It was National’s best budget. Which means there are only three critical areas of failure.
The first is health. Craig Hoyle at Stuff:
Frustration, disappointment over health funding in Budget 2017
Patients and healthcare workers say they have been left frustrated and disappointed by “inadequate” funding for health in the 2017 Budget.
They said the Government’s announcements on Thursday would not go nearly far enough in addressing concerns about overworked staff, access to new medicines, and access to mental health treatment.
The Government said total health spending would be a record $16.77 billion in 2017/18 – an increase of $879 million, with an overall increase of $3.9b over the next four years.
However, the record claim does not take inflation into account, and sidesteps the fact that almost half the spending will go toward mandated wage increases as part of the pay equity settlement. …
Revealed: Govt shortchanged health system by $250m
Just over a year ago the health sector went cap in hand asking for funding to deal with rising immigration – but the Government shortchanged them to the tune of quarter of a billion dollars.
The shortfall is revealed in a briefing from the Ministry of Health to the Health Minister, which says to deal with immigration, as well as wage and cost increases, it needed an extra $644.8 million.
The information was forced out by the ombudsman, realeased to the yeswecare.nz campaign after a year-long battle with the ministry.
“DHBs face significant pressure in Budget 2016, due to the additional impact of net migration on population growth and aging, and anticipated wage pressure,” it said.
It calculated a $379 million need for population pressure, $190.5 million to cope with wage increases, and $75.3 million to fund rising costs. All up – $644.8 million.
But in Budget 2016, they were given $400 million – a more than $250 million shortfall.
The ministry even warns that without the full funding, access to healthcare is on the line. …
The second major failure is housing. Much of the money that is going into housing is in the form of the accommodation supplement. The supplement is desperately needed because of our insane rental market, but unless we fix the underlying problem of affordable housing the supplement just fuels the fire. Stacey Kirk and Vernon Small on Stuff:
The Government has re-written the rules of the accommodation supplement, creating some big winners
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The top rate has been $225 per week and covered only central and northern Auckland. Now, it covers virtually the whole city, as well as property hotspots, Tauranga, Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown, and the maximum payment has risen to $305 a week.
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It sounds like a dramatic increase but this is the first time the accommodation supplement has been adjusted since 2008.The $2b package is a stark admission by the Government that rising house and rent prices have costs beyond the reach of many.
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Labour leader Andrew Little said the total package meant it would be the top income earners that would benefit the most. The problem with the Accommodation Supplement was that it tended to be a subsidy to landlords.“And actually, there’s a pretty good consensus – even amongst National Party MPs – we are going to have to do something about it, because it’s fuelling the wrong kind of response as a solution.” …
Shamubeel Eaqub on The Spinoff:
‘A classic election year budget’
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There was more money for the accommodation supplement and emergency housing. Both bottom of cliff stuff. There is no material and aspirational investment in significantly boosting housing supply. …
See also ‘Not enough’ for Auckland house hunters.
The third area of failure is equity. As usual most of the budget largess goes to the already wealthy. OneNews:
‘The One Dollar Bill Budget’ – Andrew Little blasts $1 tax cut for cleaner on minimum wage
It’s the “One Dollar Bill Budget”, says Labour leader Andrew Little who claims a single cleaner on a minimum wage will get just $1 a week extra from tax cuts announced today. …
(The working for that is in a tweet below.) Breanna Barraclough on Newshub:
Political reactions to ‘election bribe’
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Kiwis earning more than $52,000 will be in line for an extra $1000 a year with the changes.But Labour leader Andrew Little has criticised it as an “irresponsible election bribe”, saying the Budget “does nothing to address to shortfalls in health, housing and education, and in fact makes them worse”.
He’s calling it the “One Dollar Bill Budget”.
“For all National’s talk about tax cuts, the reality is that a single cleaner on a minimum wage will get just $1 a week extra,” Mr Little said.
“The big winners of this Budget are the top earners who take home most of the tax benefits.”
His thoughts are echoed by Green Party co-leader James Shaw, who says it’s a “tax cut for the rich in disguise”.
“Those on the highest incomes will get the bulk of the benefit. Families on the highest incomes receive a tax cut of $33.22 while those in the bottom quintile get just $5 a week,” he said.
“This is not what low and middle income earners need.” …
Labour claims that “The 50% of New Zealanders on the lowest incomes get just 20% of the money from National’s Budget tax cuts”.
When Labour had surpluses they built critical infrastructure like KiwiSaver and KiwiBank, and the created major programs like Working for Families. National tries to fool us all that catching up is generosity, and fails to address the biggest issues. Time to change the government.
In other generally luke-warm reaction:
Max Rashbrooke: A Government trying to make up for past neglect
Budget 2017: NZ working hard to stand still
‘Anything extra is a bonus’ but some others say tax relief in Budget is a drop in the bucket
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