At this time of high prices and associated struggles, it was heartening a few weeks ago to visit the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School in Freeman’s Bay.
The students told me of the impact of the half price bus fares on them and their families.
This is a very special school with a proud tradition of building strong women, with so many of the girls coming in from other parts of Auckland to attend. Many are from big families and they are not wealthy. They told me how the reduced tickets had made a huge difference, particularly because their parents were paying for more than one child to travel to and from school from far flung suburbs. I was really proud of this concrete government measure which is making a big difference at a time when inflation is rife.
58 million free and healthy lunches have also fed 200,000 students through Ka Ora, Ka Ako - as well as this, free period products for lower income families at a time of financial stress have been significant.
Now interests rates are noticeably rising, it is incredibly important that the fiscal policies adopted are mindful of the need to support middle and lower income earners. The Labour Government has raised the minimum wage by more than a third from $15.75 in 2017 to $21.20 and we have increased the wages of nurses, police officers and teachers also.
As a former employment lawyer I appreciate exactly why the emphasis of the reserve bank was on keeping people employed when the pandemic caused fear of widespread economic turbulence. Employment allows people to stay afloat. Unemployment is at a near record low of 3.3%, against expectations when Covid-19 hit that it could rise as high as 10%.
New Zealand is in a strong position to support households and businesses. Exports are growing and government debt is substantially below most other nations. The short-term cost of living payments will bring in an extra $27 per week for more than two million New Zealanders.
There is also a need to target problem areas like the oversized profits of supermarkets. I wasn’t even shocked when I heard that supermarkets had been earning a million dollars of additional profit per day from customers, because we’ve all been paying too much for far too long. It is now being targeted by changes which will make competition more possible.
I was appalled to hear National suggesting tax cuts for those on incomes at the upper end. I actually thought those on the other side of the house had moved on from this tired old trickle down economic theory. It would be inflationary and wouldn’t achieve anything to improve the lives of most New Zealanders.
This article was written with funding from Parliamentary Services. (Helen White)
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