National policies cheaper than opposition - Joyce

Steven Joyce snaps a photo for Instagram during a public meeting in Tauranga today. PHOTO/ANDREW WARNER

National Party policy announcements leading up to the election will cost a lot less than Labour and the Greens, senior Government minister Steven Joyce promised a well attended public meeting in Tauranga today.

Mr Joyce's speech focussed on the Government's track record and fiscal prudence, attacking the big spending promises of Labour which he said would pre-commit more than four Budgets.

He said New Zealand was experiencing the fastest job growth in a decade, with a big turnaround in the difference between kiwis leaving to work in Australia and the numbers returning home.

It had moved from a net difference of up to 3000 a month departing New Zealand to 79 now. The month before it was 20 people.

Mr Joyce said people migrating to Australia had been a big problem since the beginning of the 2000s but it had now come back to nearly nothing. Things were tightening up across the Tasman, with 6.4 per cent unemployment in Australia compared with 5.6 per cent in New Zealand.

He used Mount Maunganui engineering firm Page Macrae to illustrate the returning confidence to the New Zealand economy since the Global Financial Crisis, saying the company was looking to hire another 40 welders and process workers.

Mr Joyce, whose portfolios include economic development, delivered National's message to an audience of about 100 people at Club Mount Maunganui. He hinted that another policy announcement on health would be released later this week.