Chris Hipkins

So, you know, I think right now in the cost of living crisis, that's got to be top of the list of where we're at.

So I'm focused on practical things that government can do.

So making it free to go to the doctor is actually a really simple thing that the government can do that will make a transformational difference to people's lives.

Aisha Verrill, our health spokesperson, she'll tell you about the patients she treated in emergency departments who had avoidable illnesses that didn't need to be there if they could have just afforded to go and see the doctor in the first place.

So I think that'll make a big difference.

Through things like the Future Fund, rather than selling off government assets, if we put them to better use to create jobs and opportunity here at home in New Zealand,

we can create better opportunity for people to break out of the situations that they're in at the moment.

I think that will make a difference.

We've got to get our mentality as a country away from just investing in residential properties and constantly jacking up the price of properties.

and get into supporting businesses and supporting new enterprises to grow.

So a capital gains tax, which I've proposed, will actually help us to do that and it'll help us to pay for the free doctor's visits as well.

So plenty more to come.

But what we put out there already is about addressing some of those long-term challenges that face the country.

We need more flexible ways of funding that.

And we also need a bit more certainty around it.

So if you're dealing with, and you know this because this is the area that you work in, if you're dealing with really vulnerable families and you're only getting funding sort of six months, 12 months at a time, it's hard to actually do the things that are really going to be transformational for them.

That's right.

So you need some longer-term funding certainty.

So for me, that's number one priority.

For all of those small community groups we work with, is let's actually just have some longer-term funding contracts.