Led by Jacinda Ardern, our strong, stable government has delivered results and put people first every step of the way. In health, housing, education and more, we've got a strong track record of delivering for New Zealanders.
Now, we’re continuing to put people first with our decisive response to COVID-19. Our plan for recovery is creating jobs, investing in our economy, and backing businesses to recover. Let’s keep building on our success, and let’s keep moving.
Updated 21 September 2020.
Supported more than 1.7 million people through the initial lockdown, and hundreds of thousands through the extension and the reemergence of COVID-19 in Auckland
Extended Paid Parental Leave from 18 to 26 weeks, and increased Paid Parental Leave by up to $20 a week
Banned single-use plastic bags and committed to phasing out more single-use plastics
Provided interest-free loans of up to $100,000 to help more than 50,000 businesses stay afloat
Funded an additional 8,000 new public and transitional homes through Budget 2020
Passed the landmark Zero Carbon Act, with a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050
Increased the minimum wage to $18.90 per hour from 1 April 2020
Scrapped the need for consents for low-risk building work, such as sleep-outs, sheds and carports saving homeowners $18 million in consenting costs each year, unclogging the building consent process, and making it quicker and more affordable
During COVID-19, our Māori Response Package helped Māori health providers support hard-to-reach and vulnerable whānau
Established a $500 million COVID-19 health response fund, for primary care, public health, intensive care and hospital equipment, mental health support, telehealth, and Healthline
Banned offshore speculators from our housing market
Introduced a four-stage COVID-19 alert level system and followed up with our five-point economic recovery plan
Joined the global search for a COVID-19 vaccine
Re-establishing the Mental Health Commission to provide independent insight and leadership on mental health and addiction policies
Helped to keep Kiwi’s warmer with our Warmer Kiwi Homes programme, ensuring an estimated 9,000 additional houses will be Warmer Kiwi Homes
Boosted the incomes of around 384,000 families by an average of $75 a week through our Families Package
Delivered the strongest ever protections to clean up our rivers and lakes
Made visiting the doctor cheaper or free for nearly 600,000 New Zealanders
Launched new Cancer Action Plan and created the independent Cancer Control Agency
Boosted Whānau Ora to support more whānau need on the ground and in the communities who need it most
Made an unprecedented investment in public transport and walking and cycling improvements, to help tackle climate change
Lifted 18,400 children out of poverty, as part of our commitment to reducing child poverty
Expanded the free lunch in schools programme, expecting to benefit around 200,000 children by the third term of next year
Boosting funding for PHARMAC to make sure New Zealanders continue to get the medicines they need despite global pressure on supply chains
Banned unfair letting fees and no-cause tenancy terminations
Removed abortion from the Crimes Act, rightly treating it as a health issue
Backed New Zealand exporters during COVID-19, including providing on-the-ground support to help local businesses connect with overseas markets and global partners
Rolling out frontline mental health services, like Piki, which provides free mental health and wellbeing support to 18-25 year olds, benefitting more than 300,000 people
Made sure New Zealand history will be taught in all schools and kura by 2022
Banned smoking in cars with children, to protect young people, and passed legislation to regulate vaping products and heated tobacco devices
Introduced some of the most strict border controls in the world to help keep COVID-19 out of our communities
Required people coming into New Zealand to enter managed isolation for 14 days, with tests around days three and twelve
Established Te Arawhiti – The Office for Māori Crown Relations to make the Crown a better Treaty partner and improve partnerships with Māori
Launched the annual Influenza Immunisation Programme early to ease pressure on hospitals
Worked hard to repatriate thousands of New Zealanders stuck overseas, while helping foreigners stranded in New Zealand return home
Helping families with our Best Start payment, making life easier for parents of young children with an extra $60 a week for up to the child’s first three years
Temporarily removed tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports for COVID-19 response
Announced the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme, investing in roads, rail, hospitals and schools, and our regions to future-proof the economy. This: gives a $10 billion boost to New Zealand’s economy over the first five years; includes transport projects to boost productivity and long-term growth; will upgrade and modernise land, air, and sea assets throughout regional New Zealand
Restarted contributions to the Super Fund, to help keep the cost of NZ Super affordable
Launched and expanded Mana in Mahi, supporting employers to take on apprentices, and He Poutama Rangatahi, to tackle youth unemployment, increasing support and job opportunities for those most at risk in the labour market
Strengthened our national contact tracing system, and introduced the NZ COVID-19 Tracer app
Building $6.8 billion worth of transport projects across the country as part of the NZ Upgrade Programme
Supported GPs and pharmacies with additional funding to respond to COVID-19-related demand, and boosted funding for PHARMAC to cover increased pharmaceutical costs
Provided additional funding for the aged care sector
Funded the COVID-19 Māori Response Package, delivering a boost for 132 Māori health providers, over 86,000 care and hygiene packages, tens of thousands of flu jabs, and a social media campaign providing health and social sector support
Strengthened our health workforce by adding more doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health workers
Stopped issuing new offshore oil and gas permits
Boosted support for our most vulnerable through our income support package, including a permanent $25 per week benefit increase and doubling the Winter Energy Payment for 2020
Supported incomes for the hardest hit with the 12-week COVID-19 income relief payment of up to $490 a week for people made redundant due to COVID-19
Largest-ever investment in preventing and responding to, family and sexual violence
Balanced the rights of renters and landlords by banning unfair letting fees, and are reforming the Residential Tenancies Act
Fast-tracking key development and infrastructure projects to help get New Zealand moving
Rolled out further support for small and medium-sized businesses, including $3.1 billion tax loss carry-back scheme, the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme for small and medium-sized businesses, changes to the tax loss continuity rules, and business consultancy support to help businesses respond to COVID-19
Passed the Family Violence and Family Violence (Amendments) Acts, sending a strong signal that New Zealand is committed to tackling family and sexual violence
Joined the global search for a COVID-19 vaccine, enabling New Zealand scientists to contribute to global research efforts
Protecting people in financial hardship from high-cost loans that trap them in debt
Froze charges at the border to help export and import businesses and protect jobs from the impacts of COVID-19
Provided support to hard-hit sectors with packages for: tourism; screen production; aviation; arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; and the social sector and community groups
Established an essential workers leave scheme, to ensure those who take leave from work to comply with public health guidelines continue to receive income
Secured more than 1,000 motel units for homeless and vulnerable people during lockdown
Acted quickly to ensure personal protective equipment was getting where it was needed most
Passed the Child Poverty Reduction Act and confirmed child poverty reduction targets
Backing Māori landowners by creating new opportunities to drive growth in their regions
Installed 100 rural mobile broadband towers, as part of our rural broadband roll-out, to get our regional communities and businesses digitally connected
Providing free period products in schools for those who need them, beginning at 15 Waikato schools and expanding to all state and state-integrated schools on an opt-in basis next year
Scrapped the discriminatory sanction that cuts benefit income to women who have not declared the name of their child’s father, affecting around 24,000 children
Delivered a funding boost over four years for early learning services to improve the pay of up to 17,000 qualified teachers working in education and care services
Developed New Zealand’s first Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy to help make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child
Building new schools and classrooms for 100,000 students, with a plan to make sure we work with schools and communities to address increasing demand
Passed the Arms Legislation Bill, further strengthening gun law
Continued to expand the Tupu Aotearoa programme to provide sustainable employment and tertiary education pathways for Pacific communities
Established a $500 million COVID-19 health response fund, including funding for: primary care (including community-based assessment centres, equipment and logistics); public health (focusing on contact tracing); intensive care and hospital equipment; help for GPs and community health providers to use technology for remote consultations; and Healthline
Taking mental health seriously, with the biggest investment in mental health in any Budget, ever
Launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs
Led the Christchurch Call in the aftermath of March 15, committing Governments and tech companies to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online
Made record investments in DHBs to relieve some of the pressure they’ve been under
Investing significantly in new and existing neglected mental health and addiction facilities, including in Hamilton, Tairāwhiti, Palmerston North and Christchurch
Made record capital investments to rebuild our rundown hospitals and health facilities
Removed fees from NCEA and NZ Scholarship, helping more than 145,000 households and around 168,000 secondary students
Making sure New Zealand history is taught in all schools and kura by 2022
Rolling out our COVID-19 worker redeployment package to keep more people in work
Made significant business tax changes to reduce cashflow pressure, including lifting the provisional tax threshold, reinstating building depreciation, writing off interest on the late payment of tax, and providing greater flexibility for businesses to meet their tax obligations
Breaking the cycle of family and sexual violence and better supporting survivors, making the biggest-ever investment in family violence and sexual violence support services, including the Integrated Safety Response teams and 24/7 sexual violence crisis support services
Boosted funding for suicide prevention services and those who are bereaved by suicide
Rolling out the National Bowel Screening Programme to more DHBs
Fast-tracked the much needed rebuild of Dunedin Hospital
Created a $350m Residential Development Response Fund to support the construction sector through COVID-19
Investing over $700 million for shovel ready transport projects such as cycleways, walkways, ports and roads, to help kick-start the post-COVID-19 rebuild
Increased number of transitional housing places
Supported over 3000 rangatahi going on to full employment through He Poutama Rangatahi
Strengthening our bilateral cooperation with the EU on emissions trading systems
Taking the financial pressure off parents by increasing funding to decile 1-7 schools if they don’t ask parents for donations
Held a Pacific Conference on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in line with our proud nuclear-free history
Launched the Progressive Home Ownership scheme, supporting more New Zealanders into Home Ownership
Pursuing ambitious trade policy to help New Zealand businesses succeed overseas
Boosted aid to support our Pacific neighbours to tackle COVID-19 and rebuild their communities and economies
Improved access to healthy, affordable homes through investing in papākainga and housing repair programmes
Funding 623 Learning Support Coordinators to ensure children with diverse learning needs get the support they need to learn, supporting kids in more than 1,000 schools and kura
Backed Kiwi innovators with a tax credit and funding boost to lift research and development spending
Made changes to better protect migrants from exploitation
Established the Workforce Development Councils to strategically plan for the recovery of industries and jobs from the impact of COVID-19
Delivered a funding boost over four years for early learning services to improve the pay of up to 17,000 qualified teachers working in education and care services
Restored collective bargaining rights for screen sector workers
Set up Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata – Safe and Effective Justice, bringing together Government, sector agencies, community workers, Māori leaders, victims, and offenders
Launched Te Mana o te Taio - Aoteoroa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy 2020, which sets a direction for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of our biodiversity
Restored the right to vote to all eligible prisoners serving less than three years
Lifted abatement thresholds so people on a benefit are incentivised to also work and keep more of what they earn
Giving almost every state school a one-off capital injection of up to $400,000, the biggest capital injection for school maintenance funding in at least 25 years
Provided significant support and investment to unlock the potential of whenua Māori and support whānau aspirations around their whenua
Restored rights for Kiwi workers by reinstating meal and rest breaks, strengthening collective bargaining, restoring protections for vulnerable workers and limiting 90-day trials to businesses with fewer than 20 employees
Started getting rail back on track after it was left in a state of ‘managed decline’, through investing $4.6 billion this term
Pursuing ambitious trade policy to help New Zealand businesses succeed overseas
Overhauling the Resource Management Act, because it hasn’t properly protected our environment
Passed the Equal Pay Amendment Bill to ensure that people who perform work of the same value are paid the same, simplifying the process for making a pay equity claim
Investing in New Zealand’s long-neglected regions through the Provincial Growth Fund
Increasing the volume of Trades Academy places in secondary schools by 1,000 places a year from 2021, helping to build up our future skilled workforce
Initiated the Pacific Reset, our commitment to build deeper partnerships with Pacific nations and the expansion of our development programme there
Changed the law to make sure multinational companies pay their fair share of tax
Introduced new regulations to strengthen our animal welfare system
Set a goal for one million New Zealanders speaking te reo Māori by 2040
Negotiated the landmark Let’s Get Wellington Moving package and quick wins like safer speeds in the CBD have already been rolled out
Made targeted vocational training courses free for all ages over the next two years, which will help people who have lost their jobs retrain and also allow new employees in some essential services to train on the job
Supporting Kōhanga Reo, to ensure kaiako are paid fairly and facilities are in good condition, as part of our ongoing commitment to Māori education
Established the Criminal Cases Review Commission, to independently investigate alleged miscarriages of justice
Taken action to protect the future of New Zealand’s endangered Māui and Hector’s dolphins
Brought back government funding for adult night classes, investing in Adult and Community Education to help providers meet the increased needs for training and upskilling and give more than 11,000 New Zealanders more opportunities to learn
Signed the CPTPP, potentially delivering exporters $222 million tariff savings and launched free trade negotiations with the EU
Launched our Trade Recovery Strategy, to help get businesses through the disruption of COVID-19 and recalibrate our trade policy to navigate a turbulent environment
Worked alongside other countries to keep trade open in the wake of COVID-19, ensuring the free flowing trade of medical supplies and other essential services
Banned military-style semi-automatic weapons, magazines and parts. Around 62,000 prohibited firearms have been taken out of circulation through gun buy-back and seizures
Strengthen the National Animal Identification and Tracing system to ensure it’s an easy-to-use, world-class traceability system that keeps our primary sector safe
Maintaining the viability of fresh vegetable production, through our new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management
Extended the expiry of driver licences, WoFs, CoFs, and some vehicle certifications this year to help ease pressure off families and businesses during the pandemic
Addressed food waste by redirecting food to those in need
More than doubled the funding for New Zealand Search and Rescue, recreational boating safety and safety awareness receives to save lives
Cracking down on illicit drug manufacturers and suppliers while making it easier for those with substance addictions to get treatment
Launched a new Rangatahi Suicide Prevention Fund
Scrapped National Standards, after listening to teachers and principals
Investing in recycling infrastructure, including a recent boost of $124m for a number of initiatives across New Zealand
Changed the law so all private rentals have to meet minimum standards to be warm and dry
Balanced record levels of investment to resolve the long-term challenges facing New Zealand, while managing the books responsibly
Delivered sustainable surpluses, growth well ahead of the OECD average, and low debt that enabled a strong response to COVID-19
Removed the cost of trades training in critical industries, including in agriculture, horticulture and viticulture, aquaculture and forestry
Mobilised 400 MFAT staff to provide emergency response services to help stranded Kiwis return home amid COVID-19 border closures
Launched Māori Pathway initiative, taking action on the long-term challenge of Māori reoffending rates
Recruited to achieve the largest, and most diverse Police workforce in New Zealand history, now at over 13,000 employees
Invested in iwi projects through our commitment to revitalise the regions
Provided the largest funding boost for the Department of Conservation since 2002
During COVID-19, our Māori Response Package helped Māori health providers support hard-to-reach and vulnerable whanau
Made an historic increase to the annual quota of refugees, lifting the quota from 1,000 to 1,500
Established a $300m Venture Capital Fund to foster innovation and to help start-ups
Started planting one billion trees by 2028, with 248 million already in the ground
Plugged the $5.9 billion hole left in Auckland’s transport budget, and construction has started on the Eastern Busway, extra lanes on SH20B, Puhinui Interchange, Old Māngere Bridge replacement project, K Road Cycleway, Matakana Link Road, and Constellation Bus Station
Committed co-funding for over 1,000 Emission Vehicle chargers nationwide, with more than 600 already installed
Protected the productivity of New Zealand’s vital beef and dairy sectors with a thorough and ongoing response to eradicate Mycoplasma Bovis
Paused tenancy terminations during the COVID-19 lockdowns
Addressing long-term economic challenges like building a sustainable economy and preparing for the jobs of the future
Injecting $3 billion to support our regions through the Provincial Growth Fund
Supported workers through the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme to take leave to comply with public health guidance and encourage people to get tested
Worked with community organisations, iwi and councils to urgently provide spaces for over 1,000 vulnerable people with a place to stay, to keep them safe from the potential spread of COVID-19
Investing in local projects to improve the health of our waterways, restore mini wetlands and stabilise riverbanks
Introduced measures to stop predatory lending that often impacts low-income families
Secured $196 million for our Wellington rail package, which includes important upgrades for the Wairarapa line; without them, the line would have deteriorated with more and more disruptions to services
Progressed changes to council rates to allow councils to wipe rate arrears on whenua Māori
Focused on wellbeing alongside economic success: improving health, generating skills and knowledge, defeating poverty, and being responsible guardians of the environment
Supported Kiwis through the COVID-19 crisis to remain in their homes with our six-month freeze on residential rent
Upgraded our free trade agreement with Singapore, so Kiwis can visit Singapore, visa-free, for up to three months
Increased funding to Customs to employ more staff to expand border surveillance, further strengthening the Government’s defence against COVID-19
Secured a public referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis
Ramping up pest control programmes to protect farmers from costly pests like wilding pines and wallabies
Saved and funded the refurbishment of 15 electric trains that run between Hamilton and Palmerston North
Reached an historic consensus with our farming sector to implement farm-level pricing of climate change emissions from the agriculture sector by 2025
Introduced an International Visitor Levy to support our regional tourism infrastructure and conservation projects
Started upgrading schools and hospitals to ensure they run on clean energy
Brought in the 105 Police number, improving service for the public, while taking pressure off the 111 number
Adopted the most significant statement on regional security by Pacific leaders in a generation
Supported Air New Zealand to secure and maintain freight links with important markets
Kicked off the rollout of 3,300kms of common sense road safety upgrades to save lives after years of the road toll rising, with over 2,500kms done so far including rumble strips, safer speeds, and side and median barriers
Funded more frontline MSD staff to help people into meaningful work
Strengthened the Family Court to give New Zealanders a platform that is safe for participants, sensitive to their needs, and where every party has their voice heard fairly and appropriately
Implemented a mortgage holiday for homeowners affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19, now extended to March 2021
Delivered sustainable surpluses, growth well ahead of the OECD average, and low debt that enabled a strong response to COVID-19
Brought business to the table, establishing an expert Business Advisory Council
Protecting New Zealand’s most fertile and versatile land, to ensure it’s available for future primary production and is protected from inappropriate subdivision, use and development
Backing the horticulture sector to seize new opportunities for growth and stay ahead of international competitors, including with funding to secure new imported plant varieties and breeding material
Primary export revenue has soared to record highs
Started planning for the Future of Rail with a ten year plan that lays out our Government’s vision to revitalise rail
Expanded the Oranga Marae repair and development fund to support the physical and cultural revitalisation of marae
Announced a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, to back creativity and productivity
Led the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), a first-of-its-kind agreement that will use trade rules to tackle climate change and other environmental issues