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Minister Upston demonstrating magical thinking about job losses.

To be filed alongside the Finance Minister's magical thinking that pro-cyclical cuts to spending will give a good result in a recession.

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Her attitude of "these are bright people, they'll find other work" is head in the sand. It's not just government that's cutting staff - the tech firms all are too. Where are these jobs the government thinks these workers will get? And what's the bet employers will take advantage of the known desperation to drive down wages?

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It beggars belief that these people ignore history, & in Aotearoa case VERY recent. The policies & projects/funding they are denigrating & tossing on the scrapheap is how we came out of the potential recession during COVID one of the strongest in the world in terms of jobs, business survival, wage growth, child poverty reduction, progress on health issues etc etc. Money spent on the Jobs for Nature for example, was a win-win-win-win - tourism employees employed, huge progress on Predator Free & wilding pine removal & other projects, those wages being spent on local businesses so they needed less subsidies/govt support, learning new skills for their future etc. etc. Govt SPENDING works, & the current cutting spree will mean Dept of Conservation for example will once again lose the race against invasive predators & build up future costs to fix bridges & tracks that they won't be able to keep safe for the tourists to use 🤷🏻‍♀️

Cutting support staff in hospitals does not help the medical staff, contrary to hype. Anyone who has spent time in a hospital can testify to how many non-medical people make the minute-to-minute operations run so nurses & Drs can do their medical stuff 😵‍💫

Arbitrary % cuts are ludicrous - no argument with examining SPENDING for genuine waste (not blatant ideological against improving Maori & Pacifics health outcomes - which benefit everyone in Aotearoa with preventing absentees from work, attendance in Emergency rooms, needing hospital beds etc.) A practical cost-benefit analysis yes, but taking into account real down stream results & not cherry picking to fit an agenda 😡

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