So, John Key has come clean and said he will also be cutting government services to help fund his programme of tax cuts for the rich, but he won't say what. Instead, he is making noises about cutting "two quite specific areas" - noises that are supposed to show he's In Control and Knows What He's Doing, without revealing any actual details. It's National's mushroom strategy in a nutshell - they know we won't like their plans, so they're deliberately keeping us in the dark and feeding us shit.
So what might he cut? While he's trying to downplay it, $800 million extra a year is a lot of money, and contrary to right-wing claims about government profligacy, it doesn't grow on trees. To put it in context, that $800 million a year is more than the entire operating cost of ACC, or most of the operating budget for Corrections, or the entire cost of MFAT (including all foreign aid), the whole defence capital expenditure programme, or the entire court system (figures from the Budget 2008 Summary Tables [PDF]; why not create your own list?). It's on a par with the combined education and health capital expenditure budgets - which means every new classroom and hospital bed. These are serious cuts, which will have a significant effect on people's lives - and Key has an obligation in a democracy to front up and tell us what they will be, so we can make an informed choice. His refusal to do so speaks volumes, about both his plans, and the contempt he has for us, the voters.
