Category: Political Parties

Source: National Party – Headline: National delegation show of support at Field Days

National Party leader Simon Bridges is heading a large delegation of National Party MPs in a show of support for rural communities at this year’s Central District’s Field Days event in Feilding.   

Mr Bridges will be joined by local MP Ian McKelvie and Primary Industries spokesperson Nathan Guy today. MPs Barbara Kuriger, Alastair Scott, Harete Hipango, Matt Doocey, Tim Van de Molen, Lawrence Yule and incoming MP Nicola Willis will all be on hand over the coming days to celebrate the event’s 25^th year.

“With over 550 exhibitors and over 25,000 visitors this is one of New Zealand’s largest regional agricultural events and is an important showcase for the primary productions sector.

“We recognise that farmers and growers are feeling the pressure of all the uncertainty the new Government is heaping on the sector.

“The Government is holding back regional New Zealand through its opposition to irrigation and water storage projects – all of which help grow jobs, boost exports and provide environmental sustainability.

“The Primary Growth Partnership has not only been frozen, but has been raided to the tune of $17 million to fund an unnecessary rebrand of MPI, at the expense of vitally important research and development funding.

“And for those farmers dealing with the spread of the cattle disease Mycoplasma Bovis, MPI has been forced to go cap-in-hand to industry to fund its containment – with no commitment to actually eradicate it.

“The Manawatu-Whanganui region is one of the regions the National Government backed through its 2016 Economic Action Plan.

“The Plan aimed to build on the region’s strengths in primary production and food innovation, and benefit modelling carried out by NZIER estimated the primary sector opportunities alone would have the potential to increase regional GDP by around $580 million by 2025.

“With the new Government largely ignoring the sector, National intends to continue to support an area so vital to New Zealand’s ongoing economic success,” Mr Bridges says.  

Source: National Party – Headline: Air Force not a taxi service for its Minister

Defence Minister Ron Mark has some serious questions to answer over what appears to be totally inappropriate use of NZDF aircraft, National’s Defence spokesman Mark Mitchell says.

“Official Information shows Air Force NH-90 helicopters and a B200 King Air aircraft have repeatedly been diverted to Mr Mark’s hometown, Masterton, apparently to ferry the minister from his home to events around the country and back again,” Mr Mitchell says.

“There is no Royal New Zealand Air Force base in Masterton, which suggests the aircraft are being sent from Ohakea Air Base for the Minister’s personal convenience.

“Mr Mark has even used an NH90 to travel from Masterton to Waiouru and back in the same day – a three hour trip each way by car. Why did he not save the taxpayer the cost and the NZDF the time and use a much cheaper Crown car instead? It’s happening so regularly locals are asking questions about it.

“At a time when the Defence Force is being asked to do more than ever before, while also being asked to tighten its belt and brace for a funding cut it is appalling that the Minister of Defence is using the Air Force as a personal taxi service.

“I want to know why the Minister has either requested this service, or refused to decline it, as he would have known there is no way the flying hours, fuel and cost could be justified.

“This is an incredibly inappropriate use of Defence resources, and I am sure the public would be interested to know why the Minister is opting to use already stretched Defence assets rather than the Ministerial Crown Cars that are available to him.

“Mr Mark needs to front and explain why he thinks his personal convenience is the most appropriate use of taxpayer funded defence resources,” Mr Mitchell says.

Source: National Party – Headline: Ardern-Peters Govt needs to stand alongside UK

The Prime Minister needs to join Australia and others and immediately take a stand alongside the UK in the wake of the military-grade nerve agent attack on UK soil, National’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Todd McClay says.

“Following the use of a Russian produced nerve agent in an attempted execution of a British citizen the UK is calling on its friends and allies to join it in taking action against Russia.

“The attack has left a former Russian spy and his daughter in a critical condition and others hospitalised.

“This is an appalling, violent breach of the sovereignty of one of New Zealand’s closest friends. The evidence points to Russian responsibility and the Ardern-Peters Government must join the likes of the European Union, the US and Australia in expressing its support of the UK in the strongest possible terms.

“Foreign Minister Winston Peters is fast earning himself an international reputation as an apologist for Russia and his inexplicable push for a free trade agreement is raising questions and concerns among our closest partners – and threatening our own trade agenda.

“The Prime Minister needs to shut him down and start showing some leadership to our friends and allies.

“This Ardern-Peters Government is continuing to put its personal biases ahead of the national interest and that must stop.”

Source: National Party – Headline: GDP figures show Government must nurture growth

The Government needs to be careful with its economic policy settings as Stats NZ figures show growth slowed slightly at the end of last year, National Party Finance Spokesperson Amy Adams says.

“While growth for the year is a respectable 2.9 per cent, that is significantly slower than the 4 per cent experienced in the 2016 year, and the 3.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent in the two years before that,” Ms Adams says.

“We saw a slight slowing of growth in the end of last year, as weather and policy uncertainty started to take a little bit of the shine off the New Zealand story. It’s worrying that growth has slowed in the fisheries, forestry and agriculture sectors.

“The Government needs to take notice and be careful that its economic policy settings don’t put a handbrake on New Zealand over the next few years at the very time the world economy is picking up speed.

“Labour’s policies in areas like international investment, employment relations, and immigration could all combine negatively to restrict the capacity of New Zealand businesses to grow and succeed. That would be a major missed opportunity for our country and its prosperity.

“The benefits of having growth almost continuously over the last seven years is apparent in a range of areas.

“As we saw yesterday we have reduced out international debt from 84 per cent of GDP down to 52.8 per cent of GDP over the last nine years. That’s a huge contribution to New Zealand’s economic sovereignty.

“And the strong Government books have flowed through into opportunities for increased investment like the initiatives in child poverty in last year’s budget which were largely picked up by the new Government.

“Now is not the time to put barriers in the way of growth. We have experienced what it is like to have a Government focused on the economic strength of our country. The new Government needs to make sure it doesn’t allow the opportunities we have as a country to drift away.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Hipkins’ ideology could cost taxpayers $42m a year

Education Minister Chris Hipkins’ unilateral decision to prevent parents from sending their children to school before the age of five as part of cohort entry could cost taxpayers up to $42 million more a year, National’s Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye has revealed.

“Yet again Mr Hipkins has rushed through an ideological policy without working through the detail or potential cost to taxpayers, and it’s come back to bite him,” Ms Kaye says.

“Last year he announced that he would be changing the law around cohort entry to stop parents being able to send their kids to school prior to their fifth birthday, before receiving any briefings on the issue and without going through the proper Cabinet process.

“Information released under the OIA shows Mr Hipkins only received a memo about the costs of his new policy after he had already announced his decision. It is clear he didn’t give his Cabinet colleagues the full picture of potential costs, which could add up to hundreds of millions over the next few years.

“The memo shows that the Ministry of Education estimates there will be between $5 million and $50 million each year in costs to pay for kids to be in early childhood education for longer, given they will no longer be able to start school early. This is up to $42 million more than it would cost to implement the current policy.

“While it is unlikely that costs will reach $50 million each year because this would require 100 per cent uptake of cohort entry, it is reasonable to assume they could be tens of millions of dollars given the support shown by schools and parents for cohort entry – and that’s without counting the cost to parents of forcing them to keep kids in early childhood education for longer.

“The irresponsible and arrogant manner in which Mr Hipkins made his decision meant that his colleagues weren’t made aware of the potential $42 million annual cost before he announced it.

“This follows his Government’s decision to give $2.8 billion to students for free tertiary education before doing the work needed to ensure that the money would be spent wisely. Now we have a situation where $38 million will be wasted on university dropouts.

“I suspect Mr Hipkins will be steering clear of Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who has the unenviable task of trying to balance the books while his colleagues are out spending money behind his back.

“This is a Government with a very tight budget. It cannot afford to be wasting more money because of ideologies and rushed decisions.”