Responsibility for the significant increase in the number of Wellingtonians out of work sits squarely on the shoulders of the National government, says Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins. Read the rest of this entry »
Reply to the Prime Minister’s Speech
On February - 10 - 2010
I begin my remarks today by paying tribute to the 40,000 New Zealanders who, through no fault of their own, found themselves joining the unemployment benefit ranks last year—40,000 extra New Zealanders. They are real people who previously had real jobs. They have real families, real homes, and real mortgages.
Too often in this House when we talk about unemployment, we talk about numbers. We saw that with John Key last year, when he said that he was happy with the increase in unemployment rates last year given the economic conditions. I do not think that anybody should ever be happy with an increase in unemployment rates. Read the rest of this entry »
National’s year of missed opportunities
On December - 1 - 2009
A year has now passed since the 2008 General Election. It’s a good time to reflect on the track record to date of the new National government. Have they helped or hindered economic recovery?
On the jobs front, the new National government has been conspicuous in their absence. 150,000 Kiwis are now unemployed, that’s 41,000 more than when John Key came into power. There is no doubt in my mind that National could have done much more to keep many of those hardworking Kiwis in their jobs.
All we’ve had from John Key is window dressing. His jobs summit in February is now widely considered a waste of time and recently his big idea from the summit, his cycleway, was launched without any reference to jobs.
Government should be focused on jobs
On August - 1 - 2009
Without doubt the biggest issue facing New Zealanders at the moment is unemployment. Over 1,200 more kiwis are signing up for the dole every week. That probably understates the true rate of job loss because a lot of people losing their jobs won’t be eligible for the dole because their partner is still in work. What we desperately need to see from the government is a plan to save and create jobs. Unfortunately they seem to be asleep at the wheel.
Nobody can blame the new National government for the state of the economy. The current recession has largely been driven by the global economic downturn and we’d be struggling whoever was in power here at home. But there is a vitally important role for our local government in helping people to deal with the effects of the recession and to lay the foundations for economic recovery. Read the rest of this entry »
Unemployment in Hutt Valley plummets under Labour
On April - 14 - 2008
Unemployment in the Hutt Valley has plummeted since Helen Clark’s Labour-led government took office in 1999 according to Chris Hipkins, Labour’s candidate for the Rimutaka electorate. “In December 1999 there were over 5,300 unemployed people in the Hutt Valley. Today there are just over 1,000. That’s a tremendous track record,” Chris Hipkins said. Read the rest of this entry »
Redundant workers reminded to apply for tax credits
On April - 6 - 2008
Workers who have been made redundant during the past 17 months are being reminded to apply for their redundancy tax credits by Labour’s candidate for Rimutaka Chris Hipkins. “On the 1st of April the new redundancy rebate came into force. Concern about the tax on redundancy paid by former South Pacific Tyres workers was one of the major driving forces behind the introduction of the rebate,” Chris Hipkins said. Read the rest of this entry »
