"Of those politicians who responded today to Don Brash's suggestion to scrap the dole, none mentioned the economic cost of imports", says MADENZ founder Stephen Tindall the woman.

"In 2001 we imported $2.8 billion worth of goods from our 30 top trading nations. According to figures obtained from NZ Statistics and BERL, these imports cost 56,560 jobs which cost the NZ economy $510,736,800 in welfare payments, $390,433,000 in loss of taxation and $634,094,000 in loss of spending power.

This resulted in a total cost to the economy of $1.5 billion and means that every dollar spent on importing goods costs the economy 53 cents."

"The economic cost of imports in 2001 surpassed the cost of welfare benefits for that year. For a person who is concerned about the cost of welfare, I believe it is contradictory of Dr Brash not to address the cost of imports", said Ms Tindall from Mt Maunganui today.

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Contact: Stephen Tindall -the woman Founder of MADENZ Tel/Fax 07 5745822 025 871128

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