New Zealand National Party

John,

We’re focused on holding the Government to account for their lack of delivery on issues that affect the lives of all New Zealanders, like the cost-of-living crisis, making our communities safer, and delivering outcomes in health and education.

Catch up on the latest in politics with our Week in Review below.

→	Domestic inflation soars under Labour
→	Labour still failing on benefit dependency
→	Ram-raids have increased by 500 per cent
→	ED wait times the worst in a decade
→	Opposition to Three Waters Bill is overwhelming

Nicola Willis: Domestic inflation soars under Labour

Inflation data released this week by Statistics New Zealand show prices rose 7.3 per cent in the last year, the fastest rate since 1990. Domestic – or non-tradable – inflation is at its highest level since the series began in 2000. Inflation is getting a firm grip on our economy.

Labour keeps blaming international events like the war in Ukraine but refuses to take responsibility for their policy failures at home.

Rising prices are smashing household budgets. With every sector of the economy straining under cost pressures, there's nowhere to hide from Labour’s cost of living crisis.

We have been calling on the Government to present a plan to fight inflation for months. Spending more and announcing temporary measures won’t cut it. Spending billions to fight runaway inflation just puts more fuel on the fire, pushing up inflation and interest rates.

A real plan would focus on strengthening the productive economy and unlocking the bottlenecks in the economy that are worsening inflation, including fixing failed immigration settings and stopping adding costs to business.

Hon Louise Upston: Labour still failing on benefit dependency

New official data shows Labour has failed to address the rise in benefit dependency. Despite record job vacancies, with businesses across New Zealand crying out for staff, there are still 50,000 more people receiving the Jobseeker benefit than when Labour took office five years ago.

This includes 11,200 more people under the age of 25, the group who should be able to find employment in an economy suffering labour shortages in almost every sector.

Of most concern is the number of people who have been on Jobseeker for more than a year, which is 55 per cent higher than in 2017.

Clearly something has gone wrong with Labour’s approach to welfare. The Government needs to be doing far more to help people stuck on Jobseeker long-term to overcome whatever barriers they face to getting into paid work.

But for some reason, this Labour Government seems content to just passively allow thousands of New Zealanders to languish on the benefit without any direction, support, or consequences.

Accountability must exist in the welfare system so that people who can work, do. If Labour can't get people off welfare and into work now, when will they ever be able to?

Hon Paul Goldsmith: Ram-raids have increased by 500 per cent

Newly released figures reveal the number of ram-raids on retailers have soared under Labour, with a more than 500 per cent increase within the first six months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2018.

While communities across New Zealand felt the dangerous acts committed by youth have been rising, Labour continued to deny the problem was worsening under their watch.

Labour’s soft on crime solution to these brazen robberies is to simply subsidise bollards to mitigate damages from cars smashing into retailers.

Offenders must be identified, caught and held accountable for their actions.

A Police report based on a sample of the ram-raids indicates show that only 37 per cent of offenders result in enforcement action and that re-offenders are responsible for a quarter of overall ram-raids.

Labour must stop the culture of excuses they have used for too long. They can start by ensuring youth offenders face consequences for their actions and give Police the tools they need to enforce the law.

Dr Shane Reti: ED wait times the worst in a decade

Emergency Department wait times are now the worst in at least a decade, with more than one in five people waiting at least six hours for treatment.

When ED waiting times are unbearable, people simply leave – sometimes with tragic consequences.

The full extent of the tragic ED wait time figures are only now laid bare on the Ministry of Health website after National pressured Andrew Little to reveal figures that were no longer being published.

Exhausted, hard working ED staff see no support, hope, or plans in Andrew Little’s public statements. The Minister of Health urgently needs to refocus the $486 million being spent on health reforms towards relieving pressure in EDs.

Simon Watts: Opposition to Three Waters Bill is overwhelming

Opposition to the Three Waters asset grab is overwhelming, with tens of thousands of Kiwis submitting on Labour’s centralisation plan.

The National Party has received more than 15,000 submissions directly on the plans, more than 1000 of which have indicated they want to be heard in person by the committee.

This is despite Labour’s desperate attempts to create support for its ideologically driven changes. Not content with a $2.5 billion bribe in April, this week Labour announced another $44 million to try to buy councils’ support.

Labour’s plan would take water assets from local councils and put them into four mega-entities controlled by a complex and unaccountable Wellington bureaucracy.

Three Waters is being driven by a Labour Party determined to impose its centralisation ideology against the wishes of local communities.

National will repeal Three Waters, but it is still important that the public makes its voice heard.