NZ First Calls National’s Foreign Aid Cut Promise Desperate, ACT Hails It As Win

Russell
Palmer Political reporter

Winston
Peters is calling National’s latest campaign promise
“desperate”, while ACT is hailing it as a win and promising
to go further.

National’s leader Christopher Luxon and
health spokesperson Simeon Brown announced their more than
$820m plan to increase Pharmac funding and other health
programmes – with more than half the funding redirected from
non-Pacific foreign aid budgets – at a private hospital on
Tuesday.

Luxon said he had not spoken to NZ First
leader Winston Peters, who has been the Foreign Minister
this term, and whose department has largely avoided cuts in
that time.

“Well, look, I mean we’ll cross that bridge
when we get there,” Luxon said.

“Between now and
November 7th I’m making the case very strongly: I want
everybody to party vote National. I want National
government, I want National ministers, I want National
policies, I want as many National ministers around that
Cabinet table as possible.”

In a post on social media,
Peters said the policy was dangerous, and
desperate.

“We need to double the size of the economy
and we cannot do that if we neglect the very markets we need
to be in. The old parties have never understood New Zealand
has to work for its money,” he said.

“The idea to cut
foreign aid during one of the most uncertain global times in
history is both desperate and dangerous. It is irresponsible
for National to jeopardise the relationships we have in the
very markets we need to grow our economy.”

He
said the coalition had just restored New Zealand’s influence
and relationships around the world after years of neglect
from Labour and National, and the policy would undo
that.

“Foreign aid is not just some sort of expense
account nor is it just about assisting countries in need …
This will take us back decades in foreign affairs and have
reverberations that the National Party has either naively
disregarded, or worse, have no ability to
comprehend.”

ACT’s leader David Seymour, who has been
the minister responsible for Pharmac this term, welcomed the
policy by saying it was a great sign for the next coalition
– and his party would ensure “we go further and
faster”.

He has been campaigning on closing the
trans-Tasman funding gap, lifting the medicine budget from
4.9 percent of the health budget to eventually reach the
same level as Australia – 12.2 percent – by targeting a 1
percentage point increase per year.

“National’s policy
equates to about one third of what ACT is proposing, but we
are confident we can push the coalition to go further and
faster to reduce waste and fund more medicines,” he
said.

“We also welcome National coming round to our
position that MFAT spending should be reduced. ACT has
pushed for savings in this area during the current term
without support from our coalition partners, next term it
looks like we’ll be successful.”

He said the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Trade had in 2023 spent $23m on
EmPower, which aims to include women – who have been shown
to be at greater risk from climate change – in
decision-making about climate change and tailor responses to
them.

“We can’t afford to keep exporting taxpayer
money. We’ll have more to say on this shortly,” Seymour
said.

He also criticised National for its 2023
election promise to fund specific cancer medicines, saying
it would have broken the Pharmac model.

“I’m pleased
that as a coalition we prevented that from happening and
there is now consensus over how we can fund important
medicines most efficiently.”

World Vision voices
disappointment

World Vision’s head of advocacy and
justice Rebekah Armstrong, told Midday Report, she
was “really disappointed” by the announcement.

She
said she understood the importance of protecting New
Zealanders and their health but we lived in a country “full
of abundance” compared to countries foreign aid was sent
to.

Armstrong said children around the world would
bear the brunt of the cuts.

“We’ve seen a real
worldwide reduction of foreign aid at a time when there is
more humanitarian need than ever before.”

The budget
for foreign aid was already small, Armstrong said, and yet
it served thousands of people and had made a “tremendous
impact”.

RNZ has sought further details from National
about which foreign aid programmes would be
cut.

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