Luxon unveils ‘FamilyBoost’ policy to make childcare more affordable for families

By CHRIS HARROWELL

If elected to Government at this year’s general election, the National Party will ban gang patches in public places, slash spending on consultants, lift incomes for all Kiwis, and increase standards in health and education.

Party leader and Botany MP

Christopher Luxon laid out his vision for the country at his state of the nation speech in Auckland on March 5.

He said the Labour Government is under-performing, has taken New Zealand backwards, and cannot deliver.

Kiwis are unhappy about the country’s worsening economic problems and feel burdened and stifled by a bloated Government that’s grown too bureaucratic, too wasteful and is unresponsive to their problems, he said.

“It’s not good enough to say you’re going to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but not do it.

“It’s not good enough to say you’re going to build affordable housing, but not actually do it.

“Talking about it gets you a headline. But only doing it makes a difference.”

Luxon said interest rates, rents and inflation are “damagingly high”, and investor, business and consumer confidence are “worryingly low”.

“Core public services are dire. Hospital wait times are at record levels. So is retail crime. School absenteeism is shocking. These are not records any government wants to claim, but this is New Zealand under Labour.”

Luxon made five commitments he vowed to deliver on if elected prime minister.

They are that National will curb the rising cost of living, lift incomes, deliver resilient infrastructure, restore law and order, and provide better health and education services.

Cops hope station will help deter crime

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“We’d like to think our greater visibility in the area and coming and going from this base and just being visible around the town will hopefully deter anything. It’s a bit of prevention and just being available and around as much as we can.

On the cost of living crisis, Luxon said he’d take some of Labour’s wasteful spending and use it for a new ‘FamilyBoost’ childcare tax rebate to make early childhood education more affordable.

It’ll help 130,000 low-andmiddle-income families keep more of what they earn, with up to $75 more in their aftertax pay each week, he said.

“That’s $3,900 every year, depending on their income. Families will receive a 25 per cent rebate on their early childhood education expenses, up to the maximum of $3,900 per year.”

Luxon said FamilyBoost will also help families who want to work more hours.

A party vote for National will be a “vote to stop the drift that’s taking New Zealand backwards and to instead start the engine that will take us forwards”, he said.

“I’m ready. My team is ready. We know we can do it. We know we can deliver the results that matter to New Zealanders, and we can’t wait to get on with it and get things done.”

“If anything serious is going on people should call 111 and the response would come from Ormiston [station].

“They [those frontline officers] are out here as well, but if anything happens here locally while we’re working we’re able to attend to those things reasonably quickly as well.”

The matters people contact the station about aren’t always crime-related but he and his team do their best to sort out small issues so they don’t become big ones, Meale says.

“They’re social issues and we become a bit of a fall-back agency because we’re 24-7.

“People seem to report things to us that with a little bit of communication between neighbours might sort things out rather than trying to involve the police.

“They aren’t things that are our job but we try to do it to stop it from becoming bigger than it needs to get and becoming a criminal matter.”

Meale says locals have several ways of reporting crime, including the police’s 105 non-emergency phone number.

“They can make reports without coming to the station, but a lot of people like the comfort of coming in and talking to us. We go over things and say what we can and can’t do.

“Even though we’re based in Howick and we like to cover Howick, my staff are the community cops for Bucklands Beach, Pakuranga, Botany, and Flat Bush, so we cover a big area.

“Because we’re based in Howick we like to do as much as we can in this community.”

The station is at 76 Cook Street. It’s open 8am4pm Monday and Thursday and can be contacted by phoning 105.