Not Quite "Free" Blue Money

New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell. Photo/Andrew Warner

This year's blue budget offers most people between $1 and $26. The catch is - like so many blue party promises - you won't get it if you don't vote them back in on September 23rd. If you do, you can have your $26 thank you on the first of April next year.

This is not sound financial stewardship of the public purse. They haven't delivered a Budget, so much as a bribe.

Putting things off, for until you offer them another three years in the driver's seat, is becoming this blue government's party trick, and they're using it for everything from road building to tax cuts and hand-outs.

But where did they find the money? It wasn't under the mattress or down the couch cushions. This blue government has "created" a $1.7 billion surplus, by not paying the bills. It's as simple as that.

The DHB have lost $1.7billion alone, and that's before we look at housing, Police, DoC, roads, rail... the list goes on.

So, before signing away the next three years of our lives for a possible $26 each week, let's look at a few facts.

If Kiwis could earn a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, we would all have more than $26 extra in our pockets each week, without having to put the country in blue hands for another three years.

If it's our $26 already - that we put it in the public purse for public spending - we would be better off leaving it there so that we will be able to: get to work on time; see a doctor; swim in a river; live in a safe country... the list goes on.

If a surplus is not really a surplus - they just haven't been paying the bills - the responsible thing to do is: pay the bills first, and then start thinking about planning an April Fools' Day party?

New Zealand First will make sure a fair day's work earns a fair day's wage - putting New Zealanders first, over multinationals' profits and unskilled hyper-immigration.

$26 on April Fools' Day is just more tinkering. Making sure Kiwis have the training and opportunities they need to succeed will improve the lives of New Zealanders right away.