National will reveal its tax cuts policy in the first week of the formal election campaign, party leader John Key said today.
National has already said it had finalised a programme of tax cuts and Mr Key told a business audience today that these were locked in.
They would be more substantial than those proposed by Labour and the programme would not change if economic forecasts worsened.
"In terms of our tax cuts programme it (an economic downturn) will make no difference at all," Mr Key said.
When National designed the cuts package it was aware that the economy could take a turn for the worst and had been cautious.
If there was not an ongoing programme of tax cuts then the take-home wage gap between Australia and New Zealand would become unsustainable because of the number of people it would drive across the Tasman.
"You will see from us a programme of ongoing personal tax cuts... We have done them, we know what it looks like." Mr Key said the programme would be "extremely transparent" in terms of cost and what they would deliver.
In the speech Mr Key said National would be releasing its KiwiSaver policy and there would be other policy releases on Working for Families.
He indicated these would be minor changes to current government policy settings.
National was now planning its timetable around a November election, probably November 8.
Also within 100 days of forming a government, Mr Key would introduce a bill "streamlining" the Resource Management Act.
This would speed up consent processes for infrastructure projects.
There would also be a wider review of the act over a longer period of time.
Mr Key doubted the Government would be able to pass its current climate change emissions trading scheme and said a National government would make it a priority.
He wanted to pass legislation within nine months of taking office.
Mr Key said reports National was backing away from its broadband policy was wrong.
Some have dismissed the $1.5 billion policy to get high speed broadband into a majority of homes and businesses as expensive and impossible to achieve.
Mr Key said he was convinced it was possible.
"We have already had approaches from companies which are well and truly sizeable enough to do it and underwrite it." One company said it would deliver fibre to homes north of Auckland, - north of Orewa and south of Papakura - within four years, "for a price that would surprise you", Mr Key said.
The New Zealand economy needed broadband that was 50 to 100 times faster than now if it was take advantage of the new business opportunities the internet was offering.
He believed the public/private partnership needed to fulfil the policy would result in companies putting $2 billion into it.
