Lianne Dalziel

Labour Commerce spokesperson Lianne Dalziel says she is surprised at the Government's low-key response to the recommendations of the Capital Markets Development Taskforce.

Lianne Dalziel, who originally set up the Taskforce in 2008, said she was pleased at the launch of the report in December last year when Commerce Minister Simon Power announced that the government would show just how important they considered the recommendations to be by having the Prime Minister lead the government's response.

"Ironically, however, nowhere in today's response does the Prime Minister or even his department feature," Lianne Dalziel said.

"When Parliament opened last week, the Prime Minister raised high expectations in his statement that there would be a major announcement around the Taskforce's conclusion that there is an opportunity for New Zealand to become a hub for financial services in the Asia Pacific region, specialising in providing high-value middle and back office functions for the funds management industry.

"But today's announcement says that further consideration is required and that a business case is under development for reporting to the Minister for Economic Development," says Lianne Dalziel.

"I can only conclude that the Prime Minister did not want to be associated with such a weak response.

"This is a major disappointment to me as the person who commissioned the report in the first place. It must be even more of a disappointment to the members of the Taskforce."