New documents show the Government’s band-aid cost of living payment was a shambles from start to finish, reaching 700,000 fewer people than promised while being paid out to tens of thousands of people living overseas, says National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis.

“When the cost of living payment was announced, the Government said 2.1 million people would be paid. Today Inland Revenue has confirmed only 1.35 million people actually received it.

“In classic Labour fashion, the Government promised much more than it actually delivered, with 700,00 fewer people receiving the payment than hoped.

“Adding insult to injury, the payment was made to 75,000 people living overseas, with this error not being properly fixed until the final instalment payment.

“When errors were identified with the payment in August, David Parker sought to downplay the problems saying only 1 per cent of the payments had been paid in error. Thanks to National’s questions and the probing by the Auditor-General, we now know the error rate was around six times higher than the Minister first claimed.

“The reactive policy was put together in a scrambled rush, with none of the care and attention to detail that taxpayers have a right to expect. The result is that millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted.

“Basic steps to match data with Customs and screen out ineligible people were only taken following Opposition questions and an intervention from the Auditor-General.

“Ministers can’t blame officials for this - they were warned of implementation risks, but ignored them and charged ahead regardless.

“The payment was never anything but a band-aid on the cost of living crisis. While the payment has now ended, rapidly rising prices remain making life tough for Kiwis. The Government has failed to address underlying drivers of inflation by bringing discipline to its own spending, fixing worker shortages and reducing costs.

“New Zealanders are once again paying the price for Labour’s failure to deliver.”

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