Statistics from the 2021 Aotearoa Budget
Te Whanganui a Tara - The Aotearoa New Zealand government delivered its annual Budget yesterday.
It struck a balance between fiscal consolidation and addressing some significant issues.
Many people and organisations supported it. Others were disappointed in the outcomes.
Some key bullet points were:
Main benefit increases, $1.5billion for the vaccine rollout, $4.7billion for health, $3.8billion for the housing acceleration fund, and an extra $3.9billlion in the multi-year capital envelope.
The Treasury has upgraded its economic outlook, which has created a little extra wiggle room on the spending front while also contributing to a lower projected debt level than previously.
A $67 million investment to ensure the public sector is carbon neutral.
A total of $37million goes into integrated farm planning systems and $24million into greenhouse gas mitigation research and development.
A total of 221,000 New Zealanders is projected to gain employment over the next four years. Unemployment is forecast to fall to 4.2 percent.
The covid recovery is expected to show GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2023, putting NZ back at pre-covid levels.
More than 100,000 families will be $175 per week better off, and child poverty will reduce.
The government continues with the winter energy payment.
More than 200,000 children are still living in poverty or 20 percent of children live in households where food runs out sometimes or often.
This rises to 30 percent in Māori households and 46 percent in Pacific homes.
Government is building 18,300 houses fully funded out to 2024, and 7600 already delivered.
More building consents have been issued than at any time in New Zealand’s history.
One third of the 107,000 New Zealanders in free trades training are in the construction sector.
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.