Carers, teachers & nurses lose up to $17b, to fund $14b of tax cuts

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

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Carers, teachers & nurses lose up to $17b, to fund $14b of tax cuts

Pay equity grab wrecks wage rises worth up to $17b over 4 years, paying for $14b of tax cuts for NZ's wealthiest; Developers salivate over Kāinga Ora's Auckland land 'goldmines'; 3m fewer hours worked

Bernard Hickey

May 07, 2025

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Transcript

The planned $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords and high earners will effectively be paid for by wage cuts for the poorest workers, almost all of whom are women. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

Briefly, in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, May 7:

Retrospective legislation rammed through Parliament last night will cost women up to $17 billion of unpaid wages over the next four years, more than paying for $14 billion of tax cuts over the same time.
The Government is looking at selling at least $1.7 billion worth of land under Kāinga Ora homes in Auckland.
Jobs figures show three million fewer hours were worked over the last year, although ASB is hiring 80 new mortgage processors.1
KiwiRail says the ferries cancellation could cost over $800 million.
Chris Liddell’s business class flights from New York to Auckland to speak at the investment summit in March were paid for by the Government.
The Reserve Bank says it is open to loosening capital requirements for banks, which would allow an acceleration of credit into the housing market.

(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers.)

That’s one way to do it

The Government’s passed retrospective legislation under urgency last night that wrecks 33 pay equity deals. It means up to $17.034 billion in wages and back-pay will now not go to over 150,000 workers over the next years.

That effectively means the planned $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to New Zealand’s landlords and highest earners are being paid for by wage cuts for the poorest New Zealanders, almost all of whom are women.

Speaking engagement costs

The Government paid more than $20,000 for return flights from New York to Auckland for millionaire Chris Liddell, an adviser to Donald Trump, to speak at its investment summit in March, The NZ Herald reported this morning.

Development ‘goldmines’

841 Kāinga Ora homes on land in Auckland worth $1.7 billion are described as ‘goldmines’ by developers in this NZ Herald-$ analysis as the Government starts selling 900 of the homes each year to ‘recycle’ the money into developments elsewhere.

Soft jobs market

Flat unemployment figures for the March quarter disguised soft jobs numbers, including a fall of three million hours worked in the last year and much-weaker-than-expected jobs growth.

Before a ferry is delivered

KiwiRail has revealed to RNZ the cancellation of the iRex ferries has already cost the taxpayer $507.3 million, before a break fee yet to be paid for Hyundai that could cost another $300 million.

My Top ‘Pick ‘n’ Mix’ Six for Wednesday, May 7

Politics & transport scoop by Simon Wilson for NZ Herald-$: John Key reveals moves to 'sideline' two ministers to get CRL built
Housing & New Plymouth news by Robin Martin for RNZ: Car park suggested as temporary space for town's homeless
Housing news by Denise Piper for The Northern Advocate: New Whangārei cafe offers support and services for rough sleepers
Good climate & transport news by Eloise Gibson for RNZ: The good news about NZ's 10 million fossil-fuelled machines
Politics & insurance news by Jenée Tibshraeny for NZ Herald-$: Govt warned it'll be lumped with bigger bill than insurers if disaster strikes
EV tech deep-dive by BBC: China has been trialling battery swaps for electric cars for years. Are they a viable solution to range anxiety?

Quote of the day:

“It's really gut wrenching. I just feel so sorry for these women workers and employees. They don't know what situation they're going to end up with now. It's terrible, it's sad.
“What's going to happen? They're going to move over to Australia. All these good nurses, teachers, carers. What's going to happen to our retirement villages? I mean it's bad enough now.
“I know what's going to happen within the unions. I tell you what, there's going to be a big rebellion I'm sure.” Pay equity pioneer Kristine Bartlett via 1News/RNZ.

Kristine Bartlett and National Party Health Minister Jonathan Coleman sign the Care and Support Workers' pay equity settlement agreement in 2017. Photo: Lynn Grieveson

Number of the day:

70,700 - The number of 15–24-year-olds who were unemployed in the March quarter, with a total of 96,600 who were not in employment, education or training (NEET).