National's Families Policy Welcomed

National has released its Families Policy and it contains some impressive changes to the status quo. For instance it extends the 20 hours free Early Childhood Education to Playcentres, Kohanga Reo and Pacific language nests. It's also promising to increase the number of Plunket or Well Child services for new parents who need extra help and to fund Plunketline. Labour has refused to properly include Playcentres within the ECE 20 hours policy.

While National fails to include income splitting for tax purposes there is a pledge for further tax reform. Parents Choice 08 does not see the National Party's family policy as being inconsistent with either its own policies or those of United Future if Saturday's election leads to a National-United Future government.

New Zealand needs stronger economy

With so many kiwi families leaving for Australia and so many students doing their OE but not coming back home we have to ask what can be done to bring kiwis home in the long term.

Most parents recognise the value of local community sports and cultural groups. The value of New Zealand’s empty beaches and unspoilt bush walks is appreciated by many families. It’s true that there is more to life than the size of the pay packet. However, if we are to create an environment that remains attractive to our children’s generation then we need to ensure that New Zealand remains competitive in terms of income levels and job opportunities.

A recent study by the NZ Institute’s Dr David Skilling compared our income levels with those of Australia. New Zealand's per capita income was $40,021 per annum. Per capita incomes in Queensland ($54,317) and New South Wales ($55,805), are now significantly higher. Western Australia ($58,688), another popular destination for departing NZers is even further ahead. And the mineral boom in the Northern Territory ($78,527) has lifted the per capita to nearly double the New Zealand figure. Even Australia's poorest state, Tasmania ($49,056) now enjoys a lead over this country.

Extensive tax reform is now long overdue in New Zealand. Most New Zealand families would prefer to spend their own money rather than have the government spend it on their behalf. For parents Income Splitting would be a helpful step along the way to giving us more of a choice. In the absence of Income Splitting lower tax rates would be a step in the right direction. Labour has already announced tax cuts in the recent Budget. Commentators now await National’s tax plan (expected in September). United Future remains the only political party to commit to income splitting as well as tax cuts more generally. Tax cuts and higher productivity have been linked to higher economic growth rates. Without higher rates of economic growth our economy will not be able to provide a higher living standard for all New Zealanders. Without attractive job opportunities we will find it difficult to persuade kiwis to move back home.

Early Childhood Education Funding

Playcentre www.playcentre.org.nz is a parent-run co-operative which provides early childhood education. It is indigenous to New Zealand and has provided a significant share of ECE service in NZ. However, to date Playcentre has been excluded from sharing in the funding the government makes available to teacher-led ECE providers. The reason given is that Playcentre does not charge high enough prices to parents. So therefore they cannot access the subsidies made available to other ECE service providers. Very odd given that the purpose of the subsidies is to reduce the price parents have to pay.

Playcentres have trained parents leading ECE sessions. They are NZQA qualified. So poor quality cannot be the issue. So why the discrimination? Maybe they just don't fit the funding formula that the Ministry of Education likes to work with? Maybe the parents running playcentres are not union members? In any case in a smart piece of political tactics the National party recently announced that it would bring Playcentres into the mainstream of ECE funding. The question now is whether Labour will at long last do the same?

National doubtful about Income Splitting

National Party Finance Spokesperson, Bill English,has responded to a letter from Parents Choice indicating that while National would continue to discuss the issue at this stage they did not support it on the basis that under Income Splitting the benefits would not get to the right people.

Parents' Choice '08 will continue to lobby a range of political parties, including National, to promote the value of parenting and to push for Income Splitting as a valuable addition in a progressive tax regime.

Income Splitting - An Idea Whose Time Has Come

During the last two weeks Parents Choice has received a significant number of emails and comments from people supporting income splitting and from news media interested in the campaign. The tide is coming in and support is rising for income splitting.

In the past 14 days alone various media including "Norwester", "Challenge Weekly", "Shine TV", "Scoop", and overseas websites have all published articles and news reports about the Parents Choice campaign for income splitting. We have had expressions of support from Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Waikenae, Lower Hutt, Wellington, and Christchurch. It has been amazing to see the widespread interest in a policy change that will show New Zealand values families and the investment of time and effort in raising children.

Please pass on the contact details to friends and relatives who might be interested in indicating their support for income splitting. We need the campaign to continue to gather momentum during March so that by the time the Government's Discussion Paper is relased there is already a strong movement for change. Email parentschoice08@gmail.com and show your support today. United Future has already pledged its support for Income Splitting. We believe that over the next few months National, Labour and other parties will also see the need to signal their support for the hundreds of thousands of full time parents who are busy investing in the next generation.