National to rebuild confidence in the economy
National has today released its fourth Discussion Document, which focusses on the economy and outlines a range of policies that will help rebuild business confidence, Leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges says.
“National’s economic plan will focus on creating a more productive, competitive economy that lifts incomes, lowers the cost of living for all New Zealanders and provides responsible economic management that delivers world-class public services.
“National understands that a strong economy is what puts more in the back pockets of New Zealanders and allows us to invest more in the things that matter to New Zealanders.
“Without a strong economy we won’t be able to afford a healthcare system New Zealanders can rely on, transport that gets Kiwis home on time and the world class education Kiwi kids deserve.
“The economy has sharply declined under the current Government. GDP growth has slowed from around four per cent per year to barely two per cent. Per person growth is less than one per cent and benefit numbers are rising rapidly. New Zealand families are finding it increasingly difficult to manage the rising cost of housing, rents, petrol and electricity.
“Led by Finance Spokesperson Paul Goldsmith, today we’re proposing a range of positive initiatives which will bring back confidence to businesses in New Zealand and support a strong, growing economy.
Some of the most exciting commitments include:
• Requiring all government departments and government
agencies to pay their contractors on time and within 30
days;
• Establishing a ‘Small Business Payments
Guarantee’;
• Repealing 100 regulations in our first
six months of office;
• Eliminating two old regulations
for every new regulation introduced in our first
term;
• Requiring quality cost-benefit analysis for any
major new regulation;
• Māori land reform; and
• Ensuring the Treasury has a greater focus on
providing sound advice on the effectiveness of Government
spending, identifying wasteful spending and driving higher
productivity in the public sector;
We’re also
proposing or asking for New Zealanders feedback
on:
• Considering new innovative approaches to
infrastructure funding;
• Pricing mechanisms to manage
the flow of traffic that are revenue
neutral;
• Allowing savers to deduct the inflation
component from their interest income;
• Accelerated
depreciation of business assets;
• Removing the
ability for Governments to give preferential pay agreements
to union members during public sector wage
negotiations;
• Bank account number portability;
and
• Removing all remaining tariffs.
And we’re re-confirming a number of previous commitments, including:
• Indexing tax thresholds to
inflation;
• Repealing the Regional Fuel
Tax;
• Overhauling the Resource Management
Act;
• Reintroducing targets in health, education
and law and order;
• Encouraging direct
investment in productive assets by overturning the
Government’s foreign investment changes;
•
Repealing the ban on oil and gas exploration; and
•
Repealing recent Government changes made to the Employment
Relations Act, such as removing 90-day trial periods.
“A strong economy means more, higher paying jobs. It means more opportunities for Kiwis to get ahead, to look after themselves and their families, and to afford the good things in life.
“Today we are also committing to progressively increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67 starting in 2037, reinstating the social investment approach and not introducing any new taxes in our first term.
“This document is part of the biggest policy development process by an Opposition ever. The current Government has no plan to grow the economy and is failing to deliver for New Zealanders. We’re doing the work now in Opposition so we’re ready to hit the ground running in 2020.”
National’s Economy Discussion
Document can be found here