Barbara Edmonds made a post-Budget speech at a Porirua Chamber of Commerce event. File picture. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says she still has not read the Greens' alternative Budget, while defending a scarcity of fiscal policies of her own.
Edmonds made the comments after a post-Budget speech to an audience of about 20 people at a Porirua Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday morning, where she savaged the coalition's plan as a "direct assault" on New Zealand values.
During a question-and-answer session at the Supply Room restaurant in Paremata, Edmonds was asked for her views on the Greens' fiscal plan - unveiled a fortnight ago - which included significant new taxes and spending.
"No disrespect to my friends in the Greens, but I didn't read their Budget," Edmonds said. "At least they had a plan. I just didn't read their plan."
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Edmonds said she would "maybe" get round to reading it after finishing going through the more than 2000 pages of the government's Budget.
"I will get to it when I get to it," she said. "I'm one person. My focus has been this government's Budget."
Asked for her high-level view on the Greens' proposals based on media coverage, Edmonds observed there was a lot of tax and social spending.
"Whether it's balanced or not?... maybe ask me that question after I've read it."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins made similar remarks immediately after the Greens released their plan, but later described it as a "huge spend-up" and "unrealistic".
Edmonds' speech on Tuesday gave a scathing appraisal of the coalition's Budget: "Make no mistake about it, this will be remembered as the Budget that cut women's pay.
"Cutting women's pay to make the Budget add up was a deliberate decision by Nicola Willis... when you take money that has been set aside for future pay rises and put it into something else that is a cut. Plain and simple."
She said the Budget was a "direct assault" on New Zealand values: "We're the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Fighting for equality is in our national DNA. Turning our backs on equal pay is not who we are as Kiwis."
Though Edmonds opened her speech by saying she would preview the different choices Labour would have made in the Budget, she gave little detail beyond high-level promises to invest in jobs, health, and homes.
"That's how we will build a better future."
Quizzed by reporters on a variety of policy proposals, Edmonds repeatedly deferred to the party's yet-to-be-released fiscal plan. She declined to clearly state Labour's position on its preferred debt cap or surplus target, nor whether it would maintain the coalition's Investment Boost tax incentive.
Edmonds said she was comfortable with the amount of policy Labour had released thus far and said it would all be "carefully considered".
"We will have policy announcements, as Chippy has said, towards the end of the year... but actually, we have this Budget to work through... we've got next Budget to work through... and then we will come out with our fiscal plan.
"I know you're eager, and I know you want to find the new hook, but today I was talking about the government's Budget, so you'll just have to wait."
When in opposition, the National Party also came under pressure over a lack of policy detail less than a year out from the 2023 election.
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