“The country is waiting nervously for today’s OCR announcement, which is going to be bad, terrible or disastrous,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Because this Government can’t control its spending, it’s not a question of “if” we’re going to feel more pain, it’s a matter of when.”

“After getting whacked with a 50-basis point hike last month, most Kiwis will be hoping for a pause in the punishment. But the pain is still there.

“Householders who have re-fixed their mortgage recently are feeling the hurt, with the number who are behind on their mortgage repayments up 26 per cent on last year.

“Thanks to this Government’s failure to find savings to offset their massive increase in spending, rates are going to go higher and stay there longer. People re-fixing their mortgages from now on will get a massive shock, businesses will struggle under higher interest rates and even Councils are feeling the effect and are having to trim their spending.

“Contrast with Australia where the Government is in surplus and their OCR is at 3.85 percent. Was this budget just another part of our Government’s efforts to encourage more Kiwis to make Australia home?

“Labour should have taken a leaf from ACT’s book and found savings from wasteful or unnecessary spending to fund their increases.

“Our Alternative Budget, A Time For Truth, would cut $38 billion in spending over four years, without touching frontline services, and let people keep more of what they earn with a two-rate tax system – 17.5 and 28 per cent. If you’re a nurse on $70,000, our tax cuts let you keep $2,500 more a year.

“Our alternative budget attacks wasteful government spending by shrinking the bureaucracy. It reduces the number of public servants and removes whole departments that add no value for the public.

“We can’t afford to be staring down the barrel of 10 per cent mortgage rates. Only ACT has a fully costed alternative to Labour’s blowout budget that would stop inflation dead.”

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