By: Jamie Strange
We have just released Budget 2023, which sets out more support for today and the next steps in our plan to build for tomorrow. I wanted to make sure that you had heard about a few key initiatives, including the cost of living package to ease the pressure on people here in the Waikato Region.
This Budget provides practical cost of living support across some of the core expenses facing New Zealanders – childcare, healthcare, transport and power bills. It will help to make things a bit easier for families, students and older New Zealanders by reducing or removing some of the costs they currently face. Millions of Kiwis will pay a little less as a result.
We are helping parents stretch their budgets a little further, by making childcare cheaper with 20 hours free ECE for two-year-olds. We’re helping with health costs by removing prescription charges for medicines. We’re permanently cutting the costs of public transport for young New Zealanders. We are also reducing power bills by making Kiwi homes more energy efficient.
Budget 2023 also includes a massive boost to our country’s infrastructure which has been tested during the recent flooding and cyclone. That’s why we have allocated significant funds to build back better with greater resilience, to protect communities from increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events.
It’s a practical Budget that does the basics well and makes investments where they are needed most. But we need to do more than just respond to the challenges of today, we also need to build for the future.
That’s why we are continuing to make targeted investments in areas that are critical to grow the economy and lift productivity. Investing in infrastructure, skills, science and technology supports every area of the economy. It’s how we support people into work, drive higher wages for Kiwis and build a stronger economy.
Jamie Strange, Labour MP for Hamilton East. Email: Jamie.StrangeMP@parliament.govt.nz
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