A thousand people a week are signing up for the dole, and the NZIER estimates the recession will see a further 60,000 out of work over the next year.
Today in the House the Prime Minister attempted to pin this on Labour. But he cannot escape responsibility for long. He is in charge, and he is responsible for dealing with this economic catastrophe. And so far, he has done nothing. His grand plans from the jobs summit have failed already, leaving the government with no plan to protect the jobs and livelihoods of ordinary New Zealanders.
This is simply not good enough. We expect the government to act. Instead, they are refusing to out of blind adherence to a dead ideology which says that government can do no good and that the fate of ordinary people should be left to the market. Which probably looks fine from Treasury's ivory tower on the Terrace - but we are talking about real people's lives here. Real people, real jobs, real poverty - and real anger if the government continues to refuse to act.