Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
31 MAY 2017

Glib Talk Can’t Mask Reliance on Immigration

New Zealand First questions the National government’s claims over the economy.

“The reliance on mass immigration is propping up GDP, which in reality is less than 1 per cent,” says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Finance Minister Steven Joyce suggested in Parliament today that this assumption is wonky, and glibly claims the OECD and others support his exaggerated claims on economic driving factors.

“Clearly he hasn’t read the OECD forecast summary issued at the end of last year.

“It says ‘both net migration and expenditure on the Canterbury earthquake rebuild are expected to slow gradually, slowing domestic demand, especially construction activity.

“The report also points to the ‘challenges posed by inequalities and exclusion’ and says the government should fund infrastructure and increased funding to address these problems.

“Why hasn’t the National government, over nine years, tackled those problems, and allowed them to become so extreme the OECD has been forced to comment.

“This is hardly an economy which Mr Joyce describes as ‘going a little too quickly’.

“Under National we have had: low real GDP growth; low real GDP per capita; stagnant wages; productivity down; manufacturing down; and output GDP forecasts down for almost 10 years.”

ENDS

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