What’s in it for us? Full coverage inside p2-3, 4, 6 & 7

• Published date: 31 May 2024
• Author: Sarah Curtis, Mike Dinsdale, Jenny Ling, Denise Piper, Brodie Stone and Avneesh Vincent
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

●$3.7 billion a year in tax cuts, from July 31

● Households will receive up to $102 a fortnight in tax relief.

● The co-payment will make a big difference to the affordability of medicines, especially in a recession, with studies showing it leads to more hospitalisations, with those patients in hospital for longer, local doctor Gary Payinda says.

● For the Normans, an average Whangārei family with two young children, it means an extra $145 each fortnight, including a FamilyBoost payment of $62.

Campbell Norman said a tax relief of up to $145 a fortnight for his Whangārei family will be a bit of relief to the cost-of-living pressures.

He works full-time as a youth worker and educator, while wife Shania works part-time. Their two children, Harper-Gene, aged 3, and Kyroh, 8 months, are both in early childhood education.

“It’s good to know that we’re getting something ... It helps with the nappies and formula.”

Norman will have to apply for the FamilyBoost rebate every three months, but he thought that should be all right as long as the process is streamlined.

He admitted to closely watching the family’s spending each week and having to cut down on groceries and any luxuries to make ends meet.

While the family are living within their means, it is a struggle to put aside anything for a rainy day or save a deposit for a house, he said.

Norman said while the tax cut is good, the family would have benefited more from the Labour policy of 20 hours of free ECE being extended to 2-year-olds.

Whangārei MP Dr Shane Reti said Northlanders will benefit from the tax cuts and he urged them to have a look at the tax calculators to work out what they will get.

Child Poverty Action Group Whangārei member Dr Clair Mills said it was good to see tax cuts being delivered to families with children, but she did not think it would be adequate to cover all the cost pressures families were facing.

She also thought giving tax cuts to those on higher incomes meant there was less money to spend on things like education and primary health care.

Health

● $16.68 billion extra funding, introduced between now and 2030.

● $3.44b for hospital and specialist services, and $2.12b for primary, community and public health, to ensure Kiwis have timely access to healthcare.

● $31.2m to extend free breast screening to women aged 69 to 74.

● $31m over four years for increased hospital emergency department security, although the focus is on eight high-risk EDs outside Northland.

● $1.77b for Pharmac for already funded medicines, with no increase for cancer meds, by reintroducing the $5 co-payment on scripts.

Reti, who is also the Health Minister, said the $16.68b increase in funding for health is the biggest investment in health cost pressures of any Budget.

While the $5 co-payment on scripts will be reintroduced, medicines will still be free for those under 14, over 64 and Community Services Card holders, which includes many Northlanders, he said.

New cancer medicines will be funded as the money becomes available and Reti hoped this would start next year.

Northlanders will also benefit from the increase in breast cancer screening, as the area used to have the highest incidence of breast cancer in the country, Reti said.

A doctor in Whangārei Hospital’s ED, Dr Gary Payinda, said the $16.68b funding is a commitment beyond the coalition Government’s term and it has already proven it can’t keep its promises.

The key example of this is the reintroduction of $5 co-payments on scripts with patients not getting the 13 cancer drugs National promised in the lead-up to the election, he said.

The co-payment will make a big difference to the affordability of medicines, especially in a recession, with studies showing it leads to more hospitalisations, with those patients in hospital for longer, Payinda said.

The cancer drugs could be funded if the Government was not giving a $3b tax relief to landlords in mortgage interest deductibility, he said.

Payinda said he was concerned the funding for ED security would not be enough to keep workers safe, with nurses and healthcare workers regularly being assaulted and exposed to violence more often than police officers.

“It’s just a drop in the ocean in terms of what’s needed ... I would like some honesty of the scope of the problem,” he said.

“There needs to be help for nurses when they are getting assaulted. If we can’t provide that we really need to rethink the entire Budget.”

Māori issues

● Māori culture — $48.7 million for Te Matatini — the pinnacle event for Māori performing arts...