Macindoe Tim: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMacindoe Tim: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 26 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3934. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) to the Minister of Finance: How does Budget 2015 continue the Government’s plan to manage the public finances while supporting the most vulnerable?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): The Government has continued its plan to be careful with spending and to choose carefully where it allocates new spending. As a result of that despite fiscal constraints we have continued an ongoing programme of supporting New Zealand families to get ahead. This has resulted in a number of changes. From 1 April this year paid parental leave increased by 2 weeks to 16 weeks. It will increase by another 2 weeks next April. On 1 April the adult minimum wage increased to $14.75. New Zealand superannuation increased by another 2 percent. From 1 July this year children under 13 will have access to free GP visits and free prescriptions. From 1 April next year the benefit rates for beneficiary families with children will go up by $25 a week.Tim Macindoe: How will Budget 2015 support more jobs and higher wages for New Zealand families?Hon BILL ENGLISH: One of the most important things we can do for vulnerable families is to assist the parents into work. When they are in work of course it is important for them to see the prospect of steadily rising incomes. This is occurring. The Budget forecast shows 194000 extra jobs since late 2010 and another 150000 jobs are expected by 2019. Average annual wages have increased by $5700 in the last 4 years and are forecast to rise by a further $7000 to where the annual average wage will be $63000 a year in 4 years’ time. We can assist more people into work because there are more jobs and when they are in jobs both the minimum wage and the average wage will continue to rise.Tim Macindoe: How will the Government’s $790 million child hardship package deliver more support for the families who need it most?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The evidence shows that those families who are most in need are those who are persistently on low incomes for a long time on benefit where there are children. Therefore the Government’s package is targeted at lifting the benefit rates for families with children. This is the first time that core benefit rates have been increased apart from inflation adjustments since 1972. We also recognise that low-income working families are under pressure and so there are increases in the minimum family tax credit and in the base rate of the in-work tax credit. And in addition to that childcare assistance will be increased. The package targets around 160000 families with 300000 children on incomes of less than $36350 per year.Tim Macindoe: What other measures were progressed as part of Budget 2015 to support vulnerable New Zealanders?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Government is continuing to advance its social investment approach which is aimed at resolving some of the most complex social and family problems that there are in our community. Outside of the child hardship package the Budget also provides over $100 million for these further initiatives and they are initiatives aimed at breaking the cycles that lock families into long-term dependency—that is the cycles of drug and alcohol addiction criminal offending persistently low incomes low educational achievement and domestic violence. This Government is not afraid to try to address those issues directly because in a sense it does not matter how much income those families have they have got more serious long-term problems that need sustained support in order to resolve them.