Hi John,

As the second half of the year gets underway, I wanted to send a quick update on our COVID recovery and in particular, how our economic response is tracking.

The recent outbreaks in Australia and Fiji have highlighted that the global pandemic is far from over, and COVID-19 is still the biggest threat facing New Zealand. That’s why our number one priority continues to be keeping New Zealanders safe. Precautions like pre-departure testing and managed isolation remain an important line of defence at our border, and our vaccine rollout is ramping up, with more than half a million people now fully vaccinated. We are well on track to ensuring every eligible New Zealander has the opportunity to be vaccinated by the end of the year.

However, as we maintain our strong health response, we are also securing our economic recovery.

To weather the uncertainty in front of us, our Government is managing the economy responsibly, supporting jobs and keeping debt down. This is the balanced approach we’ve taken since the beginning of the pandemic, and thanks to our response so far, we’re in a much stronger position than many other countries.

While the outlook remains uncertain, several recent indicators show our actions are taking us in the right direction. Here’s a quick look at how our recovery is working, by the numbers:

1. Unemployment is down to just 4.7%, lower than Australia, the USA, Canada, and many other countries. Around 32,000 more people are in work since September, and we’re supporting even more people into work through initiatives like Flexi-wage and re-instating the Training Incentive Allowance for higher skill courses.
2. Export revenue from our primary industries is forecast to reach a record $49.1b over the next year, as demand for Kiwi products remains strong. Our Government is committed to backing our farmers, growers and exporters through our Fit for a Better World roadmap as together, we continue to secure our recovery.
3. Housing supply is ramping up, with a record 43,000 homes consented in the past year. We’re also speeding up the pace and scale of home building through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, which is funding the critical infrastructure needed for developments.
4. More than 135,000 people have taken up free apprenticeships and targeted trades training, growing the skilled workforce we need for our rebuild. We’ve also supported more than 10,000 businesses to keep their apprentices on with our Apprenticeship Boost payment.
5. Recently released Government accounts show debt is lower than forecast, even as we continue to invest in infrastructure and jobs to grow our economy. New Zealand’s net debt levels are lower than many other countries’ we compare ourselves to, including Australia, the USA, the UK and Canada.

These are all positive signs, and show our response to the pandemic is the right one. Of course, as a Labour Government, we’re also making sure that as we grow the economy, we’re doing it in a way that ensures we don’t leave anyone behind. We’re carefully targeting investment so we can turn around decades-old problems like child poverty and inequality, continue to tackle the housing crisis and lay the foundations for lasting action on climate change. If you’re interested, you can read more about our ongoing work to secure our recovery here.

That’s it from me for now, but over the next few weeks, I’ll be joining the rest of our Labour team on the road and checking in on infrastructure projects that are already underway as part of our economic response. If you do see me out and about, come and say hello!

Thanks,
Grant Robertson