Budget 2009: Borrow Green Policies Not Money for Motorways

The current Government needs to borrow more Green Party ideas in addition to the housing insulation plan announced in yesterday’s budget said Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman.

“New Zealanders need some bold initiatives to tackle the twin environmental and economic crises – not a budget that leads to less gain and more pain later,” said Dr Norman.

“This budget offers few practical solutions to combating the current economic woes and the wider ecological problems facing New Zealand – the deficit of ideas behind today’s budget is bigger than the our current woeful current account deficit,” said Dr Norman.

“Today’s Bill English budget is a vision for not much new and look out for big bad cuts next year.”

The budget does manage to find money for new roads while leaving nothing substantial for new housing stock.

Today’s budget includes initiatives to retain doctors but this will be essential given the cuts to preventative medicine where earlier this week the Obesity Action Coalition lost its funding.

“This attack on preventative health is as rotten as our Kiwi kids teeth will be by next year’s budget,” said Dr Norman.

The Green Party acknowledged the limited amount of money available to spend on fiscal stimulus measures – but given the limits it is imperative to spend the Government’s money on the right things.

“There is no way the current economic crisis facing New Zealand will be solved by building more motorways.

“For the sake of New Zealand and those facing losing their jobs the Government needs to borrow a lot more Green policies,” said Dr Norman.