Labour Party: 'The budget that left women out'
Budget 2025 documents reveal the tightening of the pay equity regime will net the government $2.7 billion every year.
The Pay Equity Amendment Bill was passed on May 7 after being rushed through under urgency.
The legislation means 33 equity claims involving hundreds of thousands of workers including nurses and teachers being negotiated will now have to restart the process under new criteria.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins responds to the Budget in Parliament this afternoon. Photo: RNZ
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said in Parliament this afternoon this year's Budget tells women they are "worth less than tax breaks for landlords, tobacco companies, Google and Facebook".
"This is the budget that will be remembered as the budget that left women out, " he told MPs.
"This is the budget that said to working Kiwi women, they are worth less - in fact, nearly $3 billion a year less. The budget that says women are worth less than tax breaks for landlords... than tax breaks for tobacco companies... than tax breaks for multinational corporations like Google and Facebook."
The PSA Worker's Union was also scathing, calling it a "wage theft budget" that would take more than $12 billion from women.
National secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said it exposed the government's naked theft of wages from thousands of underpaid women to pay for tax cuts for landlords.
It was a budget paid for by taking $60 million a week from people like care and support workers among others, she said.
Fitzsimons called on the government to sit down with workers, unions, employers and pay equity experts in a proper select committee process and come up with a new framework.
- RNZ and APL
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RNZ News
29 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Councils, builders pleased with liability changes, but insurers warn of challenges
Building and construction minister Chris Penk (R) and prime minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Councils, builders, and the opposition are largely in favour of Building Act changes that would signal a move towards proportionate liability. But insurers say there could be "challenges" in the approach, and want further discussions with the government as the policy is developed. Under the status-quo, the building framework operates under a 'joint and several' liability, meaning liability is shared between all parties, regardless of the cost or responsibility. It has meant councils, and therefore ratepayers, have been left with an often disproportionate level of risk for any defects or repairs, as they are seen as the party with the deepest pockets. The government plans to replace the model with a proportionate system, with each party only liable for the share of work they carry out. It is something Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has long called for. "Councils have ultimately been holding the bag at the end of the process when things go wrong. If you were to have work done on your home or a house built, that hasn't really come top of mind for people because they know they can go to council," said LGNZ's vice president Campbell Barry. He said with lower risk exposure, councils could be more confident in their consenting processes. "It'll encourage not as much of the overly-cautious behaviour that maybe has developed over time, due to that liability falling on councils." LGNZ vice president and Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker Announcing the changes, building and construction minister Chris Penk said the "risk-averse" behaviour from councils had led to "frustrating" delays, and extra costs for builders and homeowners. "Once you reduce that delay, then you get better productivity, and costs will reduce." Penk said councils had paid out $330 million over 10 years for defects for which they were not responsible. Registered Master Builders said the "unfair" liability system was one of the biggest challenges the industry faced, and was pleased it was being addressed. "I think you always want a fair system," said chief executive Ankit Sharma. "You don't want a system where one party ends up taking an unfair burden of risk. If they do, then they put protections in place which then creates red tape, and slows everything down. It takes longer, and costs us more, to build houses." Legislation to change the liability settings will not be introduced to Parliament until early 2026, with a view of passing it by the middle of that year. Between now and then, the government would explore "supporting mechanisms" for proportionate liability, to protect homeowners under the new system. Professional indemnity insurance and home warranties were both mooted, but Penk wanted more time to work it through. He indicated the government would talk to councils, insurers, and consumers about what consumer protection measures would work best, and whether they would be compulsory or voluntary. "We don't want the problem of the empty chair, where there is a gap in terms of what the homeowner might be left with," he said. "But we also know that if we have a proportionate liability system, where all the key players in the system are either required to have the protections in place themselves, and are also motivated not to make the errors in the first place, then we'll have a more productive and efficient and better system overall." Labour was "broadly supportive" of the changes but wanted to see more detail around the consumer protections to ensure there was no repeat of the 'leaky homes' saga. "We want to see the detail around the extra support, or the extra, I guess, reassurance that's going to be available to first-home buyers, that they're not going to be left with a liability with no-one else willing to pay if something goes wrong," said Labour leader Chris Hipkins. "But we broadly think that the changes are heading in the right direction." Hipkins said there had been several reviews of the Building Act, and all had found that consumer protection was the key issue. Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Master Builders, which was singled out by Penk as already offering a 10-year guarantee cover policy, was in favour of mandating warranties and insurance. Sharma also called for other consumer protection measures, such as tougher entry requirements for builders, a stronger licensing system with real enforcement, and a register of liquidations and penalties so homeowners could make informed decisions when choosing a builder. "The combination of all of that with the right insurance scheme, I think lifts the standard enough for consumer protection so that we can move to a proportional system." The Insurance Council of New Zealand said it had held discussions with the government about the "preliminary thinking" on the move to proportionate liability. "These included some of the challenges for insurers around this approach," a spokesperson said, adding ICNZ looked forward to further discussions with the government as the policy developed. Penk said there had been some appetite from the insurance sector, but acknowledged it was a "chicken and egg" situation, as everyone needed the comfort and certainty before they were willing to step up. Streamlining the Building Consent Authority (BCA) model has been long-signalled by the government, with Penk first announcing he was taking a look nearly a year ago. He said 66 different interpretations of the same Building Code had led to frustration in the sector, and added cost and delays. Sharma was in favour of the consolidation, saying over half of Registered Master Builder members had experienced delays and "consenting inefficiencies" due to working with multiple BCAs. "It's common, when you have different BCAs, they have different systems. So that creates, from a business owner perspective, inconsistency in the way different systems are operating. And also, in some cases, how different inspectors can interpret rules differently." Registered Master Builders chief executive Ankit Sharma. Photo: Supplied The government had looked at other options like a single point of contact or establishing large regional BCAs to replace the existing ones. Ultimately, it has landed on a voluntary model, allowing councils to pool resources like their accreditation processes or staff if they chose to. Barry, who is also Lower Hutt mayor, said councils in the Wellington region had already discussed creating consenting efficiencies across the region. He said the voluntary approach was preferable, as councils were already grappling with reforms like Local Water Done Well and other pressures. "I would say the proof will be in the pudding over the next 12 to 18 months, and how many councils actually take that up, and what it looks like," he said. "I suspect it's something that will be revisited later in the future, but at the same time I think a voluntary approach and encouraging councils and providing the right settings for them to work together is a good thing." Penk would not put a number on how many BCAs he would like to see. "Any number smaller than 66 would be a win. But I suspect at a regional level, we'll see perhaps as many as half a dozen moves made quite promptly," Penk said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
Letters: Ministers' comments on teachers unfair and misleading
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Is Auckland really the 'City of Fails', or does it just have a cashflow problem?
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown at the launch of the State of the City report. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Auckland has been labelled the City of Fails after its annual State of the City report, which highlighted glaring issues with the city's economy, productivity, innovation, education and more. Its flagging GDP, city sprawl, reliance on cars, a lack of walkability... the condemnation goes on. But it was not just this one report. Other issues have been regularly highlighted this year - the sudden increase in homelessness; endless road works and construction from the City Rail Link development; gaping holes where CBD developments have just stopped, the cranes in cold storage. All this while the South Island and rural communities are showing sparks of coming out of recession in a post-Covid era - it is a tale of two different economic recoveries. The Detail looks at what is wrong with Auckland, what is right and what needs to be done to make it better. Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges has been pushing the government to come to the aid of the city, where he is seeing the results of weak economic growth, a lack of investment and flagging retail trade. He says he has tried to put politics aside but, yes, it is possible his former job as leader of the National Party has helped his advocacy. "I think central government is listening," he says. "I think what we need to see now is just a bit of urgent action. If you think about Auckland, we've had several years of difficulty and you might say well, what's several more months? But the reality is even if things do get a bit better next year, there's a lot of pain out there. "I've put forward some ideas of things that could be done, but I don't have a monopoly on the answers. Ultimately what we want to see happen is stuff that is going to improve the sentiment and get some spending happening, because if Auckland was a business it would be a business with a cashflow issue." So far the government has not raced in to help with any short-term stimulus. Prime Minister Chris Luxon told RNZ he would "keep looking at what we can do", but an "Auckland-specific stimulus thing is quite difficult to do ... I don't know how you'd go about doing that". Bridges has given him a bunch of ideas, including relaxing visa requirements for Asian tourists to make it easier for them to come here, encouraging international students and letting Mayor Wayne Brown have his bed levy as a way of increasing council income and bidding for more big events to come to the city. "We're not rich enough that we don't need that money swilling around at a time when, in Auckland at least, hotel rates - occupancy and so on - is very bad. Worse than last year actually." There are some bright lights on the horizon, including the scheduled opening next year of the long-awaited City Rail Link, and the International Convention Centre. However, the infrastructure pipeline behind that is looking bleak, especially with government moves to cap rates rises, block councils from using other methods to raise money, and now the introduction of some hasty rules telling councils what they should focus on and how they should behave. The Local Government (Systems Improvement) Amendment Bill - which councils have just four weeks to submit on - tells them to stick to core services like roads, rubbish and water, and get rid of spending on cultural, community and environmental things - the nice-to-haves. The things the city is measured on internationally. North Shore resident Hayden Donnell is a senior writer for The Spinoff. He thinks the city is improving, and can list a raft of places in the CBD where it is lively, pedestrian-friendly and full of great cafes and restaurants. Donnell talks to The Detail about the good and the bad, including beaches, buses and bad planning rules. "I think we probably are a little bit negative about Auckland," he says. "Maybe we do undersell the fact that we have this beautiful natural environment, there's a lot of places that are going really well. "At the same time I think it's true ... there are lots of areas where we could improve, where the rest of the world has caught up with this thing called 'walkable areas' and 'pedestrian malls' ... that kind of vibrant shopping that you can go to Europe and experience doesn't really happen here to the same extent. "But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we're very fortunate." Something Aucklanders do have is Auckland FC, which has lit the city up with its nearly-all conquering ways this year, breaking A-League crowd records in its debut season. Auckland Football director Terry McFlynn grew up in a little village in south Derry, Northern Ireland. He has lived in Perth, Sydney and London. Now he lives in Auckland. "There's a lot of people that take a lot of pride in Auckland as a city and want to see it progress, and want to see a vibrant city, which I believe it is. "I think the restaurants and bars and that lifestyle that Auckland can give around the viaduct and down by the harbour ... you know it's second to none in the whole world in my opinion." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
