Brash talks about nanny state... but

really, will he walk the walk, or will he even consistently talk the talk? Will his team? Sadly it is difficult to tell.

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Speaking in Picton, Don Brash said Labour has been wasteful and poor managers of public services according to Stuff.

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The whole Picton speech is here. Some of the notable points are:

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"Our concern is for the thousands of Kiwi shareholders in our largest company who’ve lost out this week as a result of Labour’s inept handling of this issue. The Government’s bumbling has needlessly worsened the situation for investors, and shows the Government’s complete lack of understanding about how the economy and the capital markets work. "

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So does that mean unbundling is bad or not? Hmmmm. He goes on about the leak, which Not PC points out isn't the point.

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"It was Helen Clark, staring at the prospect of electoral defeat, who said it was okay to steal half a million dollars off the taxpayers of New Zealand, and spend it on her election campaign, knowing full well that in doing so she’d breach the legal spending cap – something our Electoral Act calls a corrupt practice. "

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Indeed - National shouldn't let that one go at all.

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"Helen Clark and Michael Cullen will be leaving behind a terrible legacy of poor incentives and dependency. They’ll leave a mess of poorly-thought-out and politically opportunistic tax and income support policy, which will unfortunately cost all New Zealanders dearly in the years ahead. "

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Exactly, and if National can confront the welfare state it will have gone a long way towards attacking one of the biggest social failures in the past generation.

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"Now of course I can’t tell you at this stage precisely what tax reductions National will propose for the next election – there’s too much water to go under the bridge to make that feasible. But you can be absolutely sure that lower taxes, and much improved work incentives for all Kiwis, will be central to our policy at the next election, and indeed in subsequent elections. Under National, you will pay lower taxes!"

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No doubt better than nothing, but it would be helpful if he could promise cuts of a scale at least like that previously promised. While more and more taxpayers slip into the hardly rich $60,000 p.a. 39% tax bracket, it would be nice if that rate was simply dropped.

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"the National Party is so focused on ensuring one law for all New Zealanders. That’s why we want to abolish separate electoral seats based on race. "

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Good!

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"The reality is that only National understands it’s the actions of individuals that cause the economy to grow. "

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Not only National, but it is good he notices this.

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Well - there is hope, Don Brash does believe in a lot of the right things, and when left to it, he does lean in the right direction. He still remains the National Party's best hope - if only he listened to himself more.