“I challenge Helen Clark and Jim Anderton to come to Otara and explain to the Rangatira Trust and other Community Taskforce schemes why these highly successful programmes will be axed under a Labour-Alliance government”, said ACT Leader Hon Richard Prebble at ACT’s Welfare to Work policy launch today.

“The ACT party has come out today to Otara to the Rangatira Trust, a programme that has been running successfully for more than 10 years. This Trust sets itself the goal of giving a practical hand-up to people that politicians have written-off with a welfare cheque. These people don’t want welfare, what they want is a real job and the respect that comes with being self-sufficient.

“It’s a shame that Labour and the Alliance only talk about Otara but don’t actually have the guts to front up to these people who are desperately in need of work.

“Frankly, it would be good if every Community Taskforce scheme had a graffiti-busting bus like the Rangatira Trust’s, which has literally wiped away Otara’s violent and depressing past. Through persistence and hard work this Trust has not only actively helped the unemployed and young people, but it has also changed the community as a whole.

“I predict that if Labour and the Alliance form a government we will see the rise of graffiti and gang crime, and Otara will be returned to a state of hopelessness”, said ACT

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