Budget Has Failed: The Facts

“We needed a budget for jobs, a budget for skills – a budget for the future,” said Patrick Leyland, Young Labour President, this morning.

“Instead, English stood up on Thursday and shamelessly sold New Zealand’s future for cheap to credit rating companies.”

Young Labour’s two core budget concerns are education and employment. “The Budget is always a calculation of priorities and necessities. But the National Party have got their figures badly wrong.” Mr Leyland explained.

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Otago University Students March to National Party Office in Budget Protest

Over 60 students braved the wet bleak and cold Dunedin day and marched from Otago University to National Party MP, Michael Woodhouse’s office to protest budget priorities.

The group of protesters rallied on the Union Lawn at noon and left the University at 12.30pm to march down George St, through the Octagon and down Princes St to Micheal Woodhouse's office in Upstart House.

Protest organiser Ella Hardy said “Today we marched in opposition to this visionless budget. National clearly prioritise prisons, allocating 900 million to justice and no mention what so ever about tertiary education, or the necessity of up-skilling our work force to see us through the recession!”

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Successful Summit – Expert Engagement

”Whether the issue is stripping worker’s rights, introducing boot camps or destroying Auckland democracy – the National Party has ignored a chorus of expert voices in favour of its own self-superiority.” Young Labour President, Patrick Leyland, said this morning.

In direct contrast with the Nat’s wafer thin election slogans and actions in government, Labour has shown a great respect for expert opinion. National have only been in power for 6 months and they have already left a path around the Beehive littered with broken promises, an acute fear of consultation and a flagrant disregard of expert opinion (labelled “misleading” whenever inconvenient).

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Unanimous expert criticism of ‘Boot Camp Bill’

Young Labour joined the unanimous chorus of criticism of the Government’s ‘Boot Camp Bill’ today at the Social Services select committee. 

After the second hearing of the Committee on the Bill it is clear that the overwhelming weight of expert opinion is critical of the Government’s plans to introduce military style camps for young offenders, as well as a number of other measures in the Bill.

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