- By Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister and MP for Botany
At the end of last year, I promised New Zealanders that within its first 100 days, our Government would deliver on 49 actions critical to getting the country back on track.
Today, I am proud to say that we have delivered on every single one of those actions.
Our Government has started the same way we mean to go on – ambitious for New Zealand.
I’m incredibly proud of what our team has achieved and I’m determined to keep pushing ahead with the positive changes New Zealanders voted for.
The actions in our 100-day plan made clear this Government is laser-focused on rebuilding the economy, reducing the cost of living, restoring law and order and delivering better health and education.
After six years of economic mismanagement, we know Kiwis are facing tough financial times.
That’s why we’ve ensured the Reserve Bank is now solely focused on keeping inflation down.
We’ve also axed the ute tax, repealed the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax, and stopped all work on Labour’s jobs tax, which would have seen every New Zealander and employer hit with another tax to pay for a gold-plated income insurance scheme.
We’re making good on our commitment to ensure Kiwis are getting good value for the taxes they pay.
That’s why we’ve asked Government agencies to scrutinise their spending and ensure nothing is wasted on actions that aren’t delivering results.
One thing this Government will not be cutting back on is our support of frontline services.
Our police do an incredible job but have been working with one hand tied behind their back while gang membership, violent crime and retail crime have all increased dramatically over the previous six years.
Restoring law and order was a big focus of our 100-day plan. We are cracking down on gangs and have introduced laws to ban gang patches in public and give police greater powers to search gang members for illegal firearms.
Part of helping young people start their lives on the right pathway is ensuring they receive a great education.
That’s why we acted fast to ban the use of cell phones in schools and make sure primary and intermediate students spend at least an hour every day on reading, writing and maths.
The 49th and final action in our 100-day plan was to announce five key health targets that will drive better health outcomes for New Zealanders.
Targets include faster cancer treatment, improved immunisation rates for kids, shorter stays in emergency departments, shorter waits for first specialist assessments and shorter wait times for treatment.
We’ve also signed a memorandum of understanding with Waikato University to progress a third medical school – an important step in addressing our critical shortage of New Zealand-trained doctors.
This is just a snapshot of the actions we’ve already taken to turn around the decline of the last six years.
Turning the country around is a big job, and it’s not going to happen overnight, but I am confident that our first 100 days have shown that we are serious about delivering for New Zealand.
