We are at a critical Covid crossroad time

What do you see as the major issues facing the country this year, and what needs to be done to tackle them? An MP from each side of the ouse gives their views.

In the red corner Arena Williams Manurewa MP, Labour

The Government remains focused on keeping New Zealanders safe from Covid-19, securing our economic recovery, and building back better by tackling long-term challenges like housing affordability, child poverty and climate change.

I am proud of the way New Zealanders have swung in behind the Government’s Covid response. Our efforts mean New Zealand has the lowest number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths per capita in the OECD. A strong public health response has been our best economic response, too. New Zealand’s economic recovery is outstripping that of Australia, Canada and Japan, export forecasts are at a record high, unemployment at a record low, and net debt is lower than expected, meaning a faster return to surplus.

Before Christmas, the Minister of Finance gave us a preview of this year’s Budget. He said Budget 2022 would provide a boost to the Government’s health sector reforms and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Covid-19 has highlighted how critical a prepared health system is to protect New

Zealanders and support their wellbeing.

This year’s Budget will make significant investments in establishing the entities that will replace DHBs, including Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority. Managing rising health costs will be a major future challenge, so we will ensure the new entities have a solid base for tackling that.

Climate change is one of the most pressing long-term challenges facing New Zealand. To respond effectively, we need to invest significantly across multiple budgets. The Government will soon publish our Emissions Reduction Plan, setting out the direction for climate action in New Zealand over the next 15 years. We’ll need to cut carbon pollution from nearly everything we do – how we grow our food, get around our towns and cities, and generate energy to heat our homes.

Proceeds from the Emissions Trading Scheme will be spent on emissions reductions programmes through the establishment of the Climate Emergency Response Fund. This will provide around $4.5 billion over the next four years to help meet our climate goals.

Delivering on these commitments requires careful prioritisation; striking a balance between the critical projects that must get under way and the ongoing need for fiscal sustainability. This year will present new challenges, but I have confidence in the Labour Government to steadily guide us through; keeping people safe, while looking out for future generations.

In the blue corner Stuart Smith

Kaikoura MP, National

Ithink many people will be happy to see the back end of 2021, and hopefully the backend of the likes of lockdowns and restrictions which we have had to live with over the last 20 months.

But I am optimistic that 2022 can be a year that New Zealand can reset and together we can create a post-pandemic New Zealand which we can all prosper and succeed in.

New Zealand is at a critical crossroad as we deal with, and start to emerge from the global pandemic. The decisions this Government makes in the next year are so important because New Zealand has been moving in the wrong direction. Inflation is growing faster than wages, grocery and petrol prices are through the roof, and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders couldn’t come home for Christmas or visit sick and dying relatives.

These are serious issues which the Government has turned a deaf ear to.

For four years we have seen great PR, big bold announcements and promises, but no delivery. Talking about something will get you the headline, but actually rolling your sleeves up and doing the work will make a difference in the lives of New Zealanders.

What is also going to be hugely important this year and of particular interest to me, is how the Government will respond to climate change. Climate change is undoubtedly a serious problem which we must act on, but we also need to be pragmatic about how we address it.

Our emissions have continued to rise and since the Government declared a ‘climate emergency’ in late 2020, we have increased our coal usage.

The Government will release the Emissions Reduction Plan in May this year, in line with the budget. Right now, with ballooning national debt and poor quality spending, we can ill-afford to waste money unnecessarily when we have an Emissions Trading Scheme which can reduce emissions more cost effectively than any Government policy.

The beauty of the ETS is that it works behind the scenes. While there will be situations that warrant a policy response, when it does we should ask how much will it cut emissions by and at what cost?

The Clean Car Discount is an example of a bad policy, firstly because it will not cut emissions by a single gram, because our ETS is capped, meaning the emissions will be picked up elsewhere in the economy.

2022 will be a year of opportunities as we work towards living with Covid-19, but as a country we need to seize the opportunities to grow our standard of living, and increase productivity. The National party is focused on that.