18 October 1999

Media Release

SWEET TALK IS EASY, BUT WHERE ARE THE NUMBERS?

Alliance political rhetoric promising to return New Zealand to the days of full employment and cradle-to-grave socialism is discredited dreaming without solid backing by some firm strategy and costings.

"We all want the best for our country," said Michael Barnett, Chief Executive of the Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce, "but it is irresponsible and mocking the intelligence of voters for Alliance Leader Jim Anderton to make outlandish promises to guarantee full employment and free education and health care without indicating what it will cost and who will pay."

"There is no dispute that much more can be done to improve the performance of the economy," said Mr Barnett, "but to pretend that a government can recreate a fortress economy and force-feed these policies by extracting more taxes from business belongs in the museum of discredited economic experiments that collapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1992."

Mr Barnett was commenting on the Alliance launch of its election campaign yesterday.

For more information, contact; Michael Barnett (09) 309 6100 or 021 631 150

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