Election date signals a new government

'Bring it on', says Labour Candidate Rob McCann. 'Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua are ready for new leadership and representation'.

'We've been campaigning since January and we're hearing the same message time and time again. People are not better off. GST went up, prescription costs went up, food went up, power went up and rent increased, but wages are static! On the other hand, the number of luxury car sales also increased.

'What we're seeing is a small part of our community and country doing very well under John Key, while the rest of us struggle.

'It shouldn't be this way. This government had an opportunity to use the Christchurch rebuild to create Kiwi jobs. Instead, they imported cheaper workers from overseas. They had an opportunity to work with Christchurch residents to ensure insurance companies paid out. Instead, they left the vulnerable to fight the faceless corporations.

'This government also had an opportunity to retrain workers during a recession. Instead, they chose to put people on the unemployment benefit.

'If National want to campaign on their track record, they had better hope the people aren't watching. Their economic management has been hands-off where support was needed, and hands-on where big business such as Sky City wanted more gambling tables or American millionaire film moguls wanted tax-payer handouts.

'We are now starting to see the consequences of their decisions. The locomotive engines, built overseas because it was cheaper, are full of asbestos, while the families of laid-off Hillside workers are forced to pick up the benefit instead of their pay for an honest day’s work.

'This government continues bashing beneficiaries instead of creating jobs. We've seen drug testing when drugs aren't the issue; we've seen more budgeting introduced when the budget advisers can only suggest which bill not to pay; and we've seen young mothers told they need to go out and work when there is no work.

'This is not a record to be proud about unless you're one of the few who could afford to buy shares in our power companies or purchase a new luxury car.

'We need a government that wants the whole country to succeed, not just a select few'.

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