"We think when the Government's balance sheet is in order, that provides greater strength for families overall because it is not just paid parental leave we support; it's Working For Families, it's access to early childhood education and many other initiatives."
It is a waste of time pointing out how much Key once purported to loath WFF. It's on the record. Perhaps politicians fancy themselves as 'maturing' after a few terms. To me the behaviour smacks more of buckling under the weight of righteous redistributionists professing noble causes.
But then one wonders about Key's "we". Surely not all National MPs share Key's enthusiasm for vast social spending, which is what, in the final analysis, has driven European countries to the point of such turmoil?
Was I alone in thinking that National was going to get serious about reducing spending this term? Not just as a response to the recession but because it would benefit New Zealand in the long term?
How easily I forget my own past utterances. Labour/National late eighties/early nineties were aberrations. Now it would seem NZ has reverted to the familiar political pattern of Labour ramping up the social spending and National falling in behind. This it would seem is a political stalemate there is no escape from.
2 comments:
I too thought that National might be a bit more agressive this term. As you say, it appears increasingly as though the best that can be said of National is that they are not Labour.
"We think when the Government's balance sheet is in order, that provides greater strength for families overall because it is not just paid parental leave we support; it's Working For Families, it's access to early childhood education and many other initiatives."
Thats a political answer promising nothing in the future. Rather it emphasizes what is already being done.
JC
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