Tuesday, 14 June 2005

Middle New Zealand’s kiwi lifestyle under attack

United Future leader Peter Dunne says the traditional lifestyle enjoyed by middle New Zealand families is under attack and that a vote for his party this year will be a vote for the traditional Kiwi lifestyle.

Speaking to the Karori Rotary Club, Mr Dunne said that silly and petty rules ranging from the crazy new traffic rules about intersections through to planning and building restrictions and the controls on access to the great outdoors were stifling people and overriding the traditional Kiwi values of reasonable common sense

He said mainstream New Zealanders saw the Labour Party as increasingly hostage to vested interest groups, and their “we know best what’s good for you” approach, while National lacked ideas and still seemed trapped in the time warp of the 1990s.

Mr Dunne said that mainstream New Zealanders were largely uncomplaining and just wanted to get on with their lives without having the rules changed all the time, or being told how to behave by the government.

“As in 2002, these voters are looking for a commonsense, moderate alternative to be the lynch pin of the next government, to prevent it having to rely on the erratically populist New Zealand First or extremists like the Greens or the separatist Maori Party.

“The best way of ensuring the next Parliament falls over within three years will be to let any of them near government,” he said.

Mr Dunne said a dirty and petty election campaign was looming – likely to be punctuated by more of the mudslinging, name-calling and reckless allegations that have arisen over the last few months.

“United Future will be standing above all that.

“We will be offering a proven and experienced leadership, capable of bringing people together on the things that unite them, rather than forever dividing them about the things they disagree over.

“We want to rise above the mindless trivia of the present, and the petty intrusions on daily life that have become the hallmark of government over recent years.

“We will never forget that for middle New Zealand, the focus is their family, and their work, so it’s hardly surprising that their preoccupation is with what will be good for them and their families.

“Labour’s new political speak and National’s tired old refrains leave them cold.

“United Future is proposing an agenda for middle New Zealand which deals with their concerns in a straightforward and commonsense way, which we can implement as a full part of the next government,” he said.

Mr Dunne said United Future’s agenda was for:

- Safe and secure communities, with more support for the police and a crackdown on gang earnings from promoting illicit drugs. United Future would increase police numbers to 8700, and toughen the laws against illegal drug use.

- More support for outdoor recreation and high performance sport to promote family and community development. United Future would introduce commonsense conservation policies, including curbing the powers of the Department of Conservation. It would also place a greater emphasis on the development and promotion of high performance sport.

- More recognition for the role of parents, through tax reform and income splitting for parents raising children to boost household incomes and give parents more choices, as a further extension of the Working for Families package. Our tax policy would see the average household up to $163 a week better off.

- Security in retirement for older New Zealanders, with superannuation payments more reflective of cost of living changes. United Future would boost superannuation payments by $10 a week, and would look at abolishing the married rate of superannuation in favour of a single rate for every superannuitant.

- More opportunities for young people, through a reformed student loans scheme to cut current and future student debt levels, through progressively removing the parental income test on students under 25 years of age; rebating the principal of loans by a fixed proportion for each year worked in New Zealand immediately after graduation; and introducing a voluntary savings scheme.

- A new sense of national pride, built around the promotion of national identity and a possible new national day. Tuesday, 14 June 2005

- Stable government, where commonsense has replaced political correctness. United Future has made MMP work by being the first support party to hold together for a full Parliamentary term, and was now ready to play its part as a full member of the next government.

Mr Dunne said that United Future had proven over the last three years that it was firmly in tune with the aspirations of middle New Zealand, and was the only party middle New Zealand could rely on to keep the next government honest and in tune with Kiwi values.

ENDS

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