Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Joyce Playing His Fiddle as NZ Sinks

Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
30 MAY 2017

JOYCE PLAYING HIS FIDDLE AS NZ SINKS

Finance Minister Steven Joyce is resembling “Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burns” more each day, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“He refuses to understand that our rates of productivity are appallingly low and yet he has the cheek to claim the country has 3 per cent of GDP growth when 2 per cent comes through mass immigration that cuts our growth to an anaemic 0.8 to 1 per cent.

“In Parliament today he said he was not aware Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said our per capital GDP growth was not impressive. Mr Joyce claimed the government had invested heavily in Innovative NZ to lift productivity over time.

“The truth is New Zealand is lagging far behind for research and development spend as a portion of gross domestic product, being ranked only 28th in the OECD out of 35 countries.

“Australia is well above us being ranked 14th.

“Mr Joyce ignores the fact New Zealand had no growth in labour productivity for the last five years and yet we are bringing in hundreds of thousands of mainly low–skilled foreign workers.

“If you believe the spin from Mr Joyce and his government our economy is rocking along at a rapid rate.

“If that is true, how come so many Kiwis are struggling, with young people finding it three times as hard to own a house as their parents did?”

ENDS


Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.