Key Notes No.35 - 05 August 2008

NATIONAL'S BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE

It was great to see so many delegates at the National Party annual conference over the weekend. The Party is in great spirits and our caucus is ready to take the fight to Labour over the 100 days leading up to the election.

Watch my video journal from the conference here.

National has a plan to steer New Zealand on a course to a more prosperous future. I outlined our Blueprint for Change in my conference speech.

1. An ongoing programme of tax cuts. We will build on the tax cuts in October, with a second and third tranche of cuts on 1 April 2009 and 1 April 2010. This programme will not require the Crown to borrow in order to be funded.

2. Bring discipline to Government spending. We know that the price of extravagant public spending is devastatingly high interest rates, so we will spend taxpayers' money more carefully.

3. Rein in excessive growth in the public service and focus on frontline services. We will re-balance public spending priorities so that critical services like schools and hospitals get a fairer share.

4. Launch an attack on gangs and the P trade they support. National will also get serious about youth crime by funding Fresh Start programmes using, for example, army facilities to turn around the lives of youth offenders.

5. Introduce a bill to reform the Resource Management Act within the first 100 days of our first term. We are determined to remove the handbrake the RMA places on growth.

6. Invite the private sector back to the table. National will work with private enterprises, entrepreneurs, and non-government organisations to rebuild the ladder of opportunity for every single New Zealander. 

7. Raise education standards. We will set national standards in literacy and numeracy for all primary school pupils, require schools to test pupils against these standards, and require teachers to tell parents about the results – in plain English.

8. Grow the amount of superannuation paid to senior citizens each week. National will retain all superannuation entitlements and eligibility rules that our senior citizens currently enjoy, and increase super as we cut taxes and grow after-tax wages.

9. Repeal the Electoral Finance Act. We will reach out to all the parties in Parliament to find a genuine consensus on electoral law. We will also retain measures that provide greater transparency in political donations.

10. Hold a binding referendum on MMP by no later than 2011.

In addition to these 10 points, we will take the sensible steps needed to tackle some of the difficult issues of our times.

We will introduce an emissions trading scheme that balances New Zealand's responsibility to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions with our need to grow our economy. My goal is to have such a scheme on the statute books within nine months of taking office.

National will continue progress along the path of resolving remaining historical Treaty claims.

And National will work hard to put hope and opportunity into the lives of those in our emerging underclass. Too many Kiwis are being left on the scrap-heap of negative statistics – in a toxic mix of crime, drug addiction, welfare dependency, and low-education levels.

BOOSTING INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

It's time to take the handbrake off and turn the growth engine on.

Right now, we have a significant infrastructure deficit. The result is poor productivity and increased pressure on inflation and interest rates. National believes that building better infrastructure is essential to fuelling higher levels of non-inflationary economic growth for years to come.

We will:

- Appoint a Minister of Infrastructure to reshape, co-ordinate, and then oversee the government's infrastructure objectives.

- Develop a 20-year National Infrastructure Plan, in conjunction with local government, to set a clear direction for vital national infrastructure investment, including top priority projects.

- Introduce a new category of state highway, called Roads of National Significance, which will be singled out for priority treatment. State Highway 1 is an example. Such roads will be central to our development and investment plans.

- Introduce priority consenting, which will streamline consents for major national infrastructure using a call-in process so the decision is determined nationally. The law will require a decision on these priority consents within nine months.

- Increase Crown capital investment by up to an extra $500 million a year above levels projected by Labour. This is in addition to our broadband investment commitment of $1.5 billion over six years. This will result in National investing in close to $5 billion of additional capital investments over the next six years to fund infrastructure over and above that foreshadowed by Labour. This means that, at the most, National will be running a gross debt-to-GDP ratio around two percentage points higher than Labour is planning.

- Pass laws to introduce a new range of financing techniques for national infrastructure projects. National will introduce infrastructure bonds as a new asset class, and make greater use of public-private partnerships. We will allow mum and dad investors to take a stake in the assets of New Zealand's future.

WORKING FOR FAMILIES

Last week, I announced that National will make no changes to the Working for Families tax credit system. To watch my video diary on this announcement, click here.

National wants to offer New Zealand families certainty about the future of the Working for Families system.  Though we have long been concerned about how far up the income scale Working for Families stretches, a careful analysis of possible changes at the higher income levels showed it was not worthwhile making them.

In addition, I have long held concerns about high effective marginal tax rates acting as a disincentive to people under WFF. But we are confident this issue will be addressed by our tax package.

I am interested in what works.  National acknowledges that Working for Families payments are an important part of the income of many families. Despite the concerns we hold about the system, offering families certainty is much more important in these tough economic times.

John Key MP
Leader of the National Party

Watch the speech: nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ANAp4mTnkUA
Read the speech: johnkey.co.nz/index.php?/archives/432-SPEECH-Nationals-Blueprint-for-Change.html
Visit the website: www.johnkey.co.nz