'Anti the NZ way' – Collins continues offensive over Govt's refusal to extend wage subsidy

National Party leader Judith Collins during a press conference at Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National leader Judith Collins is continuing her attacks on the Government for not extending the wage subsidy for the remainder of Auckland's lockdown.

She doubled-down on her criticism when speaking to a number of morning media shows this morning, at one point telling RNZ the refusal to prolong the scheme was "very anti the New Zealand way".

Collins told media in Parliament on Tuesday that the scheme should be extended to account for the prolonged level 3 lockdown period in Auckland.

But this morning, she took it further saying that the wage subsidy scheme should be offered for another week.

"The Government is just being silly about this," she told MediaWorks this morning.

"They should front up and give businesses another week if they need to because we all know it's going to take a couple of days after that."

She said businesses are closing because of the lockdown and they deserve to be compensated for the extension.

"It's simply not okay to do what they [the Government] have done."

Meanwhile, the Government has remained steadfast in its decision not to extend the scheme.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it would not be extended further to cover the extra four days because "it would require an entirely different process and regime".

Her Finance Minister Grant Robertson was singing a similar tune this morning.

"We have had 22 weeks' worth of support for businesses through the wage subsidy scheme, about 12 and a half of which – if you're in Auckland – would have been at levels 2 and 1," he told Newstalk ZB.

He said he accepted the fact that this was a tough time for everybody.

But he said the overall level of financial support from the Government for businesses "has been significant".

So far, the Government has allocated $13.5 billion through the wage subsidy and leave schemes.