John Key MP
National Party Leader

13 February 2007

Labour runs out of ideas, energy, and time

The Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament today shows the Labour Government has run out of ideas and energy, and is rapidly running out of time, says National Party Leader John Key.

“The new buzzword – sustainable – is mentioned 33 times,” Mr Key says. “But after all the hype and spin from the Beehive, the big idea is that Treasury officials will stop writing reports, which Michael Cullen ignores anyway, and instead make them ‘carbon neutral’.

“A ‘carbon neutral’ public service is a gimmick. If the Government was serious it would include the big energy consumers like schools, hospitals, police and the air force.

“A minimum biofuels sales target is a bit late, and doesn’t take effect until 2012, meaning it won’t contribute anything to meeting Kyoto commitments. National has already outlined a biofuels proposal.

“The parole changes are timid and simply show National was right that Corrections and its Minister couldn’t be trusted.

“The final new idea is the introduction of a new tax - proposed by the Greens – on waste. It would increase by 50%, compounded annually, if waste minimisation targets are not met.

“Missing from the speech is talk of tax cuts, which we all know Helen Clark and Michael Cullen disagree on. Watching Michael Cullen on the topic of tax cuts is like being a witness to the longest striptease in New Zealand history – eight years and he’s still fully clothed.

“The Labour Government needs a reality check. Maybe if the Prime Minister spent more time in South Auckland and less on the South Pole, she’d get it.

“After my Burnside speech she confidently declared there was no underclass - when everybody else knows there is.

“Severe hardship is increasing under her watch, violent offences are going up, tens of thousands of kids are going to school hungry, drugs are rife and drug use is rising, charities are struggling to cope with demand, and the police are overwhelmed.

“She’s a Prime Minister who is increasingly aloof and out of touch.”

ENDS

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