Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
27 Feb 2012

Welfare Changes Wont Solve Problems – Peters

Rt Hon Winston Peters says the welfare changes announced today are feeble and amount to “whistling in the wind” because they do nothing to improve the economy or create jobs.

“When state-owned companies like Air New Zealand outsource jobs to China and the government itself plans to create overseas call centres rather than employ New Zealanders, you know they don’t care about Kiwis.

“Since this government took office in 2008 an extra 65,000 people have gone on benefits.

“National has been acting like the ‘international’ party and have sent thousands of local jobs offshore.

“The prime minister’s statement that people must be ‘work available’ is nonsense in a country where hundreds of job losses are announced every week.

“The new measures have been designed by rich people to keep the poor and downtrodden in their place at the bottom of the heap,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Government's Assault On Maori

This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Audrey Young in the NZ Herald has compiled a useful list of the many ways Christopher Luxon plans to roll back the progress made in race relations over the past forty years. He has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. More