David
CUNLIFFE
Economic Development Spokesperson

15 September 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
Four years since GFC began and still no ideas

Four years to the day that Lehman Brothers collapsed, the National Government still refuses to take action to help New Zealand businesses compete and support the economy, says Labour’s Economic Development spokesperson David Cunliffe.

“Four years ago the worst financial crisis in a generation began. New Zealand wasn’t hit as hard as others because of the Labour Government’s strong fiscal policy. We should be turning the corner now but the Government still has no ideas beyond hoping it will be rescued by market forces.

“On The Nation today Steven Joyce astonishingly claimed that ‘a lot of manufacturers are doing well’. What planet is he on? It’s time he got back to the real world. The real world of Kawerau, the real world of Bluff and the real world of Greymouth where hundreds of hard-working Kiwis are losing their jobs.

“Four years ago John Key told New Zealanders "I'm going to need to have all of the armoury of government focused on keeping as many people in jobs as we can."

“Four years on and jobs are being lost every week. Creating jobs isn’t in National’s DNA, they rely on the market and publishing glossy pamphlets. It’s not working.

“Labour stands for a realistic exchange rate, prudent management of finances, appropriate structural reforms to back positive business and hard working Kiwis and new industry policies that will get manufacturing going again.

“The world has changed. New Zealanders and Labour know this. It’s time National got change too.”

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>