Finance Minister Grant Robertson, flanked by Associate Finance Minister Megan Woods and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, ahead of announcing Budget 2023 in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Hawke’s Bay has featured prominently in Budget 2023 which has placed a major focus on cyclone recovery and supporting families with young children.
The Budget - which each year sets out the Government’s spending plans - was released on Thursday afternoon by Finance Minister Grant Roberston in Parliament.
Hawke’s Bay Today has dissected the biggest winners and losers from the region and has broken down where all the money for the cyclone recovery will go.
Families with young children
Twenty hours’ free early childhood care will now be available for 2-year-olds from March, 2024, (which was formerly only available to children aged 3 and up) and there will be free public transport for children under 13.
KidSpace Early Learning Centre Napier centre manager Amber Malone said lowering the age for the childcare subsidy was good news for families.
“That is a whole year of 20-free hours,” she said. “Childcare is a big cost and anything that will help families is good.”
She said she did not think it would result in an influx in children going into childcare, as parents often decided to put their children into childcare when they returned to work, such as at the end of maternity leave. She said their centre in Napier was currently full.
Nurses
This year’s Budget includes funding for 500 more nurses nationwide, which is partly aimed at reducing waiting lists.
Anyone on medication
The $5 prescription co-payment fee for prescription medication has been axed.
Flaxmere Pharmacy co-owner Lynnette Salamonson said she and other pharmacists were “rapt” with the announcement which includes $618.6 million over four years to remove the fee from July.
”A lot of our clients go and get a script and they have to pick what they take because they can’t afford the $5, so it is going to have a major impact on the health outcomes of our patients here in Flaxmere.”
She said the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand had been asking for a measure like this for years.
Growers and farmers
The Hawke’s Bay Horticulture Growers’ Taskforce has asked for a package of $750 million to get local growers back on their feet.
Most crops are uninsurable against events like a cyclone, and many orchards and vineyards were devastated by floodwaters and silt during Cyclone Gabrielle on February 14.
Apart from a $35 million fund to support rural communities (including farmers and growers) no new money was allocated in the Budget.
Federated Farmers Hawke’s Bay president Jim Galloway told RNZ this week the $35 million announced for rural communities would not go far in terms of helping farmers, as there were “hundreds and hundreds” of farms across the North Island badly impacted by the floods.
The Government has provided $74 million in support to growers and farmers in the wake of the cyclone.
Motorists
There was no tax relief included in the Budget for petrol costs, meaning motorists can expect fuel prices to rise again on July 1.
The current fuel tax subsidy of 25 cents per litre will come to an end on June 30 and was not extended in the Budget.
“There is going to be a bit of pain at the fuel pump coming up,” Stewart Group financial adviser and CEO Nick Stewart said.
“Effectively, they had removed some of the tax on fuel and that is going to come back on and move back to where it was.”
He said it came at the same time oil prices were on the rise.
Hawke’s Bay Hospital
No new funds were allocated for new hospitals. Hawke’s Bay Hospital remains in need of a significant upgrade.
CYCLONE RECOVERY SPEND
$475 million for transport repairs. That includes $275 million for roading repairs (on top of $250 million announced straight after the cyclone in February) and $200 million for railway repairs.
$117 million to repair damaged schools.
$100 million for improved stopbanks and flood protection.
$35 million for rural communities (including farmers and growers) for urgent maintenance, critical transport of supplies and people, and expert advice to address safety issues.
$20 million mental health funding boost including a new well-being programme Mana Ake in all Hawke’s Bay primary and intermediate schools.
$10 million for clean-up of woody debris in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.
A $6 billion National Resilience Plan was announced as part of the Budget which Robertson stated would “focus on building back better from the recent weather events”. It will include improving roading, rail, and infrastructure but there was no breakdown for exactly where that money would go.
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