The politicians in New Zealand officially announce the end of their holiday season with the first Cabinet meeting of the year, and the leaders of the two biggest parties making their traditional state of the nation speeches.
While Andrew Little decided to come to Auckland for his speech, delivered to a business audience. A move possibly to show that Labour is business friendly, and a nod to the importance of Auckland which has just celebrated its 175th birthday. John Key focussed on ways to improve the manageability and management of social housing. A man who has his finger on the public pulse, he could be moving early to deal with an issue that is potentially troublesome for the Government.
John Key took social housing head on and in doing so raised the ideological politics of ownership, trying to cast it in a new light. Being in Government
Being in the government means that you get to actually do things while the opposition’s position is to pose and chip away. Naturally, Key’s description of the nation was a very different state from Little. Where Labour urged us to do things differently and warned what we're doing now won't support our future standard of living, National talked about "stability, cohesion and confidence" with increasing employment and rising wages. Also, it was clear that while Key was building up from having laid down the foundation, Little seemed to be laying down his building blocks.
Political commentator Dr Bryce Edwards said the first major speeches of 2015 by Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader Andrew Little were uninspiring and without vision.
There were few surprises in either talk, and Dr Edwards says the pair missed an opportunity to get the new year off to an interesting start.
"Underwhelming's the word, a bit lacklustre," he told TV ONE's Breakfast.
"This was a chance for the leaders to wake people up from their summer holidays, we've had six weeks off from a huge political year last year.
"Some people probably didn't want to come to politics, and this hasn't really inspired us, there was nothing really to show this year is going to be particularly visionary or exciting - I suspect quite the opposite on the basis of these speeches."
Dr Edwards said Mr Little's speech was successful in his attempts to reposition Labour away from being a party only interested in social issues, while Mr Key had taken a "moderate" approach to housing reform. (tvnz.co.nz)
While we look forward to a whole year ahead of New Zealand politics and wait to see how it all unfolds given the obvious social and economic issues that face us – we bring you excerpts of the speeches of both our political leaders.
New Zealand is in good shape and getting better.
Prime Minister John Key's state of the nation speech- the highlights
We are making great strides towards building a stronger, more prosperous country - a country where we can have a great lifestyle and earn a good income that compares well with the rest of the world.
That progress is due to the hard work and positive attitude of New Zealanders. It's also because of the stability, cohesion and confidence that's come from six years of strong and stable government.
New Zealand is doing well compared to other countries. The economy is growing, employment is increasing and wages are rising. Consumers are benefiting from low inflation and a long period of stable, low interest rates.
We are growing new industries like ICT and high tech manufacturing, and strengthening existing ones like our food industry, tourism and international education.
The Government is working towards a surplus and repaying debt. We're making good progress in areas like welfare, education and law and order, to help improve the lives of New Zealanders and their families.
New Zealanders endorsed our approach four months ago by re-electing the Government with an even stronger mandate. I thank them for the confidence they've shown in us.
We must also manage the many global risks and challenges that could throw New Zealand off track that was reinforced for me at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which I've just attended.
The Government's focus this term will be on our four priorities: responsibly managing the Government's finances, building a more productive and competitive economy, delivering better public services and continuing to support the rebuilding of Christchurch.
I want to talk to you today about housing, which is an important part of all these four priorities.
After the election, I appointed three Ministers to housing-related portfolios.
Paula Bennett is the Minister for Social Housing, in charge of supporting New Zealanders with the highest housing needs. Bill English is the Minister responsible for Housing New Zealand, which owns or leases 68,000 properties and Nick Smith is the Minister for Building and Housing.
One of the biggest and most longstanding issues is the supply of new housing, particularly in Auckland. Previous governments have put this in the too-hard basket.
We're taking steps that will result in more houses being built, and more affordable homes in the market. We've passed new legislation and signed housing accords with six councils, including Auckland, to fast-track new housing and release more land for residential development.
Residential construction increased 21 per cent last year and more than 24,000 building consents were issued - the highest number since 2008. This growth in construction is set to continue as special housing areas accelerate land availability and consenting.
That will help to ease the pressure on house prices. But we should also recognise that housing affordability includes more than just prices. Incomes have been rising faster than inflation and people are feeling confident about the future. Interest rates are low, which makes servicing a mortgage easier.
These factors are actually supporting the growth in house prices in some areas. People are assessing their own ability to pay and are bidding on that basis, as they've always done. It's often hard, though, to save for your first house.
That's where the Government's new Home Start programme for first home buyers comes in. It begins in April this year and we estimate it will help 90,000 people into their first home over the next five years.
For people on low incomes, the Government subsidises housing costs from a total budget of $1.9 billion this year. Around $1.2 billion of that is for the accommodation supplement, which helps people with the costs of private rentals and sometimes mortgage payments.
The other $700 million is for the income-related rent subsidy, which supports low-income people with the greatest housing needs, in what's known as social housing.
People in social housing are those whose circumstances and finances make private renting or home ownership difficult. They could be a sole parent, for example, an older person, or someone with mental health issues.
So we're taking a different approach to provide quality social housing for New Zealanders who need it. It's just one of the many areas where the Government will be working hard for New Zealanders over the next three years.
Our economic programme is laying the foundations for a stronger economy, sustainable jobs and higher incomes and we're making real progress in delivering better public services for New Zealanders.
That takes constant hard work, oversight and judgement. It takes a team working together and all heading in the same direction and it takes a government that is united, focused and energised.
Check against delivery
Andrew Little on the State of the Nation – An Excerpt.
In 2005 when I led the EPMU we worked together with Air New Zealand to find a way to keep engineering jobs that were heading overseas. A lot of these workers were people I’d known for years and they were facing not just losing their jobs but not being able to find the kind of work they do without going overseas. A lot of people were facing personal and financial upheaval.
It was hard work but in the end we kept more than 300 skilled and well-paid jobs in New Zealand. And we managed to benefit Air New Zealand and its workforce with productivity gains too.
As a union leader I was always conscious that wealth had to be created first before it could be shared. We need to do what’s right for business so we can do what’s right for workers and their families and to keep skills in New Zealand.
My driving motivation for coming into politics was that I could see that without real change, working New Zealanders, whether on a wage or salary or working under a contract or in their own small business, would be left arguing over how to share an ever dwindling national income.
As a new leader at the start of the parliamentary cycle I’m fully aware of the task I have ahead to build our organisation and the policy platform we will take into the next election. This will be a major job. I’m also aware of how important it is to be very clear about what kind of future Labour stands for and the direction I intend to take us in as leader.
So today I’m not going to focus on policy detail.
I’m going to tell you about the challenges New Zealand faces as I see them, how we will solve them, and what that means. I’m going to talk about our goals for New Zealand and our vision. Labour’s vision is that New Zealand will once again have the lowest unemployment in the developed world.
When people have jobs, they have dignity, they have self-respect, and their families have the best future. And here’s the next thing. The engine room of this job growth will be small business. I want to talk about what I think remains one of the biggest long-term challenges for our country; and that is, where the next generation of wealth creation will come from.
Not because wealth creation is an end in itself but because a good quality of life for all of us needs strong economic performance. Globally, the combined wealth of the richest 1 percent will be greater than that of the other 99 percent of people next year unless the current trend of rising inequality is reversed.
Right now many New Zealanders don’t have a good enough quality of life. In fact since this government was first elected there are 20,000 more children living below the poverty line. Those kids would fill 95 primary school halls.
And 40% of them come from working families. In New Zealand, the incomes of the top 10 percent are nine times the income of the bottom 10 per cent.
In fact at the end of last year, the OECD told us that in New Zealand the level of inequality is now holding back economic growth. Of course, this isn’t just an economic issue, it’s bad for our communities too. Inequality robs people of opportunities. It stunts potential. It’s wrong and it’s not the Kiwi way.
The social inequality we suffer today, built up over the last 30 years or so, must be the driving force for the change we need to make. It’s a vicious circle. More inequality, slower growth, more inequality. It is so important that we all understand this: more inequality, slower growth, more inequality.
We have to break that cycle if we want to succeed. And working on how we do that will be the priority for me as the new leader of the Labour Party. Part of that means recognising a world where technology is rapidly changing the nature of work and the opportunities for work.
In this regard I have already announced Labour’s Future of Work Commission to be led by Grant Robertson. This is a large and serious task and will be a major project for Labour over the next two years as we get around the country talking to New Zealanders about what that means.
Meeting the challenge of future wealth generation is getting harder. As a party and as a country we need to be thinking about how we will deal with the change ahead of us. And we need to be thinking now.
The truth is stark. Doing more of what we’re doing today won’t support the standard of living we as New Zealanders want in the future. As a country we need to do things differently. That is going to take courage.
Government can provide some of the leadership to make a difference. But nothing will change unless we are all in it together. I’m here today to make one thing very clear. The Labour Party I lead is about jobs. Good jobs. Skilled jobs. Well paid jobs.
That’s what a good, fair and wealthy society is based on. And it’s what Labour stands for. A job is about more than just an income. It’s about dignity.