JJ Steel in Christchurch has received the message! No New Taxes!

Good grief. Chris Hipkins was on Newstalk ZB this morning and still couldn't explain how he'll fill his $18 billion funding gap. Let me help: tax more, borrow more, spend more. It’s the same old Labour Party.

Imagine Chlöe Swarbrick flying to New York as Finance Minister and trying to convince the bond markets that New Zealand is a sensible place to lend money. Chlöe has made it clear that Finance is the job she wants in a Labour-Green Government. Our cost of borrowing would be whacked up after about five minutes of Chlöe Swarbrick talking about her Venezuela-style plan to nationalise supermarkets. That's before she gets to her plans to spend an extra $236.7 billion over the next Parliamentary term, or her plans to punish wealth-creators with a wealth tax. The Greens aren’t shy about what they want. They want a much bigger Government, much more spending, more debt, and more taxes. Chlöe herself says she wants Finance because that’s where the power exists to ‘transform this economy’. A Swarbrick-led Finance portfolio sure sounds like a circus act, but it's plausible because the direction of travel is the same for Labour and the Greens. The only difference is the Greens want to travel further. ACT is pushing in the opposite direction: cut the waste and grow the country. Have the courage to find savings so that No New Taxes is both possible and sustainable. We are campaigning to re-elect the coalition, while also making it go further and faster on the issues that matter – starting with balancing the books.

Make no mistake, this election is going to be close. If Labour wins, the Greens will be at the heart of that Government, alongside the Opportunity Party and Te Pāti Māori. That can only mean one thing. If Chris Hipkins wins, he will have no choice but to make Chloe Swarbrick New Zealand's next Finance Minister. In fact, she was on TV tonight saying she would demand the Finance portfolio, with the Greens controlling other powerful portfolios as well. And if she gets that job, she will be perfectly placed to deliver the nine new taxes that Labour, the Greens, the Opportunity Party and Te Pāti Māori are campaigning on. As I said, this election will be close, and there is a lot at stake. It's a clear choice. A choice between a coalition of left wing parties who think they can spend your money better than you can. Or a vote for National, with no new taxes, letting you keep more of what you earn, and a strong economic plan to build a future for you and your family. Party Vote National on 7 November.