It’s been three years and despite many, many questions, New Zealanders still have no idea whether the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has created the jobs it was intended to, National’s Regional Economic Development spokesperson Michael Woodhouse says.

“Despite claiming a number of times the Provincial Growth Fund would see 10,000 jobs created, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has admitted he has no idea how many jobs his $3 billion pet project has created.

“Even if Shane Jones’ heroic projection of 10,000 jobs is realised, it will come at a cost to taxpayers of about $300,000 per job. This is incredibly poor value for money for taxpayers.

“But not only that, Shane Jones has turned out to be too incompetent to even to hand free taxpayers’ cash to his pet projects. So far, for every dollar committed, just 12.9 cents has been paid out. Even Shane Jones has admitted this is a ‘treacle-riddled process’.

“It’s clear that since the Provincial Growth Fund began, Shane Jones has been far more interested in crusading around the country making bold claims than he has been in following up with the projects taxpayers have funded.

“Jobs are precious, especially in the uncertain economic times we are currently facing. Shane Jones should be well involved in the PGF and know exactly how many jobs have been created.”

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