Budget 2021: Māori housing and child poverty initiatives likely to be biggest Budget winners nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kerre McIvor: Public sector pay freeze rightly labelled bombshell
(Photo / Getty) Thu, 6 May 2021, 3:42PM
The Police Association have slammed the government s public sector pay freeze as an unacceptable bombshell, and I couldn t have put it better myself.
Bombshell is right.
Had we been warned that New Zealand was facing a period of belt tightening in the wake of Covid, had we been advised that we must all be prepared for a time of austerity as we pay back the awful cost of lockdowns, had the government not been handing out money hand over fist including 25 dollars extra per week to beneficiaries, increasing paid parental leave by twenty dollars a week and extending the period of paid parental leave.
Speech – New Zealand Government Hon Grant Robertson Minister of Finance Thank you for the invitation to speak today, it is great to be here. I mean that both sincerely and literally. For this equivalent speech last year I took part virtually, beaming in from the Beehive Theatrette with …
Hon Grant Robertson
Minister of Finance
Thank you for the invitation to speak today, it is great to be here. I mean that both sincerely and literally. For this equivalent speech last year I took part virtually, beaming in from the Beehive Theatrette with only a socially distanced press gallery bearing silent witness. You are a more lively and friendly crowd already.
Melanie Carroll06:00, May 05 2021
Working for Families has not increased in line with wages unlike main benefits and New Zealand Super, leaving some families up to $1900 worse off over two years, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. Working for Families is a key tool to reduce New Zealand’s high child poverty rates, the group said, but it is failing to keep up with New Zealand Superannuation and main benefits, which automatically increase in line with wages each year. Working for Families payments are not wage-indexed, and are only partially inflation-indexed, the group said. The group wanted the Government to automatically increase the payments every year to keep up with wage increases.
Press Release – Child Poverty Action Group Families in low-paid work with three children would have received up to $1900 more over the last two years if income support for children automatically kept up with wages, according to new research from the Child Poverty Action Group. Since 2018, …
Families in low-paid work with three children would have received up to $1900 more over the last two years if income support for children automatically kept up with wages, according to new research from the Child Poverty Action Group.
Since 2018, the Government has not increased payment rates for “Working for Families”, the key income support programme for children, yet it treats income support for adults differently, automatically increasing main benefits and New Zealand Superannuation in line with wages every year.