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Government to consider future of cost of living payment
The government may opt to keep its cost of living payment for a little longer, despite one of the triggers to end the payments likely to be met.
The deputy prime minister, who argued for the four-week test in the first place, is supportive of keeping the payments for now, in case recent lower prices have turned out to be a blip rather than a return to normal.
But David Seymour says if it is a return to normal, then it is time for the payments to end.
Since April, 143,000 families have been able to receive support through a $50 boost to the in-work tax credit (IWTC).
The support has been designed to cease after 12 months, or until the price of 91 petrol drops below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks, whichever comes first.
Prices dipped below $3 in late June, and on Tuesday morning fuel monitoring website Gaspy reported the average price of 91 had returned to $3 exactly.
The finance minister has hinted that, given the “s-shape in which prices have gone up and down”, the relief will stay.
On Monday, Nicola Willis said she had received three weeks of official data, and would get data for the fourth week on Wednesday.
“We anticipate that will show fuel prices below $3 for the week previous, which will trigger me to take advice to Cabinet on what we do with the scheme going forward,” she said.
“However, officials have advised me that, given the significant increase in international fuel prices in the past few weeks, they are anticipating that the fuel price in future weeks will have spiked up above $3 again.”
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
ACT leader David Seymour supported holding onto the payment in case the lower prices turned out to be a “blip” instead of a return to normal.
“The policy says we have to make a decision if it goes four weeks under $3, and that leaves some leeway for a scenario where this ends up being the only four weeks for the rest of the year where the price is under $3. I don’t think we should get rid of it in that case,” he said.
“But let’s see. Give it another week, and if it starts to look like we’re going to be under $3 for a long time, then it’s time to save money for the taxpayer and end this policy that was there for dealing with high fuel prices.”
Documents released by the Treasury earlier this month showed initially, the government was only considering the 12-month package.
The one-year increase to the IWTC was estimated to cost $373 million. It would cost less if the four consecutive weeks of fuel under $3 happened before then.
Seymour said it was ACT that got the four-week rule over the line.
“In a few weeks we will know, was this four weeks a blip or was it a return to more normal prices? If it was a blip, we’ll be glad that we didn’t abandon the policy prematurely. If this is hopefully a return to more normal prices, then the only thing to do is to cease this payment and save the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty said people needed help, and Labour supported the relief staying in place.
“We’re criticising them for not doing enough, but we’re not going to ask them to take away the sole standing thing that they have done.”
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
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