The so-called conscience vote in Parliament was a nonsense. New Zealand First MP's decided not only to vote against liberalising the drinking laws - We are also trying to persuade the MPs who voted FOR lowering the drinking age to change their minds. We have written to each MP imploring them to keep the age at 20. Our belief is that young people are better off in jobs than pubs. If these youngsters had jobs and more training and educational chances they would not be getting into trouble.
Unemployment is the curse of many regional communities.
New Zealand First is going to give tax breaks and other incentives to get unemployed people into work and we will be targeting young people, in particular. We cannot have another dependent generation lining up in dole queues. Our other plans will unfold well before the election campaign. They include reducing the interest rate of student loans to the CPI plus 2 per cent, increasing national super to at least 67.5 per cent of the average wage, and increasing war veterans pensions by ten per cent. We will also change the Reserve Bank Act to include export growth, economic growth and employment in its policy settings.