New Zealand First wants more people to have babies – and would pay them to do it.
The party also confirmed former Defence Minister Ron Mark was returning to the party, and will stand in the election.
At a public meeting in Masterton, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said New Zealand was facing a “population precipice,” and the rate of New Zealand citizens having children had fallen dramatically.
“We need more Kiwis having more children, and one way to do that is to substantially lower the main barrier most are facing, that is the cost,” he said.
The party’s Kiwi Kids Grant would seek to arrest that fall, by paying parents $5,000 a year for the first three years, and for up to three children.
Peters announced the grant at an NZ First public meeting.
RNZ/Giles Dexter
To qualify, one parent would need to be a New Zealand citizen.
“New Zealand needs to get our birthrate increasing before it’s too late,” Peters said.
Peters said the tax-free payment would be administered through the Inland Revenue Department.
The policy, which the party had cosseted at $400 million a year by the time it was fully up and running, would be funded through operating baselines.
Peters admitted the policy could cost more “because it might be such a roaring success”.
Addressing the crowd in Masterton, he said the issue of a declining birth rate was found around the Western world.
“Other countries have implemented fundamental changes of policy to reverse this decline, and we need to make serious changes here to back home in New Zealand before it is too late,” he said.
“Masking this massive problem by increasing migration is just papering off the cracks, and will be disastrous for our future. Immigration should be based on people you need, not people who need you.
Afterwards, he denied the policy was playing into ‘replacement theory,’ saying the policy was about helping people have children because the costs were too high.
ACT leader David Seymour said he could see what New Zealand First was trying to do, but many countries had tried to pay people to have children without results.
“It doesn’t seem to have worked where it has been tried in other countries. And bear in mind, if you have one income and you earn $100,000, the earned income tax credit and Working for Families are giving you about the same amount already.”
Ron Mark.
RNZ / Angus Dreaver
New Zealand First also confirmed Ron Mark was returning to the party. Mark, who was an MP from 1996 to 2008, and again from 2014 to 2020, will stand in the Wairarapa electorate.