“Prime Minister Chris Hipkins appears to be confused about which country he’s leading,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. In recent weeks his government has spent $10,000 advertising in Australia to promote the benefits of living there and given highly two highly profitable Aussie companies a massive corporate handout.

“In return, Kiwis get high inflation, high interest rates and a worsening cost of living crisis. Or in other words, even more encouragement to move to Australia.”

“Aussie company Chemist Warehouse recently claimed to have saved Kiwis $42m in five years by paying the $5 prescription charge. Thanks to Labour’s corporate welfare, that money can now go straight out of the country and into their bottom line. It would have been much better spent helping GPs to deliver their services.”

“Days later, Labour handed $140 million to Aussie company Bluescope, which made $2.85 billion profit, to help them reduce emissions. Not only could Bluescope afford to do the work on its own, at the same time it is in the final stages of considering investment in a new blast furnace in Australia that will burn coal for the next 20 years. Taking $140 million to reduce emissions in New Zealand while still burning coal in Australia is just perverse. It’s the same atmosphere!”

“By pumping this corporate welfare and all the other budget spending into the economy without finding matching savings, the Government is giving Kiwis a massive kick in the guts, in the form of higher interest rates, inflation and a worsening cost of living crisis.”

“It’s not even a week after the budget and already leading economists are forecasting a half a percent rise in the OCR this week,” said Seymour. “Whether or not that happens this Wednesday, I fear that we’ll be heading for 10% floating interest rate in the near future, something that will be devastating for the average New Zealander.”

“Our only hope as a country is to get real change this election. Only a Government that includes ACT will have the willpower to put its bloated spending on a much needed diet,” he said.

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