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Kia ora. Good afternoon, everybody. I’m pleased to announce that this week, as part of our 100-day plan, we are releasing the draft Government policy statement on land transport. The draft GPS outlines the coalition Government’s ambitious agenda to get transport back on track by investing more than $20 billion over the next three years. Our Government is prioritising economic growth and productivity, maintenance and resilience, safety, and delivering better value for money from our transport agencies and delivery partners. We are reintroducing the successful roads of national significance programme, with 15 projects across New Zealand to enable people and freight to move as quickly and as safely as possible. Investing in these corridors will make it easier for Kiwis to get to work, where they need to go, and create a more productive and resilient transport network, drive economic growth, and unlock land for thousands of new houses.

Delivering reliable public transport is also a priority for our Government. The draft GPS commits up to $2.3 billion for public transport services and up to $2.1 billion for public transport infrastructure over the next three years. This includes metro rail investment in our main city centres of Auckland and Wellington, particularly as we work to finish City Rail Link and ensure that the network is prepared for passengers on day one. Alongside this work, planning will also be undertaken for the delivery of the northwest rapid transit corridor and also the airport to Botany busway. Increasing maintenance and improving resilience is also crucial, and we are increasing investment in road maintenance through this draft GPS by $640 million compared to Labour’s draft GPS from 2023. Many Kiwis have experienced the terrible state Labour left our roads in, and this Government is committed to ensuring the network is once again maintained to a safe and reliable standard.

And finally, I do want to address safety, because this is a responsibility that we all share, and the draft GPS outlines the Government’s change in approach to reducing deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand’s roads. Alcohol and drugs are the leading contributors to fatal crashes, but only 60 percent of drivers think that they are likely to get caught drink driving and only 26 percent likely to get caught drug driving. This is, frankly, unacceptable, and that perception needs to change. We will keep New Zealanders safe on our roads with a stronger focus on road policing and enforcement, investing in new and safe roading infrastructure, and targeting the leading contributors to fatal crashes. The draft GPS will guide development of performance measures for Police set through the road policing investment programme, with enforcement targets relating to speed, alcohol breath testing, and roadside drug testing. These measures are not about revenue gathering; this is about sending a clear message to drivers that reckless behaviour and attitudes on our roads will not be tolerated. And, with that, I’ll pass over to transport Minister Simeon Brown.

Kia ora koutou. Good afternoon, everybody. Good to see you all. I am joined today by finance Minister Nicola Willis because we are announcing our Family Boost package that will provide up to an extra $75 a week to families with children in early childhood education. I’ll hand over to Nicola shortly to give you the details of the package, but before I do so, I’ll set out the coalition Government’s thinking about the reasons for increasing support to parents with young children.

One of our top priorities is to put extra money into the pockets of families affected by the rising cost of living, and families have been hit by rising rents and rising mortgage rates, increasing grocery bills, and rising childcare costs. Childcare is actually one of the biggest costs for families, and according to the OECD childcare costs here in New Zealand are amongst the highest in the world. Full-time care for a child under the age of three can cost a family $300 or more a week, and that is really tough for young parents, many of whom are trying at the same time to get themselves established financially and within their careers. And this Government wants to make life easier for those families, and we want to have them see a future here for themselves and their families in New Zealand.

In the normal course of events, this package would have been announced as part of the Budget, but we are announcing it now so that our officials have time to work with the early childhood education sector before the scheme is introduced in July, because there are some administrative complexities that need to be worked through. I’ll now hand over to Nicola to talk a little bit more about the detail of what we’re proposing.