Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Education Minister: $1.1billion more than expected needed for new classrooms and schools

Lucy Bennett
By Lucy Bennett
Political Reporter·NZ Herald·
3 May, 2018 11:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Education Minister Chris Hipkins says the previous Government ignored population growth. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Education Minister Chris Hipkins says the previous Government ignored population growth. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Classroom repairs and a ballooning student population will cost the Government $1.1 billion more than expected.

"When combined with the need to fund urgent repair work and there being no money in the kitty to finish the Christchurch school rebuild programme, we're faced with a whopping $1.1 billion bill over the next four years," Education Minister Chris Hipkins said.

It is the latest in the rollout of areas Labour claims National left a "hole" it had not budgeted for as it prepares to unveil its first Budget.

But National claims Labour has not allowed for the usual cost pressures in its pre-election Budget plan.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said health and education are the primary areas where Labour needed to play catch-up, but it went across the public sector. Labour also warned would need to compromise on some of its own policy areas. It has already warned it will not be able to deliver on its promise of cheaper GPs visits by the expected date of the middle of this year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hipkins said the previous Government had turned a blind eye to the impact of a growing population and left the new Government to pay for schools and classrooms for 17,000 more students than expected.

"National pursued population growth at all costs, but did not plan for the costs. It's one thing to try to boost the economy by increasing the population size, but not planning to pay for the infrastructure to support those extra people is short-sighted."

The previous Government approved $1.137 billion for the Canterbury school rebuild programme but had not set aside the full amount, he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That has left a significant portion of it still to be paid. The people of Christchurch, however, can be assured this Government will make good on the shortfall and the building programme will continue unaffected."

National's education spokeswoman Nikki Kaye said the Government was crying poverty after failing to budget for business-as-usual spending.

"Chris Hipkins says he has identified a 'surprise' $1.1 billion of school property projects that need funding. This is embarrassing for the Minister, because the projects are just part of business-as-usual that the Government needs to fund each and every Budget.

"Over the last three Budgets, for example, National set aside an extra $1.7 billion for school property – taking the total funding available for school infrastructure over the next four years to $4.8 billion.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Govt puts $100m into homelessness

03 May 07:41 PM

Investing in school property to get ahead of growth was a priority for National and was part of the business-as-usual spend of any government.

"We were on track to deliver the 17,000 extra student places needed in Auckland by 2019, and were finalising the Auckland Education Growth Plan to strategically manage the increasing pressure on Auckland's schooling network.

"We knew that growth was continuing and would need further funding each year," Kaye said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM

'We are in a position where we will have to find alternatives.'

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP