Steven Joyce has delivered a “friendly” budget for the working Kiwi families and consequently most of the Kiwi-Indians.
A quick helicopter view of Kiwi-Indian community in New Zealand reveals that most of them are relatively new migrants in the country emigrating in large numbers in the last few years, largely working with young families.
Following are the five key areas of budget directly influencing Kiwi-Indians.
$2b Family Incomes Package to put money in the back pocket of workers.
The Budget 2017 Family Incomes Package benefits around 1.3 million families in New Zealand by, on average, $26 per week.
Some of the key initiatives are:
Increase in the $14,000 income tax threshold to $22,000, and the $48,000 tax threshold to $52,000.
These changes mean, for example, a couple with two children under 13 and one partner working earning $55,000 will gain $41 per week plus any increase to their Accommodation Supplement.
The tax threshold change provides a tax reduction of $10.77 a week to anyone earning more than $22,000 per annum, increasing to $20.38 a week for anyone earning more than $52,000 per annum.
$46.9m to reduce burglary and youth offending
Budget 2017 will provide an extra $46.9 million of operating funding over the next four years for new services to reduce burglary and youth offending.
Designed as a part of Government’s Social Investment Package of $321 million over four years in Budget 2017 is aligned to government’s overall approach to addressing the incidences of the spurt in aggravated robberies and assaults through social policy than necessarily a stern judicial process.
“We want to reduce the risk of hardworking New Zealanders being burgled. The initiative will target burglars under the age of 25, because this group has a high risk of committing more crime long-term, with a predicted 15,300 more burglaries and other offences over the next 30 years,” Justice Minister Amy Adams and Associate Justice Minister Mark Mitchell said.
$1.5b boost for schools and early education
Early education is an important area of concern for many young Kiwi-Indian families as most of the time couples are working full time and relying on early education system for their children’s learning outcomes.
Budget 2017 has delivered the largest injection of new money into education since the Government took office in 2008, with an additional $1.1 billion of new operating funding over the next four years, plus an additional $392.4 million of capital funding.
“This is a significant investment in our children and in New Zealand’s future, designed to keep improving achievement and deliver the best results for our children,” Education Minister Nikki Kaye says.
One of the major investment proposals that have a potential to affect a large number of young families within our community is the investment in early childhood.
Early childhood education providers will receive an additional $386 million of operating funding over the next four years. This will provide a further 31,000 early learning places over the next four years, as well as $35.5 million targeted toward supporting children most at risk of underachievement.
$1 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund
Any new investment in the housing area is most welcome for a large number of prospective home buyers in the community.
It is important to note that percentage of Kiwi-Indians in the first homebuyer segment of the housing market is far more than the national average of first homebuyers in the housing market (which is roughly under 20 per cent).
It is purely because most of them are relatively new migrants to New Zealand arriving in the just the past three-four years when Auckland's housing market has significantly shot up, leaving many of them still out of the property ladder.
The new funding in Budget 2017 is focused on putting in place improvements to urban development, implementing the Housing Infrastructure Fund, providing additional funding to improve freshwater quality.
The $1 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund is another key initiative and is designed to assist high-growth councils in financing the necessary infrastructure – the water supply, storm water, waste water and roading – to open up new housing areas. Budget 2017 provides a further $3.5 million to administer this fund.
Health investment increases to a record $16.8b
Budget 2017 will invest an extra $3.9 billion over four years into Vote Health taking the total health investment to a record $16.77 billion in 2017/18.
“The extra $879 million being invested into health services for 2017/18 is the biggest increase in eleven years. This takes health investment to a record $16.77 billion in 2017/18, an increase of around $5 billion across our nine Budgets,” Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says.
Among extra funding in the health sector, a key investment is $1.54 billion for wage increases for about 55,000 care and disability support workers as part of the pay equity settlement.
$2b investment in law and order
Lately, law and order have become an important concern for members of the community particularly retailers and small business owners who are at the forefront of increased number of aggravated assaults and robberies.
Budget 2017 invests $1.24 billion of new operating funding over four years and $785.6 million of capital funding in law and order initiatives to help make our communities.
“The extra investment in Budget 2017 includes the $503.8 million Safer Communities Package which was announced earlier this year and will deliver an additional 1,125 police staff,” Police Minister Paula Bennett, says.
“Budget 2017 provides an additional $1.52 billion to enable the justice sector to improve services and further reduce the impact on crime on New Zealanders,” Ms Adams says.
Other key initiatives include:
$32.9 million over the next four years for burglary prevention.
$13.9 million over the next four years to reduce reoffending, targeted at high-risk young offenders.
Overall it seems to be a good budget for the Kiwi-Indian community.