July 1 initiatives delivering for families

Todd Muller MP. Photo/John Borren

National's responsible management of the economy and the Government's books is giving New Zealand households and businesses confidence and helping build a growing, vibrant economy with more jobs and higher wages.

Our latest measures to distribute dividends from our growing economy to New Zealand families come into effect on 1 July.

We're putting yet more money in your pocket with the average ACC levy for a private motor vehicle falling to around $130 per vehicle. This is down from $330 two years ago.

Extra funding for Pharmac in Budget 2016, makes available new treatments for advanced melanoma, hepatitis C, and kidney disorders in children which will mean so much for our community here in the Bay.

Our Raising Healthy Kids target aims to get 95 per cent of children, who are identified as obese in our free B4 School health checks, referred to a health professional for support to improve their family's lifestyle through better nutrition and more physical activity, by 2017.

Income limits for KiwiSavers are being removed so second chance home buyers can access their KiwiSaver funds to buy a home regardless of how high their income is.

All rental homes must have smoke alarms. This will affect 120,000 homes and is expected to save three lives a year, or 30 during the next decade, as well as reducing fire-related injuries and tens of millions of dollars in property damage.

New insulation requirements for social housing also kick in from 1 July and on all other rentals from 1 July 2019. This measure is expected to lead to 180,000 properties being insulated by 2019 and to save 129 lives a year.

Our 1 July initiatives build on a number of measures to help families that began in on 1 April - just three months ago. They include paid parental leave increasing to 18 weeks and broadening the eligibility to better reflect modern workplace and family arrangements.

We put more money in New Zealanders back pockets with $232 million of ACC cuts to work levies, paid by employers and self-employed people, and the earners' levy that everyone in the paid workforce pays.

New Zealand superannuation increased again this April, meaning it has gone up 34 per cent since April 2008 - more than double the inflation rate over that period.

And we've provided the first real benefit increase for families with children in more than 40 years.

We need to build on the progress we've made, to ensure the economy continues to grow solidly - year on year - so we can continue to help families get ahead.