"Helen Clark's silly comments about Air New Zealand and Ansett Australia have - yet again - shown her complete lack of business acumen," says National's Finance spokesman David Carter.

Mr Carter says the Prime Minister's ill-informed remarks in Australia about Ansett's demise shows that she just can't help herself - despite her evident deficiency in understanding how business works.

"Last year, Ms Clark's loose lips during the collapse of Ansett and the public revelation of Air New Zealand's financial perils led to Air New Zealand's shares being suspended from trading and earning her a stern rebuke from the Securities Commission.

"Now Helen Clark - whose entire business know-how consists of reading about it at either university or Parliament - has run off at the mouth in the Australian media arrogantly apportioning where the blame should lie for Air New Zealand's decline and Ansett's ill-fated downfall."

Mr Carter says it's time the Prime Minister and her Government learnt that the best thing they can do is let business get on with the job.

"Ms Clark and her colleagues should be concentrating on lowering tax, reducing regulatory costs and fixing the mounting problems in the public education and health sectors.

"Instead, it excels in making silly comments, holding pointless, taxpayer-funded talkfests on what Government thinks business should be doing and renationalising assets which most astute commentators find questionable," Mr Carter concluded.

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