Submission on the Budget Policy Statement 2023

26 January 2023

The annual Budget Policy Statement outlines the priority areas for the Government’s Budget Policy.

• We support the inclusion of He Ara Waiora alongside the Living Standards Framework as applicable to the wellbeing of all New Zealanders, and which also promotes a long-term, intergenerational approach to wellbeing.

• We commend prioritising community-led approaches to increasing school attendance rates, and the proposed focus on making education systems more suitable for all learning needs.

• We support the proposed budget for the Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF), as well as the amendments made to the CERF criteria so that it may cover climate change adaptation as well as mitigation.

• The government needs to prioritise appropriate funding and relevant data for those in need and those who are too often overlooked - including Māori, Pasifika, the elderly, people with disabilities and those with underlying health conditions. The overhaul of the health system needs to take sufficient account of subsidiarity – those decisions be made at the most appropriate level, to ensure responsiveness and accountability to local communities.

• We welcome new technologies and greater digital connectivity to provide jobs and more sustainable ways of working. But technology and the economy must serve the common good of humanity. Groups should not have to face social exclusion because of unequal access to technologies.

• Access to safe, affordable, and healthy homes remains one of our most pressing social issues across the country. We need a wider range of housing options. We welcome the inclusion of housing in two of the five key wellbeing objectives, but we argue again that it should be included in the objectives relating to physical and mental wellbeing, and the just transition as well.