Back in 2017, when New Zealand’s economy was being described as a “rock star”, the opposition Labour Party railed against the role being played by immigration.
Figures at the time showed that under National, annual net migration had grown from just 5,000 in 2008, when they first took office, to 72,000, with Treasury forecasting the numbers would stabilise at around 50,000 a year.
Labour was highly critical of growth generated on the back of high immigration rates, and their 2017 election pledge was to reduce net migration by 20,000, to 30,000 a year.
It was therefore a surprise, to find in last week’s Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) – the set of Government accounts released by Treasury ahead of every general election – that Labour has opened the floodgates to migration: “In the September 2023 quarter annual net migration is forecast to peak close to 100,000, about 33,000 higher than forecast in the Budget Update.”
No doubt it was the economic activity generated by tens of thousands of new migrants that have helped Labour claim the economy has turned a corner and that they are great economic managers.
As Prime Minister Chris Hipkins stated, “Economic growth is returning, the government’s books are heading back into surplus and we’re winning the battle against inflation. The forecasts are showing that unemployment will remain low and there is real reason for optimism about the future of the New Zealand economy and I think the pre election fiscal update shows that. I said when I became prime minister that I wanted to refocus the government on getting back to basics, that we were going to focus on issues like the cost of living, the inflation coming down shows that we’re starting to win that battle.”
But that’s not the whole story.
Treasury secretary Dr Caralee McLiesh noted in the PREFU that the “surge in migration” will make it harder for the Reserve Bank to reduce inflation because of the additional demand it is adding to the economy. As a result, interest rates will need to stay higher for longer – until at least December 2024 – and they may even need to rise further.
The PREFU spells it out: “Slow economic growth is forecast to continue over the next eighteen months as high inflation necessitates high interest rates. Domestic inflationary pressure has remained persistent, and with ongoing domestic demand pressure, interest rates are expected to remain at their current level over the next year in order to reduce inflation. High interest rates are expected to constrain economic growth to a quarterly average of 0.4% over the next year, and the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 5.4% while wage growth eases from a relatively high 6.9% in June 2023 to 3.7% in June 2027.”
In other words, by increasing pressure on inflation, the record rate of migration is ensuring interest rates remain higher for longer. This is expected to lead to business closures and rising unemployment, all of which flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s claims that Labour is managing the economy well.
The record levels of migration caught many people by surprise.
Jarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank, expected net migration to be running at around 40,000, not 100,000: “It’s much greater than anticipated.” He estimated another 40,000 or 50,000 homes will be needed: “we simply don’t have enough…we’re going to find ourselves with an even greater shortage in a year’s time. That’s something that worries me.”
Westpac’s chief economist Kelly Eckhold explained that as a result of the increased population growth, “Our forecast is for house prices to go up a shade under 8% in the next year.”
Clearly, the effect of record migration on house prices will be yet another challenge to confront the incoming government.
The July 2023 international migration data from Stats NZ provides some insight into what’s going on. It explains that present net migration levels are the highest on record and it identifies citizens of India, the Philippines, China, South Africa, and Fiji as driving this record immigration influx.
They also explain that this year’s migration gain is more than double the long term pre-Covid July year average. And when it comes to Kiwis leaving the country, they note there’s been an almost two-year exodus: “There have been 21 consecutive months of net migration losses of New Zealand citizens to July 2023, amounting to 55,600.”
What’s quite bizarre about all of this, is the fact while the Labour had approved the highest number of immigrants ever to enter the country, virtually no-one seemed to be aware of what was going on.
While the Minister of Finance was glowing about the state of the books, Auckland University’s Economics Professor Robert MacCulloch had questions: “I can’t make sense of the Finance Minister’s statements… He claims the country is in better shape than expected and that the ’forecasts showed New Zealand would avoid recession, with wages keeping ahead of inflation’.
“So here’s my question – GDP growth up to June 2024 is forecast to be just over 1%. On the other hand, it is also stated immigration is now running at 100,000 a year, corresponding to an increase in 2% of our entire population. But if total GDP is only growing at a bit over 1% and the population is growing at 2%, then GDP per capita must be declining, since GDP per capita equals total GDP over population size.
“In other words, from an individual perspective, we are entering a deep recession. But the Finance Minister says Kiwis are getting better off since our inflation-adjusted incomes are rising, so everything is hunky dory. Have I missed something? It doesn’t add up… No one feels they are getting better off. I reckon the Finance Minister is telling a porker.”
As Professor MacCulloch points out, in spite of the Finance Minister’s own PREFU numbers showing GDP per capita is collapsing – from a 2.1 percentage increase in the year to July 2023, to negative 0.7 percent in the current financial year, before recovering to 0.6 percent increase in 2025, and stabilising at a 2 percent increase in 2026 – he’s telling 5 million Kiwis they are all better off!
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, Dr Bryce Wilkinson, a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative and a former Director of Treasury, explains the PREFU raises serious concerns about Labour’s management of the economy:
“Treasury’s pre-election forecasts confirmed that Government spending exceeds revenue by more than what was forecast in the May 2023 Budget.
“Far too many commentators are concluding the increase is not too bad.
“Do not be fooled. The forecasts are not realistic. They are too optimistic.”
Dr Wilkinson points out that while Treasury must accept the advice given by the Minister of Finance that they have cut back on new spending through to 2027, he reminds us that Labour has a track record of seriously blowing their budgets:
“Labour’s Fiscal Plan in 2017 proposed to increase core Crown operating spending by just $11.7 billion. Two years later Treasury put the increase at $27.7b. That increase made a mockery of Labour’s fiscal plan.
“The subsequent spending response to Covid-19 took the increase to $77.4b. That additional blow-out would have been understandable were it temporary.
“It is neither temporary nor the full story. Spending in the year ended June 2024 was forecast to be $116b. This week, the forecast spending is $139b.”
Over the six years that Labour has been in office, Core Crown expenditure has blown out from just over 27 percent of GDP in 2018, to almost 34 percent in this current financial year.
The debt story is eye watering. From net core Crown debt of $57.5 billion when Labour took office, it is expected to be $181.6 billion by the end of this financial year, rising to an astonishing $195 billion by 2027.
Now that we better understand just how appalling Labour’s economic management really is, it’s worth remembering an important lesson from history.
Following the Second World War both Germany and Britain found themselves mired in economic crisis.
In 1948, West Germany’s Economics Minister Ludwig Erhardt introduced sweeping reforms. Virtually overnight, the bureaucracy was curtailed, taxes were flattened, and the country was transformed into a free market economy.
To encourage hard work, tax on earnings from hours worked over 40 hours a week was abolished, and to incentivise exports, taxes on all profits earned through exports, were eliminated.
Released from the shackles of an overbearing bureaucracy and excessive taxation, innovation flourished, productivity soared, and exports skyrocketed. The country prospered, and Germany, the vanquished, overtook the victorious UK to become one of the world’s strongest economies.
Meanwhile, in the years after the War, the British state assumed more power and virtually ran the country into the ground. Racked by stagflation and labour strife, when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, she promised to restore a culture of entrepreneurship: “I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society – from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.”
Her reforms, which embraced the virtues of freedom, lower taxes, and less regulation, reinvigorated the British economy.
History is clear. The best way to grow an economy is for the Government to get out of the way and let businesses do what they do best: create jobs and wealth. New Zealand’s future should harness the entrepreneurialism, energy, and expertise of Kiwis wanting to build a good future for themselves and their families.
With that in mind, Dr Wilkinson warns against detractors who claim the PREFU shows lower taxes are not possible: “Some commentators argue that the forecasts mean tax cuts are off the table. That assumes all existing spending is sacrosanct. That assumption is absurd.”
And absurd it is.
Thanks to Labour the bloated Public Service is awash with taxpayers’ cash. Spending blowouts are everywhere – like the plan by the Ministry of Disabled Peoples to hold a two-day staff meeting at a cost of $88,000! Or the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, not only wasting $40,000 on a farewell party for their Chief Executive, but also spending $52,000 promoting Labour MPs at post-budget breakfasts.
And how much money will Labour have wasted on propaganda?
The revelation that last year they paid $500,000 for climate propaganda to be reported as news is undoubtedly just the tip of a very large iceberg.
What about the $1 billion Greens Jobs for Nature scheme, or the $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund, or the $50 million spent on consultants for a bike bridge that was never built.
Then there’s the $100 million Labour spent over the last six years on consultants for Auckland’s light rail – a project originally costed at $4 billion, that Treasury has now estimated at $30 billion, that hasn’t even been started!
Or what about the billions of dollars that have been spent implementing the divisive race-based objectives of He Puapua. That, of course, includes Three Waters, which has already suffered a billion-dollar blowout in establishment costs – a figure that could end up being many times higher by the time this senseless policy is reversed by a new government.
With Dr Wilkinson reminding us that core Crown spending is averaging $1 billion every three days and that the Auditor-General has expressed grave concerns over a lack of accountability for spending by Labour, there will be no end of wasteful projects that can be curtailed by a new government to make tax cuts affordable.
Finally, it is indeed ironic that in the days following the release of the PREFU, instead of the mainstream media holding the Government to account for the economic catastrophe they have created, their main focus appeared to be on helping Labour attack National’s tax policies.
Whether voters are still bothering to listen to such spin, will no doubt be revealed on October 14!
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*How would you rate Labour’s management of our economy? – very good, good, bad, very bad
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| A lolly scramble for the demanding while ignoring the income earners | Peter K |
| Apalling, incompetant, treasonous buffoons. | Andrew |
| Utterly appalling, in fact treasonous also and those at the top should be held accountable along with their slippery mates the fourth estate. | John |
| Good bad very bad. None of the above, I would say CRIMINAL would be more appropriate. | Brian |
| It could hardly be much worse. The amount of waste is eye-watering. | Lynne |
| They really have gone overboard with their spending | Diana |
| ‘In Rules for Radicals’ by Saul Alinsky, No 3 is increase Debt, after increase Poverty and what a great job the nasty, narcissistic Marxist Ardern with friend Robertson performed to our great despair. | Monica |
| The worst I’ve seen in my 30 years in this country | Jin |
| Govt handouts to their buddies to get back in power | Peter |
| They couldn’t run a lemonade stand. | Russell |
| They are total idiots. Most have never been working in the real world so don%u2019t have a clue | Laurie |
| Worse than very bad . . . . it’s abysmal. | Alan |
| Worse than very bad. | Denis |
| Labour’s management has been absolutely abysmal, they have systematically destroyed everything they have touched. | StevoC |
| It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to see the disaster NZ is in. | Trevor |
| I would rate them hands down the worst government in New Zealand history. | Raewyn |
| They have managed one thing. They have lied and lied and lied | Kristene |
| Appalling mis-management I would have said | Russ |
| Figures speak for themselves. | Ruth |
| Diabolical- Dishonest effort | Nicholas |
| The worst Govt. ever. Zero accountability, that’s the tragedy; it affects every New Zealander’s. Labour however did achieved what they intended, co-governance, racial division and the destruction of social cohesion we may never recover from. Vote carefully for repeals. | Sam |
| The division in this country, particularly in health care, is apartheid. Too many of Labour’s policies elevate one race above the others. | J |
| Labour are toast….. come 14th next month, they remind me of the old T.V ad, quote: ” Have you done enough, for a mallowpuff……..?? Hardly!! | David |
| Extremly bad, just look at the state of our country in every aspect, they couldn’t run a p##sup in a brewery. | Brian |
| Can’t believe the media attacking Nationals tax plan when you consider Labours mis- management | Jane |
| Appalling actually | Neville |
| Can’t believe how hoodwinked we have been, not seeing what was in front of us | Marion |
| The lunatics are running the asylum and need to be put down | Lindsay |
| Labour spends and does not invest. | Jan |
| Labour have never been savvy with their economic policies & spending, they spend like there’s no tomorrow and for Grant Robinson – it’s not printable! | John |
| Poor | N |
| We going backwards. Ditch the climate change bullshit. Ditch the enforced indoctrination of all things Maori | Dennis |
| Labor handling of the economy not just very bad but absolutely appallingly bad, words don’t actually exist in the English language to describe what a shambles this inept bunch of fools have created so appallingly bad will have to do. They should face a Tribunal to try to explain | Flip |
| The mismanagement under the current Labour government is in my opinion criminal. | James |
| Prosecute Ardern and Robertson for the unauthorized payments we don’t know about yet. | Derek |
| Like previous labour governments they are a walking disaster | Iain |
| Dishing out “covid money” for every wasteful purpose imagiineable | Anthony |
| More like mismanagement. Yet they are still spending like the coffers are full. Labour only knows how to spend and without any planning or forethought. | Elizabeth |
| They are hopeless with no control on spending. | Errol |
| Couldn’t manage booze up in a brewery Absolute disgrace….BEGONE1 | Peter |
| Actually, worse than very bad. | Rob |
| The amount this government is borrowing every day to support their wasteful spending is eyewatering. Our grandchildren will still be paying for this | Heather |
| Hopeless or deliberately destructive could also have been options. | Antoni |
| Like a 2 year old in a sandpit. | neil |
| More like disastrous for our future. | Simonne |
| Deliberate wilful destruction of the economy and social cohesion. It is difficult to get ones head around labour’s ignorance and introduction of a racial divide the country may never recover from. Luxon may fix the economy but he does not have the guts to face down the haters and wreckers and will continue the treaty lies until we say stop. | Sam |
| The most useless bunch of hopeless incompetents, ever, this current lot…… could not even run a bath! Lets hope they get a whopping boot up, you know where… at the election !! | David |
| The worst Government NZ has ever had in its history, they are all including the parliament opposition, they all have been ,gangsters. | Don |
| Criminal in fact | David |
| The change of government can not come quick enough for us.What happened to accountability and honesty in government!!!!!! | Barry |
| Not only very bad BUT DISASTROUS | Sheryl |
| Labour and Co-governance must GO. | Ronald |
| Criminally appalling | Margaret |
| Waste waste and more waste | Bruce |
| Labours pet projects, which include race based, Apartheid style undemocratic principles, are the death knel of the NZ economy. | Dane |
| It feels like all the competent people have disappeared. Run out of there positions or have seen the writing on the wall. In particular the health system has deteriorated as staffing has collapsed. I assume other countries will and have inherited our best and brightest. I soon shall follow. | Richard |
| No idea how to run our country..but sure know how to spend it. They are all liars, the pm and Robertson little and Davis and willie wanker Jackson along with the maori caucus, how does that work? The money disappears at a great rate and NO ACCOUNTABILITY – theft of govt money. | Dianne |
| we are losing the battle as they go on like this. | gerard |
| catastrophic. | Lionel |
| How thick can you be | William |
| They tell lies! | Ian |
| They are managing their way out of Parliament with Bull Shit baffles brains. | Ken |
| Worst govt ever. They have run the country into ruin. Labour just keeps on spending. Not one of them deserve to be in govt. Landslide against Labour come October. Finally the people of NZ have awoken. | Kevin M |
| It has been much worse than very bad, in fact it could be called criminal. | bruce |
| I am amazed at the amount of money spent with no return on the investment, who does that? | Gayle |
| I don’t know much about economics but I helped run a family business that made a profit each year, small, but so was our company. Surely someone in the Labour Government had at least as much economic knowledge. If we don’t need it, don’t buy it. | Paloma |
| The Ardern/Hipkins Labour government is the most incompetent and the worst government by far in the history of New Zealand. | Greg |
| Extremely Bad are the words that work for me…! I cannot believe just how blatantly obvious their spending blow-out has been without any apologies or any sign of regret, no accountability as if they don’t seem to think they have done anything wrong, beggars belief…! they seemed to be hell bent on destroying this country & kiwis as quickly as they could in a matter of 6 years, especially the last 3 years. It won’t be soon enough to see the backs of hopefully ALL of them along with the Greenies. | Bruce |
| The worst Government in NZ’S total history. And it appears most of the ruling MPs are now quite well off personally. Do we actually know where a lot of this money has ended up> | Garry |
| The writing is on the wall! Just GO! Labour Govt. Just GO. | Ron |
| The fiscal party is over for many and NZ has a huge debt to pay thanks to the incompetence of this government | Sidwell |
| Off the Scale at minus plus. A fitting attribute to a complete Clown Show of incompetence. They would be able to get a Job in the real World. | Geoff |
| Needs more very’s… | clive |
| Would any of them run their own household by spending more money than what comes in? It’s so easy to spend other peoples money if you are left brained | Richard |
| Shutting down big roading projects lost us time money and expertise during Covid | Tony |
| This Labour government has been tragic absolutely appalling and definitely needs to go. | Suzanne |
| Just keeps getting worse!! The evidence is right in front of them – people can%u2019t afford food on the table for starters! | Ruth |
| All Liebour ministers are well out of their depth to even run a Fish and Chip shop. | Wayne |
| Im 81, never seen any govt like this one ? | Gary |
| iN ONE WORD, A DISASTER! | Steve |
| As Margaret Thatcher once said, “the problem with socialism is when you run out of other people’s. money to spend.” Having watched an intensely boring leqder”s debate last night, in my view there are three choices, green socialists, red socialists and blue socialists. Act is not one of them and long may they survive. | Peter |
| These appalling figures for both the current fiscal position and the future forecast show the National led coalition faces a gargantuan task to not only arrest the country’s decline but to turn it around. The enormous waste is everywhere and to stop it will require massive cuts in government spending. The pain will be felt across the whole population but without it nothing will change and the decent into third world status will continue. I fear that the political courage required doesn’t exist. I pray I am proven wrong. | Ian |
| They are WEF puppets, has anyone heard about the introduction after the election of RUC on ALL vehicles… this will push the people of this country more into bankruptcy and that is why Blackrock is here, to buy us all out when we the people go bust…. | donna |
| They have focused on non-productive areas of the economy, such as back-room office staff. | Peter |
| It’s unusual for anyone to get everything wrong , but the labor govt has done exactly this , everything that they have implemented has been a failure, and continues to cause dramatic issues for New Zealand for many years to come , they should be fined or imprisoned for their total mismanagement, and destruction of the country . | Roy |
| It is abysmal, and it’s part of the big plan, on purpose and orchestrated to destroy the western world and most of the people on Earth. Wake up, People. We MUST fight back. | Joyce |
| Too many untruths. | Murray |
| This must never happen again | Sheena |
| Thieves and vagabonds | Robert |
| Never seen such a shambles and utter lies. | Peter |
| So…Labour have prepaid their funeral. | Peter |
| I don’t understand. The crap that the present government has put NZ in is penalising everyone including the future generations | Jackie |
| Appalling effort driven by ideology. Labour, Greens and maori party need to be gone. National probably not a lot better, so Act is needed to give some spine. NZ First let the country down last time. | Gavin |
| Worse than Helen Clarke and that was bad enough. | David |
| Excessive State spending create an artificial growth, not genuine company expansion, lift inexports etc. | Hugh J |
| as socialists, they want government control .they cannot accept that a free market is the most efficient creator of wealth. It is a mental aberation that they suffer from. | bruce |
| I am sick to death of the medias biased reporting!! | Chris |
| Worst government ever including the Muldoon government | Kerry |
| In fact, I rate it absurdly bad. Astronomical amounts were spent without any positive results. | Ursula |
| Labour are totally inept when it comes to Fiscal Management of this Country. They should never be allowed to Govern again. And, if people had the sense they were born with, they wouldn’t vote for them. | Heather |
| The wastage is criminal! Where is the accountability of public servants for poor performance followed by the blatant manipulation of information to present a totally inaccurate perception of reality! Labour is a non-productive parasite on taxpayers money and should be shamed by the media who have been bought off with with the same funding! Good riddance to bad rubbish at the next elections! | Martin |
| The worst government ever. | Mike |
| From rockstar economy to rock-bottom. | Willy |
| Labour have once again failed the people and is now time to try to repair the mess they have created yet again. This constant Labour National roundabouts governments is a losers game for the masses and yet they never learn. To put Labour or National back into govern is total stupidity at best, and yet we all know that this outcome will be the ultimate insult result again and the incompetence race to the bottom will continue for those silly people who will orchestrate another repeat of joke that is the NZ government. Perhaps it would be pertinent to actual invite those who really do control NZ from the shadows to reveal themselves for the purpose of doing for themselves what they have failed to produce from their sell out minions. | fred |
| Labour have spent their time and money promoting and pandering to their pet projects and their Maori bias rather than doing stuff to support New Zealand’s growth and success. | Graham |
| Yes, I am very unhappy with the state of the economy at the moment, time for a change. | Olive |
| Worst government in NZs history and not even close total morons in every department they have set this country back decades. All the clowns dropkicks and politically stupid who voted them in on the back of some idealistic communist inspired leader should be ashamed of the damage done to our once great Country. | ken |
| Disgusting | ROB |
| Communist by design to fuck our country just like they did in Venezuela | Greg |
| Even worse than bad | John |
| Only the man who earns the dollar knows the true value of it. These squatters in the labor party are economic ignoramuses, there really isn’t any other way of calling it, as for the press, hopefully a lot of them will be unemployed after October, let them try living of minimum wages, will do them the world of good. | Merryl |
| iT couldn’t get any worse,……or maybe with this lot it could. | Colin |
| In 6 years our country has gone great to terrible with so much wasted money and a huge divisive push which is destroying our once lovely country. They need to go along with the Greens and Maori Party | Vivienne |
| Complete incompetence | Justin |
| As a business owner, I consider their policies and performance have been appalling, particularly on immigration, driving wages up and regulations. | Graham |
| Atrocious!!!!! | Dianne |
| disastrous is a better category | murray |
| It has been a total disaster. | Tom |
| Worst government I have seen in my 60 years on this planet | Charles |
| 6 wasted years | John |
| It’s Ben reckless spending that has not been reflected in improving public services such as police, medical field on infrastructure | Cath |
| The worst ever ! | Anton |
| what else can it be !!!! graeme | graeme |
| So many figures quoted are massaged to look better than they are and untruths are promoted, trying to pull the wool over our eyes. | John |
| You should include ‘Disastrous ‘. Thats what you get when you put people i n charge who have little or no idea how to run a country. What a pack of lunatics. | Peter |
| Labour couldn’t even operate a cake stall with any economic common sense !!! | Greig |
| Bloody dreadful, | Russell |
| Absolute no accountability being done and media should be asking Quetions | leo |
| I didn’t realize just how bad Labour is managing the economy. We must change this government. | Dianne |
| absolutely abysmal.The most financially illiterate govt ever | john |
| Catastrophic | RM |
| Totally irresponsible and something that any college student could figure out a better way | Russ |
| Spent , borrowed and printed to much of our money | Steve |
| How about abysmal, shambolic, a catastrophe. We are buggered if this lot get back in. Please can someone get their credit card and cut it up | Robert |
| Eye Watering BAD!!! | Caro |
| They have losttheir minds. But I believe the plan is to bankrupt the country so their buddies, the globalists, can swoop in for a killing. So Labour is “In it for you”? Biggest lie I have ever heard. And Nats, “get us back on track”? And what track is that then, huh? | Neil |
| More like piss poor attempt to emulate chairmen MAO’s woke policy’s that ended in complete disaster, | Sam |
| Certainly not a rock star economy just a great rock | Ken |
| It will not be easy to recover financially from what Labour have done. I believe it will be a generation, and it only took them 6 years to reduce us to this. | Brett |
| Simple: If wages are increased at the same rate as inflation, such wages will add to inflation. “The wage, price spiral.” Come back Muldoon, allis forgiven? | Duncan |
| The average housewfe has more idea orf how to run a budget. | Barry |
| Appalling wastage and totally out of control. | Audrey |
| if the general public wasted their money like this Labour party have we would all be bankrupt | David |
| This Labour Government I believe is the worst government ever. Totally divided the country and bankrupted this once great country | Chris |
| NO fiscal integrity or business acumen to support truth and prudent management of the country’s economy. AT ALL! | Heather |
| very bad is not enough i would describe it as criminal. | Stanley |
| Jabcinda and Hipkins are the two most evil leaders to ever lead NZ! kiwis need to learn from this and never vote communist red again! And National are not going to save us! they are a cheek of the same arse! LabNats the uni party are done in this country!! There needs to be a revolution at the ballot box!vote of the new smaller parties that stand for the people! | lisa |
| Labour govt wasteful spending is beyond belief. It’s criminal. If this was the private sector you would have been sacked years ago. The NZ public will sack all these idiots in October. Hopefully not one Labour member gets back in. | Allan |
| They keep doing the same thing! Look at 2008 for a close parallel. What is that quip about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome? | Rob |
| How bad do you have to be. These guys are just unbelievable. | Peter |
| Worst government ever | Lou |
| Absolutely ,rotten. | Ann |
| Tipical labour | Allan |
| Unbelievable | Jim |
| Totally irresponsible y muppets! | Jeremy |
| the poorest administration New Zealand has ever had | lou |
| If I was in business the bank would have closed me down | Edward |
| So bad that those responsible should be investigated and held to account. | Chris |
| Labour has always been take from the rich give to the poor, or a Robin Hood guy | Geoff |
| worst goverment ever | kerry |
| Roll on 14th October, new beginnings! | Brenda |
| Never have we been in so much debt. Let’s hope government changes so it can be sorted | Clive |
| We are in a right mess now! | Kim |
| Bloody disastrous to say the least. | Fraser |
| Profligate spending, heading the country towards financial ruin | Graham |
| incompetence comes to mind. Arrogance of the smirking Finance minister. | peter |
| I weep at the unholy and unmitigated mess this group of creatures who rate themselves as a ‘labour government’ have made of this country ….. | Rainey |
| a disaster, like everything else they are involved with! | Giles |
| The content of the following extract from this weeks newsletter should be studied. It rarely gets a mention in any debate on economic matters and I know why. “In 1948, West Germany’s Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard introduced sweeping reforms.” At the time, economists across the world rubbish his plan to put post war Germany back on track. Even his own advisors said it wouldn’t work. He refused all businessman who went seeking government privilege. Of course it did work and became known as The West German Miracle. | Donald |
| Even worse than Ardern’s buddy in Canada . It’s been typical Socialist waste and dishonesty | Alwyn |
| We welcome some commonsense | Heather |
| Too many consultants for things that do not stack up financially, too many handouts to racially divisive groups that have no accountability, too many quango’s sucking up taxpayer funds and too many immigrants that place pressure on the county’s ability to deliver housing and health to them. | Vic |
| Grant is spending like a drunk in a bottle store. He hasn’t figured out it is the value for moeny that counts, not the overall $$$$s. | Jan |
| Absolute and utter disaster. | Kate |
| Six years of the MOST inept, divisive government in the history of our dear country!! | Tony |
| To much waste of money through childish descions because they are academics not REAL people | Ian |
| Very bad as Labour through Hipkiss (after 6 years of Labour Governance still blames Nation whenever they choose! This country is falling apart financially and socially. | Stuart |
| Goes without saying. What a mess the country is in. It will take more than three years to get the books back on track. More pain for all is ahead of us thanks to Labour’s mis management of the economy. | John |
| Labour has proved time after time that they are useless at running the country and keeping to a budget. | Dennis |
| They have just kept spending , with no money | Colin |
| It has been terrible. Time to let someone else have a go! | Kate |
| Running a country requires a business head. Not being reactive to other peoples demands. Labour do not have the head to govern. | Owen |
| You should include disastrous. | Terry |
| More disastrous. | Iain |
| There should be accountability for wasteful spending for Labour, even beyond losing the election. | John |
| The ugly Truth will be hidden by our mad media, facts don’t count anymore, accountability does not exist. Too many pulp brains will follow this government’s propaganda. But what will it achieve, where does it lead to? We, the thinking people know, more pain sliding further into our 3rd world status with no Infrastructure and assets. | Leonard |
| Couldn’t be worse… | Shirley |
| Worse than very bad but I can’t think of an appropriate word!! | Peter |
| Worst Government we’ve ever had in living memory. Would be interesting to know how much money, apart from their over inflated salaries, has made it into politicians bank accounts. Because nobody could bolix it up accidentially, like these clowns. But then I’m preaching to choir. | BRYCE |
| Exorbitant spending on “pet”/ideological projects and ignoring real issues such as health, education, crime. Far too much borrowing which future generations will have to service and eventually repay. “It’s the economy, stupid”! | Laurence |
| A disgust | Jill |
| That’s a trick question, because in truth their destruction of the economy and increase the in cost of living, is exactly to WEF plan. The woke carbon neutrality and apartheid co-governance is exactly what the puppet masters want. So Claus Schwab would tick the very good circle. A vote for Labour, Greens, Act or Maori will ensure the complete destruction of New Zealand as we know it! we will become the Zimbabwe of the south Pacific, all according to WEF plan. | peter |
| I could do better and I am no acountant! | Leo |
| Very bad – and underhand! | Bruce |
| I’m more concerned with co-governance but it’s a dirty word it seems. | mike |
| The problem with the socialists is that they have not had sufficient experience in the real world and rely on the indoctrination infused into them by their limited minded Marxist tutors. This leads to ideolog dreams of utopia on the backs of our nation’s meager wealth. However while it’s easy to talk about grandiose schemes it takes real people to make things happen to create the vision into being reality. Socialism has always been a short term ride provided by a nation’s wealth that ends in a financial disaster due to an undisciplined approach to spending too much more than the country can afford. Labour and their mates have left us in a horrific debt level that will be a high cost to us and our children for many years to come. This therefore is a reduction in our standard of living. Bugger them! | Garry. |
| TOTALLY USELESS WITH ALL MONEY GRANTS PLUS BORROWED MONEY BEING GIVEN TO MAORI CAUSES WITH NO BENEFIT TO NEW ZEALAND | Laurie |
| Just read the figures!! | merv |
| hopeless | nev kath |
| All that borrowing and spending and what have we got to show for it.nothing, what an absolute failed experiment this government has undertaken | Warren david |
| Normal Marxist Performance | Michael |
| I wish you had a more severe rating ! | Dick |
| get rid of them wouldn’t want them in the next government | Barry |
| Extremely bad!! | Murray |
| jUST WANT THEM gone Gone GONE….. | Carl |
| Very Bad and no need to comment. Our debt tells all. | Eric |
| It is obvious that this labour govt has lied to us over the last 3 yrs & is still lying to the public about managing NZ economy. Time to tell them to get off & ruin the country! | Dominique |
| A criminal waste of taxpayers hard earned dollars. Ardern Hipkins and Robertson should all be behind bars to ensure they cannot inflict this financial damage on New Zealanders ever again. | Chris |
| It speaks for itself. Their spending has been so wanton. I can only conclude that they are deliberate. in pursuit of their ideology. to place us so far in debt that we cannot climb out of it and deliver control to the world elitists. | Harvey |
| Labour couldn’t organise a p..s up in a brewery! | Laura |
| This Government reminds me of the 1990 election when Bolger won and discovered BNZ was about to go belly up. Once again bad management by Labour. | Margaret |
| Never before have I witnessed such mismanagement, lies and dishonesty. | Fi |
| How seriously bad does it have to get before a country declares itself bankrupt? The magnitude of our growing national debt is mind-blowing. “Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land.” | Rodger |
| Reckless spending destroying New Zealand | Peter |
| If you delve into the what the ” crown” is – it is not monarchy but one of 3 entities. Bank of London , Vatican and Washington DC. They control the way politicans run our country. The more we understand this and the historic agendas of major world events, they have been behind it all. NZ is not ours. | Sngela |
| They have not managed anything except a social and economic disaster. They have been dangerous incompetent nincompoops and want to continue this. Considering the IMF rates us at number 149, just one step above Equatorial Guinea, a failed nation undergoing a revolution, proves Labour has dragged us to economic Third World status. | John |
| Employers still struggling to find the staff they need as immigration doesn’t appear to be related to the needs of the economy | Stuart |
| Determined to ruin our country’s economy and bankrupt us all | Edgar W. |
| Their election slogan should be “We Ruined It for You” | Ken |
| Criminal would not be too stong a word for their spending | Bill |
| Totally out of control! | Mark |
| Appaling | Muriel |
| Hideously bad – they’ve never been in business or had a real job where they’ve been accountable for outputs and outcomes between them | Ihaia |
| Like all good socialists they eventually run out of other peoples money. What is needed is to get the Gummint out of the way | RFG |
| I can not find the words to de3scribe how one party can have destroyed the county that I grew up in has been completely destroyed by this destructive lying deceitful government | David |
| worst ever govt in NZ | |
| Irresponsible!! | Doug |
| Very bad doesn’t come close. Treasonous would be my summation. | neil |
| Never in the history of New Zealand have we ever had such a bunch of dunderheads in one room trying to run this once fine country. This group, previously led by a communist, have been nothing but traitors to the New Zealand people | Tom |
| Hopeless | Jeff |
| The worst in NZ history | Graeme |
| Mismanagement par excellence. | Shaun |
| Labour has split the country! The biggest percentage of people in N.Z. Are NOT Maori, Those who ARE Maori must be free to follow their culture but not at expense of everyone else in the country. Take race out of everything, any care and support in all areas should be based on need not race | Chris |
| bordering on criminal neglect | graham |
| Atrocious ! | Craig |
| No one in the Labour Party has the knowledge and/or expertise to be a MP! Evidenced by the pathetic performance data of this communist Govt!! | Ron |
| They have wasted so much with nothing to show for it and are still making promises that they will not be able to deliver if they retain the treasury benches .they are full of B S and the sooner we have a change the better. bring it on in October 14. | ken |
| And it will not get any better while labour is in control | Maurice |
| they have got to go, it would be hard to find a worse substitute Govt. | Ian |
| I think a troop of monkeys borrowed from Auckland Zoo would have far higher financial IQ than the entire membership of the Labour party collectively. Anyone with a functioning brain can see that this Labour government is by far the most incompetant government in NZ history. This Labour government is also utterly corrupt to the core, and has paid off th emedia to force feed us their racist agenda, attempt to change the name of our country, attempt to force us all to speak Maori, corrupt the police into an extension of social welfare instead of attacking crime, corrupt the road police into revenue collectors at the expense of road safety, etc. We are going to need at least a decade of a very competent government to fix the mess NZ is now in but we won’t get because all the numpties that vote Labour regardless will be unable to constrain their demands for more handouts of money other peoples hard earned money. NZ needs to get rid of welfare, is too lucrative a lifestyle choice for many | Steve |
| God defend New Zealand from another Labour government! And from the Greens and TPM! | Pamela |
| Let’s all give up and rely on the Government who know best. | Martin |
| Non existent in fact! | Michael |
| I cannot believe after making such a huge mistake with everything the Labour Government has introduced in the last 6 years they would want to be re-elected !!! The MSM have completely supported everything they have done !!! National not only have to compete with Labour but the News Papers& TV 1- 3 as well to get their message across .The Disinformation From these Organisations is simply Staggering. | Michael Andrew |
| to the extreme | Geoff |
| Disastrous! | Roy |
| recession has been on the cards ever since COVID. Meanwhile have continued to spend up large with obscene government waste and funding secret racist agenda. | Gerard |
| Disaster! | Mark |
| Worst most inept government of our lifetimes. | Ian |
| If I ran my house hold budget the same way Labour has done I would be on the street begging. Fess up and get out | Rod |
| Couldn’t organise a booze up in a brewery. | Alan |
| I believe with the removals of things labour introduced things will improve but removing wasteful maori things will be hard under chris luxon so please vote more for Act as the more votes they have the less luxon can stop Act removing alot of wasteful tax paying things. | Cindy |
| Erratic biased with a communist Approach. | John |
| The most useless government in NZ history. The socialists / communist Labour / Greens have no idea of how to run a country.NZ should be run as a business that creates wealth for the country.That is why businessmen and farmers are the only ones with the brains to return NZ to its former status. | Steve |
| They continue to inflate their achievements knowing full well they spin lies on every occasion | David |
| They have lost the plot in many ways | Gareth |
| Anyone with a small amount of financial knowledge can see that our country is in a financial mess and will be for a long time. Thanks Labour | Lawrie |
| ‘Very bad’ doesn’t say the half of it. It is astronomically bad! | Catherine |
| Actually it is extremely bad! | Sue |
| As expected – with all their reckless spending – farewells etc??? | Patricia |
| Irresponsible, foolish, with downright evil intentions. Their goal being to run this country into the ground. Marxists all of them !! | Rosie |
| It’s been an economic disaster | Michael |
| Nothing new, this is in the report about the siege of Pukerangiora Pa in 1831. “Very soon the besieged were suffering the horrors of a dreadful famine. The provisions, originally but scanty, had been early consumed with the usual Maori improvidence.” | Hone |
| Tragically inept | Bryan |
| As a 5th generation NewZealander 79 year old – the worst Government I’ve ever experienced- no question! | John |
| Shows gross incompetency. | mark |
| Demonstrably so. Check the occupations of those leaving the country – mostly the people we need to retain. | Fred |
| Absolitely SCANDALOUS! Twisting the figures and scattering the them with fairy-dust! Get this lot OUT A.S.A.P.. | Sylvia |
| A catastrophe. | mar |
| As usual, whenever the left gets its grubby paws on the levers of power and access to the treasury benches, economic chaos and rampant wastage ensues. This ensures that any successive fiscally responsible replacement government has a giant financial hole to overcome necessitating austerity measures which almost guarantee their ousting in the next election. It’s just the M.O. of the left, punctuated with bribes paid for by ever increasing taxation. | John |
| Any advance on “very bad” – or do we have to invent a new word to more accurately describe the devastation they have caused? | Scott |
| The worst management in my lifetime. | Marion |
| I am disappointed that options of “bloody hopeless” and “atrocious” were not added. Liebour has been disgrace on just about every level, but better than their mates, the Greens and Te Pati Muddi. | Philip |
| They are irresponsible spenders | Peter |
| No doubt about this. Appalling. Will take years to sort out | Beverley |
| senseless spending | russell |
| where were their brains? stuck down a rabbit hole? | Chris |
| One world government pressures has led to labor government crumbling under pressure to destabilize NZ economy and society. | john |
| Absolutely abysmal. I can not understand what drives people to think the country is on the right track!! And where is Ardern now, saving some other country? Bitch!! | Chris |
| Incompetent, appalling, corrupt, whats left to say? | Andrew |
| Very bad doesnot adequately describe it. How about disastrous? | Frank |
| There has been no account of their wasteful spending. They own the media | Roy |
| And they are still making promises, that we can’t afford as a nation | Marlene |
| They obviously did not learn from the same problem of the previous labour government | Peter |
| Hopeless is the best adjective | warren |
| Same old same old spend spend spend and let the next government clean up the mess | Chris |
| It is the same as every Labour govt since time began to spend spend and blame the previous National govt for all the problems that labour has created | eric |
| They have our country near bankruptcy. | Barbara |
| Bloody appalling how was it allowed to go on for so long the media nead a huge shakeup as do the opposition | Peter |
| Will the country ever recover??? | Alan |
| Labour have successfully wrecked NZ & our family are not returning from London due to the mess Labour have put us in !!!! | Susie |
| Couldn’t have been more irresponsible. Robertson completely lacked / lacks the qualifications, experience and background to do the job . His profligate spending , as if there is no tomorrow , has practically wrecked our country’s finances , with the IMF rating us last but for Equatorial Guinea in its GDP projections for 2024. PM Hipkins MUST share the responsibility for this shockingly substandard performance. | Hugh |
| A typical Labour government – true to form! | Brian |
| ‘Catastrophic’ needs to be on the list of choices. Thats my choice. | Sharen |
| is it any wonder when we had the lieing corrupt commie toothy dictator running the country and when she had ruined everything did a runner and left her bunch of half wits to carry on her destructive agenda, but I still dont trust luxon and winston, hories and greens all need to be jailed for treason. | Richard |
| Labour are the worst financial managers ever. Heaven help us if Labour get re-elected. | Jim |
| a disaster | Bruce |
| I wouldn’t even consider employing a single person from the coalition of cock-ups to clean my toilet. They just do not have the mental capacity for any sort of employment. | Terry M |
| They could manage a piss up in a brewery | John |
| Unbelievable waste by this Leftist Marxist government. What about $ billions given to Maori & unaccounted for!!!! | Derek |
| Totally incompetent. | Tim |
| They could not make it any worse if they tried! | david |
| If there was a horrendous category I would have chosen that | Mike |
| Labour is hopeless at managing the economy, always have been always will be. Get rid of them. | John |
| None of these is strong enough. Try: HORRIFIC | jOHN |
| Irresponsible and ideological zealotry led by the self promoting Prime Minister who was in the end too tired to continue and abandoned the country to seek a place on the international stage which was always the aim | Julian |
| Intentionally planned!!! World government. | Raewyn |
| A massive dose of “Thatcherism” is urgently required or it’s a oneway ticket to Australia. National landslide to the rescue….. | Chris |
| Everywhere I look people are worse off, there must be a recession, when will someone admit that? | Pete |
| I don’t think our economic management has ever been worse. | Kevin |
| The worst EVER! | c |
| Total disaster on every level, particularly for non part-Marori | Mark |
| I doubt they could run a successful piss up in a brewery | Les W |
| It’s hard to see how they could have done any worse.! Undergraduates with loads of far left ideology and little else have spent money with little to show for it. | Roger |
| Out of control | Peter |
| Criminally Bad! | gary |
| unaccountable waste | Collin |
| Incredible howobvious ourmains Incredible how our mainstream media attack all opposition parties & promote their masters | Peter |
| Useless | Wiremu |
| The imbeciles in power at present have no clue how to spend money wisely. Labour is true to the way it’s always been – tax and spend. Unfortunately, they’re busy spending our childrens inheritance. And their childrens inheritance also. They haven’t listened to treasury and we’re all going to pay for it. | Trevor |
| Too much lying propaganda | James |
| Bankrupted nz | John |
| Exactly the level of incompetence I expected from a team of ministers, none of whom could manage a corner dairy. | David |
| Bad, as usual. It’s easy to spend other peoples’ money. National makes money, Labour spends it. I particularly don’t like the sense of entitlement shown in spending on parties, breakfasts, etc. | Sheila |
| Beyond belief how bad this is. | Jill |
| As bad as it gets | Bryan |
| If only the blind could see. | Alan |
| disastrous | owen |
| it is disgusting that they can get away with this! | Dean |
| We need an entrenched law that prohibits. any political party from influencing the media,as its the media that the general public rely. on to make voting decisions | carl |
| They destroyed it | mike |
| They are useless and need to go in October | Michael |
| They have bankrupted a once prosperous country. Immigration is not the answer. Cost reduction by the public sector has never been more paramount to our survival. STOP THE LOLLIE SCRAMBLES. | Mike |
| Always have been a pack of namby pamby wallies. Then in 1984 they even gave up representing labour, ie the workers. Now just useful idiots for the globalists and banksters. | Mark |
| Criminal is the only word I can think of | Peter |
| Govt taking over all of our District Councils responsibilities with non elected roles. Co-governance will split our country, and regulation will financially kill it. | Velma |
| Check our exchange rates, due to very bad policies | Jo |
| Reckless, destructive and deliberate. An appalling period in New Zealand’s history. | Grahame |
| Couldn’t be worse | Roger |
| Disastrous. | Judith |
| A typical Labour Govt. Throw money at everything with no accountability. | Susan |
| !!!!!!!!!!!.. | Gill |
| Worst government we have ever had, in EVERY area of governance, but their management of our economy and finances is abhorrent – and yet – along with everything else – they can still find a way to lie and deceive people about the state we find our nation in – even when their lies are blatantly obvious. | Christine |
| Most destructive race policies that I, in my late 70s, have ever experienced, clearly creating social unrest.. | Ross |
| They are either totally incompetent or it’s a deliberate strategy to destroy the economy. Unfortunately it appears to be both! | Peter |
| Wasted billions | Doris |
| We should all be able to see for ourselves how things are going re this Govt, we are all suffering from their decisions. | Barbara |
| Clearly, this current Finance Minister is out of their depth. We are in this situation due to his out-of the park spending without much to show for it. | Phil |
| I think you have left off a category. That is “Disastrous” | Grahm |
| Worst Government by a long margin that I, in my mid-70s, have ever been unfortunate enough to have experienced. | Jaedra |
| Absolutely hopeless and out of their depth on economic matters. | pdm |
| Bring on a right wing coalition government and get rid of the excess bureaucrats! | Mark |
| A pack of nincompoops, shouldn’t be in charge of a chook pen. How does a pack of goons like this get into power in the first place. Makes you wonder about the value of Democracy when such irresponsible persons can disrupt a country to this extent. | Don |
| Add hopeless | Robert |
| They have no idea,they just bubble on a lot of rubbish, I dont think they even understand economics | Paul |
| Numbers don’t lie. The blowouts and paucity of anything to show for the spending is beyond belief. | Geoff |
| Our Chancellor of the Exchequer needs to be taken to the Court of Economic Judges. The Auditor General should surcharge govt members accordingly. Public Servants should be dismissed prorata with the proposed immigrants. | Kevin |
| Worst ever in my life..Hopeless bunch of incompetent fools. | Don |
| Very bad is the mildest term. It is absolutly shocking. | Michele |
| A complete disgrace ! | Alastair |
| Their approach was wrong and their exection a disaster. | Graham |
| The worst in living memory. | jason |
| expected | muzza |
| This so called ‘Government’ is nothing but a bunch of senseless economic wreckers. They have no clue what they are doing but reading off a script handed to them by people who have not our well being in mind , but are preparing the country for a economic and social collapse of massive proportions. When this is done , we as a nation will be at the mercy of corporate and unsavoury neo marxist interests. | Michael |
| The worst government in the history of N.Z. Heads should roll,these people should never be aloud to be involved in politics again. & I think Luxon is tared with the same brush. He is W.EF. & W.H.O. stooge & a climate apologist & also N.Z. history ignorant that believes Maori are indigenous. | Allen |
| the worst Labour government ever, get rid and never return. | Colin |
| Bankrupted the country, and nothing good to show for that outrageous spending. | Heather |
| They should be held accountable for their gross incompetence | Linda |
| VERY VERY BAD | Ian |
| I doubt if they could have done worse. | Gavin |
| purely corrupt | chris |
| it speaks for itself | mike |
| What a mess! | Bill |
| VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY BAD. UTTERLY ATROCIOUS, for want of a better word, from INEPTS and utter INCOMPETENTS. | Jim |
| Hopeless! | wally |
| They should be kicked out of office ASAP | Bruce |
| Wasteful nothing achieved | lindsay |
| Worst government ever! | Brian |
| Very bad is even a compliment! Is there not a lower description we can use like useless! | Craig |
| Dereliction | Tony |
| Actually far worse…disastrous | Penny |
| Words fail me! | Kevin |
| The worst government I have ever seen in NZ in every possible way | Norm |
| covered up by a compliant PIJF bribed media | Mike |
| One word – disastrous. Management! you’re being kind. They have shown they can’t manage a pie shop Should never ever be allowed back. EVER. Not anywhere near Government | Carolyn |
| Could not have been worse. | Tony |
| enough said | Janet |
| Time to get rid of them | Barbara |
| Worst Government in NZs history | Rose |
| The fiscal mismanagement by Labour over the last two terms is without doubt the worst ever inflicted on the public of NZ, I for one would like to see Jacinda, Grant & Chippy held accountable & be prosecuted as would any Director of a publicly listed company if they had done the same as these incompetent & corrupt politicians | John |
| Could hardly be worse | Alan |
| Don’t get me started on what this Labour party has done to this country. They will get their come uppence in the forecoming election. | Roger |
| Wasting money left right and Centre | Mike |
| If there had been an “Appalling” option, that would have been my choice. | Deb |
| It is close to 3rd world existence. | Audrey |
| Children in the candy store. | Evans |
| They are totally incompetent and are so incredibly dishonest I can not believe they are not exposed by the media who are continuing to do the very opposite. | graeme |
| Labour have smothered our producers in regulations and burdened this country with massive debt. | Trevor |
| Completely reckless with proven virtually no restraint. | Alastair |
| wasteful spending. | Chun |
| It is so bad leads one to think that it was done deliberately | Peter |
| The wage subsidy during covid was a business saver something a National government would never have done. | cliff |
| hey, its labour…no competence plus no confidence in them | patrick |
| What a disaster for our country. | Simon |
| We need to get back to careful spending and a balanced budget. Labour has wasted so much taxpayers’ money. | Lee |
| Abysmal | Don |
| Actually much worse than Very bad | Basil |
| They are turning us into the Zimbabwe of the South Pacific | Gordon |
| Abysmal is a better word. The most disastrous Government in all Departments ever in the history of NZ | Scott |
| There needs to be another option – “Deliberate Destruction” | Roger |
| Appalling! | Frank |
| The entire fiasco is Engineered and deliberate. Take a look all around the world and ask yourself, why did all the member states do the same stuff during covid?? An attack on the middle class, worldwide. The forces at play have a very specific agenda. | peter |
| The phrase “Incompetent Fools” sprngs immediately to mind | Rob |
| Far too many excesses | Kevin |
| Reckless spending with no accountability or means to assess the value of the expenditure. | Carol |
| People not born yet will be saddled with paying off the debt this incompetent government have incurred. | Rod |
| and that is being extremely generous … | Susan |
| Bad bad | RICHard |
| Tax and spend has never worked for any economy, so why would it work for ours? | Ray |
| I do not feel comforted even slightly by Minister Robertsons statements that he thinks all is well. I find the concerns of Dr Robert McCulloch far more credible. Our debt has got far to large under Roberston. He and the Labour government have failed us badly. Taxation relief is needed now. Dr Wilkinson explains why and he is more credible than Robertson. | Peter |
| Obviously worse than very bad, they have virtually bankrupted NZ! | Robin |
| Labour has created a “dependent” voting base in both the welfare receivers and the bureaucrats which manage the handouts. This all at the cost of the “middle” class taxpayers whose speending power is being seriously eroded. | charles |
| Couldn’t be much worse. The blind leading the blind. Can only hope for better times ahead. | Carol |
| Absolute disaster | Mike |
| Criminal in fact, when we consider their expenditure on racist leglislations. | bRyan |
| Very very bad | Hilary |
| This govt is the worst in my lifetime | Dave |
| An abysmal failure that your grandkids will still be trying to pay off. As I understand it, National handed over a set of books to Labour to be proud of, Enough to cover the Covid outbreak and a couple of climate emergencies. Labour has not had the courtesy to return the favour. In fact Hipkins is running around making increasingly bizarre money promises if only they win the election. I see the the hypocrite Arderns reputation is under scrutiny in Canada and other foreign ports of call. This will be the norm for all the Labour MPs and is likely to hound them for years. (we can only hope). All your actions have been noted. The game is up Commies. | Terry |
| Been a long time since we had a Govt that spent like this one. | John |
| Labour has been the most appalling government ever. The sooner they are gone, the sooner the country can start to heal. | Pete |
| God help us if Labour is re-elected. We would be off to Australia in a flash. | John |
| It is reassuring to see the polls have finally turned against this current government. The media have done the country a real disservice by not holding them to account for the dreadful job they have been doing. Let’s hope the election delivers a landslide against Labour. | Sue |
| I do not know anyone who thinks Labour has done a good job. They have been a disaster. | Don |
| Labour has been very, very, very bad! | Stuart |