Jan Tinetti Labour MP

A number of changes came in at the start of this month to lift incomes and to provide extra support to workers and families.

These measures won't fix everything but they will help to ease some pressure – and I want to make sure people here in Tauranga heard a bit more about this cost of living support.

From April 1, more than one million Kiwis started receiving a bit more in their pocket to help make ends meet. This included an inflation-adjusted lift for superannuation, benefits, veteran's pensions and student supports, benefiting many in our community.

People in Tauranga should be confident that they can get ahead and create the life they want for themselves and their families through hard work. But right now, as global inflation is causing costs to rise around the world, it can feel pretty tough.

To support those workers who are really feeling the bite from the rise in the cost of living, we've increased the minimum wage by $1.50 to $22.70 an hour. This will see a full-time minimum wage worker earning an extra $60 a week and around $3120 extra each year, before tax.

I'm also really pleased nurses in aged residential care, hospices, home and community support services, along with those in Māori and Pacific healthcare, will start receiving up to 15 per cent more in their ‘take home' pay. This boost to follows the recent historic pay increase for hospital nurses, which made our nursing wages competitive with Australia.

These increases will help to keep nurses in important roles here in Tauranga and across New Zealand, which is good news for everyone in our communities.