Two Opposition MPs have slammed the Labour Government’s economic record and its co-governance policies at a public meeting held less than three months out from this year’s general election.
ACT List MPs Damien Smith and Simon Court fronted the meeting at St Paul’s in the Park Anglican Church in Flat Bush on July 5.
Smith, who stood in the Botany electorate at the 2020 general election, began the meeting by saying the Labour Government has “blown its budget”.
“ACT’s philosophy is a low-taxing Government, low-spending Government, and smaller Government.
“If anybody here can put their hand up and say the last six years services have improved and we’ve got value for money, I’d like to know if you have that opinion.
“Inflation is running rampant in people’s lifestyles.
“In terms of the cost of living, goods are getting more expensive in the supermarket and at the petrol station and we need to nail inflation. That’s one of our goals.”
Smith said ACT would bring back interest rate deductibility if elected to Government.
It will not punish people for having a “little nest egg” for their retirement relating to property and it will encourage Kiwis to stay in New Zealand as well as create real jobs that keep young people here.
“Our concern is that [Finance Minister] Grant Robertson is loading people up with debt and future generations are going to have to pay for this legacy.”
Court asked why it is that when people raise an issue such as investing in water infrastructure, they end up talking about ethnicity and the Treaty of Waitangi.
“And why one group of people who are affiliated to an iwi, hapu or marae are given special rights to have a say as to how we use water, how we allocate resources, and decision-making over how other people use their land, in the case of the resource management reforms.
“As a civil engineer, and initially as an environmental scientist, I would say when we’re making decisions about water quality, you want to know is it safe for people and fish to swim in, is it safe to drink, and are the pipes that get it to my home or business in a fit state.
“Those are all things scientists and engineers and ecologists can tell you.
“But there is nothing people are born with that gives them a special power to look into the water, or the pipes, and tell you whether they’re working or whether the water is fit to drink.
“ACT believes that is just one example – co-governance and Three Waters – the concept this Labour Government introduced … is an example of how wrong New Zealand has gone in the past 30 years.”
Smith and Court answered questions from the audience on subjects including crime, how ACT would work with National, housing intensification, and voting under the MMP electoral system, among others.
This year’s general election is scheduled to be held on Saturday, October 14.
