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There’s a lot at stake this election. Labour and Chris Hipkins  have a plan that is focussed on the cost of living, keeping communities safe, and investing in New Zealand’s infrastructure. National’s plan might sound good on the surface but doesn’t add up, and hides big cuts to the things that really matter. Compare the plans below.

 

If re-elected, Labour will:

  1. Remove GST from fruit and vege, saving families around $20 a month from April 2024, making healthy eating easier.
  2. Expand free basic dental care to under 30s - the next step in New Zealand’s journey to universal dental care.
  3. Protect free prescriptions, making it cheaper and easier for Kiwis to access the medicines they need.
  4. Extend 20-hours free ECE to two-year olds, saving parents an average of $133 a week from March 2024.
  5. Boost Working for Families, providing an extra $25 per week for 160,000 working families.
  6. Build an economy that keeps wages growing ahead of inflation, maintains record low unemployment, keeps a lid on debt and maintains prudent levels of Government spending.
  7. Address the causes of high prices by tackling big profits through improving competition supermarket competition, new entry, bank market study response and transitioning away from volatile fossil fuels through incentivising electric cars and installing EV chargers up and down the country.
  8. Increase renewable electricity in New Zealand meaning cheaper power bills and increased economic security in a volatile world.
  9. Extend healthy school lunches for 230,000 students at nearly 1,000 schools and kura to the end of the next Parliamentary term.
  10. Protect free and half priced public transport.

See our full plan to help you and your family

 

 

Labour

 

National

Cost of Living
  • GST off fruit and vege, saving families at the checkout.
  • Protecting free prescriptions, cheaper public transport to help with the cost of living.
  

More inflation due to unfunded tax promises

Health
  • Free basic dental care for under 30s
  • Hundreds more doctors trained each year
  • Free cervical screening extended, delivering better cancer care for over 1.4 million New Zealanders.
  • $1 billon invested in Pharmac - to make more important medicines available
  

Reintroducing the $5 prescription charge which makes staying healthy for everyone more expensive, and using that money for a handful of cancer drugs instead

Family support
  • A $25 increase to the in-work tax credit, providing meaningful cost of living support to around 160,000 low and medium-income families.
  • Working for Families abatement threshold lifted to $50,000, to ensure families can keep more of this support when their pay increases or they pick up extra hours at work.
  • Four weeks’ paid parental leave to ensure children get the best start in life.
  

They’ll change the way benefits are calculated which takes $2 billion away from kids and others in need, and pushes child poverty up

Rates rises thanks to National not funding critical water services

Higher mortgage interest rates

Changes to Working for Families

Public housing
  • 27,000 Public and transitional homes by 2027 to ensure every New Zealander has access to a warm, dry and affordable home.
  

A flatlining of the public housing build programme

Law and order
  • 300 more cops, building on our 1800 delivered this term and creating the best ratio of Police to population in modern history
  • Establish a formal class actions regime to help groups of victims achieve justice
  • Modernise consent law
  • Review District Court jury trials
  • Increase uptake of audio-visual technology in courts to speed up hearings
  

Boot camps for offenders, which are expensive and have been proven not to work. 80% of kids reoffended.

300 more cops

Climate change
  • Up to $4,000 rebate to help New Zealanders install rooftop solar panels and battery to lower household power bills
  • Households could save up to 50 per cent on bills or $850 annually
  • $20 million boost for energy projects in local communities
  • 1000 Kāinga Ora homes a year to be fitted with solar panels, reducing tenants power bills

 

  

Continuing Labour’s public EV charger roll out

An end to funding for climate action