The CTU is asking what the point of the 2025 taskforce is.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary, says that it was a fair bet that this group would simply recycle the policies of the 1984-99 period in their recommendations to close the income gap with Australia by 2025.

"But GDP per capita figures show" said Peter Conway, "that New Zealand slipped even further and dramatically behind Australia in the 1984-92 period and the gap has not closed since".

Why have such a taskforce when it will only make radical suggestions which the Prime Minister rules out? Perhaps it is to open up policy space for the tax cuts and reductions in government spending the government intends anyway?

"We will have to wait and see the full report, but early indications suggest that the policy proposals are that we should catch up with Australian income levels by doing something very different from Australian policies".

In fact it is higher wages not lower taxes that attracts Kiwis to Australia.

"Our submission", said Peter Conway, "calls for a lift in capital per worker, a recognition that the more regulated Australian labour market has been better at distributing income fairly, ongoing investment in lifelong learning and initiatives for high performance work practices".

The aim of closing the income gap with Australia is a good one. But we seriously question whether this taskforce adds any value in that quest.

The CTU submission to the 2025 Task Force can be seen at http://www.2025taskforce.govt.nz/pdfs/tfs-nzctu-18sep09.pdf