John Banks
ACT Leader

March 20 2013

Could David Shearer Really Be This Financially Incompetent?

Labour Leader David Shearer’s memory lapse has not only revealed his double standards but also his poor financial skills, ACT Leader John Banks said today.

“Mr Shearer remembered to declare his more than $50,000 to the IRD but ‘forgot’ to declare this asset to Parliament, not once, but four years in a row,” Mr Banks said.

“Some estimates conclude that Mr Shearer could have as much as $500,000 in his secret overseas bank account. How does someone forget to account for so much of their own personal wealth?

“It is financially incompetent to not use idle deposits to reduce a mortgage. The first rule of prudent financial management is to pay down debt. So why has Mr Shearer left so much money sitting in an overseas account earning next to nothing in interest when he could put the money to better use paying off his mortgage in New Zealand.

“How can any New Zealander have confidence in Mr Shearer running the country’s finances when he is so forgetful and incompetent about his own finances?

What tops this off is Mr Shearer’s double standard.

“Shearer was very clear last year when he said a “memory lapse alone” means a person is not fit to hold office.

“But now that he’s the one suffering from a memory lapse – a selective memory lapse - he has changed his tune. That’s not good enough.

“He made it clear that in his view people who hold office cannot forget a thing. He said someone who has a memory lapse should stand down.

“Those were his standards. He set them. He should now live by them,” Mr Banks said.

ENDS

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