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National Party leader Simon Bridges connecting with the Ashburton community yesterday afternoon. PHOTO COLIN WILLISCROFT 210618-CW-013
Bridges: More pain to come BY COLIN WILLISCROFT
COLIN.W@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
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Life is going to get tougher for hard working New Zealanders, National Party leader Simon Bridges told an audience of around 300 people in Ashburton yesterday afternoon. A higher cost of living, policies that will make it harder for small to mediumsized businesses to operate, a housing market that will likely go backwards and increased government intervention in people’s everyday lives are all on their way to becoming realities under the Labour-New Zealand First Government,
Bridges told the public meeting, which is part of his Connecting with Communities regional roadshow. Fuel taxes and increased compliance and regulatory demands around areas such as housing are set to drive up the cost of living, Bridges said, and it will be ordinary New Zealanders who will pay for it. He said while a regional fuel tax for Auckland might sound like a good idea in principle, it will actually be bad for South Island motorists. That’s because there’s no way the Government can force petrol compa-
nies to pay the money they will have to pay from their Auckland operations, he said, adding that instead of the tax being recovered from Auckland, it will come from motorists in the lower North Island and the South Island. Small to medium-sized businesses that make up regional economies like that of Mid Canterbury will also be hurt by the Government’s changes to industrial relations law, Bridges said.
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