Family incomes policy under the Labour Government: 2017 – 2023

Abstract

This paper examines family incomes policies under the Sixth Labour Government of Aotearoa New Zealand, in office from 2017 to 2023. The analysis focuses on the policies for low-income families and assesses whether these policies represented a significant shift from the previous National-led governments' approach or merely a continuation of the same. The paper uses various output indicators, including material hardship, low income before and after housing costs, and benefit replacement rates, to evaluate the significance of these changes. The findings suggest that while there were improvements in the lives of low-income families, the changes were not significantly transformative, nor embedded deeply enough to prevent their full or partial reversal by the subsequent National-led government. The 2023 election signaled the return to the paradigmatic shift in the welfare narrative and policies begun in the 1990s, that of self-responsibility and a less generous, more tightly model of provision.