Are the National Party serious about good fiscal management or not?

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the National Party’s commitment to continuing government contributions to the NZ Super Fund, despite growing public debt and economic headwinds.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says:

“Let’s be very clear what this policy involves: the National Party are saying they will continue to borrow in order to stuff money into a risky sharemarket scheme.”

“Government debt is forecast to be nearly 42% of GDP by next year. The National Party should be solely focused on getting the books back into the black, not signing up for a policy that only made sense when Michael Cullen was running record surpluses.”

“Borrowing money to put money on the stock market makes no sense. John Key and Bill English acknowledged this when they paused payments following the 2008 global financial crisis. The National Party was right then, and its change in stance risks people questioning their reputation as prudent fiscal managers.”