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Hi John,
On Labour’s watch, New Zealand’s health system has fallen into a
crisis. Every health measure has gone backwards and a severe shortage
of nurses and midwives is contributing to the public facing ballooning
waitlists, delays accessing treatment, and overcrowded emergency
departments.
New Zealand’s health workers are being actively
recruited to work overseas but our frontline is already struggling
with a shortage of about 4000 nurses and hundreds of
midwives.
Action is needed and that’s
why today, while visiting a medical centre in Auckland, I announced
that a National government will pay nurses’ and midwives’ student loan
repayments, up to $4,500 a year for the first five years of their
careers, in return for them committing to work in New Zealand for at
least five years after they graduate.
A nurse or
midwife in this new bonding scheme would increase their take-home pay
by up to $87 a week and, over five years, would be $22,500 better
off.
Further, since there’s a need to retain nurses
right now, the bonding scheme will be open to registered nurses and
midwives who have graduated within the last five years, on a pro-rata
basis.
We’ll also make New Zealand more attractive by
offering a relocation grant of up to $10,000 for 1000 qualified
overseas nurses or midwives who move here for work.
This is a
practical, workable policy that a National government will bring in to
help fix one of the many problems that’s getting worse under Labour.
It’ll cost around $60 million a year and National will pay for it out
of the remaining unallocated money from our commitment to cut Labour’s
spending on contractors and consultants by $400 million a
year.
That consultant spend has been part of Labour’s gross
wastage of public money. In fact, Labour is spending an extra $1
billion a week, compared with the last National government. No wonder
they’ve added on so many taxes and have refused to adjust tax brackets
for inflation. They need your money to feed their spending
habit.
This week, Revenue Minister David Parker released
reports suggesting that the wealthiest New Zealanders were not paying
their fair share of tax. Plainly, he’s laying the groundwork for
Labour to announce a capital gains tax, a wealth tax and an
inheritance tax – or a combination of those – which will hit many New
Zealanders, not just the wealthiest. You can’t trust Labour on tax –
except to know that they’ll keep coming after your hard-earned
money.
National is the party of lower taxes and better public
services. There will be no capital gains tax, no wealth tax and no
inheritance tax under a government I lead. And you can look forward to
National adjusting tax brackets for inflation so you can keep more of
what you earn.
You have my word on it.
Christopher
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