abinet is today discussing plans to consolidate the state sector with mergers planned in three sectors – Internal Affairs, Research, Science and Technology, and the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.

The drawing of my Minimum Wage (Mitigation Of Youth Unemployment) Amendment Bill today is a step toward mitigating the high rate of youth unemployment, which has soared since Labour abolished the youth minimum wage in 2008, ACT New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas said today.

Dear Dr Bollard,

I write to you regarding the comments you made about the possibilities of New Zealand matching the level of economic output of Australia on a per capita basis, which you made on ‘Q & A’, Sunday 7 February.

In particular, I was shocked at the following comment:

Prime Minister John Key’s belief that we should strive for a more efficient tax system without implementing constitutional restraints against excessive Government spending is stupid, ACT New Zealand Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today.

Tomorrow Labour Leader Phil Goff is planning to deliver a speech on behalf of Prime Minister John Key. I thought that it might be a good idea to jot down some notes for what I would say if I were Phil Goff speaking on behalf of the Labour Party. I thought it best to start the apology by detailing all that he should be sorry for in the nine years he served in the 5th Labour Government, and then to move on to apologising for his attempts to gain media attention through populist trash talk since becoming Leader of the Opposition.

ACT New Zealand’s Economic Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas today expressed concern that Maori organisations were focusing on the trivial factors of Maori development and ignoring what would make a real difference.

ACT New Zealand Economic Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas today expressed concern that the National Government seems to believe that it can centrally plan the electricity market, determine the optimum use of assets, and centrally determine price levels.

The 2025 Taskforce report made a raft of recommendations to improve our economy and hopefully catch Australia by 2025. As we now know, Prime Minister John Key and his Finance Minister Bill English dismissed the report as soon as it was released, claiming it was ‘too radical’.

Now even I don’t agree with all of the recommendations that the Taskforce has made. However, I have taken the time to actually read the report and found more than one idea which seems sensible and far from radical – one of which is the removal of all remaining tariffs by 2011.

When ACT was negotiating our Confidence & Supply Agreement with the National Party after the 2008 Election, our basis of the Agreement was closing the income gap with Australia by 2025.

ACT New Zealand Economic Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas today welcomed economist Gareth Morgan's support of the idea of a comprehensive Capital Tax on all land, buildings, plant and equipment - as outlined in Sir Roger's discussion paper 'Catching Australia By 2025: An Alternative Approach'.