National hardest on worst off – Goff tells Johnsonville

Over 60 people gathered to hear Labour Leader Phil Goff speak at a public meeting in Johnsonville last night. At the meeting, Mr Goff said people were beginning to realise how mean spirited the National government is. 

“National hid its true colours well last year but now with cuts to night classes, cuts to counselling for sexual abuse victims, cuts to home help for the elderly, and a hike in GST to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, Kiwis are seeing them for what they really are – mean and hypocritical.”

“National would take $30 dollars worth of home help off a pensioner trying to get by and yet Bill English thought nothing of taking hundreds of dollars a week off the taxpayers to live in his own house,” said Mr Goff.

Labour List MP Charles Chauvel says he invited Phil Goff to speak because people in Johnsonville are suffering under a National Government, with unemployment doubling since the 2008 election.

Mr Chauvel says the number of people who had come out to hear Phil Goff on a blustery Monday evening impressed him.

“I think it shows that people are concerned that the government seems to have no plans to create jobs or lift the incomes of hardworking kiwis and their families and they’re dismayed by how little National seems to care for those struggling on middle and low incomes.

“National’s plans to increase GST is a classic example of the very wealthy people getting big tax cuts at the expense of middle and lower income Kiwis.

“Labour says that’s not fair, it is the many not just the privileged few at the top who should benefit from the expected economic recovery,” Charles Chauvel said.

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