NZ’s Robertson Says Worker Insurance Scheme Remains on Hold

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson said a worker insurance scheme remains off the table because economic conditions are not suitable.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Huawei Teardown Shows Chip Breakthrough in Blow to US Sanctions

• China Slowdown Means It May Never Overtake US Economy, Forecast Shows

• Return-to-Office Is a $1.3 Trillion Problem Few Have Figured Out

• Billion-Dollar Corporate Bond Deals Hit Treasuries: Markets Wrap

• United Airlines Resumes US Flights After Temporary Grounding on Tech Issue

The program, designed to support those who are made redundant or unable to work because of injury or disability, was announced in early 2022 but paused earlier this year, when new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins undertook a review of policy work in order to ease a cost-of-living crisis.

Robertson was challenged by main opposition National Party finance spokesperson Nicola Willis over the scheme during a discussion Tuesday in Wellington. The two were part of a panel debate less than six weeks out from the Oct. 14 general election.

As originally outlined, the insurance scheme would be funded by levies on wages and salaries, with workers and employers both paying more. Willis said that such a “massive jobs tax” would cost every business in New Zealand.

“That scheme is being put on hold until economic conditions improve,” Robertson said. “At the moment economic conditions are not in a place where we can do it.”

Robertson also defended increases in the minimum wage, which has gone up 20% in the past three years, and challenged Willis on whether she would also raise it every year if she became finance minister.

Willis said she would, although “we want to be more moderate than Labour has been because workers tell us that there’s no use getting a pay rise if the next day all the prices of the supermarket are higher as a result.”

“What people want to see is the cost of living reduced and their real incomes increased and that’s what National is committed to,” she said.

Willis also said National’s proposal to cut the tax rate for the the highest income earners “will not be happening next term.”

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Lyme Disease Has Exploded, and a New Vaccine Is (Almost) Here

• Is Carlos Alcaraz the Next Billion-Dollar Tennis Player?

• How a Tiny Mexican Border City Built a Budget Dental Empire

• Nigeria’s Train to Nowhere Shows How Not to Build Public Transit

• The Hostile Takeover of Blue Cities by Red States

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.