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.
10 Comments
The only way to make hard work on wages pay off again is to make houses 3x earnings again. Aka a lot cheaper than today. Otherwise access to debt combined with no taxation will always trump (card analogy) hard work.
To many Labour MPs with rentals for this to happen. How many does Helen have again...?
Agree. And there in lies the problem, affordable housing would solve a lot of our problems but no matter what they say, no government will want this. The ponzi can has been kicked way too far down the road unfortunately.
At least 4 when she was PM.
The only way to make hard work on wages pay off again is to make houses 3x earnings again.
We would likely need also to see a return of Keith Hay type chicken coop homes and nappy valleys. It's almost like saying we need to return to colonialism with its cheap property prices.
Zachary Smith,
" return to colonialism with its cheap property prices."
What a bizarre comment. What on earth did colonialism have to do with keeping property cheap? It certainly had to do with keeping the natives in their place. I am at 81, very firmly in the generation to have done very well from rising property prices-not because I am clever-but through a toxic mix of planning restrictions, tax settings and a view that property should be an investment rather than just a place to live in. Now with 4 grandchildren, I would love to see the median price/income keep falling to at least 5. Sadly, I see a lot of cognitive dissonance in my cohort wanting to see lower prices for their grandchildren, but not at the expense of their own property prices.
"... determined to change the economic direction of the country..."
OK, beyond the campaign rhetoric, how?
Show us the plan.
There are no jobs in NZ. Most of our skilled and ambitious young people have left and won't return until nearing retirement. NZ does not offer our skilled and trained young people that are wanting to get ahead any hope of a good paying job and affordable reachable housing. This is not achievable in NZ.
NZ's MMP system and the subsequent political instability it brings makes overseas investors run a mile. The majority of returning kiwis are elderly, who are positioning themselves for qualifying for the un means tested government gift of $1100pf. This is after paying most of their working life taxes in another country, essentially Oz .
The real kicker is we are so stuffed we can't do a thing about it.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/eligibility/seniors/superannuation/wh…
"You must have lived in NZ
You must have lived in New Zealand for a certain number of years from age 20. This must include 5 years from age 50.
The total number of years you need is based on your date of birth.
These years (including the 5 years from age 50) do not need to be consecutive."
Devil in detail....
Yes, as the golem asks....how? Here's some suggestions to consider.
First. Labour and the Greens have been very diligent in setting up NZ as the leading, shining light, as to what countries should do in the climate change mitigation area (virtue signalling) Imposing big compliance costs on NZ business and seriously eroding the productive capacity of the NZ red meat and fibre sectors through removal of big swaths of productive farmland (I'm not talking LUC class 7 & 8 topographies) to monoculture pine forestry. Foreign interests blanketing NZ for carbon credits while doing little, if anything to reduce emissions in their own activities. Delivering a few jobs for a short, concentrated period in the planting phase, and subsequently for pest management. And dropping virtually all the wildfire risks on rural communities that are depopulating through loss of employment, directly related to land use change. Pongaroa is an example. Formerly, a population base able to maintain a volunteer crewed built environment and natural environment brigade (in old parlance an urban/rural capability brigade), now only natural environment capability. So if your house catches fire, the nearest structure capability is an extra 45+ minutes away. But, hey, Chris, Chris, Winston, David, Chloe/Marama, Rawiri/Debbie, Qiulae, you live urban with comprehensive capability just around the corner, so that's pretty much out of sight out of mind for you eh.
Second, name me one other 'developed' country in the world where all its waterways are rated as swimmable ,which essentially means potable, for water quality? (A single, adult, Canada goose produces between 0.5kg and 0.9kg of poo per day. In my rural area there's a resident population of about 3000 - 1.5 - 3 tonne of nitrogen and phosphorus rich faecal deposits to water and pasture every day of the year - thank you acclimatisation societies.)
Third. A close examination of producer subsidy equivalents is needed. Yes, NZ is virtually tariff and subsidy free both in direct financial and non financial measures. Many, if not most, of our trading partners support their local producers by imposing direct tariff of non tariff trade barriers on market access. Judicially applied counter measures should be applied to imports into NZ to go some way to levelling that playing field - pork imports immediately come to mind.
Fourth. The Paris accord. My understanding is that food production was excluded from the accord. Yet NZ in it's holier than thou thinking, has chosen to make food production one of the sharpest focused areas in emissions production.
As Angus Kebble noted, perhaps the primary sector is no longer the backbone of the NZ economy, but it most certainly is the heart beat. Look after the heart.
"I'll make the numbers add up, I assure you of that."
"Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds has replaced a graph that incorrectly stated the Ardern-Hipkins Government reduced New Zealand’s debt levels by about $31 billion in its second term."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/barbara-edmonds-deletes-facebook…
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