Budget will be little help to business, says Shipley

Opposition leader Jenny Shipley said today that small and medium sized businesses should be concerned about their prospects with the Government set to deliver its Budget next week.

In a pre-Budget speech in Auckland this morning, Mrs Shipley said the Government had done little to assist businesses since taking power and that "all of the signs are the Budget will do nothing to change that".

Mrs Shipley said business confidence and economic performance were steadily declining around the world and the Government had only succeeded in raising the expectations of small and medium sized businesses in New Zealand.

"But it seems sure those expectations will not be met."

Mr Shipley identified "major issues" that were of concern to businesses, including the failure to expose a $270 million Budget blowout until the last moment.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Michael Cullen raised the Coalition's self-imposed limit on new spending in the three fiscal years to 2002-03 from $5.9 billion to $6.17 billion.

She said the blowout had had allowed Dr Cullen to effectively "cheat" on his Budget figures and created a sense of disquiet about the Government's ability to manage the economy.

Mrs Shipley said the upcoming Budget was also under high fiscal pressure, as evidenced by the Government's inability to front up with an extra $14 million to extend health subsidies to 48,000 low-income workers and the confusion over the paid parental leave scheme.

Other causes for concern were the lack of advances on the Resource Management Act, which was hampering development, and continued uncertainty over the Superannuation Fund scheme.

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