As we head into the Christmas holidays it is timely to reflect a little on the first few weeks of the 54th Parliament and the coalition Government’s 100-day plan.
I was extremely pleased to share with you the Minister of Transport Simeon Brown’s annoucement relating to speed limits — that all work on the blanket reduction of speed limits must be stopped. This gives us time to rewrite the rules around this and share them with NZTA and you, the public. It makes no sense to just impose blanket rules without considering the effect that lower speed limits might have on the cost of transport for goods and services, productivity, frustration levels and speed management.
Last week we also repealed the ute tax — a piece of legislation that targeted our hard-working businesspeople, farmers, tradies, contractors and forestry workers. This is particularly pleasing in a time when interest rates are high, the cost of living continues to bite and we are continually facing decisions over how we spend our discretionary dollar. We want a fair system and the ute tax was not fair.
We have refocused the Reserve Bank on a single mandate to reduce inflation — imperative in our quest to reduce the cost-of-living impacts on all New Zealanders. Inflationary environments affect everyone but particularly those who are already struggling to manage their household budget, because everything costs more — milk, bread, fuel, electricity; comparatively, wages don’t go as far and mortgages become the subject of much anxiety.
The coalition Government wants all New Zealanders to be able to live their best lives and to have a better future — this includes Māori, Pākehā and all other ethnicities. We acknowledge there are inequities in access to services, employment and support for Māori and Pacific Islanders, and we intend to support those as appropriate by working with iwi and communities to deliver. We support Māori and our commitment is to all New Zealanders. I have had the privilege of meeting with leaders from local iwi and the will to work together is strong. I also am humbled to sit on the Māori Affairs Select Committee. We are so much better together. When Māori do well, we all do well and our priorities are to get everyone — including Māori — into school regularly, to improve access to health and housing, and to wrap support where required to get people back into work.
