Days out from Budget 2025, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is keeping tight-lipped on whether the Government will have to borrow to fund expenditure.
Speaking on Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, the Prime Minister said New Zealanders would have to wait until Thursday to find out details of the fiscal blueprint.
“I’m not going to get into it [whether or not the money will be funding from borrowing]. It’s budget-sensitive. As I’ve said to you, it’s in our fiscal track, it will be revealed on Thursday, we need to do it in one comprehensive thing so you can see the total fiscal picture of what we’re dealing with and how we’re funding it,” Luxon said.
“We’re making some serious investments. We think we can invest in economic growth, health and education, transport and infrastructure; wait ‘till you see the plan.”
PM Christopher Luxon is staying tight-lipped on whether Government will borrow to fund Budget 2025. Photo / Michael Craig
It comes after the most recent pre-Budget announcement of an $164 million investment in new 24/7 urgent care clinics around the country.
Minster of Health Simeon Brown said the funding was in addition to the last Budget’s cost-pressure funding. In the last Budget, the Government announced it would be increasing the health Budget with a cumulative $16.68 billion over the next three Budgets to fund cost pressures. Additional pieces of that spend are dropped into the health system each Budget.
Yesterday, PM Christopher Luxon and Minister of Health Simeon Brown announced a $164m investment in new 24/7 urgent care clinics around the country. Photo / Dean Purcell
“These improvements will make it easier for New Zealanders to get help when they need it – whether late at night, on weekends or in more remote communities, while also reducing pressure on emergency departments,” he said.
Luxon has also responded to allegations from Labour that women working in the funded sector were unlikely to get pay equity. The funded sector refers to services funded by the Government but delivered by someone else, often a private provider or a charity.
Labour had agreed to underwrite these pay equity settlements when it was in Government, accepting the funded sector could not pay for them itself.
Labour pointed to comments made by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden in Parliament last week, in which she said last year’s pay equity reset undertaken by Finance Minister Nicola Willis “suggested that the funded sector would not be funded by the Government for pay equity”.
Labour’s workplace relations spokeswoman Jan Tinetti accused the Government of “stringing women along for months before the law change two weeks ago”, saying without Government support, “pay equity in these sectors is unlikely to happen”.
Luxon said that under the new regime, people would be entitled to take a claim against their employer whether they worked in the public or private sector.
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