Andrew Williams MP
Associate Spokesperson for Finance

13 November 2012

Key and English Out Of Touch over Job Creation

New Zealand First has accused Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English of deliberately creating a smokescreen over the number of jobs the Government claims to have created.

Associate Finance spokesperson Andrew Williams says Mr Key last week claimed that 57,000 jobs were created in the last 12-18 months.

“That goes directly against Mr English, who said on television that the number of new jobs created in the past two years is in fact 26,000.

“Whatever the real figure may be, it is light-years away from the 170,000 new jobs National promised to create.”

Mr Williams was today blocked by National from tabling documents in Parliament which revealed the serious discrepancies between the statements of Mr Key and Mr English.

“National are doing all they can to muddy the water.

“They are desperate to hide from the public the fact that our economy is in serious trouble and there are few jobs available for those looking for work.

“It is disgraceful behaviour from the Prime Minister and his deputy.”

ENDS

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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