Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds pledges to make sure that ‘once again, in this country, hard work gets you ahead’

Labour's Barbara Edmonds is determined to change the economic direction of the country, saying she wants to make sure that "once again, in this country, hard work gets you ahead."

At Labour's annual congress on Saturday at Tākina, Wellington's convention centre, Edmonds spoke about the economy and her vision for it.

She made clear the job ahead would be hard, saying: "We're just over four months out from an election that will define this country for years to come."

New Zealand faces a choice between two futures, she said.

“A country that cuts or a country that grows. A country that sells what it owns or a country that backs what it could become. A country that watches its young people leave or a country worth staying in and worth coming home to.”

“I came into this role determined to change the economic direction of this country, to rebuild ... to back New Zealanders to back themselves, and to make sure that once again in this country hard work gets you ahead," Edmonds said.

Labour heard from National that the numbers didn’t add up, she said. “You know what? They’re right. Their numbers don’t add up."

"It doesn’t add up that you can work 40 hours a week and still struggle to cover the rent … It doesn't add up that we raise our young people, we teach them, we train them, and then we watch as they board a plane to build their lives somewhere else.”

She said National had one answer and that was to cut.

“Cut, and the economy doesn't grow, it shrinks. Cut, and jobs disappear. Cut, and the doctor's wait list gets longer. The local library closes an hour earlier. The local swimming pool puts its prices up."

“Every cut makes life tougher, and here is what they will not tell you before the election. They're not finished. In fact, they're only just getting started," she said. "More services on the chopping block, more job cuts, more costs."

"So, this is my goal: an economy where no one who works hard is left behind," Edmonds said.

"An economy where no one with ambition is held back, an economy that works for the people who do the work, because here is the thing about New Zealand, our strength has never come from those at the top, it has always come from the people who do the work.”

"I'll make the numbers add up, I assure you of that. Not just on a spreadsheet but in every home around this country," she said.