National's Bill English lashed out at the new government in his first speech as Leader of the Opposition, promising to hold it to account over its handling of the economy and its social policy.
"Good intentions aren't enough," Mr English said yesterday after Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy read out Jacinda Ardern's speech at the State Opening.
"We heard it this morning: a speech dripping with good intentions."
"We are not going to hold the Government to account about its intentions; we share many of them. It would be a bit difficult to find many New Zealanders who didn't, which is precisely the danger of relying on your good intentions, and this is a Government that does."
Mr English criticised the government's policy on free-fees tertiary education.
"I hope the Government enjoys explaining to the checkout operators and the truck drivers why they are paying more, when the tax cuts are abolished, to make tertiary education cheaper," he said.
Mr English said Labour's Kiwibuild policy "helps fewer people than the existing HomeStart scheme" and claimed the decision to scrap National Standards was spurred by teacher unions instead of parents and children.
"There's never been more attention on Maori and Pacific achievement than in recent years, because the standards showed us the truth. We were honest, we wanted to know it, and we wanted to grapple with it."
He spoke about New Zealand's high employment rate, the drop in benefit-dependent households and the rise in the average annual wage over the last nine years.
"New Zealand's done so well and we are going to hold the Government to account."
Mr English finished his impassioned speech saying the economy and the government's social policy would be two aspects the Opposition would watch closely to maintain "the strength and vigour and resilience of the New Zealand economy".
"Because however you measure it, it's jobs, it's incomes, it's improvement in people's lives, it's opportunities and dreams."
"Secondly, we're going to hold them to account on their own social policy, and I don't think we'll have too much trouble embarrassing them. They'll be held hostage by lobbyists and laziness, and so many vulnerable New Zealanders need us to keep their feet to the fire."
Ms Ardern was quick in her rebuttal, immediately after Mr English's speech, outlining the "new beginnings" for those in the House and for New Zealanders.
"At its core, this government believes that our people come first, that our environment is a precious taonga, and that we must reject the narrow selfishness that has pervaded our politics for far too long."
SHARE ME