Hey,
Whilst going through the links available on this very website, I found this on the front page of the NZ Herald (Fairfax-owned by the looks of it).
What's going on over there? Last I checked the average wage in Aust was about $A55-60,000 per annum.
Is it as bad as this report is saying?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10612591
Catching Oz not possible without slashing Govt spending - Brash
View as one page
5:16 PM Monday Nov 30, 2009
It will not be possible to catch Australia in the wealth stakes without slashing Government spending by $9 billion, productivity taskforce head Don Brash said today.
The 2025 taskforce report, headed by the former National Party leader and Reserve Bank governor, said the Government's goal of closing the 35 per cent income gap with Australia by 2025 was an ambitious one that would require New Zealand growth to outstrip that of Australia by 1.8 per cent a year.
Even before its release Prime Minister John Key said the radical changes were unlikely to be implemented quickly, if at all.
The only way to implement the vast majority of the recommendations would be to break election promises and Mr Key said he was not going to do that.
Dr Brash revealed 35 recommendations today but the centrepiece was to reduce government spending to 2005 levels of 29 per cent of gross domestic product by 2012-13.
This could be done by:
* Reducing benefit numbers through "ambitious" welfare reform;
* Ending Kiwisaver subsidies;
* Scrapping the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and using the money to pay off debt;
* Raising the age of superannuation eligibility; and
* Cutting universal subsidies for health and education.
Of these savings, $7 billion would be used to reduce all income and business taxes to a top rate of 20 per cent.
Dr Brash said unless tax and spending were slashed the Government's "ambitious" goal could not be achieved.
"There may be some other cunning plan, but I am not aware of it," Dr Brash said.
He said the proposed cuts were "not a massacre", but a winding back of spending that had not been effective since 2005.
The taskforce's other policy prescriptions included:
* Reducing the minimum wage and reintroducing a lower minimum youth wage;
* Changing employment laws to make it easier to sack workers;
* Extending probationary employment periods to a year for all workers;
See the Taskforce's reports here http://www.2025taskforce.govt.nz/fromthetaskforce.htm
2025 Taskforce website http://www.2025taskforce.govt.nz/
Whilst going through the links available on this very website, I found this on the front page of the NZ Herald (Fairfax-owned by the looks of it).
What's going on over there? Last I checked the average wage in Aust was about $A55-60,000 per annum.
Is it as bad as this report is saying?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10612591
Catching Oz not possible without slashing Govt spending - Brash
View as one page
5:16 PM Monday Nov 30, 2009
It will not be possible to catch Australia in the wealth stakes without slashing Government spending by $9 billion, productivity taskforce head Don Brash said today.
The 2025 taskforce report, headed by the former National Party leader and Reserve Bank governor, said the Government's goal of closing the 35 per cent income gap with Australia by 2025 was an ambitious one that would require New Zealand growth to outstrip that of Australia by 1.8 per cent a year.
Even before its release Prime Minister John Key said the radical changes were unlikely to be implemented quickly, if at all.
The only way to implement the vast majority of the recommendations would be to break election promises and Mr Key said he was not going to do that.
Dr Brash revealed 35 recommendations today but the centrepiece was to reduce government spending to 2005 levels of 29 per cent of gross domestic product by 2012-13.
This could be done by:
* Reducing benefit numbers through "ambitious" welfare reform;
* Ending Kiwisaver subsidies;
* Scrapping the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and using the money to pay off debt;
* Raising the age of superannuation eligibility; and
* Cutting universal subsidies for health and education.
Of these savings, $7 billion would be used to reduce all income and business taxes to a top rate of 20 per cent.
Dr Brash said unless tax and spending were slashed the Government's "ambitious" goal could not be achieved.
"There may be some other cunning plan, but I am not aware of it," Dr Brash said.
He said the proposed cuts were "not a massacre", but a winding back of spending that had not been effective since 2005.
The taskforce's other policy prescriptions included:
* Reducing the minimum wage and reintroducing a lower minimum youth wage;
* Changing employment laws to make it easier to sack workers;
* Extending probationary employment periods to a year for all workers;
See the Taskforce's reports here http://www.2025taskforce.govt.nz/fromthetaskforce.htm
2025 Taskforce website http://www.2025taskforce.govt.nz/
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The Herald isn't Fairfax owned, the site for all the fairfax papers is www.stuff.co.nz.
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Yes it is that bad, and no, implementing the proposed solutions wouldn't fix it, would make labour even cheaper and continue to disincentivise business investment which is part of what has caused the drop in productivity in the first place.
aitkenmike2009-12-01 15:00:51
aitkenmike2009-12-01 15:00:51
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to fix the economy
we shall hire the very people who f**ked it in the first place
Brash should be in jail, not giving patsy reports so National can make cuts whilst claiming moderation or some such spin.
have we had parity with Australia?
if we did, when was this?
what policies did both countries share?
yet Compulsory Unionism
5 or 6 Day Trading
National Awards
Tariff Protection
Genuine Apprenticeship Schemes
Full Employment
will all be called old fashioned or socialism.
the fact is the far-right need unemployment to ensure their own position. Only a demand that Government have a full employment program for all able bodied men can stop the descent into having a permanent "underclass" of low achievers.
Productivity reports should not be written by the least productive members of society either.
we shall hire the very people who f**ked it in the first place
Brash should be in jail, not giving patsy reports so National can make cuts whilst claiming moderation or some such spin.
have we had parity with Australia?
if we did, when was this?
what policies did both countries share?
yet Compulsory Unionism
5 or 6 Day Trading
National Awards
Tariff Protection
Genuine Apprenticeship Schemes
Full Employment
will all be called old fashioned or socialism.
the fact is the far-right need unemployment to ensure their own position. Only a demand that Government have a full employment program for all able bodied men can stop the descent into having a permanent "underclass" of low achievers.
Productivity reports should not be written by the least productive members of society either.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
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have we had parity with Australia?
if we did, when was this?
if we did, when was this?
Sometime in the late 1970's/early 80's i beleive
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have we had parity with Australia?
if we did, when was this?
if we did, when was this?
Sometime in the late 1970's/early 80's i beleive
NZ should also compare its wages to US and Canada as well to get a more realistic picture.
Australia looks around for solutions, NZ should perhaps do the same...
diego's son2009-12-04 04:30:14
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Just for clarity, average wages is not the same as GDP per capita
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