we don’t already know. At worst, we run the risk of scaring off investment and jobs as business tries to ascertain just what influence Jim Anderton has and just what this government is up to.

“In announcing his review, Dr Cullen has failed to detail what possible practical consequence it could have. I suspect this review is simply the price paid for Jim Anderton’s silence as we see interest rates hiked under the Alliance-Labour minority government,” Mr Hide said.

ENDS

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