OPINION: Last Saturday I took part in a Liveable Incomes march in a chi-chi suburb – and drivers in BMWs genuinely clapped and cheered us on. In general, all of us – even Beamer drivers – want to know that our whole “team of 5 million” (TM) have enough to live on. And yet currently, one in five children live with the toxic stress and long-term health and educational effects of food insecurity. Parents cry when interviewed about bringing up their children on inadequate income support: they talk of hopelessness, despair, hunger, existing not living. So for those parents and their children, here is the story of the Budget in three movie genres: the much-hyped would-be blockbuster, the buried romantic drama, and the creeping horror.
The Council of Trade Unions welcomes the Government’s investments in 2021 Budget released today.
“We particularly welcome the spending on improving income support which will reduce all poverty including child poverty. However, the Budget should have gone further to secure essential public services for New Zealanders, and to deliver on the Government’s commitment to build back better,” said CTU Economist Craig Renney who was at today’s Budget Lockup
“It was pleasing to see the investment in rail, in Māori housing, and in restoring the Training Incentive Allowance. These are signals that the Government is committed to moving in the right direction for working Kiwis and for those who want work. But they also need to make sure that they have funded the basics. Health purchasing (which excludes vaccines and MIQ spending) rose by well short of the amount necessary to keep up with the estimated $1.3bn of annual cost pressures. ECE funding rises by 1.2% – but inflation is fo
I m really scraping, she told Newshub.
On the sole parent benefit, Leah will soon get more cash. It ll help but the basics will still be unaffordable. Gas just to get my kids to school, she said. But yeah, it ll just go towards what my kids need.
Further north in Kaitaia, Jean Crossley sleeps on the couch to make room for her kids. She has to make difficult decisions for her children every week. It s pretty hard because then you ve got to choose whether you pay this bill or you pay for the doctors or you miss out on food.
In an attempt to help children like Leah s and Jean s, the Government announced a once-in-a-generation Budget benefit bump.
The pay offer from NZ Bus would have raised the base wage rate but would slash overtime pay and additional benefits such as double-time pay on weekends and after midnight that can be worth thousands of dollars a year to drivers. The deal also offered drivers with more than five years’ service a cash bonus of $10,000 if the deal was accepted. Those with less than 5 years service would receive $5000. Tramways Secretary Kevin O’Sullivan labelled the payment a “bribe” and said the union would not be accepting cash payments for giving up terms and conditions going forward.
Ross Giblin/Stuff
New Zealand has now had three “Wellbeing Budgets”: the prototype in 2019, the COVID-19 “Rebuilding Together” version in 2020, and today Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced the Labour government is “Securing our Recovery”.
With Labour governing with an absolute majority, projected debt levels lower than initially forecast and nearly NZ$1 billion from last year’s COVID-19 recovery fund unspent, expectations for housing, health, climate change and welfare have been heightened.
Here, our three experts respond to today’s budget and assess its implications in various crucial areas for the year ahead.
A budget for middle New Zealand
Jennifer Curtin, Public Policy Institute, University of Auckland