Peters had already commented on this during last month’s kingmaker’s debate, when he said the tax credit boost should be $120 and “possibly more for some”, and it would be paid for by NZ First’s proposed Future Fund.
The minimum wage has been increasing every year under this coalition, but at a rate less than inflation. It is now $23.95 an hour.
How the minimum wage might move would be a point of contention in any post-election talks, should the coalition be returned to power.
Act announced last month that it wanted to freeze the adult minimum wage for three years. The reasoning was that wages should only rise along with productivity, and a freeze would “give productivity and market wages time to catch up”.
Act also wants to reduce the training minimum wage for workers under 20 years old, which is set at 80% of the adult wage. Act wants this lowered to 60%.
Peters told the audience in Invercargill that NZ First had consistently pushed for increases to the minimum wage.
“We are the party that has been responsible for the yearly increase in minimum wage in three separate governments – 2005, 2017, and 2023.
“Workers need to have the ability to afford the basics without falling behind the rate of inflation.”
On the ongoing boost through the in-work tax credit, Peters said: “This policy will turn the temporary relief into a long-term pathway for hard-working parents to be able to plan for their families’ future.”
He estimated the commitment to cost between $500-$600 million per year.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.