29 January 2007

Key will need more than empty slogans

John Key's speech in Christchurch tomorrow will be a test of whether National has any genuinely new policies to offer, says Education Minister Steve Maharey.

"Mr Key will need to convince people that National has changed direction, and that there is more to their shift than empty slogans," Steve Maharey said.

"Mr Key today rattled off a list of complex issues facing our communities. Addressing these challenges requires much more than sound bites and talk of 'hope'. It requires effective policies. After 7 years in opposition, National has had plenty of time to work up new policy.

"That doesn't mean re-packaging the failed policies of the1990s, such as work-for-the-dole."

Steve Maharey said Mr Key would have to come up with something that would add to the successful policies Labour had delivered in the last seven years.

"Labour has delivered policies that have lifted living standards, raised education standards, and reduced crime overall to its lowest rate in a generation.

"We have had one of the highest growth rates in the OECD, we've achieved the lowest unemployment in two decades, and we have seen tens of thousands of children lifted out of poverty."

He said outcomes had also improved steadily for Maori under Labour after going backwards fast in the 1990s.

"Unemployment among Maori has fallen by half, reflecting the fall nationwide, while Maori participation in tertiary education and Maori income levels have increased at a faster rate than for the population as a whole."

Steve Maharey said the only specific policy Mr Key has mentioned ahead of his speech was the failed work-for-the-dole scheme - the centrepiece of Don Brash's 2005 Orewa speech on welfare.

ENDS

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