The centrepiece of the 2014 Budget is a $493 million package aimed at families, which will extend paid parental leave, provide free doctors visits and prescriptions to children under 13, and increase the amount received under the parental tax credit, Radio New Zealand reports.
Steven Joyce with Bill English in happier times. Photo: RNZ/Diego Opatowski
Finance Minister Bill English told Parliament Budget 2014 shows a return to fiscal surpluses. He said the New Zealand economy has regained much of the ground lost in the golbal financial crisis. He said wages are rising faster than inflation. “The Budget forecasts show real GDP growth of between 2 and 4 per cent in each of the next four years, with growth forecast to peak at 4 per cent in the year to March 2015.”
The total families package will cost the government $493 million over four years.
Paid parental leave will be extended from the current 14 weeks, to 16 weeks next April, and to 18 weeks on the 1 April 2016, at a cost of $141 million over four years.
However the current weekly rate paid to families will remain the same. Leave entitlements will also be extended to those in permanent care arrangements, for example under Child Youth and Family and grandparents caring for grandchildren, people who may have recently changed jobs, seasonal or casual workers, or those who have more than one employer.
You can see more of RNZ’s Budget coverage here.
