Cunliffe comes 'to listen'

Erika Bocock and Emma Newton meet Labour Party leader David Cunliffe at the Kidsfirst...
Erika Bocock and Emma Newton meet Labour Party leader David Cunliffe at the Kidsfirst Kindergarten Karoro on Thursday. Photo by Greymouth Star.
West Coast median incomes have dropped while unemployment is up, Labour leader David Cunliffe said this week during a whistlestop tour of the Coast.

He said there was a future for coal mining, provided it was done in a responsible way. When asked about giving coal royalties back to the region, he said he was ''here to listen and see''.

With inflation out of the equation, median incomes in real terms were lower now under National, he said.

''People are worse off by about $11 a week.''

Unemployment on the Coast was 6.1%, slightly higher than the national average, he said.

Labour's approach was to work with communities to identify how regions could help do things better.

Mr Cunliffe, who still has his Blackball Hilton T-shirt from a visit last year, said the West Coast had a bright future thanks to its ''scenery, fantastic people and rich resources''.

He visited the Kidsfirst Karoro Kindergarten to promote Labour's policies to help young families - six months' paid parental leave, $60 a week in child payments for babies, and 25 hours of free childhood education a week, up from 20 hours.

He landed in Hokitika on Thursday and visited the dairy factory there, lunched in Greymouth with Labour Party faithful, and was in Westport in time for afternoon tea.

''I'm here to listen and see,'' he said.

 

Add a Comment