Part 1: Addressing inequality at the source, right now |
| Getting people into skilled jobs |
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| Create more well-paying and rewarding jobs – and make sure people have the skills to fill them. |
| Creating more jobs in high-employment fields |
Plans to create another 150,000 jobs by 2018. Business Growth Agenda shift to value-added |
Support for industry to shift to value-added exports; unemployment down to 4% |
Create 100,000 new jobs through direct government investment |
Commitment to regional growth and improved productivity; limiting foreign workers |
Network of Maori economy champions; mentoring; Maori representation on NZTE |
Cutting taxes and govt spending will free up businesses to generate jobs |
Aim for full employment; focus on food, biofuels and IT; incentivise processing of resources within NZ |
Focus R&D spending on specific areas eg biotech |
No mention |
Whole of economy shift to Digital Economy; NZ as innovation hub; attracting global digital businesses |
| More research & development spending |
Invest $1.3 billion in R&D |
Restoring R&D tax credits at 12.5% |
additional $1 billion of government investment in research and development (R&D) above current spend, including tax breaks for business |
Tax incentives for R&D; more subsidies and scholarships for certain R&D-linked courses of study |
Ongoing funding for R&D for Maori businesses |
Cutting taxes and govt spending will free up businesses to generate jobs |
Focus on community economic development; mentoring of Maori business |
R&D funding lifted to OECD average; existing grants streamlined |
No mention |
Extra $1bn for R&D; innovation hubs; ideas grants; more tech skilled immigrants |
| More skills and trade training |
Expand Youth Guarantee programme to 10,000 places; provide 4500 places in vocational training at school; bring all apprenticeships under one scheme; expand Apprenticeship Reboot to 14,000 places |
More emphasis on education, training and upskilling; modern management and work methods; high performance work techniques |
Expand the apprenticeship programme |
Expand apprenticeship programme; subsidise wages for employers who take on young people for trade training programmes |
Double Māori and Pasifika Trade Training to 6,000 placements; $2.5m for 250 Māori Affairs cadetships |
Cutting taxes and govt spending will free up businesses to generate jobs |
All young people to be in education, training or work |
Encourage institution-industry links; promote Mayoral taskforce for jobs model; encourage awareness of training |
No mention |
Double no. of tech workers and free tertiary education |
| Closing the wage & salary gap |
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| Once people have a job, they should be fairly rewarded for their effort. |
| Significantly higher minimum wage |
No mention |
Raise to $16.25 by 2015 |
Raise to $18 by 2017 |
Raise to $17 |
Raise minimum wage to living wage |
Scrap the minimum wage |
Raise to $18.80 (living wage); then index at 66% of average wage; Repeal youth rates for workers aged 16-17 |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
| Support for a Living Wage of $18.80 |
No mention |
Living Wage for at least all core public service workers |
Living Wage for the core Government sector |
No mention |
Raise minimum wage to living wage |
No mention |
Yes |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
| Stronger collective bargaining |
Extend flexible working arrangements; strengthening rules around collective bargaining rules |
Hold Commission of Inquiry into wages and collective bargaining |
Workplace democracy and collective organisation are essential |
Ensure casualisation employment practices are fair and achieve better job security |
Encourage part-time and flexible working arrangements; subsidise childcare |
No mention |
Give workers greater bargaining power, including the right to strike; require employers to offer extra hours to existing staff, up to 40 hours per week, before hiring new staff |
Ensure reality of workplace relations in small businesses is catered for |
No mention |
No mention |
| Pay ratios and high pay transparency |
No mention |
No mention |
Require companies to report on the gap between top and bottom pay |
Salaries beyond accepted public service bands be cleared with stakeholder ministers |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
| Tax & benefits |
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For people not working, or doing important unpaid work like raising children, support needs to be more generous.
The tax system should ask those who can to contribute more. |
| Capital gains tax (CGT) |
Opposes CGT |
CGT 15% (excluding family home) |
CGT (excluding family home) |
Opposes CGT |
No mention |
Opposes CGT |
Progressive inheritence tax on estates above $500,000 |
Opposes CGT |
No mention |
No mention |
| More progressive tax system |
No tax changes |
Income tax rate 36% from $150,000 and 36% on trusts |
Income tax rate 40% from $140,000 and for trusts; reduce tax avoidance |
Remove GST on food items and rates; reduce tax avoidance |
No tax on first $25,000 income; remove GST from food; implement financial transactions tax; tax credits for people who do voluntary work |
Reduce top tax rate to 24% |
Abolish GST; introduce financial transactions tax; inheritence tax above $500,000 |
Support broad-based, low rate tax system; Introduce income sharing for couples with children |
Tax-free income up to $20,000 then flat tax |
No mention |
| Increasing payments to beneficiaries |
Continue welfare reform |
Best Start for Kids $60 a week for most kids from birth to 3 |
Children’s Credit $60 a week & Parental Tax Credit for poorest children |
Review Working for Families so everyone gets at least a living wage |
End whānau poverty by 2020; extend tax credit to all low income families |
Reduce tax rates for those shifting from welfare to work; lifetime limits on the Job Seeker Benefit and Sole Parent Support |
Increase benefits to provide a liveable income; yearly hardship grant $1,000 for people earning less than $30,000/td>
| Fund independent advice and advocacy services |
No mention |
No mention |
| Universal basic income |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Work towards implementing a Universal Basic Income |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Part 2: Breaking the cycle and reducing inequality in the long run |
| Education |
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| Schools offer all children the chance to realise their potential, helping reduce the influence of socio-economic background on life choices. |
| Boosting teacher training and quality |
“Executive” principals available to struggling schools; excellent teachers available to poor performing teachers; master teacher concept |
Require the Teachers Council to pre-screen for all initial teacher education programmes; stronger professional development pre-requisites |
Improve pay, job status and job security for teachers and support staff; wide-ranging professional development |
Provide professional learning and development opportunities with fair access for all schools; more voice for teachers; teacher development |
Teaching of Te Reo and Maori history significantly supported |
No mention |
Professional development to ensure culturally supportive and relevant learning |
Emphasise Teach First NZ; examine entry requirements to teacher training |
No mention |
Review teachers’ professional learning to support the effective use of digital technology in schools |
| Helping low-decile schools and students and ensure that in all schools no students are left behind |
Meet specific education targets so that children have the skills they need to reach their potential; National Standards |
Hire 2000 more teachers to significantly reduce class sizes; extend reading recovery; Annual grants to lower decile schools; cancel National Standards |
Incremental reductions in class sizes; transport allowances; free lunches, nurses, holiday programmes and after school care for low decile schools; Significant increase in funding for the teaching and support of special needs students; increased operations grant |
Cancel National Standards; improved detection of those falling behind; significantly expand special needs programmes |
Implement ‘first language first’ policy in literacy instruction and learning for Pasefika students; Ensure Māori histories is compulsory, designed and delivered jointly with mana whenua; breakfasts in low decile schools |
Trust teachers and parental choice to improve outcomes |
Limit teacher:student ratio to 1:15 in all state schools; boost special education funding; breakfast and lunch programmes in low decile schools |
Increase funding for special needs and ORS students; reduce class sizes |
Cut back on costs & bureaucracy to free up money for schools to reduce class sizes; test new students for learning difficulties |
Invest additional $75 million to triple the amount of ICT funding to schools |
| Supporting high-quality early childhood education |
Increased money for ECE |
more free hours for ECE |
Improved teacher-child ratios in ECE; extend free 20 hours to 2 yr olds |
More support for playcentres and ECE in general |
Increase free hours 20 to 30 |
No mention |
Reinvigorate kōhanga reo; adult:child ratio of 1:3; minimum qualification levels for home-based services, 100% qualified and registered teachers in centre based services; breakfast and lunch programmes and health care services in all non-profit ECE centres |
Expand ECE programme |
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| Health & housing |
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| Being in good health is crucial to people’s chances of earning a decent income and not becoming trapped in cycles of poverty. |
| A Warrant of Fitness for all homes |
WoF for HNZ houses being trialled. |
Healthy Homes Guarantee – minimum standards for insulation & heating for all rental housing |
WoF for all rental houses |
WoF not mentioned, but support indicated to child wellbeing policy survey |
WoF compulsory for all rental houses (within 3 years) |
No WoF |
WoF for all rental houses |
Require energy efficiency rating for all homes to rent or buy. |
WoF not mentioned & told child wellbeing policy survey they would not support it. |
WoF not mentioned but support indicated to child wellbeing policy survey |
| Affordable houses to rent or buy |
Home Start package for 1st home buyers $20,000 grant & full Kiwisaver drawn-down. Commitment to “grow the social housing sector”. See also Budget 2014 housing |
Kiwibuild plan for 100,000 starter homes for families. Restrict foreign purchase of NZ properties; encouragelocal councils to include affordable homes in new housing developments |
Healthy Home policy; increased security of tenancy for renters, stop ‘reviewable tenancies’ in HNZ housing. |
Government assistance for 1st home buyers, low interest loans; low-cost government loans for older persons and other public rental housing; restrict foreign land and property ownership |
Māori Housing Strategy includes affordable rental and home ownership for whānau |
Read further |
Build 10,000 new state houses per year to rent (or rent-to-buy); Low interest loans for low income home buyers; require larger new property developments to include 50% affordable homes. |
Allow capitalisation of Working for Families credits for home purchase; extend community housing; explore alternatives to local council rates |
No mention |
No mention |
| Improving access to primary healthcare |
Free GP visits & prescriptions for all under-13-years. Free drop-in sore throat clinics targeting rheumatic fever. |
GP visits and prescriptions free for children aged up to 13. $60million boost in primary funding. |
Free GP visits & prescriptions for all under 18 yrs. Dedicated school nurses in decile 1-4 schools. |
Free doctor visits and prescriptions for all primary schoolchildren, including after hours and weekends |
Support free healthcare up to 18 yrs |
Read further |
Free doctor visits and prescriptions |
No mention on policy page but told child wellbeing policy survey they support free healthcare up to 18 yrs. |
No mention on policy page but told child wellbeing policy survey they support free healthcare up to 18 yrs. |
No mention on policy page but told child wellbeing policy survey they would support free healthcare for up to 18 yrs |
| Commitment to reducing health inequalities |
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Reducing health inequalities co-ordinated across government. |
School hubs for health checks and welfare support |
“Huge differences in need throughout the population... Māori health outcomes are not improving at the same rate as non-Māori and this must be rectified.” |
Commitment to increase kaupapa Maori services |
No mention |
Ensure equitable access to affordable, non-discriminatory, quality health care |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
| Democracy |
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| Only if everyone has a genuinely equal say in politics is New Zealand likely to move towards a fairer future. |
| Supporting high-quality public broadcasting |
Maintain pubic ownership of Radio NZ and TVNZ |
Working group on public service TV |
TVNZ ad free; 20% NZ content quota |
Ad-free channel; more funding for public good broadcasting |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Review options for broadcasting; RNZ funding increases with inflation |
No mention |
No mention |
| Greater transparency and access to politics |
No mention |
Strengthen Ombudsman; proactive info disclosure |
Cabinet decisions published; OIA strengthened |
Reduce Cabinet and require greater accountability and performance |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Devolve more powers to local councils |
No mention |
Proactive info disclosure; more online services; Democracy portal |
| Reform of political financing |
No mention |
Tighten rules around donations |
Limit donations to $35,000 in 1 year; publish all donations over $1000 |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
| Developing measures of progress beyond GDP |
No mention |
No mention |
Genuine Progress index and more funding for Stats NZ |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Integrated social, environmental and economic policy |
No mention |
No mention |
No mention |
Overall |
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