Prices have continued to surge painfully fast
OPINION: Chris Hipkins has ditched some Government pet projects, saying he wants to focus instead on helping Kiwi families facing the rising cost of living. So what are the best actions a government can take to make a real difference for families? An MP f
helping to reduce fuel costs that are driving up food prices.
Of course, these steps are just a start. There’s more we can do, and as the Prime Minister has signalled, our focus this year will be on bread and butter issues like the cost of living. We will also continue to grow a strong economy, so Kiwis can get good jobs, we can lift incomes and create opportunities for people to get ahead.
To make sure that we can do more to support families in the here and now, we’ve also set out a new direction for the Government – cancelling or delaying a suite of programmes to free up funding and resources for where they’re needed most.
This includes cancelling the TVNZ/ RNZ public media entity and biofuels mandate, and delaying the social insurance scheme.
These policy changes will help to provide greater bandwidth for the Government to ensure we’re doing all we can to help with the cost of living.
Right now, we need a willing and able workforce to fill the vacancies and get businesses back to full capacity.
This Government has increased spending by more than a billion dollars a week than when National was last in office. It is also startling that Government’s tax revenue increased from $76 billion to $108 billion in five years, yet all the taxpayer gets for it, is a cost-ofliving crisis.
Inflation has now been outside the Reserve Bank’s target range for almost two years, and the sad part of this story is it will likely mean that the Reserve Bank will have to keep hiking interest rates to get runaway prices under control. Mortgages and rents will increase as a result, and times will be tough for many.
Unfortunately short term solutions like the cost-of-living payment does not solve the long-term problem we have, which is why the Treasury recommended it not go ahead.
The new prime minister might be trying to focus on the cost of living, but trying is simply not good enough anymore, New Zealanders need a Government that can get things done and put the inflation genie back in the bottle.
We should re-focus the Reserve Bank on price stability, stop adding costs and taxes to businesses, address workforce shortages, bring discipline back to Government borrowing and spending, and help Kiwis adjust to higher prices by letting them keep more of what they earn by addressing income tax bracket creep.