May 23, 2023
Election 2023 – The Wellbeing Budget for Māori
Election year budgets are often political as incumbent governments seek to secure another term. Not so this year. Labour has delivered its Wellbeing Budget under challenging circumstances. There are continuing worldwide economic impacts from Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on borrowing, inflation, employment, interest rates, energy bills and the cost of living.
Aotearoa also faces serious costs turning around decades of infrastructure neglect and widespread disruption from Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle. $71 billion is going into infrastructure. And with cyclone damage to physical assets and lost business as much as $15 billion, the government is adding a further $6.941 billion to $1.1 billion already committed for the post-cyclone rebuild and a new National Resilience Plan.
The Budget for Māori
The $825 million Māori budget brings the total last four years’ vote to $3.84 billion, a record average of $960 million per annum. This is nearly 3.5 times higher than the previous four-year record of $1.116 billion at $279 million per annum under the last National – Te Pāti Māori government arrangement.
There is $225 million for Māori Education including increasing te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori content. This includes $10 million for cultural knowledge-centred gap-closing relationships with local mana whenua groups. This is important because while many non-Māori know the name of local iwi most know little about their resident hapū living down the road often for hundreds of years.
Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga Māori housing receives $200 million to continue repairing and improving the quality of existing whānau Māori-owned homes in impoverished areas, building more new houses, including on papakāinga, and boosting the skills and resources of organisations to deliver Māori-led housing solutions.
Whānau Ora is a big winner receiving $168.1 million. Born from the vision of Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, Whānau Ora is now the flagship “By Māori For Māori” model for centring the recovery and wellbeing of whānau Māori from the intergenerational destruction of colonisation, structural racism and systemic impoverishment and marginalisation.
Hauora Māori health providers receive $132 million recognising their highly effective delivery to Māori and non-Māori communities. The vote also acknowledges their extraordinary contribution during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In 2020, closing a deficit in Māori testing, the following year lifting Māori and non-Māori vaccination rates and during late 2021 and 2022 caring for large numbers of sick people isolating at home. Crucially, the package seeks to improve falling Māori immunisation rates against emerging post-Covid-19 risks around several illnesses like measles.
With $34 million over two years, Te Matatini finally reaches long overdue parity with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) ($18.1 million per annum) and the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) (7.1 million per annum). Treasury data shows that the 1.095 million audience for Te Matatini is nearly double the combined audience for the NZSO and RNZB. If we add participation and attendance at regional, secondary, intermediate, and primary school competitions, kapa haka is our most iconic and popular performing art.
The $19.5 million for the Māori cyclone recovery recognises the greater vulnerability of Māori communities. With the best Māori land lost during colonisation, around 80% of marae are on coastal and river flood plains and typically poorer urban Māori live in lower lying flood prone suburbs.
With the first Matariki public holiday proving a hugely successful exercise in nationhood, festival initiatives receive $18 million over four years to strengthen citizenship within the cloak of ancient Māori and Polynesian lore.
Crossover Benefits
The wider budget has several crossover benefits for Māori. Extending the 20 hours of childcare facility to two-year-olds will assist the pathway of more Māori into early childhood education.
The removal of the $5 prescription charge will aid Māori. In 2021/2022, 135,000 people did not pick up prescriptions because of cost. The Health Quality & Safety Commission reports that 24.5% were Māori and just 7% New Zealand Europeans.
The extension of the Free Lunches in Schools Programme, Warmer Kiwi Homes, free public transport for those under 13 years and half price for those under 25 years, and KiwiSaver payments to people receiving paid parental leave will also assist poorer whānau Māori.
Gaps
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debs Ngārewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi have said that the budget needed to do more to address poverty by removing GST on food and instituting a capital gains tax.
The criticisms are valid. Poorer families care more about the cost of food than bus fares. Food prices are rising at the fastest rate since September 1989. StatsNZ reports a 12% rise in food prices in the last year with fruit and vegetables rising by 23%. The One Hundred Whānau Food and Financial Hardship Report from Vision West says 42% of Māori suffer food stress of whom 63% run out of food every week.
Labour cites various difficulties in taking GST off food. However, there are other options such as tax rebates or taking GST off basic items like fruit, vegetables, and bread. Most OECD countries have some form of reduced taxation on food. The key here is that most poorer whanau prefer kai in the puku over warmth with hunger.
The tax system requires change at some stage. The Inland Revenue High-Wealth Individuals Research Project showed that ultra-wealthy families with an average net worth of $276 million pay a median effective tax rate of just 8.9% with capital gains the main part of their untaxed income. Meanwhile, median-income Kiwis pay 20.2% tax.
However, the potential volatility of this election means that now is not the time to resolve those matters.
The National Party Response
The National Party has struggled to respond to a very clever budget. Deputy Leader of the National Party Nicola Willis’ pledge to reinstate the $5 prescription charge and leader Chris Luxon’s later mitigation the charge should remain for the rich is cynical and condescending in the face of their main policy to further enrich the monied through massive tax cuts.
Grant Robertson
With record low unemployment, inflation and borrowing relative to GDP lower than many of our competitors, the Treasury forecasting inflation to drop below 3% in late 2024 and the government to return a surplus in 2025/206, Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has navigated the last four years with fiscal acumen. The Wellbeing Budget is good for Māori and Aotearoa katoa.
Dr Rawiri Taonui