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- By Parmjeet Parmar, Pakuranga-based ACT List MP
When New Zealanders forfeit their hard-earned money to the Government, they expect value for money from their taxes.
That’s why Budget 2025 finds savings to invest where it matters: in health, education, and law and order.
My ACT colleague Brooke van Velden has found $12.8 billion in savings through her reforms to the pay equity system to ensure claims are fair and grounded in evidence of sex-based discrimination.
By doing this, we’ve freed up money for significant investments in a very challenging economic environment.
In health, we’ve invested in better access to urgent and after-hours care.
New funding extends clinic hours, backs providers, and offers more choice for patients.
In south Auckland, a new 24/7 urgent care service in Counties Manukau will relieve pressure on Middlemore Hospital and ensure your family can get care when and where you need it.
We’re also improving access to long-term medications by increasing the maximum prescription length from three months to 12 months.
That will save you time and money on GP visits.
ACT is taking a leading role in tackling the school attendance crisis.
Learning starts with being in class. That’s why Budget 2025 includes targeted investment in getting kids back into school, a key initiative driven by ACT’s Associate Minister of Education, David Seymour.
On law and order, we’re upgrading Oranga Tamariki facilities to break the cycle of youth crime and investing in speeding up the courts to deliver faster justice for victims.
Of course, supporting essential services is only part of the equation.
Just as vital is creating the conditions for long-term economic growth.
When businesses are confident, they invest. That investment creates jobs, lifts incomes, and raises our standard of living.
Growth comes from private enterprise, not from spending for its own sake.
The new Investment Boost incentive will allow a 20 per cent immediate tax deduction for businesses who invest in new machinery, equipment and technology.
This will improve productivity, driving more jobs and higher wages.
Combine that with ACT’s drive to cut red tape, and the future for business, jobs, and incomes is looking much brighter.
Some might wish things moved further and faster. It’s fair to say the changes made don’t go as far as ACT would have liked, but they go a lot further than they would have in a Government without ACT.
