Hon Grant Robertson

Minister of Finance

11 September 2019 PĀNUI PĀPĀHO

MEDIA STATEMENT

Legislation has been introduced in Parliament today to ensure every Government considers the wellbeing of New Zealanders when creating future budgets.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says the successful delivery of the Wellbeing Budget this year placed wellbeing at the heart of the Government’s policy-making.

“However, achieving genuine and enduring change requires establishing a public sector and systems geared towards this new way of working.

“Rather than measuring progress in purely economic terms, this Government is committed to taking a broader approach to measuring New Zealand’s progress.

“This includes fiscal policy, where we want to consider the wellbeing of our environment, people and communities, alongside existing macroeconomic and fiscal indicators,” Grant Robertson says.

The Public Finance (Wellbeing) Amendment Bill achieves this by requiring the Government to set wellbeing objectives and explain how those objectives will guide the development of its Budget.

It will also require the Treasury to report periodically on the state of wellbeing in New Zealand.

“We need to support long-term intergenerational wellbeing and a build a more forward-looking, strategic focus into our Budget process.

“We will always have a careful and close eye on our fiscal performance, but New Zealanders have told us that that is not sufficient.

“We’ll keep the strengths of our current statutory fiscal requirements, and build on these with a wider framework.

“A Budget needs to reflect the importance of the health of our people, our environment, and our communities, and that is what this Bill will do,” Grant Robertson says.

The changes are expected to be in place for Budget 2020.

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