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National leader Judith Collins says the alternative to a national government is a Labor-green government and that should “scare people.”
Collins spoke to reporters in Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday responding to a barrage from Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who has repeatedly attacked the lack of clear costs for National’s election policies.
The national leader said National would publish a full-cost plan after seeing the pre-Treasury fiscal and economic update, and that Robertson did not understand that “money that is borrowed must be paid back.”
Robert Kitchin / Things
National leader Judith Collins said the prospect of a Labor-green government should scare Kiwis.
Since Robertson has ruled out canceling the debt the government is currently accumulating, Collins was questioned whether mentioning such a thing was a “bogeyman.”
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She said it wasn’t because the Greens liked that idea better and the two parties were “basically in bed together when it comes to politics.”
The Green Party has not campaigned to cancel public debt, but has a policy that allows the Reserve Bank to directly finance part of public spending, essentially creating money to spend on public spending.
“What we’re seeing is the Labor Party announcing some strange part of Green Party politics and claiming it as its own,” Collins said. (The Labor Party announced its support for making Matariki a public holiday on Monday, a policy the Green Party has supported for months.)
“I would tell people: the alternative to a national government is a Labor-green government, and that should scare people.”
In the most recent public television polls, Labor could rule alone without the need for any supporting partners, although these polls predate the August 19 Covid-cluster and the subsequent election delay.
NZ First, who are part of the current coalition government and have supported several policies favored by Labor and Greens, such as the capital gains tax and the Feebate scheme for electric vehicles.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked about the comments and said the Kiwis had already had three years to judge how a Labor-led government would function.
“We create stability and certainty at a time when that is exactly what we think New Zealanders need,” Ardern said.
Robertson has said that a national government would be “chaotic” and a “risky alternative,” pointing to the party’s shifting positions on a debt target and lack of costs.
“It’s this kind of inconsistency that means National is a risky alternative. They will increase debt by raiding the COVID Recovery Fund to pay for the roads, but they will make cuts to important services such as health and education, “said Robertson.
National finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith has pledged not to directly cut current funding going to basic utilities, but is looking to cut $ 21 billion from projected operating costs over the next 11 years.
Goldsmith has indicated that National is willing to reduce net debt to 30 percent of GDP in about a decade, meaning that it would borrow about $ 80 billion less than is currently forecast.
Collins distanced himself from the target, saying it was not “set in stone,” but has since said the group would not abandon the target.
