Joyce was right -Labour can’t afford their promises

Stuff reports:

One of Labour’s key election promises appears set to be broken at the Budget, with the Health Minister refusing to confirm if cheaper GP visits are still on the table. 

Under Labour’s policy New Zealanders with a community services card would be charged $8 to see the doctor – $10 cheaper than National’s proposed $18 fee. Charges for teens would reduce from $12 to $2, and under-13s would still see the doctor for free. 

The average adult GP cost would go from $42 to $32. Both parties promised to bring in their policies from July 1, this year, but the costings of their respective policies differed greatly. …

Health Minister David Clark said the Government would meet all its promises over the course of the term, but its GP policy would have to be phased in. 

Phased in does not sound like starting on 1 July. That was an explicit manifesto commitment so this looks like a huge broken promise.

This also exposes the priorities of Labour. They managed to find $1.2 billion a year to give students who will be wealthy in the future free fees, but can’t find even one fifth of that to help families who are sick better afford a GP visit.

I guess more students vote than sick people!

Anyway all those people who ripped into Steven Joyce for saying Labour’s policies didn’t add up, should get ready their apology cards.