As of September 18, the National Party has announced $8.3 billion in new spending.
This is equivalent to $4,821 per household.
There have been announcements of social housing packages in Ohariu ($48.5m), the Hutt ($76.8m) and Greater Christchurch ($46.3m) respectively.
The Housing Infrastructure Fund. provides interest-free loans to Councils to speed up infrastructure development in new housing areas. The fund is estimated to deliver $1b in loans over ten years. For simplicity, we have assumed the incidence of loan is distributed linearly (i.e. $100m a year).
The newly announced ‘Crown Infrastructure Partners’ is a crown entity that will assist funding of new infrastructure without requiring an upfront investment by Councils. The Government has initially announced $600m of funding through this entity.
National has announced a new transport infrastructure package, predominantly in Auckland with some minor new spending in Wellington. The announcement includes a new Mill Road highway, a Northern Western busway, electrification of rail between Papakura and Pukekohe. Aside from the Rail projects, which are projected to be completed within the next three years, these other projects have been projected to take approximately ten years to deliver therefore the respective costs have been assumed to be linearly distributed over that period. The combined cost of these transport announcements is $989m over the next parliamentary term.
The Roads of National Significance package will build ten new state highways over ten years at a cost of $10.5b. Assuming the cost is evenly spread over this period, this equates to $3.15b over three years.
National has committed an additional $54m to Predator Free New Zealand, $44m in new grants to clean up New Zealand rivers as well as new irrigation funding of $1.1m.
There has also been an announcement of a new digital technologies investment in education, at a cost of $40m. Other education funding includes $9m for Mana College, $3m for new teachers in South Auckland and $6m for Bay of Plenty Schools (among others).
National has made some announcements of investments in the regions, including new research institutes in Bay of Plenty ($5.05m over next three years). The West Coast will also receive a new research institute as well as other initiatives including improvements to the road network and an upgrade to some bridges (totalling $36.8m).
National will give $231m to aid Kaikoura in rebuilding damaged infrastructure.
The Youth Offender package (i.e. boot camps for troubled youth) will cost $60m over four years (or $45m over the next term).
National has outlined $7m for improving the safety of the Taupo bypass.
A new Dunedin hospital is intended to be built over the next 7-10 years at an expected cost of $1.2-1.4b. Using the average expected cost and average time frame, this is expected to cost $460m over the next term. Additionally, National will build a new mental health facility in Christchurch costing $57m.
Cheaper GP visits will cost approximately $95m per year. And National will increase funding for elective surgeries by $180m over the next three years.
National has agreed in principle to a host of Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Including a $165m redress for Maniapoto, $100m for Whakatohea, $7.2m for The Runanga o Ngati Whatua and $18m for Moriori.
National’s education package (including a revamp of National Standards, second languages in schools etc.) will cost $266m over the next term.
National will provide $0.5m in funding for Winter Olympians.
National has committed $120m to the build of a new Christchurch Stadium.
National will put $62m into cracking down on meth and rehabilitation.
Extending paid parental leave to 22 weeks will cost $205m over three years.
Doubling the grants available to first home buyers is projected to cost approximately $74m per year.
Note: The Bribe-O-Meter does not include Budget 2017 announcements as they are seen as the baseline.