Jacinda Ardern
Associate Minister, Arts, Culture and Heritage
Minister, Child Poverty Reduction
Minister, Ministerial Services
Minister, National Security and Intelligence
Prime Minister
Kia ora, and good afternoon. Today, I’m joined by Associate Minister of Health Dr *Ayesha Verrall to announce significant outcomes from the Government’s *Healthy Homes Initiative. But, first, the week ahead: I’m in Auckland tomorrow, focused on our economic recovery, including meeting with the chairman of Lloyd’s and a visit to the *Auckland Film Studios, which are seeing a healthy stream of productions.
On Wednesday, the end-of-year Crown accounts are released, covering the toughest period in our COVID response, including the responses to both Delta and Omicron. Without revealing the details, despite those challenges we know our current position is strong. Our economy is now 5 percent larger than before COVID. Unemployment is considerably lower than it was at the comparable period after the *global financial crisis, and we’ve managed to achieve this with a similar debt level to what National took on as a percentage of GDP during the GFC. That is despite the COVID economic crisis being even more severe. Our economic management has been purposeful. When COVID arrived, we set out to avoid the mistakes of the past, and we have, coming out of COVID in better shape than the comparable period of the GFC and better than most countries we compare ourselves to.
But, with the health emergency behind us, our focus must continue to be the ongoing economic impact. Our priority is to utilise our financial position to keep making the much needed investments to support New Zealanders through cost of living issues and make necessary investments in health, mental health, education, and housing. Minister *Robertson will set out more detail on Wednesday. One area we maintained investment in through COVID was child poverty reduction. The impact of that investment will be seen on Friday, when MSD release child poverty analysis and demonstrate that despite a one-in100-year pandemic and economic shock, the delivery of ongoing improvements, especially to material deprivation.
On Thursday, I am in Northland, before heading back to Auckland for the *Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Awards. Of significant mention here is the first visit to New Zealand in 20 years by a Foreign Minister of India, following visits last month by Ministers *O’Connor and *Whaitiri, which signals the strengthening of relationships between our two countries and the opportunities that exist there.
On Saturday, 8 October, the *Rugby World Cup begins, and I will be attending the opening match between our Black Ferns and Australia. I know that organisers have their eye on selling out Eden Park for that match, to fill all 47,000 seats, and I want to join them in encouraging everyone to get behind our amazing Black Ferns.
To today’s announcement, the Healthy Homes Initiative provides low-income families with the likes of insulation, heaters, curtains, bedding, and minor repairs to make houses warm, dry, and healthy. We know that poor housing stock can make people sick, and so the key aim initially was to support families with children at risk of rheumatic fever. More recently, it was expanded to families with children under five years, and also pregnant women. When we came into Government, the scheme was in place across 11 regions of New Zealand, but our substantial investment of $30 million in Budget 2021 will expand the programme to the whole country, and that will be completed by the end of the year. In the latest review of the programme, released today, you can see why it’s such an important part of our work to address health disparities.
I’ll now hand over to the Associate Minister of Health to set out the latest findings. Hon Dr *Ayesha Verrall: Thank you, Prime Minister. More than 142,000 Kiwis have now benefited from warmer home interventions—that’s 31,000 kids and 111,000 family members. In homes where these improvements were made, hospitalisations reduced by almost 20 percent for both the child who was at risk and the wider family. Where people were hospitalised, it was for a shorter period, and it was less severe. We have also seen the rates of rheumatic fever hospitalisations drop by 40 percent in the 2021 year, compared to the previous year, and school attendance in the homes in the programme has increased by 3 percent, and employment of the adults in the home increased 4 percent. Ninety-four percent of the people who were in the programme were either Māori or Pacific.
The evaluation shows the social benefits of the programme exceeded the cost of the programme, through less burden on the health system, people able to remain in work, and the ongoing education and school connection for our young ones. The return on investment has actually been made in one year alone. That’s a lot of money saved, but the human impact is greater still: a child’s illness prevented, time off work and school avoided, and a reduction in pressure on the health system and the health workforce. It’s our belief as a Government that everyone deserves a warm, dry, healthy home, especially our tamariki.
New Zealand should be the best place in the world to be a child—all who deserve to live somewhere, and everyone deserves to live somewhere that doesn’t make them sick. I know that many of the patients I cared for as a doctor came to hospital unwell as a result of the home they were in, and it feels really good to be able to discharge them into a place where they’ll stay healthy. The reduction in risk of hospitalisation shows how important this programme is for improving the health and wellbeing of Kiwis. It also demonstrates a benefit of when we invest in preventive healthcare, rather than needing to spend it on treating people once they are unwell. Thank you, Prime Minister.