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Imaginary jobs, real problems
Friday 20 May 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Imaginary
jobs, real problems
“The budget offers nothing of
substance to the people of the Otaki electorate,” says
Otaki Labour candidate Peter Foster. “This government has
no plan for jobs and no plan to grow the economy. While the
estimates of 170,000 extra jobs are nice, they are purely
speculative wishful thinking. Even right leaning political
and business leaders are in general agreement with
this.”
“This budget is particularly hard for the
people in my Otaki electorate where median personal and
family incomes are lower than the national median, where the
number of pensioners in our electorate is almost twice that
of the New Zealand average and where unemployment is higher
than the New Zealand average.
“These are the people
who fared worse in the unjust tax cuts of last year with 40%
of the tax cut benefiting New Zealand’s top 10% of income
earners. These tax cuts were both unaffordable and
inequitable and they too have contributed significantly to
the debt crisis we now face."
“This government has
us facing a 16.7 billion dollar deficit. When Labour left
office government debt was at an all time low, and if the
Cullen Super Fund was included in the calculations then New
Zealand was actually in surplus. Yes, there have been issues
to deal with but they only account for part of the problem
and this government’s economic mismanagement has us now
borrowing $380 million a week.”
“Getting both
government and private debt sorted is critical and to do
that requires more than just balancing the books by slashing
public services and selling state assets; it requires a plan
for jobs and a plan for growth. This government has no
plan.”
“One of my passions is helping young
people, be it as a Youth Court lawyer or a college board of
trustee member. In this capacity I see the importance for
young people in being involved in either earning or
learning. This budget does nothing for young people in
terms of jobs. The Youth Employment Package recently
announced was allocated $55 million. Half of this will go
to courses such as the limited volunteer service course. I
have had many clients from the Otaki electorate attend this
course and while it may help them for the 6 weeks they are
on it, it doesn’t give them the skills based training that
they need to get a job. The other half of the $55 million
which is spent on skills based training only returns half of
the money that was cut from industry training by National
last
year.”
ends
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