In the flurry of headlines that surround Budget Day, I know it can be difficult to know what the Budget really means for you and your family.
So I wanted to highlight some of the decisions we have made, and how these will affect you.
At the heart of this year’s Budget is a cost-of-living package, designed to ease the pressure on families in the face of global inflation.
This includes a short-term cost-of-living payment for more than 2million people earning up to $70,000 a year who do not already receive the Winter Energy Payment.
This means 81% of Kiwis aged 18+ will be receiving the Winter Energy Payment or the temporary cost-of-living payment this year.
We are tackling transport costs, by extending our fuel tax cut, reduced road user charges, and half-price public transport for a further two months, and making half-price public transport permanent for Community Service Card holders.
We are also taking action on supermarkets to make sure New Zealanders are paying a fair price at the till.
This time of global uncertainty will pass, but it’s important that we do what we can right now to take the hard edges off the global factors, and support families here in Dunedin and across the country, through this tough time.
Our careful economic management and strong Covid-19 response has meant that the fundamentals of New Zealand’s economy are strong.
Now we are investing to secure our future, making sure Kiwis can access world-class healthcare, growing a skilled workforce and accelerating our transition to a low-emissions economy.
We have made the largest ever investment in health for more nurses, more medicines, and to get the health system sorted to better focus on services.
New Zealanders will be able to get emergency care when they need it, with funding for more paramedics, new ambulances and emergency helicopters around the country.
We are making sure every child can get a good education, no matter their background.
We are delivering on our promise to scrap the outdated decile system, investing in more classrooms for schools, and providing local support to make sure young people are in those classrooms and learning.
To back businesses like those here in Dunedin, we have invested in a Business Growth Fund, which will improve businesses’ access to finance, enabling them to grow, create jobs, and increase their contribution to our wider economic development.
As we do this, we will continue to carefully manage the books — and our careful fiscal management means we will return to surplus quicker than National did after the global financial crisis.
There is a lot more in the Budget that will benefit our community, and if you would like to learn more, I would encourage you to check out labour.org.nz/budget2022
