22 November 2009
Media Statement

12 months of inaction on unemployment

Labour leader Phil Goff says Prime Minister John Key should be ashamed of his Government’s complete lack of any real plan or action to protect Kiwi jobs.

“The Government has never had a plan to fight the rising tide of unemployment and hardworking Kiwis have paid the price by losing their jobs,” Phil Goff said.

“150,000 Kiwis are now unemployed, that’s 41,000 more than when John Key came into power. National could have done much more to keep many of those hardworking Kiwis in their jobs.

“All we’ve had from John Key is window dressing. His jobs summit in February is now widely considered a waste of time and recently his big idea from the summit, his cycleway, was launched without any reference to jobs.

“Kiwis will be looking across the Tasman and wondering why unemployment there has now started to fall, while ours continues to rise.

“The answer is Australia’s government had a plan to get through the recession while National did not.

“The Australian Government acted early, it was decisive and it gave help to those who needed it.

“What did John Key do? He held a summit for the photo op and then sat on his hands and did nothing while more and more Kiwis were laid off.”

Phil Goff says John Key and Bill English missed their biggest opportunity to stimulate the economy and protect businesses and jobs in May’s budget.

“John Key could have focused his first budget on jobs. But he didn’t,” Phil Goff said.

“John Key could have targeted tax cuts to low income earners who were more likely to spend them immediately on necessities. But he didn’t.

“John Key promised to create 3700 jobs through his cycleway. But he didn’t.

“So what has John Key done to protect and create jobs for Kiwis?”

ENDS

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