Bill English MP
National Party Finance Spokesman
30 October 2008
Mood for change in mood of boardroom
National Party Finance spokesman Bill English says it is clear from the latest Mood of the Boardroom report that the
country’s business leaders agree that a National Government will drive economic growth.
“Regulation and red tape is the No1 issue. National has committed to dealing with red tape and capping the bureaucracy.
Some 92% of the CEOs surveyed believe National has the best policy mix.
“National has been articulating its five point plan for growth. We’ve laid out a costed and funded programme for ongoing
tax cuts. We’ve provided a set of fiscals that demonstrates our commitment to get New Zealand out of deficit sooner and
back on to a path of growth.
“This is in stark contrast to Labour, which has provided no new numbers since the pre-election opening of the books.
Helen Clark has not said how she will pay for the 29 promises she made since the PREFU was released.
“This is reckless. Labour only has a plan to spend other people’s money on desperate election promises. The CEOs agree
that Labour has no plan to grow the economy.”
Mr English says education and training is a critical part of the mix for the future of the economy.
“National will launch a crusade on literacy and numeracy. We have signalled our commitment to more trades training in
schools and national education standards so parents know how their child is doing at school.
“We have committed to reforming the Resource Management Act and the Building Act. We are determined to be more
discipline in the way the Government spends taxpayers’ money and we will cap the Wellington core bureaucracy.
“And National will invest in infrastructure to clear the bottlenecks to growth in our economy, and ensure New Zealand’s
vulnerable are protected from the hard edges of the downturn.
“National has a practical plan. Labour has no plan. They’re out of ideas. They’re far too distracted by the game of
politics and trying to dig up dirt in a desperate attempt to win one last time.”
ENDS