By admitting today that it will not support my Minimum Wage (Mitigating Youth Unemployment) Bill, the National Government has confirmed two things – that it doesn’t care one bit about youth unemployment, and that it is more than happy to consign our young people to a life of welfare dependency, ACT New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas said today.

"Youth unemployment has soared since youth rates were abolished in 2008. National knew this would happen, and campaigned hard against Labour to stop it – but now that it has the power to fix the problem, it does nothing. What does that say about this Government?" Sir Roger said.

"Instead of being able to earn a potential $400 per week and gain valuable work experience, young people are forced to remain unemployed and receive only $180 per week on a benefit. What good does this do them? This decision will keep young people out of work and languishing on a benefit.

"National has put the maintenance of its popularity ahead of the plight of young people. Since it was elected to Government it has been running scared – avoiding making hard decisions, no matter how good or sorely-needed those decisions might be. Today’s decision not to support my Bill is no surprise, but it is certainly a callous act of indifference towards our young people," Sir Roger said.

ENDS