National says Labour's 14% increase in minimum wage would cost 6,000 jobs; Labour targets National on wider wage gap vs Australia since 2008

By Bernard Hickey

With 51 days left until the September 20 election, here's my daily round-up of political news from in and around Wellington on Thursday July 31, including the latest Roy Morgan opinion poll showing support for National slumping 5% to 46%, its lowest level since May.

The landline and mobile phone poll of 818 voters from July 14-27 found support for Labour rose 6.5% to 30%, while support for the Green Party fell 3% to 12%. New Zealand First support fell 1% to 5%, while Internet-Mana rose 1% to 2.5%. Conservative support was unchanged at 1%.

The poll found 6.5% would not name a Party.

Meanwhile, National's argued Labour's plan to increase the minimum wage by 14% to NZ$16.25/hour by April next year would cost more than 6,000 jobs.

Labour Minister Simon Bridges said MBIE research had found the higher minimum wage would cost at least 6,000 jobs.

"You cannot legislate your way to higher wages with the stroke of a pen," Bridges said.

“If it’s not based on increased productivity, simply paying people higher wages is a cost that gets passed on to New Zealanders as higher taxes, reduced competitiveness, inflation and fewer jobs," he said.

John Key told reporters the higher minimum wage plan was irresponsible and would hit small businesses hardest.

"If you think about the mass of employers in New Zealand, they are not the big companies like Fletcher Building or Fonterra , they are actually the hundreds of thousands of small businesses around New Zealand and they simply will employ less staff, fire people or ultimately not take on staff in the future," he said.

Labour targets National on wage gap

Meanwhile Labour Finance Spokesman David Parker pointed to a NZ$190/week widening of the wage gap between Australia and New Zealand since 2008, saying the Government had "failed utterly" to keep its promise to close the gap.

“It is remarkable that National should attack Labour’s planned minimum wage increase at the same time as having to admit that the wage gap with Australia has widened under its watch, using National’s methodology," said Parker.

“This is despite the fact that Australia’s minimum wage is NZ$18.70, or NZ$20.55 in New Zealand dollars, far higher than Labour’s proposed NZ$16.25," he said.

“Closing the wage gap is yet another election promise that National has failed to deliver to New Zealanders."

English points to slumping net migration to rebutt Labour

Finance Minister Bill English said in parliament on Wednesday that the dramatic drop in net migration to Australia showed Labour was wrong in its claims.

Net migration of New Zealanders to Australia fell to nil in June, for the first time since August 1991.

"The member is wrong, but here is a measure of it," said English. "Are New Zealanders getting on planes in their thousands to go to a labour market where they think they can get paid more? Last month the net outflow of New Zealanders to Australia was zero. That is, the Kiwi battlers are staying home because things are better here."

ACT Leader calls for Devoy to resign

Elsewhere, ACT Leader Jamie Whyte called on Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy to resign after she criticised his speech about Maori having similar legal privileges to the French Aristocracy.

"It is astounding that the Commissioner of Race Relations should condemn me for promoting legal equality between the races," Whyte said.

"If Ms Devoy believes that a person’s legal rights should depend on the race of her parents, and if she believes that she should use her state-funded position to promote the electoral prospects of race-based political parties, then she is unfit to hold her position as the Commissioner of Race Relations,"he said.

Earlier, Devoy issued a statement on Whyte's speech: "Equating Maori New Zealanders to French aristocrats who were murdered because of their privilege is a grotesque and inflammatory statement."

"Accusations of Maori privilege are not borne out by Maori socio-economic statistics," she said.

"Whether we like it or not the reality is that ethnicity and disadvantage are connected and found in damning statistics that on average sees Maori New Zealanders life expectancy, education and health outcomes lagging behind non Maori New Zealanders."

(Updated with Roy Morgan Poll result, Jamie Whyte's call for Susan Devoy to resign, officially corrects to make clear the NZ$18.70 is already converted to NZ$)

See all my previous election diaries here.

See the index for Interest.co.nz's special election policy comparison pages here.