- By Naisi Chen, Labour List MP based in Botany
A couple of weeks ago, the Government released this year’s Budget which sets out the next steps in our plan to build a secure future for New Zealand.
I wanted to make sure that you’d heard about a couple of key Budget initiatives for everyone here in east Auckland.
Right now, the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
We have a record low unemployment rate, economic activity that is higher than it was before Covid-19, and debt lower than most countries we compare ourselves to.
Our strong health response protected our economy through Covid -19 and we’ve pulled through better than almost anywhere else in the world.
But we know that, despite these positive indicators, things are tough right now for many families, as global inflation affects prices here at home.
That’s why with Budget 2022, we’re taking further steps to ease the financial pressure on Kiwis with a new cost of living package.
This package includes a new temporary payment to help Kiwis with higher food and power bills.
This will benefit tens of thousands of people in east Auckland who are earning up to $70,000 a year and don’t already receive the Winter Energy Payment.
Alongside this, we’re tackling transport costs, by extending our fuel tax cut, reduced road user charges and half price public transport for further two months.
We’re also taking action on supermarkets to make sure Kiwis are paying a fair price at the checkout.
It is important we do what we can to take the hard edges off the global factors that are affecting us here in New Zealand, and these practical measures will help families here in east Auckland and across the country.
We have also taken more steps to keep our community safe. When Labour came into office, there was one police officer for every 548 New Zealanders.
Now we’ve committed to improving that to one per 480 Kiwis.
We’re also investing in the Tactical Response Model which will help the police in high-risk situations and recently announced a $6m investment to help businesses stop ramraids.
To secure our future, we’re making our largest ever investment in the health system and Pharmac, ensuring more Kiwis can access lifesaving medicines and treatments, and we’re delivering more paramedics and ambulances, to ensure urgent care is on hand when needed.
As we do all this, we’ll continue to carefully manage the books – and our careful fiscal management means we return to surplus quicker than National did after the global financial crisis.
