“Jacinda Ardern’s focus on inequality is all talk and she’s failing by the measures she set herself before she became Prime Minister,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“In 2016, a year before she became Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern told Parliament that “the final nail in the coffin for inequality in New Zealand, 40 percent of New Zealanders have 3 percent of the wealth … the fact that this has even occurred in New Zealand is a marker of political failure”.

“Inequality has increased under this Government. According to 2018 data the bottom 50 percent of New Zealanders own only 2 percent of the country’s assets.

“Not only has she not improved the lives of our most vulnerable New Zealanders, they are worse off under her leadership.

“This is what happens when you implement policies that sound kind but you haven’t done the work to find out if they will actually improve people’s lives.

“Her Government’s housing policies are a classic example. When you pile cost and compliance onto landlords it’s ultimately the tenants who end up paying, the people who can least afford it.

“Grant Robertson said in 2016 "The big driver in asset inequality is the family home. National's inability to solve the housing crisis is locking a generation out of home ownership."

“It’s only got worse with him as Finance Minister.

“Jacinda Ardern and her Government need to stop thinking of policies as a marketing exercise and start working on policies that will improve the lives of all New Zealanders.

“ACT’s Budget for the Battlers would be a good place for them start. ACT will implement a middle income tax cut. We will cut the 30 percent marginal tax rate to 17.5 percent. We will reverse the 39 percent tax rate and we will reverse the Government’s interest deductibility change.

"The average earner will get between $1286 and $2107 in their pocket a year from tax cuts. A copy of our Budget can be found here.”

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