Jacinda Ardern launches Labour campaign with a $300 million jobs fund in front of a packed crowd of party faithful at the Auckland Town Hall. Video / Will Trafford
The Labour Party has pledged a $300 million package to protect struggling workers and businesses from the worst impacts of Covid-19.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the policy today as she launched her party's re-election campaign in front a packed house of party faithful at the Auckland Town Hall.
In a speech that covered everything from her rapid rise to power three years ago, to the tragedies of the Christchurch mosque attacks and Whakaari/White Island, Ardern said now dealing with the impacts of Covid-19 was "very hard to fathom".
"If you had told me then that our launch in 2020 would be in the midst of a global pandemic with our borders closed – I would have found that very hard to fathom," Ardern said.
"If you'd told me that Clarke and I would have a toddler, I wouldn't have believed we would have been so lucky.
"And if you'd told me that we would have just completed a term in Government with both New Zealand First and the Greens, I'd assume you'd been watching excessive amounts of Stranger Things on Netflix.
"And yet here we are."
Unemployment is expected to rise substantially due to Covid-19, particularly with the Government's wage subsidy extension ending soon.
The new, targeted jobs policy would take a more long-term approach, and built on the existing Flexi-wage scheme - a wage subsidy to help employers hire those on a benefit and/or at risk of unemployment.
Funding will allow businesses a subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New Zealanders.
They would have to prove the job as sustainable in the long term, and would only receive the subsidy once the person had been employed for six weeks.
The total $311m investment is estimated to support up to 40,000 jobs, keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefit.
Another $30m would be ring-fenced to help out-of-work Kiwis start a business, providing the equivalent of the minimum wage for up to 30 hours a week.
National also has a policy that would allow recently unemployed withdraw up to $20,000 from their KiwiSaver to start a business.
The party has also pledged a $10,000 subsidy per worker for any business that took on a full-time worker, as part of $500m scheme.
Funding for Labour's policy would come from the Wage Subsidy underspend, with $2 billion of the $2.6b budget spent, rather than the Covid Response Fund, which could be needed to fight the virus again or to reduce debt, Ardern said.
The Flexi-wage scheme was introduced in 2012, but Ardern was at pains to impress it was their policy, not National's.
They were expanding it, because it worked, she said.
"The new Flexi-wage scheme is a key plank of our economic plan to support businesses to recover and to provide jobs to those who have lost work due to [Covid-19].
"It will directly help businesses who are getting back on their feet after lockdown to take on new staff while also supporting those New Zealanders who have lost their jobs to get back into work and off a benefit quicker.
"Businesses large and small are crucial to our economic recovery, but they can't do it alone. The Flexi-wage is a way for the Government to partner with the private sector to support job creation."
It would also address inequality issues, Ardern said.
"Those without formal training qualifications, those over 50, disabled people, and Māori and Pasifika workers will disproportionately bear the brunt of an economic downturn. The scheme is designed to support those hardest hit to find work again."
Ministry of Social Development evaluations showed the scheme generated $7 in benefits for every dollar invested and that 70 per cent of people hired during the evaluation period had a job at the end of it, she said.
"Our low unemployment rate shows the wage subsidy scheme has worked to stop a spike in unemployment, and now we have a laser-like focus on jobs and business support to support growth."
Through her speech Ardern outlined the Government's achievements - from boosting incomes and the minimum wage to the Zero Carbon Act, but also acknowledged ongoing issues with affordable housing and failing to get the Auckland light rail over the line.
She repeated the line consistently: "There is more to do."
She spoke of the major tragedies during her term.
"I remember vividly the moment I received a phone call telling me that there had been a shooting in Christchurch on March 15 last year," she said.
I was in a van driving to visit a new environment school in New Plymouth.
"Much has been said about that afternoon, the terror that was rained down on our Muslim community, and what it represented for us as a nation.
"It will forever be etched into our collective memories.
"But so too will the response."
March 15, Whakaari/White Island, and Covid-19 had "devastated in very different ways", she said.
"They drew out a response from Kiwis that was the same.
"They drew out a sense of collective purpose, of determination, of kindness. They are all values we will need as we take on our next challenge – and our next challenge is huge.
