Category: Labour Party

The next Labour Government will build a new hospital in Hawke’s Bay, Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall announced.

This is part of Labour’s long-term commitment to rebuild health infrastructure throughout the entire country. It follows commitments to build new Hospitals in Nelson and Whangarei, where work has begun, and our commitment to delivering a new hospital in Dunedin, where construction is well underway.

“Labour inherited a health system suffering from years of underinvestment with many hospitals unable to provide the world class health services that New Zealanders deserve,” Labour leader Chris Hipkins said.

“Since 2017, this Government has invested nearly $45 billion in health, including a 771 percent increase in health infrastructure.

“A new hospital in Hawke’s Bay will be just the latest commitment Labour has made to New Zealanders health.”

“The current hospital in Hastings, built in 1927, is no longer fit for purpose and has seismic resilience issues,” Labour’s Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“At a cost of between $700m and $1.1 billion, the new hospital will be fully funded in Labour’s fiscal plan over the next decade.

“The business case will begin in Labour’s first 100 days.

“The community will be a key partner in the rebuild and today we are announcing the news that Hawkes’ Bay wants to hear: that it will be funded.”

“Building a new hospital will be the single greatest infrastructure project for the Hawkes’ Bay region,” MP for Tukituki Anna Lorck said

“I am thrilled that a re-elected Labour Government will deliver a new hospital for the people of Hawkes’ Bay. I made this a priority when I became an MP and I have advocated for this every day since.”

Work is already underway to upgrade facilities at the existing hospital to ensure the needs of the Hawkes Bay community can continue to be met over the next decade.

“This includes $68 million for the radiology facilities redevelopment, an expansion of surgical services and an angiography suite replacement,” Ayesha Verrall said.

“Work is also underway already on a district-wide clinical services plan to ensure needs can be met now and well into the future – this will feed into the new hospital project.

“I am proud of the massive rebuild programme Labour has underway to improve our hospitals, build new ones, and upgrade our health infrastructure.

“We simply cannot risk the Coalition of Cuts taking us back to a time where front line services were neglected, workers pay in real terms went backwards, and sewage ran down the walls of hospitals,” Ayesha Verrall said.

National and ACT’s tax plans don’t add up, and that means deep cuts to the public services New Zealanders rely on, says Labour Campaign Chair Megan Woods.

“Multiple expert economists have now confirmed the tax policy Christopher Luxon is pushing doesn’t add up and that National has no way to pay for their tax promises. It has now been 20 days since National refused to release its secret tax costings and they aren’t coming clean on what additional services they will have to cut.

“Today we’re launching our second television ad of the campaign, making sure New Zealanders know exactly the cuts National and ACT are promising, and what is at stake in this election.

“They’ve said they will cut free public transport for under 13s, they’ve said they will cut free prescriptions for many New Zealanders, they’ve promised to cut two years off many New Zealanders’ pensions, and they’ve outlined $6 billion worth of deep public service cuts – cutting funding from everything from courts which hold offenders to account, through to the Customs Service which protects our border. 

“And both National and ACT have said they will start to cut many hundreds of jobs just in time for Christmas.

“But this may just be the start. National may have to make even deeper public service cuts if they can’t make their numbers add up. And with multiple economists now saying they can’t, that means more cuts that Kiwis can’t afford.

“Christopher Luxon would have never been able to get away with hiding numbers from Air New Zealand’s board, so why is he hiding them from voters? 

“A National and ACT government would be a Coalition of Cuts. In this election, New Zealanders have a chance to stop the cuts before they start by giving their party vote to Labour,” says Megan Woods.

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National’s plan to cut policies that are reducing New Zealand’s climate emissions will result in a huge gap in the country’s emissions budgets and could see Kiwis paying significantly more at the petrol pump as a result of Christopher Luxon hiking the ETS price.

“Not content with a $2 billion dollar hole in their tax plan, National have a gap in their climate budget of millions of tonnes of pollution,” Labour Party Climate Change Spokesperson Megan Woods said.

“National will cut nearly every initiative that is reducing New Zealand’s emissions in order to fund their tax cuts. That will leave a hole in our emissions budget of millions of tonnes, for which we will need to buy billions of dollars of international credits, to meet our obligations under Paris Agreement signed by National.

“Ending the Clean Car Discount will set us back by nearly 3 million tonnes and stopping support to remove coal boilers from factories would likely see more than 3 million tonnes more.

“National will definitely miss New Zealand’s first emissions budget with those cuts. No policies they implement could have an impact quickly enough to make up the gap.

“Christopher Luxon’s preferred plan of relying on the ETS price going high enough to prompt action to reduce emissions will see the price of petrol go up.

“Official advice to the Government, and publicly available, shows relying on the ETS alone is the most expensive way to reduce emissions.

“Large emitters have told us the carbon price would need to go to $200 a tonne, which would equate to the cost of petrol rising by around 40 cents a litre, in order to replace the amount of emissions we are saving from deals to decarbonise industry. Relying on the ETS price rising puts the full cost on household budgets.

“It’s classic National; robbing Peter to pay Paul. Filling a 50 litre tank of petrol could go up around $20, more than what many households will get per week from National’s tax cuts,” Megan Woods said.

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Labour will double the number of houses with rooftop solar in New Zealand, lowering household power bills, reducing emissions and boosting renewable electricity generation.

• Up to $4,000 rebate to help New Zealanders install rooftop solar panels and battery to lower household power bills
• Households could save up to 50 per cent on bills or $850 annually
• $20 million boost for energy projects in local communities
• 1000 Kāinga Ora homes a year to be fitted with solar panels, reducing tenants power bills
• Continuing to lower emissions and make energy cheaper for all New Zealanders

“We need to increase renewable electricity generation by 68 per cent by 2050. Solar on roofs lowers bills, as well as generating electricity locally, reducing reliance on the grid,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“I am absolutely focused on lowering household costs at the same time as driving New Zealand to become a global powerhouse of renewable energy. This plan does both of those things.”

“We’ll boost New Zealand’s renewable energy production and make Kiwis’ power bills cheaper, through a fiscally responsible plan that contributes up to $4,000 towards installing rooftop solar panels at home – $2,000 towards the panels and $2,000 for a battery.

“There are well over 40 thousand New Zealand homes getting cheaper, clean electricity with rooftop solar – this will more than double that with approximately 60 thousand more rooftop solar systems.

“Experience from projects funded through our Community Renewable Energy Fund shows household solar panels can reduce energy bills by up to 50%. That’s a saving of up to $850 a year.

“This package of new measures builds on Labour’s plan to see New Zealand lead the world in renewable energy, creating jobs and protecting Kiwis’ power bills from international price volatility,” Chris Hipkins said.

Labour Energy spokesperson Megan Woods said the plan will also put $20 million of new funding towards community energy projects to help boost energy generation, and put more renewable energy back into the grid, helping to lower the overall cost of energy nationwide.

“That funding will see new pilot programmes like mini urban solar farms, which provide revenue to those with spare commercial roof space by installing solar panels which feedback into the grid, trialed before being rolled out wider,” Megan Woods said.

“We will also fit 1,000 Kāinga Ora homes a year with solar panels, which will give financial relief to some of our lower income families by reducing monthly energy bills.

“With Transpower forecasting a 68 per cent increase in electricity generation needed to meet demand by 2050 we need to boost New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity to provide greater economic security.

“By transitioning the bulk of our energy generation to renewable sources, like wind, solar and hydro in a fiscally responsible way, we can better protect New Zealanders from international pressures on energy prices like we have seen over the last two years with the war in Ukraine.

“With emissions coming down it’s clear Labour’s plan is working. Today’s announcement builds on the success of the Clean Car Standard and Discount which has increased EV uptake by 35 per cent since 2017. And the funding of the more than 1300 EV charges, one in almost every New Zealand town.

“It’s further to BlackRock’s $2 billion fund and the work of New Zealand Green Investment Finance to accelerate investment in innovative and dynamic companies, new technologies and significant projects that create jobs.

“We can either remain vulnerable to volatile global economic forces or follow Labour’s affordable plan that boosts energy production, reduces emissions, lowers energy bills, and positions New Zealand with a future proof economy,” Megan Woods said.

A re-elected Labour Government will continue its proud tradition of advancing women’s health, employment, and legal rights Spokesperson for Women Jan Tinetti said.

• Extend the age of free breast cancer screening from 69 to 74
• Implement a national endometriosis action plan
• Make cervical screening services free between the ages of 25 to 69 years, saving up to $100 in co-payments.
• Establish an innovation and entrepreneurship scholarship programme for low-middle income women
• Modernised consent law
• Introduce gender pay gap reporting

The commitments come in Labour’s first Women’s Manifesto and follow a proud tradition of advancing women’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand, progress that is under threat by a change of Government.

“Labour is committed to creating a more equal society for all women. Every woman should have the opportunity to reach her full potential, regardless of her background or circumstances,” Jan Tinetti said.

“I’m incredibly proud that in the last six years Labour has delivered significant wins in women’s health, employment, justice, and financial standing. From abortion law reform to delivering pay equity settlements for over 150,000 people we are making progress.

“Our Women’s Package outlines our commitments to women in health, employment, pay equity, financial independence, entrepreneurship, and justice to continue our progress.

“Labour will work with business leaders to develop a for women by women innovation and entrepreneurship scholarship programme to lift entrepreneurial pathways for low-middle income women interested in running a small business.

“We have plans to deliver significant improvements to women’s health with a range of measures that target some of the most common health issues women experience.

“We will extend the maximum age of free breast cancer screening from 69 to 74, ensuring an additional 115,000 women can access the lifesaving screening programme.

“We will also make cervical screening services free between the ages of 25 to 69 years, saving up to $100 in co-payments. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and regular screening saves lives, so it is critical cost isn’t a barrier to accessing early detection

“We will develop and implement a national endometriosis action plan that will improve education about the condition and improve clinical management and care.

“We will continue our work to provide cost of living support, by removing discriminations that means women can lose entitlements.

“We will review how relationship status impacts benefit entitlements so single mothers aren’t disadvantaged when starting a new relationship. We will also keep funding Kiwisaver contributions while parents are on paid parental leave, and extend 20 hours free early childhood education to 2 year olds.

“These changes will mean women and mothers are better financially supported while raising their children.

“New Zealand has a proud history of progressing women’s rights. In two days we will celebrate the 130 year anniversary of women successfully campaigning for the right to vote in New Zealand. It’s important that as we celebrate this milestone, we look to the future of what we will do to continue this legacy.

“Under a Labour Government we’ve seen significant improvements in women’s earnings. We’ve grown women’s average weekly wage by 34.3% – 6.4% more than men’s wages and outpacing inflation at 23.1%.

“We have supported the introduction of paid miscarriage leave, rolled out free period products to schools across the country, removed abortion from the crimes act, and expanded ACC to cover birthing injuries.

“Labour has a proven track record of being the party that supports and values women. I’m proud of the work we have done and the commitments we’re making, and I believe that this suite of actions will ensure that New Zealand remains a world leader in women’s rights and gender equality,” Jan Tinetti said.

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A re-elected Labour Government will protect hard-fought workers’ rights and keep the momentum on wage growth to lift incomes for all New Zealanders, leader Chris Hipkins announced today.

• Progressively extend living wage to workers in Education and Health
• Reduce the gap between the living wage and minimum wage
• Scrap starting out and training minimum employment rates
• Modernise employment relations and protect collective bargaining
• Safeguard Fair Pay Agreements, sick leave, and restrictions on 90-day trials

“We will progressively move workers across health and education onto at least the living wage under a Government I lead,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Our health care assistants, caregivers, and school caretakers all play an important role in delivering our public services and should be better supported to have a decent standard of living.

“We’re investing in our frontline services and people, not cutting them.

“This builds on our delivery of the living wage to workers on contracts for cleaning, catering and security guards across the public service.

“Labour will also ensure the minimum wage is raised every year, closing the gap between the minimum and living wages.

“When Labour came into Government, the living wage was $20.20 per hour – almost five dollars an hour more than the minimum wage. Labour’s increases mean the current minimum wage was less than a dollar lower than the 2022/23 living wage.

“Lifting the minimum wage will support our lowest income earners and see wage growth continue upwards above the minimum wage too,” Chris Hipkins said.

Labour will support young workers to have meaningful and secure employment by repealing the starting out and training rates.

“Current legislation allows our youngest workers and our workers undertaking training to be paid less than the statutory minimum rate, even though they are often doing the same work as their colleagues.

“Only a small number of young people are employed using these lower wages and removing them will help to restore equity in our minimum wage system,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Worker’s rights are under threat this election as Christopher Luxon and David Seymour eye up a smorgasbord of cuts,” Labour Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety Carmel Sepuloni said.

“Only a Labour government will safeguard fair pay agreements, where applications are currently progressing to improve pay and conditions for bus drivers, hospitality staff, early childhood teachers, port workers, cleaners and security guards.

“We have a proven track record of delivering for Kiwi workers, including increased sick leave, reintroduced meal breaks and increased paid parental leave.

“A re-elected Labour Government will build on worker’s rights by protecting the value of collective bargaining, better defining employees and contractors to protect vulnerable workers, and creating safer workplaces through better workplace violence support and education programmes.

“We are also committed to ensuring more Kiwis have access to training, through successful programmes like Mana in Mahi, Apprenticeship Boost and Flexi-Wage.

“Labour has always been the party that protects and boosts workers’ rights. The choice this election has never been starker as a National ACT coalition line up to cut workers’ rights, while we commit to boosting them,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

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Massive cuts to public service are on the cards as Nicola Willis has promised to resign if she doesn’t deliver tax cuts but is refusing to make the same commitment if she doesn’t raise enough income from her bungled foreign buyer’s tax.

This clearly shows that any tax cuts from National will have to be funded by deep cuts to the services New Zealanders rely on.

“Not even Nicola Willis is prepared to back her dodgy costings for the foreign buyer tax which means the $2 billion shortfall will have to come from even deeper cuts to public services,” Grant Robertson said.

“The scale of these cuts is massive. The $2 billion dollar hole in National’s costings is the equivalent of paying for about 3800 senior nurses, 4000 teachers or 2700 police every year.

“National have already said they will cut 6.5 percent from many government programmes, these further cuts will see services that New Zealanders rely on under threat.

“Nicola Willis’ commitment to cuts by Christmas should be deeply worrying to everyone, particularly given her coalition partner ACT promising to slash 15,000 jobs.

“Taking that many jobs out of the New Zealand economy is both destabilising and dangerous at a time when we are turning the corner into higher growth.

“Those 15,000 jobs will affect 15,000 households and families. It is staggering that David Seymour simply doesn’t care about those people.

“If elected the National / ACT / New Zealand First Coalition of Cuts would be a slash and burn Government, immediately throwing 15,000 jobs on the scrap heap to pay for their ropey tax cut plan.

“Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon’s economic credibility is shot. They are constantly saying they are “rock solid” in their costings, but none of it adds up – their rock-solid rhetoric is turning to rubble. They need to front up and be honest with New Zealanders about their policies, and which public services will be slashed,” Grant Robertson said.

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Labour will help more victims of crime achieve justice faster by introducing a formal class-action regime, modernising consent laws and increasing the use of technology to speed up hearings.

• Establish a formal class actions regime to help groups of victims achieve justice
• Modernise consent law
• Review District Court jury trials
• Increase uptake of audio-visual technology in courts to speed up hearings

“We believe in a justice system where New Zealanders are not blocked by cost, system delays, or confusing processes, and where all voices in our community can be heard,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“If elected, Labour will establish a formal class actions regime, which will allow victims with similar interests to collectively sue in a more efficient and cost-effective way than currently possible.

“New Zealand does not currently have a dedicated class actions regime, meaning those on lower incomes or without the means to progress a case on their own are often shut out of our legal system because of the cost of taking individual action.

“This is about fairness, and Labour has a proud record of standing up for everyday New Zealanders and their rights,” Chris Hipkins said.

Justice spokesperson Ginny Andersen said Labour will also review the legislative settings for District Court jury trials, to examine whether the system is fit for purpose.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of complex jury trials taking place, along with a rise in defendants opting for jury trials. This has slowed down the courts and created backlogs,” Ginny Andersen said.

“Reform in this area could include examining the threshold for jury trials, what information jurors are asked to consider and issues around more complex cases.

“In Government we’ve progressed a number of initiatives to speed up delays in the court system, including the use of audio-visual link technology to increase the amount of court appearances that can take place.

“Labour will change the law to further increase the uptake of audio-visual technology in the courts. Some temporary changes made during the Covid-19 pandemic will be made permanent and be taken further in minor cases.

“This will contribute greatly to a more efficient court system to deliver timely justice,” Ginny Andersen said.

Labour will also modernise consent laws in line with other jurisdictions to better protect victims of sexual crimes, building upon our strong record of backing victims.

“For too long victims of sexual violence have been re-traumatised and silenced by outdated laws that don’t properly protect them,” Ginny Andersen said.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from advocates that change is needed, and we’ll draw upon these advocates, survivors with lived experience and justice experts. This includes advice from a petition signed by 12,000 people which was considered last month by Parliament’s Justice Committee.

“Work will include exploring the introduction of a positive definition of consent – defining what consent is rather than what it is not – and examining offences involving sexual conduct to see whether they are fit for purpose.

“It will build on Labour’s proud record of protecting and supporting victims, which includes creating a new criminal offence for strangulation, tripling the funding for the Victims Assistance Scheme and doubling the funding for Victim Support.

“And last week we announced we’ll go further for victims in relation to stalking and harassment and will review the reparations system, to speed up payments to victims.

“Progressing justice reform requires a properly resourced justice system. These changes would be impossible under National, who intend to cut the justice system to fund their dodgy tax plan. This is likely to result in longer court delays, fewer prosecutions and less support for victims,” Ginny Andersen said.

Labour will continue with work it began in Government to ensure our justice system is efficient, adequately resourced and supported:

• Continue the roll out of the Family Court Associates, freeing up judges’ time so they can focus on the backlog of Family Court cases, and the roll out of Associate Coroners, to speed up the Coroners Court.
• Deliver a new digital system for courts and move away from a paper-based system.
• Continue the building of a new Tauranga Courthouse
• Continue seismic strengthening upgrades at the Auckland District Court, Hamilton District Court and Wellington High Court.
• Pass legislation to address name suppression settings, litigation abuse, and questioning children about consent.
• Evaluate the progress of a series of pilot programmes which aim to improve safety and experience in the court system for victims of serious crime, strengthen support for child victims of sexual violence, and ensure victim’s views are heard in bail decisions, and consider how the solutions could be scaled up.

Our commitments to improve the justice system complement our recently announced Safer Communities policy, which included a further increase of 300 additional frontline Police officers above attrition, creating the best ratio of Police to population in modern history, and new ways to crack down on gang convoys and gang leaders.

A whopping $2.1 billion dollar hole has been confirmed in National’s tax scheme in a new report released today.

“Christopher Luxon’s sorry excuse for a tax plan is now officially dead in the water,” Grant Robertson said.

“Three independent economists have released detailed analysis of National’s plans to tax foreign buyers to fund their tax cuts and found it doesn’t add up.

“They found at best, National’s plan would raise $210 million a year, well short of the $740 million need to make it stack up. That is a staggering shortfall of more than half a billion dollars every year.”

Today’s report comes after numerous other experts have said the plan simply does not add up and follows revelations that John Key received advice when he was Prime Minister that the scheme couldn’t be done, and that Treasury had said in 2019 such a plan would push up house prices.

“National’s economic credibility is in tatters. It has pitched its dodgy plan to voters as fully funded but it’s now clear Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis actually have no idea how their party is going to pay for its tax cuts. If
National wants to press on it will have to make huge cuts to the public services that Kiwis rely on,” Grant Robertson said.

“This is simply not good enough, National must come clean with New Zealanders and release its secret costings immediately. Christopher Luxon knows he’s wrong but is hiding the figures, he is not being honest with voters.

“It has been more than two weeks now since the tax scheme was released and still the costings remain stashed away somewhere, if they exist at all. Meanwhile National is asserting it’s okay and demanding Kiwis just trust them.

“To all the people out there who have wondered about Christopher Luxon’s business abilities – make no mistake, you’d never get away with running a business like this – hiding your figures and avoiding the hard questions.

“Running a country is vastly different to running a company. You need to be honest with New Zealanders about how you are going to pay for your promises – Labour is and it’s time for National to front up,” Grant Robertson said.

Labour will deliver the largest ever increase to the number of doctors trained each year, adding an additional 335 doctors a year to our health workforce from 2027, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins has announced.

• Training an additional 335 doctors every year from 2027.
• 95 additional places in each of 2025, 2026, and 2027 on top of the 50 more places starting next year.
• Increasing the total number of doctors trained to 874 each year.

“Labour will increase the number of doctors trained yearly, scaling up each year until we are training an extra 335 doctors every year form 2027 – a 62 percent increase over current levels.

“This starts with the additional 50 doctors places a year the Labour Government announced as part of New Zealand’s Health Workforce Plan and adds 95 more each year for three years to bring the total amount of doctors trained yearly to 874,” Chris Hipkins said.

A re-elected Labour government will provide relief to our valuable health workers by adding significant additional staff to ease the pressure on many roles, Labour Spokesperson for Health Dr Ayesha Verrall said.

• Creating 700 extra nursing places in 2024
• Expanding new ‘earn and learn’ training opportunities
• Increasing international recruitment allowing us to recruit 300 additional Senior Medical Officers
• Settling pay equity for hospital midwives, continuing improving pay for the health workforce
• Scaling up earn-as-you-learn modular training
• Continue prioritising key health professions through the Green List and review regularly to plug skill gaps

“Our health workers have done more for New Zealanders than people will ever know, holding the system together not just through COVID, but for years preceding due to years of neglect and underinvestment,” Ayesha Verrall said.

“Since 2017 we immediately sought to turn that around, and despite the pandemic we are making good progress. We’ve increased the top of the nurses’ salary scale by almost $40,000 from $66,000 to $103,000, we now have 4,800 more nurses, 1,800 more doctors, and 700 more psychologists.

“We’ve launched a massive rebuild programme to improve our hospitals, build new ones, and upgrade our health infrastructure.

“We’ve already made doctor’s visits cheaper for more than three million people, boosted funding for PHARMAC by $440m (51 per cent), so more New Zealanders can access more publicly-funded medicine, and expanded the Nurses in Schools programme.

“There is still so much to do. We understand things are still hard for many New Zealanders, but we are starting to move the dial and with the worst of the pandemic over, we’re free to drive our plan forward at a greater speed.

“We simply cannot risk the Coalition of Cuts taking us back to a time where front line services were neglected, workers pay in real terms went backwards, and sewage ran down the walls of hospitals. National’s talent tax will also drive away the doctors, GPs, nurses and midwives we need to build the workforce through immigration.

“Only a re-elected Labour government has a plan to build the health workforce we need for the future, while continuing to back our health workers and give New Zealanders the world class health care we all deserve,” Ayesha Verrall said.

“Labour has invested heavily in our health system. We have a job to finish and ensuring we have the staff we need is top of our list of priorities for our next term,” Chris Hipkins said.