Is this how the National Party and its supporters are seen from the outside?
This is not the kind of stuff to you would expect to get the National Party faithful standing and applauding. It’s not a law and order policy or tax cut or a primary sector subsidy – it’s new health spending. This is the kind of thing Labour does.
Is it any wonder National is perceived as having a good head but too often not credited for having a heart if this is how a political commentator thinks?
Compassionate and effective social policy is what any good government does and it’s what motivates most members of any political party – making the country better for people.
National usually gets credit for economic management but, as the above comment show the reason that matters and what it is able to do and does do with the money it carefully manages, is lost.
A growing economy, and the policies that contribute to that are important not as an end but as the means to pay for the social policies and infrastructure that makes life better for people.
This government would have us believe it’s the first government to care about wellbeing.
Every New Zealand government in my memory has cared about wellbeing and done its best to improve it, albeit with varying success.
Making life better for people was the aim of Bill English’s social investment initiatives. They aimed to not only make life better for the people who were helped into independence, but better for us all by reducing the long term financial and social costs of benefit dependence.
Under this policy the number of people on benefits, and the long term cost of that, were dropping. Under this government both are increasing.
The big difference between this government and the last one, is that National understands the difference between the quality of spending and quantity and that sustainable wellbeing depends on a foundation of a strong and growing economy.
By contrast, the current government thinks more spending is better spending regardless of the results and the cost to those who pay.
National governs with head and heart, the Labour-led one puts feeling ahead of thinking.
That’s why National is able to deliver but in the long term Labour only pains.
National Finance Spokesman Paul Goldsmith explained the link between the economy and services in his speech to the party’s annual conference.
You will have noticed a strong economic theme to the start of the conference.
It’s true, we in the National Party do bang on a lot about the economy.
It makes me think of my old Nana, who always said, ‘money isn’t everything’.
Of course it isn’t.
As one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, put it, ‘it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, if you’re not loved by the people you want to love you, life is a disaster’.
It’s similar with countries. Good government is just as much about preserving and enhancing what is special about this country.
That, to me, is the quality of our environment, our social cohesion, our relatively high trust and low corruption traditions, our commitment to the rule of law, freedom and tolerance of different views, our sense of security.
All these things are incredibly important and should never be taken for granted.
So the economy is not everything, but it is important.
Not because we revere the great machine for itself – it’s simply a means to an end.
The economy is about people. It’s about you, me, our families and our neighbourhoods.
To me, the point of a strong economy is to enable New Zealanders to do the most basic things in life well.
A strong economy improves our chances of finding satisfying and well-paying work so that we can look after ourselves and our families – the most fundamental task each of us have.
A society based on the assumption that its average citizen can’t or shouldn’t be expected to look after themselves and their families is doomed.
That’s not what we believe.
Work itself, in its countless varieties, brings the opportunity to make a contribution to our world and the people in it, whether we’re providing someone with a new hip, a new app, or a cup of coffee with a smile.
And third, if we do well, we can afford to have some fun in our leisure time, and maybe if we have some energy left do something in the neighbourhood; on the barbecue for the school committee, or whatever.
That, to me, is the good life to which we aspire.
As well as generating work and opportunities, good economic management and a strong economy enables the country to have better public services that improve our lives – a quality education, access to world-class healthcare when we need it, decent transport infrastructure so we can get home on time, the reassurance of superannuation when we’re old.
There are times in everyone’s life when we need help. At certain times of their lives some people can’t look after themselves and their families; the stronger our economy is, the more we can help.
Now, good economic management is not just about spending money, it’s about generating it. . .
What’s the goal? To deliver a strong economy and world-class public services that enable Kiwis to look after themselves and their families, to find satisfying work, and to lead full lives.
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Posted by homepaddock 
