NZers didn't need this much pain to reduce OCR

Today’s OCR cut will fail to soothe the long-term pain Christopher Luxon’s Government is inflicting upon our communities. 

“Luxon’s Government had options to cool demand in the economy. Instead of sharing resources around so everyone could get through the hard times, they threw jobs, public services and livelihoods on the scrapheap,” says Green Party co-leader and spokesperson for Finance Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“The collateral damage of Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis’ decisions mean more inequality, more homelessness, more climate-changing emissions, more inequality and more long-term issues. Maybe that’s what they mean by ‘going for growth’?

“While today’s OCR announcement is good news for everyone with a mortgage, it’s critical to understand the unnecessary collateral damage created by the Government’s chosen path of destruction. Those wounds won’t heal quickly or by themselves.

“Monetary policy, the setting of interest rates, is a blunt instrument. It’s fiscal policy, the Government’s choices on tax and spend - which dictates who wins, and who loses in our economy.

“New Zealanders are voting with their feet and leaving in record numbers. They’ve given up playing by made-up rules that benefit wealth accumulation of the few over the work of the many.

“A different world is possible. We can have an economy that works for people and planet, instead of exploiting both,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.