The Deputy Prime Minister appears to be pushing ahead with an implementation unit without any idea of what that unit will actually deliver, Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly says.

“It remains unclear what this implementation unit will actually do, other than add another layer of taxpayer-funded bureaucracy to the public service in Wellington. Grant Robertson didn’t have any satisfying answers when quizzed about this in Parliament today.

“If the Deputy Prime Minister isn’t sure where to start, National has a few ideas. How about Labour’s KiwiBuild disaster, which was supposed to have delivered 16,000 houses by June but has only managed about 870.

“Labour could also do something about the light rail debacle in Auckland that was meant to be up and running between the CBD and Mt Roskill by now but hasn’t even started.

“There’s also the housing shortage, the Government’s failure to lift 100,000 children out of poverty, as promised, and poor delivery on mental health that could do with some attention.

“The reality is, this implementation unit is a big vote of no confidence by Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson in the ability of Labour’s other Cabinet Ministers to do their jobs properly.

“The Key and English governments did not need an implementation unit to get things done, nor did the Helen Clark-led Labour Government either. They pushed their Ministers to do their jobs properly.

“Perhaps if Grant Robertson had established this unit back in 2017, Labour’s big election promises wouldn’t be in such tatters now.”

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