Jo Moir
Wellington, May 17, 2020
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has hit back at the opposition’s “cynical politics” after they called her government’s $50 billion Covid Rescue Package an election bribe.
In her first public appearance in eight weeks, Ardern visited a state housing worksite in Petone, near Wellington, to meet and speak to construction workers the day after her government delivered its election-year Budget.
The Budget laid out an initial $16 billion of spending, and with $14 billion already been allocated, that left about $20 billion untagged.
Cynical politics
National Party Leader Simon Bridges criticised the $20 billon of unspent money, saying it was an election bribe four months out from New Zealanders heading to the polls.
She said Bridges’ criticism was just “cynical politics” and the whole point of the recovery package was to grow jobs and support struggling industries, like the tourism sector.
“It is called a Covid Response and Recovery Fund – and that is what it’s for,’’ she said.
National Deputy Leader and Campaign Chair Paula Bennett added her voice to Bridges’, saying that the pool of cash was simply campaign bribes.
‘Daily Propaganda’
“With the country now at Level 2, there should be a level of respect for all political parties entering into the campaign period. The daily broadcasts have gone from important health information to a party-political broadcast and ads on TV that feature Ministers are no longer appropriate,’’ she said.
With four months to go until the election, attention is turning to policy, particularly around tax with debt looking set to jump by about $140 billion in the next four years.
That has to be paid back one day.
No tax hikes
There were no tax hikes at all in yesterday’s Budget, but Finance Minister Grant Robertson would not say if they could come in a second term.
“Clearly, there is always a discussion about tax at an election and we will release our policy, other parties in the government coalition will release theirs. The National Party will release theirs and we will have that debate then,’’ he said.
Ardern said that she had no appetite to put up tax, and any such suggestion was scaremongering.
“Know us by our deeds and what you have seen in response to Covid is us actually putting in place packages that give back to business, rather than take,’’ she said.
Jo Moir is Political Reporter at Radio New Zealand. The above Report and Picture have been published under a Special Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz
