Candidates across the political spectrum butted heads over the cost of living in tonight's 1News and Re: Young Voters' Debate.
Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke said it was a "cost of surviving" crisis rather than a cost of living issue, while the high prices facing shoppers, including $7 cabbages, was highlighted as a concern for young people.
All the major parties were represented at the debate, with Labour's Arena Williams, National’s Erica Stanford, Greens' Chlöe Swarbrick, ACT’s Brooke van Velden, NZ First’s Lee Donoghue and Maipi-Clarke all explaining why their party is best suited to help address the issues young people facing this election.
Things kicked off with a discussion about how parties would support young people after the cost of living crisis saw inflation skyrocket. In their opening statements, most of the parties mentioned this.
With young people making up a huge chunk of the country's renters, many are calling for change – as rents continue to rise nationwide.
The "cost of surviving", climate change and health were all hot topics in the 1News and Re: Young Voters' Debate. (Source: 1News)
The online tool Vote Compass revealed that 47% of people aged 18 to 29 strongly agree with rent limits being imposed, while 31% somewhat agree with the policy.
Maipi-Clarke pointed to the housing issue as a key concern “for tamariki who are living in cars, work very, very hard and can't afford the basic necessities”.
This was echoed by Swarbrick, who said rent controls are "entirely feasible it is just a case of political willpower". Her comments drew applause.
This was opposed by ACT’s Brooke van Velden, who said more controls would lead to higher rents.
"We are on the side of renters," she said when challenged.
"But if landlords have more costs put on them, that transfers on."
National wants to see people access their KiwiSaver to pay rental bonds.
“If you’re going to be responsible with your flat, you should be able to use your Kiwisaver,” Stanford said.
Minimum wage earners will only get an extra $20 a fortnight back under the plan. (Source: 1News)
Grocery prices
Labour’s policy of removing GST from fruit and vegetables has been criticised by National and the Greens, who say a few cents off carrots won't do much to help Kiwis in the long run.
Williams defended the policy, saying removing GST would “incentivise people into buying fruit and vegetables”.
This was backed up by Maipi-Clarke, who said, “No one wants to go hungry”.
Swarbrick said the Labour policy would mean wealthy people would benefit, not those who need it most.
She said the best way to do this is to “fix the fundamentals of our tax system”.
“If we do that, we can ensure that everybody has enough money in their back pocket with an income guarantee of at least $385 per week."
Stanford argued that reducing the cost of living by “attacking the symptoms” and cutting costs would achieve this.
“What we’ve seen is the Labour Party spraying around cash.”
She said that farm price inflation is caused by “red tape and costs” the Government has been putting on growers – removing this will see that go down.
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