The National Party’s campaign has gone from bad to worse with a further two large miscalculations being uncovered in their alternative fiscal plan. Firstly, National’s economic spokesperson and list MP, Paul Goldsmith, used May's Budget figures instead of last week's PREFU numbers, and came up with a whopping $4.3 billion miscalculation.
Then a further $88 million error was uncovered because Goldsmith made the same mistake with capital allowances. But if all that wasn’t bad enough, National bungled for a third time when Goldsmith tried to use $3.9 billion of infrastructure funding that had already been reallocated.
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| Paul Goldsmith - National Party MP |
Yesterday, Stuff reported:
Election 2020: Grant Robertson tells Paul Goldsmith to 'rip up' National's economic plan and start again
Labour’s Grant Robertson says National’s economic plan is so riddled with errors the party needs to rip it up and start again.
The claim comes as the economist who vetted National’s numbers was forced to issue a statement asserting they added up, although he wouldn’t tell Stuff precisely how, referring those questions to National’s Paul Goldsmith.
“National’s economic costings are in tatters. Each day new mistakes are revealed, leading to $8 billion in errors,” Robertson said.
“It’s time for Judith Collins to tell Paul Goldsmith to rip up the plan and start again.”
I would go further than that. These very large mistakes clearly show that Goldsmith isn’t fit to be National’s economic spokesperson, let alone any part of a future Government.
On Tuesday, Stuff revealed the party appeared to have made another mistake, by effectively raiding a fund that no longer existed.
National’s budget from last Friday hit up the NZ Upgrade Programme – a $12b infrastructure scheme set up by the Government in January – for $3.9b.
But that fund no longer exists. The Government rolled the $4b left over from what it spent in January into another funding pool, the multi-year capital allowance, in the May budget.
The problem for National is that it’s spent the multi-year capital allowance as well, meaning the money appears to have been double counted.
Today, The Spinoff reported:
‘National is a shambles, and their economic plan is a joke’
The Labour Party’s attacks on National’s economic plan are continuing to come thick and fast, with a press release from Grant Robertson this morning titled: “National’s shambolic economic plan going from bad to worse”.
Labour has been quick to attack National’s economic plan, after a $4 billion fiscal hole was discovered – and later doubled.
“Paul Goldsmith is floundering. He’s trying to change his plan quietly in the background so he doesn’t have to own up to his leader for another mistake. He has double counted $4 billion worth of funding, meaning there are now at least $8 billion worth of mistakes in his economic plan,” Robertson said in the release.
“In order to cover over this he is now claiming that he would take that money out of the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) to make up the difference.”
If National forms the next government, the party couldn’t be trusted to run the economy, Robertson said.
“If they were in Government, mistakes like this would have real-life consequences on jobs and infrastructure investment.”
We’re all very lucky that National aren’t in Government at the moment. The Labour Party may not have been able to deliver on all its election promises, but at least they’ve put New Zealand on the right track. National on the other hand is continuing with its outdated and divisive policy ideas. Goldsmith's serious errors in his alternative economic plan clearly show that National must not be allowed anywhere near the books, which would surely result in a prolonged downturn.
Far from being able to rally the troops, Collins has ensured her party is limping along towards what could well be National’s largest election defeat ever. Crusher has been unable to provide any real alternative to what has already been tried and failed under previous National led Governments. But perhaps the worst part of Crusher’s unprofessionalism as party leader is her inability to hold National Party MPs to account.
If a Labour Party politician had made the same mistakes as Paul Goldsmith, National, their media propagandists and right-wing trolls would be demanding a resignation until they got it. But instead we have National attempting to minimise and downplay over $8 billion in financial errors. If Crusher’s arrogance and Goldsmith’s bungling don’t make voters think twice about supporting such a shambles of a party, nothing will.
