Bill English
Wellington, July 18, 2017
This National-led Government is focused on delivering for New Zealanders and ensuring the benefits of our strong economic growth are spread right across our communities.
That focus is delivering results. Around 10,000 new jobs are being created across the country every month, incomes are rising and we’re providing the essential services and support that families need.
We want to keep building on that momentum.
Three announcements
Housing Infrastructure Fund
Last week, I made my way around the country making a number of announcements aimed at identifying economic opportunities to increase jobs, incomes, and investment.
The first of these was for the allocation of our $1 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund. This is another milestone in the Government’s plan to increase housing supply for a growing New Zealand.
Residential construction is growing rapidly across New Zealand and we are currently in the midst of the country’s biggest ever building boom.
Over the past year, more than 30,000 building consents for new homes were granted across New Zealand, which is the highest level in more than a decade.
The infrastructure projects that have been announced as part of the Housing Infrastructure Fund will speed up the delivery of 60,000 new houses across our fastest growing population centres over the next 10 years.
The funding has been allocated across nine projects in five different council areas, Auckland, Hamilton, Waikato, Tauranga and Queenstown.
These projects will make their contribution to lifting housing supply alongside the National-led Government’s Crown Building Project, Special Housing Areas, our planning changes, and the already record levels of new home construction taking place across New Zealand.
This is another major step forward in our plan to permanently lift the capacity of the construction sector to support a more confident, and expanding New Zealand.
Jobs for Youth
On Wednesday, I was in Hawke’s Bay where I announced a new investment of $50 million to help the most at-risk young people in regional New Zealand into jobs.
Regional economies across New Zealand are growing strongly and have thousands of jobs to be filled. This programme will work intensively with the 5,280 most at-risk unemployed young people in Hawke’s Bay, Northland, the Eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast. It will help ensure all of the young people in each region can participate in and benefit from this strong regional growth.
The Government’s strong economic plan is delivering steady growth in regional New Zealand, supported by the new infrastructure we are investing in like ultra-fast broadband and our regional roading projects.
Our announcements last week will benefit our growing economy and continue to provide more jobs, and higher wages for New Zealanders.
Bill English is Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is seen here with Finance Minister Steven Joyce (left) and Customs Minister Tim Macindoe.
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