Wednesday, 2 March 2005

Dunne: That 'giving feeling' - more than sharing a joint

Promoting civics education and then slamming moves to encourage volunteer work all in the same morning show the Greens are maintaining their usual standards of intellectual rigour, United Future leader Peter Dunne said today.

"Nandor Tanczos seems to have a problem with giving a small incentive to those graduates who wish to contribute to society through volunteer work - will a bunch of people now knock down the doors of charities? No. But those who already do will get a bit of real recognition of their generosity.

"Admittedly, it's probably not an area that the stoners who form his core constituency would naturally gravitate towards, but there are people out there who truly embrace a civic spirit that the Greens clearly have no real understanding of.

"Oh, and for Mr Tanczos's benefit, if volunteers were paid, they would cease to be volunteers - a small but important point to grasp," Mr Dunne said. "And point two, the policy clearly targets graduates, rather than students."

"United Future successfully lobbied the Government to increase eligibility for student allowances in the last Budget. The Greens voted against it. More facts you won't get from Mr Tanczos.

"I trust he and Meyts are still partying hard at the taxpayers' expense," Mr Dunne said.

ENDS

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