The major news of the last few weeks has been the delivery of Budget 2025.
This year’s Growth Budget has a clear mission: spark economic growth, strengthen communities, and support Kiwis from all walks of life. It’s carefully crafted to boost living standards, create better jobs, and ensure public services remain robust. From tax incentives fueling business innovation to record investments in healthcare and education.
A major development for the Waitaki stemming from the Budget is Investment Boost, a tax incentive that’s all about getting businesses to be ambitious and invest for growth. By letting companies write off 20% of the cost of new machinery, tools, and equipment, the government is encouraging upgrades that drive productivity. It’s a practical move with the potential to ripple through workplaces and wallets throughout our region. With our rural economic backbone the primary sector can continue driving New Zealand’s economic recovery.
Budget 2025 includes a significant $5.5 billion boost for hospitals and specialist services and $164 million over four years to expand urgent and after-hours care, including better access to diagnostics, urgent medicines, and 24/7 on-call clinical support.
Education gets a historic lift too, with $646 million—the biggest in a generation—for Learning Support. This funding will help kids with additional needs thrive, offering tailored resources to ensure every student has a shot at success.
Speaking of education, it was great to host some of our young local leaders recently with Five Forks Primary School year 7 students visiting Parliament as part of their leadership training. They even bumped into the Prime Minister who stopped and had a great chat with the kids.
Year 7 pupils from Five Forks Primary School with Miles and the Prime Minister at the Beehive
The cost-of-living crisis has made making ends meet difficult for many and it is a key priority for this Government to do what we can through sensible legislation and reducing regulatory burden for our community.
I was therefore pleased to see that Budget 2025 will help up to 66,000 more SuperGold Cardholders with their rates payments. The Government is working at pace to grow the economy so we can take some of the financial pressure off households and ease the cost of living.
We are seeing good progress with inflation and interest rates coming down, but we want to do more to relieve the financial burden for households, including for older New Zealanders.
That’s why we’re making changes to the rates rebate scheme for SuperGold cardholders, with a new income abatement threshold to assist SuperGold Cardholders being introduced from July 1. The income abatement threshold to be eligible for the maximum rebate for SuperGold Cardholders and their households will be lifted from $31,510 to $45,000 – about the rate for a couple receiving superannuation. The maximum rebate for the scheme will also increase from $790 to $805.
This means that every SuperGold Cardholder earning only NZ Superannuation, with rates higher than $2000, will be eligible for the full rebate. SuperGold Cardholders earning more than $45,000 may also be entitled to a smaller rebate.
The Government is delivering on its commitment to support parents living offshore to visit and stay with their families in New Zealand for longer. Beginning in September, a new ‘Parent Boost’ visa will grant the parents of New Zealand citizens and residents multi-entry access for up to five years, provided they meet specific health, income, and insurance requirements.
In order to drive economic growth, we need to incentivise skilled migrants to choose New Zealand. Ensuring we continue to attract the right people with the skills this country needs will deliver significant economic and social benefits for all New Zealanders.
We know that a longer-term visitor visa for parents is an important consideration for migrants who are deciding where they want to build their lives. Whether it be welcoming a new child, additional support during health challenges or providing childcare so parents can work, there is nothing quite like having family support close by. This policy will help many in the Waitaki who have raised with me the complexity of family members coming to visit for a significant period of time.
The are conditions attached to the Parent Boost Visa which strike the balance of making New Zealand more attractive for people who want to make our beautiful country their home, without putting additional strain on public services.
Sheep farmers will have hopefully seen the good news that all new New Zealand Defence Force recruits will be kitted out in premium super warm Norsewear socks, made from traceable merino and mid-micron wool sourced from New Zealand farms.
The socks were put to the test against a number of other brands during a rigorous trial involving hundreds of real soldiers and I am thrilled to see this further support for our local wool industry.
The recent cold snap has certainly made me reach for my woolen socks, and I’ll definitely have them on when I visit Fieldays at Mystery Creek this week. Really looking forward to that and hearing how the rural community are tracking.
I hope you have a great start to winter.
Miles
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