Greens' borrowing bonanza built on financial ignorance

“Marama Davidson may be likeable, but her feckless approach to the country's finances risks making New Zealand a laughing stock on international financial markets, undermining confidence in our currency, and driving up the interest bill taxpayers have to pay,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Yesterday, Davidson couldn't explain how much her own party's policies would cost. Today, she's revealed she doesn't even understand the cost of borrowing the money to pay for them.

“Anyone who thinks Chlöe Swarbrick is the Brain to Marama Davidson's Pinky need only listen to her comments at today's press stand-up. Swarbrick claimed any MP would struggle with the question, but Davidson wasn't caught off guard by a question about interest rates. She volunteered the figure herself to justify the Green's proposed spending binge and borrowing bonanza. Then, when challenged, she doubled down.

“The financial markets demand credibility and integrity. Swarbrick's deceptive attempt to clean up after Davidson's fiscal incompetence is arguably an even bigger problem than Davidson not knowing the most basic figures.

“The Greens are promising $254 billion in new spending. Conservatively, that would mean thousands of dollars a year in additional interest costs per household, assuming lenders don't charge New Zealand a cent more for the additional risk.

“But that assumption is generous. If the Greens undermine confidence in New Zealand's finances, lenders could demand higher interest rates. That means even more money diverted from hospitals, schools, and taxpayers' pockets to servicing debt.

“And when the country's largest taxpayers, along with the talented young people who would otherwise become our future innovators, employers, and business owners, decide their future lies overseas, who will be left to foot the bill? The very New Zealanders the Greens claim to care about.

“New Zealanders are already paying more than $1 million every hour in interest on government debt. The Green Party is a risk this country cannot afford to take.”