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| 2018 Conference |
■ Jacinda Ardern (link) announced 1000 extra places for students with complex needs; more help for 2900 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, 1500 low-vision students, and around 1900 more children with high needs in early childhood education. Teacher-aide funding received an extra $59.3 million. And she talked about the introduction of universal free dental care. Read Dr Bryce Edwards on this.
■ Kelvin Davis's speech (link)
■ Grant Robertson's speech, almost in full. For the full speech, click here, or read on for the main policy (my sub-headings and emphasis.)
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The Families Package
Let’s just take a moment to look at the Families Package, and a family like the one I grew up in here in Dunedin, earning a combined income of say $65,000 a year with three children, one of them new-born. They are better off as a result of this Government’s work
Let’s just take a moment to look at the Families Package, and a family like the one I grew up in here in Dunedin, earning a combined income of say $65,000 a year with three children, one of them new-born. They are better off as a result of this Government’s work
- Better off through the lift to Working for Families;
- Through the extension of Paid Parental Leave to 22 weeks and after that;
- By receiving the Best Start payment of $60 per week for their newborn;
- And through a boost to their Accommodation Supplement
And I bet the grandparents have received the Winter Energy Payment.
This package is literally changing lives. It is reducing inequality and child poverty, and beginning the journey to the promise made by our Prime Minister that New Zealand will be the best place in the world to be a child.
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I said last year in my speech to you that we needed to get the building blocks of our economy right. Our first Budget delivered to this country the biggest boost in health, education, housing and other public services that we have seen in a decade. And we did it at the same time as showing we are responsible managers of the economy.
Our Economic Fundamentals are Strong
Our Economic Fundamentals are Strong
I can confidently say that one year into our Government the fundamentals of the economy are strong. We have just had the strongest quarter of economic growth in two years. We have a sustainable surplus that is allowing us to invest in infrastructure and keep debt under control. Government debt is low and it provides the buffer we need to face down future shocks. Unemployment is at 4.5% and is forecast to reach our first-term goal of 4%. Importantly, we are also still ranked number one in the world by Transparency International for freedom from corruption, and just this week the World Bank re-affirmed that New Zealand is the best place in the world to do business.
Now, you might not think this is the case if you just listened to business confidence surveys. But we know from history that business tends to be a bit more pessimistic when a Government has Labour at its core, despite the economic reality. Regardless, we will keep working with the business community to lift New Zealand’s prospects.
In any event, we are not taking our careful approach to economic management to earn a few points in a business perception survey. We are doing it because it is the right thing to do for future generations.
Our careful management means we have been able to re-start contributions to the Super Fund after nine years of no Government contributions.
Our low levels of debt mean that we have the buffer to respond to an unexpected bill such as supporting farmers to fight Mycoplasma bovis, and it gives us the confidence that we can deal with anything an uncertain global picture, climate change, volatile international markets and trade disputes can throw at us.
We know that we need to get the balance right between careful management of the economy and making significant investments in our social progress ...
Budget 2018 saw us outline a plan to invest in re-building our social and public services. We are spending $25 billion more over the forecast period that the previous Government had planned.
Progress in Implementing Plan
Progress in Implementing Plan
And we are making good progress in implementing that plan:
- In health, we have hospital rebuilds announced for Auckland, North Shore and Whangerei and, yes, the work on designing a brand new hospital here in Dunedin. We are finally addressing the pay and conditions of our health workforce, particularly our nurses and midwives, and we have addressed pay equity for mental health carers and social workers.
- In education, we are rolling out the first across the board funding increase in a decade for early childhood education, and more support for special education and learning support. And delegates, think about this: In 2018 the first year of fees-free post-school education and training has been available, turning the tide on nearly thirty years of fee rises.
- And in housing, not only are the first Kiwibuild families moving in, but we are on track in building new state houses (with more than 6,000 coming on stream over the next few years), and in providing more emergency and transitional housing. And just this week we abolished letting fees.
Now, in these areas it was not just about we can do but also about what had to stop. We stopped the sale of state houses. We stopped the systemic underfunding of health. We stopped the experiment of national standards and charter schools.
There is a lot do, and we cannot make up for nine years of neglect in one year. But with the clock reset we can now work together to rebuild these critical social services.
Budget 2018
Budget 2018
Budget 2018 also saw us take the first steps to implementing our economic strategy. We are building an economy that is more productive, more sustainable and more inclusive.
We are seeing wages grow, and they are forecast to continue to grow at around 3% per year. Not just through our direct action such as lifting the minimum wage and a living wage in the core public sector, but also as we take action to lift productivity.
At last year’s conference, I said that there were three areas that we had to focus on:
- Getting support/investment to businesses that are ready to grow
- Lifting the skills of our workforce
- Investing in the research and science that will give us the edge.
On each of these in our first year in Government, we have made a great start:
- With our Government partners we have developed the Provincial Growth Fund and the Green Investment Fund to drive investment and development across the country. We are pursuing quality trade agreements to give our exporters more opportunities to grow, including launching into the negotiations with the EU.
- On lifting skills, fees-free is helping more people into trades and apprenticeships, including record numbers in areas like construction. We are implementing Mana in Mahi / Strength in Work to support our rangatahi, and employers to take them on as apprentices. And we are implementing our Future of Work agenda, including through a skills shift programme in the manufacturing sector.
- And in R and D through the excellent work of Megan Woods and Stuart Nash we are implementing a $1 billion Research and Development Tax Incentive to drive forward our innovation agenda.
There is, of course, still much to do. Last year I also talked about the need for a just transition to a low-emissions economy. I am proud that our Government has the courage to address the issue that the Prime Minister has so rightly called her generation’s nuclear free moment... by setting a 2050 goal for a net zero carbon economy. And that goal is supported by the business community: The Climate Leaders Coalition has brought together 60 of our largest businesses in pursuit of the same goal...
New Zealand can, and should, lead the world in new and clean technology. It is the right thing to do for future generations, but it is also our brand proposition in the world.
Budget 2018 was called Foundations for the Future, and I am proud of what we are building. But, there is more to do. More to do to build an economy that is fit for purpose for the middle part of the 21st century; an economy that is focused on future generations: more productive, more sustainable and more inclusive.
Budget 2019
Budget 2019
To that end, in Budget 2019 we are making a significant change that will embody our values. Budget 2019 will be New Zealand’s first Wellbeing Budget.
Last year, and the year before that (and the year before that), I have spoken about the limitation of tracking our success on a narrow measure such as GDP growth. Well, now we are doing something about it. We are moving beyond GDP to not just look at our financial health, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities.
As the Minister of Finance I will report on all of those measures at Budget time, including on how we are tracking at reducing child poverty.
It is essential that this is based on a robust and credible framework. At the core of our approach will be the Living Standards Framework developed by the Treasury, based on the work of the OECD. It is grounded in core economic concepts to assess the stock of our wellbeing. So, you will hear about financial capital, human capital, natural capital and social capital.
Next month the Treasury will release its first Living Standards Dashboard. This will show a range of indicators of our current wellbeing as a nation. It includes the tangible, like incomes and home ownership, but also the intangible like life satisfaction and cultural wellbeing. It is a work in progress. We need to make sure it is truly reflective of Aotearoa New Zealand, and all that makes us unique. It will evolve over the coming years. But it is a great start to a new way of thinking about what counts as success.
The Living Standards Framework is designed to outlive any particular Government. It will be a critical input to our Wellbeing Budget, but it will not be the only one. We are using the Child Wellbeing Strategy, evidence from here and overseas about intergenerational success and the advice of experts such as government science advisors.
And that is the critical difference in our Wellbeing Budget. Not only are we going to measure our success differently, we are putting our Budget together on a wellbeing basis as well.
We have identified five core priorities that will define our first Wellbeing Budget. I will announce the detail of these during the Budget Policy Statement next month, but they cover the areas where we think the outcomes will make a substantive difference to both our current and future wellbeing.
These priorities will include sustainably growing and modernising our economy, lifting children’s wellbeing, and yes, we will finally be giving mental health the priority and focus that it deserves.
As we speak, my Ministerial colleagues are working together to produce initiatives that will be squarely focused on long-term intergenerational outcomes. This means we are breaking down the silos of government to form a long-term view.
And we have already started. When we first came into Government we faced a decision about what to do with Waikeria Prison. We were told that we should build a 2,500 bed American mega-prison because it had the cheapest per-prisoner cost. But maybe, just maybe, we could do better if built a smaller prison, with a mental health unit attached to address the underlying causes. And if we focused on more drug and alcohol rehabilitation and more on prisoner housing to support re-integration. That is what we have done and that is a wellbeing approach.
And just this week the Prime Minister, Phil Twyford and Kelvin Davis announced a once-in-a-generation community renewal in Porirua. Now, this could have been a project just to build more houses, but we see it as a major integrated urban development plan - including education, recreation, social services, and yes, lots of houses. And delivered in partnership with iwi and local council. That is a wellbeing approach.
And we are serious about embedding this approach. Chris Hipkins and I are both working on the most fundamental change to the State Sector and Public Finance legislation in thirty years. This will ensure that collaboration and wellbeing is embedded in how our government agencies work.
So delegates, 2019 will be the Wellbeing Budget, and the first steps in changing our yardstick of success. I will still keep a close eye on our finances and a steady hand on the economic wheel. We owe that to future generations. But we also owe to them and to all of our communities the chance to live fulfilling and meaningful lives - and to be valued more than just as numbers on a balance sheet.
This is breaking new ground. Thirty years on from the last time our Party met in Dunedin, much has changed in the world and in our economy. We face complex, intertwined challenges in the Future of Work, Climate Change and reducing inequality. We need a different, 21st century approach to meeting them, and that is what the Wellbeing Budget is about.
And while much has changed in our world, some things have endured. Our values - fairness, opportunity and our PMs favourite: kindness. It is these values that will guide me through this new approach to our economy and Budgets.
Delegates, it is time to change gear on our economy, to lift our sights, to grow and share our prosperity, and focus on the long-term intergenerational wellbeing of our people and country.
As wise person I know once said: when it comes to the Well-Being Budget, Let’s Do This.
Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou, Kia Kaha, Tena Tatou Katoa.
Watch the livestream of the speech here.
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