Te Tahua Toiora 2023 – He Tirohanga Matua The Wellbeing Budget 2023 – Highlights
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COST OF LIVING |
Extending 20 hours childcare to two-year-olds, along with increases to childcare assistance funding | Scrapping the $5 prescription co‑payment, making medicine cheaper for over 3 million Kiwis and taking pressure off our health system | Free public transport for children under 13, and permanent half price for under 25s, increasing the number eligible for reduced prices for public transport to 1.6 million people | Lower household energy bills through an expanded Warmer Kiwi Homes Programme, providing 100,000 heating and insulation installations, 7,500 hot-water heat pumps and 5 million LED light bulbs |
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RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE |
Supporting communities and businesses to recover and rebuild after the North Island weather events | A new National Resilience Plan to address our infrastructure deficit with an initial $6 billion investment, starting with Cyclone rebuild | 20% rebate for the game-development sector and investing in Industry Transformation Plans for Horticulture, Digital and Tourism to support economic resilience | New Science and Innovation Hubs, backed by $400 million capital investment, plus more than 260 additional researchers and PhD students |
DELIVERING SERVICES THAT KIWIS RELY ON |
6,600 new student places, plus four new schools as part of a $3.6 billion operating and $1.3 billion capital investment in education | Delivering 3,000 new public housing places to improve wellbeing outcomes through access to stable, secure housing | Boosting frontline staff in Health, increasing pay and investing to reduce waiting lists, with more than $1 billion investment | Increasing supply of Māori housing, boosting Whānau Ora, education and Pacific Wellbeing and languages strategy |
FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY |
$4.8 billion per year new operating package – down from last year despite Cyclone recovery costs, $10.7 billion new capital package | $4 billion in savings through reprioritisation and efficiencies to fund higher priorities like cost of living and core public services | Aligning the Trustee tax rate with 39% top tax rate to create fairness and remove a potential loophole | Return to surplus in 2025/26 – same length of time as after the Global Financial Crisis |