Nats say no to Sir Roger

My plan would slash spending by $5 billion, says Douglas

National leader John Key has ruled out Sir Roger Douglas receiving a Cabinet post in any government led by him.

Key told reporters this afternoon that the "radical right-wing agenda" outlined by Sir Roger at a press conference earlier today ruled him out of a position around the Cabinet table.

He also said National would not be able to work with ACT, considered its most likely coalition partner, if the party pursued the philosophies of Sir Roger.

"If ACT are hell bent on following a radical right-wing agenda and won't fit in with a moderate pragmatic agenda then we can’t work with them. They’re ruling themselves out if that's what they are doing," Key said.

Earlier today, Sir Roger said he would cut taxes, offer education vouchers, privatise the health system and slash Government spending by up to $5 billion if he returns to the Cabinet table.

The former Finance Minister, whose policies under the fourth Labour Government became known as "Rogernomics", will stand for Parliament for the ACT Party and expects to be re-elected through a high place on the party list.

At a press conference today Sir Roger outlined his theories for raising the country's productivity, which included:

* Cutting the top tax rate from 39 to 33c in the dollar;

* Adjusting income tax thresholds to take account of wage growth since 1999;

* Making the first $20,000 of income tax-free;

* Introducing education vouchers for all children;

* Renting out hospital wards to health staff to practice privately;

* Dump the Working for Families scheme;

* Review all Government spending with the aim of saving between $3 and $5 billion.

Sir Roger said Working for Families was not working, because it placed high marginal tax rates on those who wanted to work harder. Additional income relief was better delivered through the PAYE system, he said.

He said hospital wards could be rented out to doctors and nurses for their own profit, provided they could demonstrate productivity gains of at least 50 per cent.

"What we want is great schools and great hospitals and what they (Labour) want is state delivery."

He slammed the performance of Finance Minister Michael Cullen, calling him "one of the poorer ministers of finance in the last 50 years" and "something of a disaster".

Although Cullen had paid off the country's overseas debt, this was "a relatively small point" Sir Roger said.

Dr Cullen today said that coming from Sir Roger, the comments were flattering.

"Just when everybody thought it might be safe to vote National out of the box, like something out of an old horror film, comes Roger Douglas," he told reporters.

"We all know what that means - flogging off the schools, flogging off the hospitals and cutting benefits and everything else that Roger wanted to do and Ruth Richardson did and he did in part."

He said Sir Roger would not be satisfied with a low Cabinet post and he was happy to compare their respective records anytime.

"Here we have a record-long period of growth since the second World War, one of the strongest set of government accounts in the developed world, one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the developed world.

"Roger gifted to us the longest period of downturn in New Zealand's economy since the second World War and rising unemployment."

Sir Roger would not say if he wanted to be minister of finance again, but said he did want to be in Cabinet. "If I have the opportunity of course I would."

He agreed that his policies would require the consent of other parties in government, but denied that he did not have the patience to be an MMP politician.

ACT leader Rodney Hide said ACT had wanted to release policy early because neither Labour nor National were promising any change.

"John Key's approach to the election is me-too so what you get is more of the same."

Hide said he was unconcerned by National's move to the centre and whether National would accept any of Sir Roger's ideas. "There are a lot of people in the National Party who agree with what we are saying."

- with NZPA

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