Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: What does Labour really think of the Greens' alternative Budget?

I'd love to know what Labour are saying behind closed doors about the Green Party's alternative Budget released today.

I mean, they're playing nice in public - but behind closed doors, they must be tearing their hair out because this is next level crazy.

I mean, none of it is a surprise. It is full of exactly the kind of utopian, money grows on trees, when-I-grow-up-I-want-to-be-a-unicorn kind of stuff that we expect from the Greens.

There is a wealth tax, there is an increased tax for companies, there are two new personal tax rates, there's a private jet tax, an inheritance tax, there's doubling the bright-line test to bring in more capital gains tax, and a doubling of the minerals tax.

They're also gonna save some money by cutting planned prisoner beds, but they haven't quite explained how they're going to stop these bad guys actually committing the crimes that land them in prison in the first place.

They're gonna spend the money on light rail in Auckland, an overnight train from Wellington to Auckland, trains from Auckland to Tauranga, trains from Christchurch and Dunedin, trains from Auckland to Hamilton, 

There's free GPs, free nursing services, free annual dental check-ups, free basic dental care, free prescriptions, and free childcare from age 6 months.

There's also free income in the form of a UBI for students and beneficiaries - as I say, just the usual crazy stuff which 90 percent of us voters seem to agree makes them completely unfit to run the country's books.

My reaction, obviously, has just been to laugh - because, you know, I was 5 years old too once and I also had these kinds of dreams.

Labour's reaction must be to cry, because this kind of loony nonsense that's paraded as serious policy just makes it so much harder for them to get back into Government.

I mean, Labour will need the Greens much more than they have in the past, right?

We are no longer dealing with the Greens sitting at 5 percent where their nutty ideas can be ignored because they will not get as much out of coalition negotiations, we are now dealing with the Green Party consistently sitting at 10 percent and above.

A Labour-Greens government will be 3 quarters Labour and one quarter the Greens - and that's not even counting the other dollop of crazy that's going to come from the Māori Party.

Jet tax, death tax, wealth tax, crims out on the street - Labour must be weeping today.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jeez, I'd love to know what labor are saying behind
closed doors about the Green Party's alternative budget released today.
I mean they're sort of playing nice in public, but
behind closed doors they must be tearing their hair out
because this is next level crazy. I mean, none of
it is a surprise. It is full of exactly the
kind of utopian money grows on trees. When I grow up,

(00:20):
I want to be a unicorn kind of stuff that
we expect from the Greens. There is a wealth tax.
There is an increased company's tax. There is rather there
are two personal tax rates, two new personal tax rates.
There's a private jet tax, an inheritance tax, doubling the
bright Line test to bring in more capital gains tax,
and a doubling of the minerals tax. They're also going

(00:42):
to save some money by cutting planned prisoner beds, but
they haven't quite explained how they're going to stop these
bad guys actually committing the crimes that land them in
prison in the first place. They're going to spend the
money on light rail in Auckland, an overnight train from
Wellington to Auckland, trains from Auckland to Totung, trains from
christ Church did and Eden trains from Auckland to Hamilton.

(01:03):
Free GPS, free nursing services, free annual dental checkups, free
basic dental care, free prescriptions, free childcare from age six months,
free income in the form of a UBI for students
and beneficiaries. As I say, just the usual crazy stuff
which ninety percent of US voters seem to agree make

(01:25):
them completely unfit to run the country's books. My reaction,
obviously has just been to laugh, because you know, I
was five years old too once and I also had
these kinds of dreams. Labour's reaction must be to cry
because this kind of looney nonsense has paraded a serious policy,
just makes it so much harder for Labour to get
back into government. I mean, Labor will need the Greens

(01:47):
much more than they have in the past. Right we
are no longer dealing with the Greens sitting at five percent,
where their nutty ideas can be ignored because they will
not get as much out of coalition negotiations. We are
now dealing with the Green Party consistently sitting at ten
percent and above. A Labour Greens government will be three
quarters Labor one quarter of the Greens, and that's not
even counting the other dollop of crazy that's going to

(02:07):
come from the Mardi Party, Jet tax, death tax, wealth tax,
crims out on the street. Labor must be weeping today.
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.