Don Brash MP National Party Leader

23 November 2005

Confidence hit by Labour's missing growth formula

National Party Leader Don Brash says Labour's starting to feel the public backlash from its total failure to adopt policies which will lift living standards in the long-term.

"The fact that business confidence has slumped to a 17-year low should be ringing alarm bells on the ninth floor. This isn't a blip as Michael Cullen claims. Other polls are reflecting the trend.

"The indicators are beginning to turn on the Labour Party, which has coasted along on the back of a buoyant global economy. Now the roadblocks it has erected to growth are beginning to take their toll," says Dr Brash.

Other indicators, like the slump in immigration over the past year and the rising number of Kiwis moving to Australia, are also very telling, with the potential to have a long-term impact on our skills gap.

"Michael Cullen continues to resist the best advice. Both the Reserve Bank and Treasury have warned Labour about its profligate, unproductive spending, particularly in the state sector, while Treasury has urged a reduction in the tax rates which inhibit growth.

"Yet Labour has ignored the advice, choosing instead to send all the wrong signals to the most productive members of our community.

"Labour's loans scheme encourages students to borrow the maximum and repay the minimum, and its middle income welfare package provides a disincentive for those who try to get ahead through their own efforts.

"The RMA continues to stall important infrastructural projects, and yet again Kiwis are being warned about the possibility of a looming winter energy crisis.

"Given all these factors, Labour can't be surprised about the slump in confidence. Their chickens are coming home to roost," says Dr Brash.

ENDS

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