Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds says Labour’s fiscal plan reverses the Government’s future public service budget cuts. She has challenged National to reveal exactly which services it will cut before New Zealanders vote.

Speaking to chrislynchmedia.com on the day National released its fiscal plan, Edmonds said Labour had not been able to undo every cut already made. But it had reversed the baseline reductions planned for future Budgets.

“We haven’t been able to unwind all of them because, as we’ve said during this period, a lot of it is probably underway already. But future budget cuts… we have unwound them as part of our fiscal plan.”

She said voters deserved to know what would be lost before election day. “Be absolutely upfront with New Zealand where you are going to make these cuts, so they can make an informed decision.”

Edmonds pointed to biosecurity and hiring freezes in the health system as areas of concern. She said the impact of public service cuts was felt well beyond Wellington, citing community services on Auckland’s North Shore that had lost funding.

“People think sometimes public services is just Wellington and the people who are based there, but it’s not. It’s also the programmes that are funded in communities, and communities know what they need best.”

Labour has kept the same $2.4 billion annual operating allowance as National. Edmonds rejected Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s claim that pay equity and health costs would swallow almost all of Labour’s $10.5 billion in unallocated funding.

She said the Government itself claimed to have money set aside for pay equity claims, and Labour had done the same.

“I’m absolutely confident that we don’t have to make those choices, and that we’ve set aside sufficient amount of fiscal headroom.”

Labour has promised to restore the previous pay equity regime within its first 100 days in government. Edmonds said Labour was working on transitional rules so that claims already well advanced, such as the care and support workers’ claim, would not have to start again.

Labour’s plan includes $2.5 billion for an immediate $4 an hour pay rise for 65,000 care and support workers from 1 January 2027.

Asked what would make an immediate difference to struggling families, Edmonds pointed to a $20 weekly cap on public transport fares in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, three free GP visits, and the removal of prescription charges.

She also highlighted plans to separate the wholesale and retail arms of the major supermarket chains to help independent grocers. Labour also plans a small business package that would lift the instant asset write off threshold from $1000 to $10,000 and raise the GST registration threshold from $60,000 to $80,000.

Responding to Willis’s warning that there was no such thing as a free lunch, Edmonds, a mother of eight, said she agreed.

“There is no free lunch. Lunch always costs… But ultimately, it comes down to the choices you make, and this is taxpayers’ dollars. We have to be responsible around it.”

She said Willis could not campaign on the Government’s record.

“Nicola can be as cynical as she wants, but ultimately she cannot campaign on her track record, because everything is worse, not better, which is why she just constantly attacks Labour.”