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Labour’s Maori and regional development spokesperson says any boost in economic activity needs to be shared fairly.
Shane Jones says latest forecasts show the economy is set to surge over the next two or three years, which may encourage many whanau to come back from Australia.
But he says there is still a lot of hardship, especially in the regions, as New Zealand experiences growing inequality.
That’s set to be an important point of difference leading up to next year’s election.
"If you do have growth, who gets the dividend? How widely distributed are the benefits of growth? Does it cement the power of the vested interests and actually deepen the divide between the haves and the have nots? Let’s face it, Labour is always going to be strong on ensuring that we boost opportunity for people to improve themselves," Mr Jones says.
He says government needs to take action to create jobs in the regions, such as changing the rules around forestry to encourage investment rather than continuing to export unprocessed logs.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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