The news this week has been around the Government's fifth Budget - and what an exercise in fiscal deception it was!

The Budget does little to help struggling New Zealanders off the treadmill of high costs and low wages, and it uses the sale of state assets - Mighty River Power and soon to be Meridian, to blur the real state of the economy.

We all remember the Prime Minister's promise in 2011 of 170,000 extra jobs. So far, 8,000 have been found. The only concrete mention of jobs in the Budget? An extra 354 staff for WINZ offices around the country to deal with the ballooning dole queues.

New Zealand First's response to Budget 2013 can be found here. 

In brighter news, our Member's Bill to amend the Reserve Bank Act was pulled from the ballot for the second time in as many years. The Bill is not prescriptive – it gives the Bank the obligation, the scope, the flexibility and the freedom to explore new ways of achieving a realistic exchange rate. Our seriously over-valued dollar is doing short and long term damage to our economy.

Rt Hon Winston Peters
Leader of New Zealand First
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Yesterdays Budget saw $15.2m allocated to various dementia services. This includes encouraging investment in dementia beds, awareness programmes, and specialised training for health workers.

Another $1.5m of the health budget is earmarked for training aged-care providers in the new International Resident Assessment Instrument, known as InterRAI. This tool is used internationally to measure and improve the quality of aged-care. While the tool looks promising, fast-forwarding the deadline for using it could create problems similar to what pharmacists have experienced with their new contracts.

New Zealand First believes the focus on dementia is commendable, but the extra allocation will barely keep up with current needs, let alone take into account the extra strain these services will experience as New Zealand’s elderly population grows.

We were most disappointed that there was no mention of a pay increase for our overworked aged-care workers. New Zealand First will continue to pressure the Government to show appropriate appreciation for the essential work these people do for New Zealand families.

Barbara Stewart MP
Spokesperson for Health
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The Government announced two housing initiatives in Budget 2013. The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill was introduced to the House under urgency yesterday. New Zealand First supported the Bill through to the Select Committee stage so we can hear what the public have to say.

The Bill provides for areas where consent rules will be streamlined so that zoning and plans can be quickly changed without notification. It favours developers and sidelines local democracy. Profiteers are already buying up land.

We support special housing areas as a concept, but only on the basis of a genuine accord with local government, and only with appropriate streamlining, and time frames. We oppose the general non-notification provision. This Bill does not help first home owners seeking their first home or section. It addresses land availability but not affordability.

The Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill reduces the scope of the operation of Housing New Zealand, and will transfer large sums of money to community housing organisations instead. Several questions need to be answered though: how do we know if the money will be well spent? There will be no State asset in return. What happens if an organisation fails—where do the assets go? Will community providers have enough competence in the housing market? Will these organisations have the competencies to maintain and manage assets properly?

New Zealand First believes that it is unwise to confuse social objectives with property investment objectives in non-governmental organisations. The outcome will be risky and uncertain. The State would do better to provide social housing directly.

Denis O'Rourke
Spokesperson for Housing

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