28 MAY 2015

Every New Zealander Misses Out as Population Growth Strangles Services

The impact of population growth is a sinister omission from Budget 2015, says New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Finance Minister Bill English hid the fact that New Zealand’s rapid population growth means spending per person is shrinking.

“With the 1.5 per cent population increase in the year ended June 2014, and a similar increase to June 2015, pressure is building on housing, health, education, transport and other infrastructure.

“Look around Auckland and you can see how services are stretched like a shanghai everywhere.

“Unless the government stops this mass immigration Auckland is never going to be anything other than a dog’s breakfast of inadequate services, not least of which is transport,” says Mr Peters.

“New Zealand’s rate of natural population increase is now being massively exceeded by net migration running at almost twice that rate of around 56,000 annually.

“Thanks to this open door we have one of the fastest growing populations in the OECD.

“More alarmingly this mass migration is forecast to go on for the next few years.

“New Zealand First is calling for the Budget to include GDP and other economic data on a per person basis. Other First World countries do that so it begs the question why has Treasury never asked for that?

“Per person information will allow the public to make a genuine comparison across time so people can judge the real performance of the government against former governments and governments overseas,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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