Blah, bluff and blather
“Rarely have so few waited so long for so little,” said Finance Minister Michael Cullen today of the National Party’s
economic discussion paper, describing it as “an unedifying mixture of blah, bluff and blather.”
“Sloganeering is no substitute for policy. National is going to have to do a lot better than this if it wants to be
taken seriously again as a political player,” he said.
“It is not sufficient to say they are going to improve the education system, reform the benefit system, limit the size
of government, reduce compliance costs, etc, etc, etc. They have to specify how they intend to do this.
“Their failure to do so is due to one of two things: Either they are still dithering over whether they should compete
for votes on the right or in the centre or – and this is much more likely – they are embarrassed that they have nothing
new to offer and are reduced to regurgitating the discredited policies of the 1990s,” Dr Cullen said.