Hi John,

Today, I made some significant announcements and I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss the news. 

My top priority is tackling the cost of living and easing the pressure on New Zealanders. That’s why my first announcement as Prime Minister last week was to further extend the fuel tax cut, road user charges discount and half price public transport. But I know that in these tough times, more is needed.

When I became Prime Minister, I made it clear that the Government was doing too much, too fast. I made a commitment to reassess our priorities to ensure we’re focused on the core bread and butter issues that matter most to New Zealanders, like the cost of living.

That’s why today I’ve announced we’re cancelling or delaying a suite of programmes which I inherited, to free up funding and resources for where they’re needed most right now. These include cancelling the TVNZ/RNZ public media entity and biofuels mandate, and delaying the social insurance scheme. Our Government is also considering the Three Waters programme - although, as we’ve seen in Auckland recently, it’s simply not an option to stick with the status quo. 

These policy changes will help to provide greater bandwidth for the Government to ensure we’re doing all we can to support families in the here and now. 

On that note, you might have also heard today that we’re further increasing the minimum wage, lifting it in line with inflation from 1 April. Right now, people are having to make impossible trade-offs, choosing between food and medical care, dry homes and a pair of shoes. Lifting the minimum wage is one way we can help. I know there will be some businesses that may be concerned about this decision. However, it’s the right thing to do. In a cost of living crisis, we can’t leave those on the lowest incomes behind. 

I’ll be back in touch soon with another update on our next steps. For now though, you can get all the details on today’s announcements here.

Thanks,
Chris