National 'doesn’t have a clue'
Saturday 14 August 2011
Press statement for immediate release
Young Labour’s Welfare spokesperson Rory McCourt called today’s welfare policy released by National “an out of touch,
misguided attempt to penalise a small number of independent young people for a completely unrelated problem –youth
unemployment.”
“It is a leap of logic to assume that youth unemployment would fall due to the creation of a big-brotheresque card that
prevents 16 and 17 year old New Zealanders from buying products which they are already prohibited from purchasing”
“While Young Labour agrees that the Government has a role in reducing cigarette and alcohol consumption by underage
people, we question whether this policy will have any impact on improving youth health or wealth. It will impact 15,000
young people at most, while there are up to 80,000 youth unemployed.”
“Young Labour argues that if the Government is really committed to reducing welfare dependency and making young people
healthier, Key and his colleagues should work on creating jobs, lifting wages and cutting the cost of fresh fruit and
vegetables.”
Ella Hardy, Young Labour president added that “the real issue here is youth unemployment, something that the government
has failed at fixing. And this policy is their final nail in this area. It shows they haven’t got a clue.”
“If jobs are the problem, then create jobs. Don’t pretend that this punitive policy will be effective. It won’t.”
Rory concluded “If this is their solution, then young people have no future in New Zealand.”
ENDS