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The Prime Minister says
Labour is confused about what it stands for and is at "sixes and sevens".
Labour's Phil Goff took
his MPs on a tour of a brewery in Nelson – but he didn't touch a drop.
It's been a year of
sobering poll results and on Wednesday he will attempt to get Labour on track
with a policy speech.
The focus: the economy
and the Government's planned GST increase to 15 percent.
He says a Labour Government may reverse the GST increase on basic food items
like fruit and vegetables but keep it on fatty foods, like greasy takeaways.
"A lot of people have put
forward a case sometimes on the basis of nutrition to say 'why not exempt, for
example, fresh fruit and vegetables?' - that's something we'll look at," he
says.
Mr Goff says reversing
National's planned increase on daily grocery items needs to be considered
seriously.
"In opposition, you're
bound to look at all of the options, challenge your assumptions and then come
out with a decision that is based on the pros and cons of arguments, one way or
the other," he says.
Mr Goff's possible
compromise is modelled on Australia – where fatty foods include GST – the fruit
and vegies don't.
But John Key says it's a
disastrous position.
"History shows you it is
extremely difficult to take GST off food and to actually deliver a system that
is not overly bureaucratic and, therefore, very expensive to run," he says.
In Australia, experts
said the exemptions wrought havoc in the business community – compliance costs
were up as business struggled to define what should be taxed and what shouldn't.
Mr Goff's Wednesday
speech is also expected to outline changes in the party's monetary policy and on
income tax.
The speech is important
for Mr Goff – it's about showing Labour has moved on and is willing to change.
But Mr Goff's biggest
problem is whether anyone is listening.
Source:
3News,
New
Zealand, dated
10/05/2010
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