National’s deputy leader and finance spokesperson Nicola Willis has defended her party’s tax policy after claims it would see funding for some frontline services slashed.
Over the weekend, the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) said it had identified $2.5 billion of cuts to public services, which it said Kiwis would see as frontline.
It included areas such as customs, biosecurity and cybersecurity.
National said the cuts are aimed at cutting bureaucracy and “back office services”, but the CTU said: “These are not back-office services."
“These are not areas that should be under the microscope for cuts. These should be areas where there is cross-party consensus that we need to invest more,” CTU economist Craig Renney said.
Renney said he's concerned that should the National's tax policy fail, more cuts will be on the horizon.
"The cuts to public services will have to get even bigger if their overseas tax measures fail to bring in the $3.6bn necessary. National says that $2.3bn in tax cuts for landlords are necessary, but it hasn’t identified why possible cuts to frontline services, such as search and rescue, are necessary," he said.
"New Zealanders deserve to know how National will make its sums work without cutting the essential services that are in their sights.”
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Willis defended the policy.
She said the party has been “very careful” when building it.
“What we’ve specifically done is we’ve listed agencies where there’s been increases in expenditure over the past six years,” she said.
“We’ve said, let's look at the overall increase in spending, which is up about 62%, let’s direct these agencies, protect front line services, come back to us by Christmas with what reductions you can make in your backroom costs."
Willis said the party only wants to see the departments reduce their spending by 6.5%, which she called a “very careful, conservative approach".
She wanted to see government departments show the "same constraint” as people impacted by the rising cost of living - by taking measures to make each dollar last longer.
“That’s why we’re only asking that they reduce their spending by 6.5% so they can support their critical frontline functions.”
Attacking National, not Labour - Willis
She also took a shot at the CTU itself.
She said its recent “attacks” only target National’s policies and not Labour.
“A lot of the attacks that have happened in the past few days are from people who are expecting us to be able to put two and two together, a tax plan that is generous without cutting frontline services.
“When Grant Robertson came out and said he was going to cut $4 billion, the CTU were silent.
“It’s only when National are that there’s any critique.”
The CTU made headlines across the country last week as politicians launched into campaign mode ahead of the election.
They faced criticism from National after launching a campaign with a front page advertisement in the NZ Herald that called leader Christopher Luxon "out of touch" and "too much risk".
Luxon branded the campaign as "incredibly sad" and "pathetic".
"From a CTU point of view, they purport to support working people. I would've thought they wanted to come out in support of our tax plan last week," Luxon said.
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