Category: Labour Party

The Government has shown its true intentions for the public service and economy – it’s not to get more public servants back to the office, it’s more job losses.

“Reports of more than 300 jobs to go at Kāinga Ora shows that National has no interest in solving the housing crisis, but just wants to see an end to public housing,” Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said.

“The people doing these jobs are the very people that have helped deliver record number of houses for New Zealanders. Now they’re thanking them by taking away their jobs and incomes.

“Chris Bishop and Tama Potaka promised New Zealanders they would build more houses than Labour yet so far, their record on housing is to make it harder for people to access emergency housing, easier to be kicked out of tenancies and taking Kāinga Ora from building record numbers of homes to funding none.

“This has been the Government’s agenda all along. We can’t forget the last National government ended up with 1,500 fewer public homes than it started with and sucked out $576 million in dividends.

“They’ve also capped funding for community housing providers at 750 houses per year, and scrapped the First Home Grant.

“Chris Bishop is all talk and no delivery. His actions will result in more people homeless and less public housing – exactly what happened the last time National were in Government,” Kieran McAnulty said.

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The National Government is hiding the gaps in the health workforce from New Zealanders, by not producing a full workforce plan nearly a year into their tenure.

“Since National came into government, we’ve had secrecy around cuts, hiring freezes and voluntary redundancies,” Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“National campaigned on a workforce crisis and Shane Reti said he would deliver a workforce plan – where is it?

“In Government, Labour published a comprehensive assessment of gaps and actions to address needs across the health sector. In contrast, National has not been upfront about the nature and extent of the needs, nor how they will address staff shortages.

“Labour’s plan for financial year 2023-2024 led to hiring more than 4000 staff and was upfront about where further training and investment was needed,” Ayesha Verrall said.

Mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary said we welcome the training of extra mental health workers.

“However the Mental Health Workforce plan is scant and underwhelming in its failure to address recruitment incentives, retention, career pathways and immigration settings,” Ingrid Leary said.

“It also does nothing to address mental health workforce in rural areas, the far north and southern areas where the need is most critical.

“We have a mental health workforce crisis including a brain drain to Australia, and the government isn’t addressing the current hiring freeze, burn out and low morale,” said Ingrid Leary.

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The Government has cut funding for bus drivers to get paid fairly for the work they do, Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said.

“Bus drivers and public transport workers do valuable work for their communities; it’s good to see the Government will continue to fund initiatives to improve their safety.

“Simeon Brown’s announcement about driver safety neglected to mention the fact that more than $46 million has been cut from the same budget to ensure drivers get paid fairly for late night work and split shifts.

“Any form of harassment or violence is unacceptable, particularly where drivers are simply doing their jobs. I just wish that Simeon Brown also saw value in paying bus drivers properly.

“Treasury also warned Nicola Willis that making this cut could undo the work done by Labour to increase reliability of public transport and could return New Zealand to a position of large bus driver shortages that cause mass service cancellations.

“If Simeon Brown had his way, we would all be in cars driving on toll roads. The reality is many New Zealanders rely on public transport. Not paying drivers properly and putting at risk the reliability of services will only take us backwards,” Tangi Utikere said.

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Gun lobbyist Nicole McKee and her conflict of interest has struck again, this time removing safety regulations from shooting clubs and ranges in New Zealand.

“The lessons of New Zealand’s worst terror attack have been forgotten as the Government tries to wind back the gun control laws put in place after the attack on worshippers in Christchurch mosques in 2019,” Labour firearms spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.

“The Arms (Shooting Clubs, Shooting Ranges and Other Matters) Amendment Bill creates multiple loopholes for gang members and extremists – like the Christchurch terrorist – to exploit. Minister Nicole McKee talks about being a safety expert but is removing safety requirements from shooting clubs and ranges.  

“Ammunition is a form of currency among criminals and this bill could increase the supply of ammunition and allow unsupervised shooting at ranges by people without licenses. The Minister needs to be clear about what checks and balances are in place to prevent this.   

“The changes also create a frightening precedent for landowners who might find ‘pop-up’ rifle shooting ranges over their back fence. The bill risks the ability of the Police or the firearms regulator to enforce any safety oversight or even inspect the facilities. The Wild West is coming to a backyard near you.

“The cherry on top for Nicole McKee and the gun lobby is the power grab under the section titled ‘other matters’ which removes powers currently held by Police.

“Her justification for the bill seems to be that the previous changes went too far, and that some shooting clubs or ranges are at risk of closing. However, her Cabinet paper provides no evidence of this risk,” Ginny Andersen said.

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The real problem in the public sector is ongoing job losses and cuts to the front line.  

“Having people work in the office does have benefits, but when you’re laying people off indiscriminately that will have a much greater effect on team dynamics, productivity, and the local economy,” Acting Labour Leader Carmel Sepuloni.

“There are plenty of valid reasons to work from home. There are also lots of benefits to having people come into the office. It should be up to employers to get that balance right, not some performative government direction.  

“Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis are blaming those who work from home for parts of the week for their problems, rather than acknowledging the more than 6000 people who have been laid off as a result of their government’s decisions.  

“They also made this announcement without any hard data telling them there was a problem in the first place.

“They should take a step back and consider what their layoffs are doing to morale and to whether people want to be in the office.

“When people don’t have a job and an income, or are worried they won’t have one soon, they are also less likely to spend money and support their local economy,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

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The National Government is oblivious to the impact cuts to services will have on New Zealanders who are doing the hard yards caring for mentally ill family members.

Labour mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary said that the fact Health Minister Shane Reti and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey weren’t aware respite services for 120 families of mentally ill kids were being cut was an example of this Government being missing in action.

“They put downward pressure on services to do more with less, then wash their hands of it and walk away.

“This is a failure by Matt Doocey to advocate around cuts impacting frontline mental health services. He needs to step up and fight to stop cuts that are impacting the frontline in his portfolio area.

“This Mental Health Awareness week, what we’re seeing from the Government is penny pinching and meanness. Parents and other family members need support and an occasional day off when they are caring for mentally unwell children.

“Matt Doocey is missing in action when it comes to sweeping cuts across social services that are impacting mental health and he should stop blaming his officials. It’s his job to know this stuff,” said Ingrid Leary.

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Nicola Willis has set up the public service to fail to pay for reckless tax cuts for landlords and the tobacco industry.

Today’s analysis by the Council of Trade Unions shows that significant cuts to frontline public services will likely be needed to meet the Government’s directive to fund cost pressures – such as from inflation and population growth – from baseline funding.

“Nicola Willis has just gutted the public service to the tune of some 6000 people. Public services are already having to do more with less and we’ve seen how the frontline is being affected,” said Labour public service spokesperson Ayesha Verrall.

“To also have to manage cost pressures without more funding will likely lead to more job cuts and further undermine frontline work.”

“From cutting frontline work the Department of Conservation does to protect our most precious native species to hiring freezes at our hospitals, it’s clear the National Government has broken its promises to New Zealanders that frontline services would not be affected.”

The Government Workforce Policy Statement sets out the Government’s expectation that departments manage cost pressures through their baselines.

“This approach might ordinarily be sensible, but not after the public service has already been pared back to basics.

“Departments have just cut 6.5% or 7.5% from their baselines, leaving them already struggling to deliver their core functions. And now expecting them to absorb cost pressures when there is no capacity left, will lead to further front line cuts.

“Nicola Willis made reckless commitments about tax cuts that she couldn’t afford. She’s had to gut the public service and borrow to pay for them, all while handing $216 million to the tobacco industry, and $2.9 billion to landlords.

“Almost a year into her tenure as finance minister it’s time Nicola Willis took some responsibility, and realised that she cannot cut her way to a better New Zealand.

“Day by day we see cuts going deeper and further. A weakened public service is not good for anyone and New Zealanders are worse off for it,” Ayesha Verrall said.

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National continues to dismantle environmental protections in the interests of rushing through unsustainable development that will ultimately cost communities. 

“These proposed replacements to the Resource Management Act are taking New Zealand backwards, and have the potential to be costly for New Zealanders and the environment we rely on,” said Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking.

“By placing property rights ahead of all other considerations, the Government is leaving out the impact to future generations and ignoring that the next climate change-induced hurricane or landslide doesn’t care where your boundary ends.

“This kind of thinking has got us into the situation we’re in – where many of our native species are hanging on by a thread, and where we have little resilience to the climate impacts that are only going to increase in the next century.

“Our planning laws need long term thinking that takes into account future generations and their interests in a sustainable environment.

“In December, I wrote to RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop to offer to work with him on planning laws. Without a bipartisan approach to planning, New Zealanders could be subjected to planning laws that change with the electoral cycle.

“The changes announced today are starting again from scratch when a significant amount of work has already been done.

“The environment is not a nice to have – we can’t survive without it,” said Rachel Brooking.

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The economy has stagnated and the National Government is having to face the consequences of its atrocious lawmaking, as beneficiary numbers skyrocket past even Treasury’s predictions.

“Minister for Social Development Louise Upston has revealed the number of people receiving Jobseeker Support has surpassed the peak forecast for January next year. That’s 26,000 additional New Zealanders who are on the benefit since National took office and it’s only going to get higher,” said Carmel Sepuloni.

“Louise Upston casually mentioned in the House that under the National Government, the beneficiary forecast has grown to 214,000 in 2025.

“The backwards ‘tough on beneficiaries’ sanctions and Budget decisions will cause child poverty to increase from 12.6 percent to 13.4 percent this year alone. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, growing unemployment could mean an additional 20,000 children in poverty.

“It’s a tough time for New Zealanders and this government’s actions are making things worse not better. They have made the deliberate decision to lay off thousands of public servants, stopping the investment in infrastructure. We have lost nearly 8000 jobs in the building and construction sector, factories are closing and the health sector suffers under hiring freezes.

“National’s ploy to cook the benefit books by resetting goalposts is failing. Unemployment is up and GDP Is absolutely tanking, Ministers are mismanaging the economy at the expense of New Zealand families. They have no one to blame but themselves,” said Carmel Sepuloni.

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There are 104 fewer police officers now than there were when National came into Government.

“Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Police Minister Mark Mitchell are allocating police they haven’t even managed to hire yet,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.

“The Police Association has been tracking the progress on the government’s promised increase of 500 police, and they’ve been going backwards.

“The actual number of police as at 26 August 2024 was 10,107. Their baseline figure from 27 November 2023 is 10,211 – that’s a decrease of 104 police.

“This means they’re needing to hire another 604 police officers in order to increase the number of police by 500.

“This comes off the back of National making an announcement this week saying crime in Auckland CBD is down, when according to the police victimisation time and place data across all of Auckland it is up; and having set a target of reducing victims of violent crime by 20,000 but the number of victims is up by 30,000.

“Cabinet has also agreed to transfer the power to make changes to our firearms laws – including what is defined as a prohibited weapon – to a gun lobbyist.

“It’s becoming clearer that National’s rhetoric on law and order doesn’t match reality,” Ginny Andersen said.

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