Hon Grant Robertson

Minister of Finance

11 December 2019

PĀNUI PĀPĀHO

MEDIA STATEMENT

Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy.

When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising inequality.

“The 2018 and 2019 Budgets started the process to repair that neglect, and Budget 2020 will continue that work,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson says.

“We used evidence from the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework, advice from Government Science Advisors and other experts, to come up with the five Budget priorities for 2019.

“These priorities focus on long-term challenges and opportunities. They cannot be resolved in one budget, therefore they continue to be the core of the priorities in the 2020 Wellbeing Budget. In some cases we have refined the focus to give more guidance to ministers and agencies in developing more proposals.”

The Budget 2020 priorities are:

· Just Transition – Supporting New Zealanders in the transition to a climate-resilient, sustainable, and low-emissions economy

· Future of Work – Enabling all New Zealanders to benefit from new technologies and lift productivity through innovation

· Māori and Pacific – Lifting Māori and Pacific incomes, skills, and opportunities

· Child Wellbeing – Reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing

· Physical and Mental Wellbeing – Supporting improved health outcomes for all New Zealanders

The Budget Policy Statement confirms operating allowances of $3.0 billion in Budget 2020, $2.4 billion in Budgets 2021 and 2022, then $2.6 billion in Budget 2023.

Major investments will continue to be made in health, education, housing and social programmes to address New Zealand’s long-term challenges

ends

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