Bill English National Party Leader

19 November 2002

National defines principles over breakfast

National Party leader Bill English has launched a wide ranging attack on the Government's politically correct initiatives and outlined his Party's principles at a breakfast meeting in Wellington.

"New Zealand doesn't face a crisis, we face something much more difficult - a gradual erosion of ethics in Government. "We're seeing a creeping incompetence in our public services - debt ridden strike ridden hospitals and school students who can't trust the exam system," Mr English told the Institute of Directors.

He's also used the breakfast to set out what the National Party stands for.

"We stand for enterprise, we stand for personal responsibility.

"We stand for strong families and communities, we stand for freedom and choice, we stand for limited Government.

"We stand for one standard of citizenship - one rule for all and we stand for national and personal security," says Mr English.

Mr English also targeted the Local Government Bill due to be pushed through Parliament under urgency before Christmas.

It paves the way for wider consultation with Maori and special Maori seats on local authorities.

"This is the biggest constitutional change since the introduction of MMP.

"Labour has lost its way on the Treaty of Waitangi.

"The Government can't and won't sort it out so it's passing the job on to your council.

"There is no discussion, no direction, no leadership - just corrosive political correctness."

"The Treaty created one standard of citizenship, the Government is destroying that ideal

"Measures that undermine our democracy must be challenged, they must be tested, and if necessary, changed," Mr English says.

"There's been a slow stifling of political debate - people scared to say what they think because the Government will punish them.

He says the volunteer movement showed how effective it can be when it responded in droves to National's campaign against OSH legislation.

"It looks like we've won a partial back down on this issue and we haven't finished yet," says Mr English.

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