Todd McClay - Economic Development

2 July 2019

The Government’s lack of an economic plan is driving down business confidence and two newly released ‘strategies’ offer no solutions, National’s Economic Development, Trade and Tourism Spokesperson Todd McClay says.

“The Government released the two documents today around innovation and productivity, yet they do nothing to address the causes of a slowing economy and reducing productivity. Business and industry are right to be disappointed by this.

“To drive innovation and productivity, the Government needs to address the problems caused by their own anti-growth policies and create certainty for the business sector.

“Policies that restrict foreign investment, ban industries from operating, make our labour market less flexible and put a handbrake on our economy need urgent attention.

“For instance the horticulture and agriculture sectors need skilled and unskilled labour now to get their products to overseas markets. The New Zealand economy cannot afford to wait decades for technological advancements, it needs real and actual solutions from the government urgently.

“In contrast, National has proposed an ambitious plan to grow our export market through new trade deals and targets in our International Affairs Discussion Document.

“We proposed a new agritech fund to boost technology in the primary sector in our Primary Industries Discussion Document.

“National has committed to indexing tax brackets with the cost of living, ensuring that Kiwis are no longer taxed by stealth.

“National will also be releasing our Economic Discussion Document later this year which will propose a range of ideas to continue to boost productivity, add jobs, and grow our economy.

“These are the kind of ideas that help to grow our economy, support our innovators, and ensure that Kiwis can keep more of what they earn.”

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