Economics

September 2009 - Submissions Update 2008/2009

It has been a year of changes, and a bleak outlook for women generally as the economic recession deepens. Laws passed by the new Government under urgency before the end of 2008 gave the public, and NCWNZ, no avenue for consultation or submission. In the New Year, election promises made in the confident flush of campaigning have been broken in the face of the worsening economic forecast i.e. Tax cuts.

The Economics Standing Committee has written a submission on the Insolvency Amendment Bill, a curly subject, with references to fraud we could all clearly understand and approve of, and yet proposed timeframes for publicly publishing credit details that rang alarm bells for many.

Economics underpins everything we do in society, and the Economics Standing Committee has commented on several submissions made by other Conveners. Environmental issues have taken a back seat under this Government, regarded as something we "can‘t afford‘, which invited a strong Economic response to the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill and the Waste Minimisation Discussion Document.

The committee has also helped scrutinise the Government‘s draft compliance with the multi-nation Financial Action Task Force, in the form of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill. At the same time, being aware that while the public service is being reduced and jobs lost, this Bill proposes yet another layer of bureaucracy for Treasury. Of course none of us want terrorism financed or money laundered, but where are the regulations that limit lending for speculation, and make more and cheaper capital available for the ordinary citizen toward home ownership or small to medium enterprises for real economic stimulus and job creation?