Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
21 AUGUST 2017
‘Desperado Bill’ Pulling Out Political Bribes
Bill English has become ‘Desperado Bill’ pushing the panic button with yet another election bribe, says New Zealand
First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“When he was Finance Minister he shut up the government bank vault as if the money in it was his own; now that he sees
his chances of getting elected going down the gurgler he is pulling out all stops.
“His latest political bribe of giving 600,000 low-income New Zealanders access to $18 GP visits might be sound but it’s
belated since people won’t get anything for four years.
“When National trumpeted under-13 visits would be free the New Zealand public didn’t know at the time that the visits
would be capped.
“That’s why GPs ended up complaining there was only enough government funding to cover 2.2 visits for each child under
13.
“Further confirmation that this latest promise is just an election bribe is that National voted down New Zealand First’s
attempt to get three annual visits to GPs free for SuperGold Cardholders. This would have saved money by keeping seniors
out of hospitals but National wasn’t interested.
“The public won’t be taken in by this latest National Party bribe; they will be wondering what else Bill English will
come up with in his desperation to hold onto power,” says Mr Peters.
ENDS