[ad_1]
The Maori Party wants the minimum wage immediately raised to $ 25 an hour and promises to double benefit payments.
The party’s revenue policy would also create a universal student subsidy at twice the current subsidy rates and cancel all debts owed to the government through welfare loans.
Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Stuff on Tuesday, the party wanted to increase the income of 50,000 whānau living in poverty.
“It’s really basic, it’s bread and butter. If our whānau can feed themselves and put a roof over their heads, they will be fine. When they are well, they can learn, when they learn, they can win, and the fundamental part of being able to tackle poverty is being able to learn and win, ”he said.
Brody Dolan / Stuff
Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer wants the minimum wage to be raised to $ 25 an hour, immediately.
READ MORE:
* Maori voters must stand to be counted
* The chairman of the Maori party distrusts the national association: ‘He kicked us out’
* Proposed child care allowance for elected council members falls below living wage
Maori Party policy would place the minimum wage more than $ 6 above the current rate, $ 18.90 per hour, and higher than the “living wage” that some companies and public organizations have agreed to pay and that social researchers have set it at $ 22.10. .
Minimum wage increases can depress employment as companies choose not to create new jobs or defer the decision to employ people, although moderate minimum wage increases are said to have little effect on employment when indicated in advance.
The Maori Party lacked cost calculations for revenue policies, although Ngarewa-Packer said there would have to be a “leveling of the playing field” or a restructuring of the tax system. The party had not yet formed its fiscal policy.
“Everybody has been arguing, and we have supported a capital gains tax for a while … We all have to look in and around ourselves and there are some taxes that were tried in the last three years that we think should be carried out “.
Ngarewa-Packer said the Covid-19 crisis had brought a renewed sense of urgency to efforts to lift the Maori Whānau out of poverty.
He said increasing the incomes of poor New Zealanders would create beneficial compensation, as it would improve justice and health outcomes and reduce economic spending on public services.
The party would double working-age benefit rates, meaning that the support payment for job applicants would go from $ 250 a week for a single person 25 and older to $ 500 a week.
The youth benefit, set lower for those under 19, would be replaced with the working-age benefit rate and benefits would be individualized so that a person could receive payments regardless of their partner’s income.
The Maori Party would also eliminate all economic sanctions, penalties and labor obligations required of beneficiaries, and eliminate all debts owed to the state for income support.
The student allowance would be doubled and made universal, and public transportation would be free for tertiary education students. Currently, the allowance is set at $ 200 per week for people under the age of 24.
Ngarewa-Packer said the government was already spending large sums on a “two-tier benefit system,” or Covid-19 income relief payments that the party would abolish, and hundreds of millions were going to pay subsidies.
“We know that there are loans from future generations for today’s issues, but not investing in our future liabilities is an absolute sham for this country,” he said.
