“Is that it?”

That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today.

“Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said.

“It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning that he was playing cat and mouse with people. This is typical election year game playing from National.

“It was quite clear today that National has no new ideas. He just repeated buzz-words and tired old lines. The speech was vague and empty, and relentlessly negative.

“New Zealanders have moved on. The very first question he faced from the audience was about climate change. The fact that Simon Bridges didn’t talk about climate change during a major speech on the economy was deafening.

“Simon Bridges has made one thing clear in the last 24 hours – he is set to keep creating the same problems we are having to fix now. He is promising tax cuts without saying what services he will cut, and one of his first targets is to cut support for the homeless.

“Meanwhile, we’re getting on with dealing with the issues that matter to New Zealanders. The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern began the year by announcing major infrastructure investments in New Zealand’s roads, rail, hospitals and schools.

“We’re proud of our record. Unemployment is at 4% - well below the 4.7% we inherited. Wages have been rising at their fastest rate in a decade, at twice the rate of inflation, and our economy is growing faster than the countries we compare ourselves to,” Grant Robertson said.

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