Cullen Sends Out His Army of Bureaucrats

Thursday 22 Aug 2002

Labour's response to compliance costs is typical and farcical, ACT New Zealand Acting Leader Ken Shirley said today.

"Sending bureaucrats out to businesses to study compliance costs is akin to putting the Association of Panel Beaters in charge of traffic control.

"Excessive and foolish Government regulations are the problem, and their repeal is the only solution.

"Visiting bureaucrats will only add to the frustration confronting small businesses who want nothing more than the removal of Government's clammy hand from their backs.

"Labour is adding to the problem. The bureaucrats will spend hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars flying around the country and wasting the valuable time of struggling small business owners who are desperately trying to make ends meet.

"The biggest headaches among the plethora of red tape are the Employment Relations Act, overbearing workplace regulations, re-nationalised ACC and the Resource Management Act. The red tape is designed by bureaucrats for bureaucrats. All of these problems have been exacerbated under Labour's administration.

"The Government refuses to accept that prosperous businesses need lower taxes and less bureaucracy in their lives. Labour has a glaring lack of business experience - most of its MPs are former teachers and trade unionists with no understanding and little sympathy for running a small business.

"This farcical plan shows how out-of-touch the Government is," Mr Shirley said.

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