Economy's problems are no joke

Abuse from the Prime Minister is no substitute for a plan to deal with the economy’s slow growth, poor export performance and serious overseas liabilities, says Labour’s Finance spokesperson David Parker.

“It’s disappointing that the Prime Minister resorted to name-calling in response to my speech yesterday about how to boost the New Zealand economy.

“The economy needs modernising to lift incomes, and export higher value products.

“Our wages are too low and our overseas liabilities are soaring. Those issues are no joke.

“John Key should concede those issues, and debate what to do about them.

“Instead he is reduced to pretending the problems don’t exist because he doesn’t have a vision for overcoming them. Just as Mr Key refuses to admit there is a problem with the affordability of superannuation, his plan for dealing with fundamental economic problems is to ignore them and hope they go away.

“It’s disappointing the Prime Minister is still fighting the battles of the past. Instead he should be debating where we need to go in the future to create the exports, jobs, savings and incomes New Zealand badly needs,” says David Parker.