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We’re
Off
ACT’s Change Your Future bus tour is off and rolling with the first
stop in Whangarei last night and Waipu, Mangawhai and Warkworth today.
The list of scheduled events is growing and can
be found here. The election cannot just be Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch. ACT’s candidates are going on tour from Whangarei to
Invercargill to take the election on tour. There is no taxpayer
funding for this tour, we must fundraise every kilometre. If you’d
like to pay for a kilometre, or more, please donate
here.
Disaster Prime Minister
David Seymour rounded off three years in Parliament with a widely
praised and watched speech.
His point: “we have a disaster Government led by a disaster Prime
Minister, because, if it wasn't for the disasters, what we would have
is a long series of let downs, where everything the parties over there
promised in 2017 has been a failure.”
Case In
Point
There are some situations you cannot hug your way out of. The COVID
recovery is one of them. The Government is not announcing when we
might be able to go to the Cook Islands. The Prime Minister has said
it is too difficult to separate passengers from different planes at
the airport. We should have been able to go there months ago. Sadly
this case is a barometer of the Government’s ability to solve problems
after the disaster has peaked.
Another Case In
Point
During lockdown there was a shortage of PPE and the Government said
wearing masks was not necessary. Now we are all told it would be
helpful to have some masks. We might even have a day where everyone
wears one as a ‘practice.’ Where is this coming from? Free
Press has enough experience in government to know cock ups are
much more common than conspiracies. Why? Because conspiracies are a
lot of work and governments are incompetent.
Is
Community Transmission Being Covered Up?
We are often asked if there is community transmission but the
Government is covering it up. We don’t believe anything of the sort is
happening. Covering up positive tests would require a cast of dozens
at minimum, it wouldn’t happen. The reason for the fear mongering is a
combination of the Government liking the state of fear and knowing its
public health capability has barely improved since
February.
What We Need
Even those doing well are concerned that the buoyant economy is a
false economy. The number one thing the Government can do to guarantee
everyone’s economic security is get smarter about public health.
Unfortunately the Government’s approach is far from smart, and it’s
not just the Cooks and mask advice where they’re falling
short.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The Productivity Commission has published a report showing that the
five day extension to Level 4 lockdown cost far more than any
conceivable benefit. Free Press says the Government must
start assessing whether its interventions make people better off.
Ditto for weighing the COVID and non-COVID health
impacts.
What We Don’t Need
This week Labour releases its tax policy. We are starting to
understand what the true cost of a spendthrift government is. National
have ruled out tax cuts. ACT will be standing alone on behalf of the
hardworking taxpayer while everyone else wants to lump them with the
costs of COVID and the Government’s happy-go-lucky approach to
it.
A Faster Recovery With Lower Taxes
ACT alone is campaigning for a faster recovery with lower taxes and
less debt. Only ACT has released a fully-costed alternative budget in
the face of the Government’s plan to borrow $140 billion and counting.
At the same time we need a Government that is serious about public
health.
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