Budget weak on action — Socred

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 12

Budget weak on action — Socred

PA Wellington The Social Credit leader (Mr B. C. Tectham) has predicted that inflation will not drop below 15 per cent to 16 per cent this year. His prediction came during the debate on the Budget, which he described as a “do-nothing document strong on words and rhetoric but weak on action.’’ Mr Beetham said the Budget was the culmination of policies which had resulted in the downward slide to a “disgraceful” standard of living. In making his prediction on inflation, Mr Beetham said it was also time to lay to rest the theory that oil imports were a main factor in New Zealand’s inflation rate. In fact, they contributed less than 4 per cent of the present 18 per cent rate. The greatest present

need for New Zealand was a restoration of confidence but the Budget promised “more of the same,” Mr Beetham said. "The initiative and enterprise of New Zealanders must be marshalled,” he raid. New Zealand could solve its own problems in its own way through increased production and diversification in industry and farming without the need for overseas participation. Yet the Dairy Board, with its policy of diversification and ent~rprise. had been refused by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon), the go-ahead for a $25 million bond issue, Mr Beetham s id.

Credit which must be available to those with enterprise and vision was being denied because it was “hogged” by the Government for its own purnoses, he said.