Category: Political Parties

Source: National Party – Headline: Government back-flipping worthy of Gold

The Prime Minister and her Housing Minister have been left red-faced and scrambling to explain critical statements Ms Ardern made when in Opposition about plans to build thousands of houses on the Unitec Site in Auckland.

“When reminded of Jacinda Ardern’s statements last year criticising the suitability of the Unitec Site for the then planned 2,600 dwellings, Phil Twyford could not address the concerns raised by his boss.

“When the National Government first announced this major housing development for the Mt Albert electorate, the local MP, Jacinda Ardern, told media ‘there are questions around what kind of urban design will that project have; will it have an effect on traffic; will it overflow our schools?’

“Poor old Phil Twyford had to cover for his leader, telling Parliament that Ms Ardern has been continuously supportive of the Unitec development and she was ‘excited for her constituents about the investment in their community’.

“It’s extraordinary that Ms Ardern was concerned about National’s proposals for 2600 houses, yet seems fully in support of Mr Twyford’s plans for up to 4000 houses on the very same site.

“Jacinda Ardern and Phil Twyford are back-flipping like Olympians – and going for Gold,” Ms Collins says.

Source: National Party – Headline: Inquiry into Hit and Run allegations unnecessary

An inquiry into the allegations raised in the book Hit and Run undermines our Defence Force, risks New Zealand’s relationship with its defence allies and is ultimately an expensive waste of tax-payer money, National’s Defence spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

“The Government needs to be very clear about what has influenced it to launch an Inquiry.

“I was alarmed to hear the Attorney General say that ‘continuing controversy’ around the Operation has played a role in his decision. This suggests he has been swayed by a vocal lobby, instead of the facts,” Mr Mitchell says.

“Two of the National Government’s Defence Ministers and the former Prime Minister have already reviewed New Zealand Defence Force evidence of what led to, and occurred, during Operation Burnham in the Baghlan province in Afghanistan.

“Much of it was highly classified and some of it was provided by our international partners in a mark of respect to the NZDF and the New Zealand Government. There was no requirement for them to share this information.

“The evidence shows the basis for the operation met all legal requirements and that it was conducted with the highest level of professionalism.

“Based on the evidence we saw in Government, and the responses to our questions, this Inquiry is unwarranted.

“This was not a political position that we took. Rather, as Ministers of the Crown we acted on the basis of extensive advice and briefings from NZDF who made the same commitments to us as they did publicly.

“Assuming the NZDF has shown this Government the same information they shared with us, I cannot see a basis for an inquiry.

“It will only be a distraction to our Defence Forces at a time when the Government is asking them to engage in major deployments around the world in theaters that present the same risks and challenges that Afghanistan did,” Mr Mitchell says.

Source: National Party – Headline: Minister cancels irrigation projects without meeting CIIL

Communities relying on regional irrigation schemes to grow their economies will be outraged to hear that some have been cancelled without the Minister for Agriculture ever meeting with Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (CIIL), National’s Agricultural spokesperson Nathan Guy says.

“Following questions in Parliament yesterday the Minister, Damien O’Connor, embarrassingly has had to correct the official record.

“He has now conceded that he has never met with CIIL officials in his capacity as minister.

“I find this extraordinary, following last week’s announcement that three proposed irrigation schemes, Hunter Downs in South Canterbury, Hurunui in North Canterbury and Flaxbourne in Marlborough have had their funding cancelled.

“It’s a real shock that in the six months he has held this vital portfolio, he hasn’t bothered to invite CIIL officials to his office.

“This lack of engagement leads me to believe that the Government has been fast and loose with its judgement about whether they have honoured existing funding commitments.

“The Crown has legal and moral obligations with many of these projects – especially Hunter Downs where $40 million has been raised locally and investment term sheets had been offered by CIIL. If this isn’t a commitment then I don’t know what is.

“Damien O’Connor is obviously hamstrung by a Finance Minister who has realised Labour over-promised during the election campaign and now can’t deliver on those promises. Put simply, after splashing out billions for free tertiary education, there is no more money in the kitty for things like irrigation and water storage projects.

“That’s further evidenced by comments he made to The Country radio show that ‘we support water storage and we understand the value of water for productions systems but we’re just putting a brake on this saying, no – there’s other priority areas for that money at this time’.

“Farming communities are being punished by a Coalition that, in one breath, says it supports the regions but, in the next, is pandering to the Greens and their hatred of irrigation.

“National will continue to hold this wobbly Labour-Greens-New Zealand First Coalition to account and pushing it hard to treat our rural communities better,” Mr Guy says. 

Source: National Party – Headline: Government should commit to rural communities

National is urging the Government to support the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) with ongoing funding, National Party associate spokesperson for Health Dr Shane Reti and National Party spokesperson for Rural Communities Matt King say.

“National recognises that rural communities in New Zealand have different needs and face special challenges, especially when it comes to accessing health services,” Dr Reti says.

“We support the RHAANZ’s request for ongoing operating funding outside their existing contracts to ensure that rural communities have access to the services that they need.

“RHAANZ provides information, advocacy and solutions to issues that affect the health and wellbeing of rural communities. It also provides access to vital support for rural mental health including suicide prevention workshops and clinical champions in mental health.

“The Minister of Rural Communities Damien O’Connor and Minister of Health David Clark’s reluctance to commit to RHAANZ shows that they have no understanding of the challenges involved in providing health care in rural communities.”

National Party spokesperson for Rural Communities Matt King says that it is greatly concerning that the RHAANZ may be forced to begin the wind-down process within the next fortnight.

“We understand the funding bid was put to the Minister of Rural Communities Damien O’Connor and Minister of Health David Clark last November and to date RHAANZ have heard nothing,” Mr King says.

“RHAANZ provides support to around 600,000 New Zealanders and we encourage the Ministers to confirm that they will fund RHAANZ urgently.

“At the moment we are unsure what will happen to the RHAANZ’s 16 regional mental health clinical champions and medical director who help rural communities to access professional mental health services, as well as the RHAANZ’s general function to identify and resource solutions for rural health.

“The Health Minister is also refusing to confirm his support of a School of Rural Medicine, which a National-led Government had committed to establish within three years.

“This coalition Government claims to be the champion of regional and rural New Zealand but delaying any commitment to RHAANZ does not support this claim.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Govt in spin mode on education funding

The Government needs to stop complaining and start getting on with its job, National’s Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“Labour inherited a strong economy from the previous National Government, but it over promised during the election campaign and now it’s learning that its budget is too tight.

“In order to manage expectations about the meagre Budget the Government is about to deliver, it appears Education Minister Chris Hipkins is trying to rewrite history.

“But the fact is, under National the education budget increased every year we were in office and the overall education budget went from $8 billion to over $11 billion.

“When we came into government, we inherited a property portfolio with an average age of 40 years. There was no complete picture of the state of school property.

“We invested more than $5 billion in school property alone – the largest ever. This included more than 30 big projects including the $1.1 billion Christchurch schools rebuild, the $79 million Western Springs College rebuild and the $22 million upgrade for The Gardens School.

“The Auditor-General last year stated that during the time National was in Government, the management of the school property portfolio strengthened significantly.

“But we knew there was still more work to be done. That’s why a further $4.85 billion had been set aside over four years for education infrastructure, like school property.

“We were also investing in high-growth areas. Once Budget 2017 is taken into account, we were on track to deliver around 21,000 extra student places needed in Auckland by 2027.

“Mr Hipkins should release evidence to back up his claim of $200 million worth of unusable buildings. If he is suggesting school buildings are unsafe, there are potential legal consequences under health and safety laws.

“This is a government in spin mode. It allocated almost all its money to the fees free bribe, and none to the business-as-usual expenditure that always comes up in education. It just needs to get on with the job.”