The Government will invest $28.6 million operating funding (including $11.8 million of contingencies) over the next four years in three Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Graduate Schools to help address significant high-level skills shortages in the rapidly growing ICT industry, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

Budget 2014 provides $300,000 to accelerate the Open Government Data and Information Programme over the next two years, Land Information Minister Michael Woodhouse says.

The programme, which is led by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), is Action 13 of the government’s ICT Strategy and Action Plan.

“The funding will see LINZ accelerate work with public-sector agencies to focus their efforts on supplying and releasing public data that people want to reuse,’’ Mr Woodhouse says.

The Government will invest an extra $5.6 million in operating spending over the next four years to help newly arrived quota refugees during their first 12 months in New Zealand, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse says.

All quota refugees spend their first six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, before being resettled in five regions throughout New Zealand: Auckland, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington and Nelson.

Encouraging families to live healthy, active lives is part of the Government’s approach to reducing obesity in New Zealand.

“Budget 2014 invests $40 million over four years for the new Healthy Families NZ anti-obesity initiative, which is expected to reach around 900,000 New Zealanders," Health Minister Tony Ryall says.

The Government has confirmed $2.5 million of new operating spending over the next three years for youth enterprise initiatives, Youth Affairs Minister Nikki Kaye says. 

“This funding supports a number of initiatives for young people to learn financial literacy and business enterprise skills, as well as get opportunities to develop social-enterprise projects,” she says.

The Government has allocated funding in Budget 2014 to increase the collection of Child Support from liable parents and improve the promptness of payments, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

“Around 73 per cent of liable parents currently do not make their first child support payment on time and 44 per cent of Child Support debt is not under any payment arrangement at all,” Mr McClay says.

“That is not fair to children relying on Child Support.”

Budget 2014 delivers real benefits for our Pacific communities, says Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.

“The Budget focuses on the wellbeing of our families and children, and family is at the heart of Pacific culture.

“In addition, the growing economy is providing more opportunities for Pacific people – including more jobs and higher incomes. It’s important that we continue to build on the success of the Government’s economic programme over the next few years.”

The TVNZ archive, including over 500,000 hours of original New Zealand television, is set to become much more accessible, Broadcasting Minister Craig Foss and Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne say.

The Government is in negotiations to transfer guardianship of the archive from TVNZ to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage on 1 August. It will be managed on a day-to-day basis by the New Zealand Film Archive.

The Government is spending more than $7 million over the next four years to boost the number of labour inspectors and immigration officers dealing with the Canterbury rebuild.

The money will be used to fund an additional six labour inspectors and seven immigration staff, including three compliance officers and two investigators, and will result in an extra 20 investigations of serious or high-profile cases over an initial 18-month period.

It will also deliver an employment standards audit programme for businesses associated with rebuild activity.

Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia announced an additional health initiative in Budget 2014 today, new operating funding of $10 million for Better Oral Health for children and adolescents over the next four years.

The Government is investing an additional $3.2 million in 2014/15 to support the implementation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) legislation, Environment Minister Amy Adams says.

The funding, which includes $2 million of reprioritised funding, will help the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to fully develop and carry out its new functions and responsibilities in the EEZ.

The $3.2 million is intended to be one-off funding while the EPA establishes its new functions in the EEZ. On-going operations under the EEZ legislation are funded on a cost recovery basis.

Statistics Minister Nicky Wagner today announced a new internet first model will transform how the census is delivered and collected, and will increase the use of administrative data.

Budget 2014 provides an initial $13.1 million of new operating funding in 2014/15 and $547,000 of new capital funds from the Future Investment Fund towards a modernised census to be held in 2018.

Budget 2014 confirms a range of measures to support New Zealanders who live with disabilities, Disabilities Issues Minister Tariana Turia says.

It includes:

Budget 2014 commits new operating funding of $15 million over three years from 2015/16 for the Whānau Ora navigators’ work with whānau and families, Whānau Ora Minister Tariana Turia says.

The extra funding will help whānau and their engagement in a range of services.

“The navigators, who support engagement with whānau and families to achieve their goals, have been crucial in helping families to develop a plan to address their needs and help them access a range of services,” Mrs Turia says.

Budget 2014 will increase the support available to low income families, building on the work already achieved, Whānau Ora Minister Tariana Turia says.

“I am pleased that the Government has now increased the age of eligibility for free doctors’ visits and prescriptions for children under the age of 13,” she says.

“Children under the age of six already have free GP visits. Extending this to cover under 13-year-olds will make a big difference for families in need. It was a key priority for us,” Mrs Turia says.  

Iwi radio will receive an extra $12 million over the next four years to support the operational costs of the 21 stations currently funded by Te Mangai Pāho and to assess the feasibility of expanding the iwi radio network, Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples says.

“Since its inception in the mid-1980s, iwi radio has played a critical role in making our reo available to whanau in their homes, in their cars, and in a range of settings,” Dr Sharples says.

Budget 2014 supports three major initiatives as a result of the Māori Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan He Kai Kei Aku Ringa, Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples says.

They are:

A Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) will be funded as part of the Government’s increased investment in research excellence, Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples and Associate Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Tariana Turia say.

Vote Tertiary Education provides about $5 million a year to establish a Māori-focused CoRE. This will start on 1 January 2016, when the current contract expires for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, a CoRE hosted by the University of Auckland.  

Cheque duty will be abolished from 1 July 2014, Revenue Minister Todd McClay says.

“The Government’s focus is to ensure the fair treatment of taxpayers and to reduce customers’ compliance costs wherever possible,” he says.

“Cheque duty is a relic from a previous age and no longer serves the function it was intended for. It is also distortionary in that other methods of payment do not have an equivalent tax.”

Budget 2014 provides $8.6 million of new operating spending over the next four years for social support needs at Youth One-Stop Shops, Youth Affairs Minister Nikki Kaye says.

“Currently Youth One-Stop Shops are funded to provide health care to young people, but the money hasn’t been there to provide social support,” she says. “I understand that social support work can take up about 30 per cent of the time of Youth One-Stop Shops.

The Budget’s $40 million of new funding for irrigation projects will deliver economic and environmental benefits for New Zealand, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says.

“This will help unlock the potential that water storage and irrigation can deliver, giving a real boost to jobs and exports in regional economies,” he says.

As part of Budget 2014’s comprehensive package of practical measures to help families and children, the Government will spend an additional $171.8 million over four years to enhance parental leave provisions, Labour Minister Simon Bridges says.

“The Government is committed to doing its part to give children the best possible start in life and this comprehensive range of measures will help to reduce some of the stress placed on families when a new child arrives. 

Budget 2014 will make available $20 million over four years for environmental initiatives and to help the management of New Zealand’s natural environment, Environment Minister Amy Adams says.

The Government has a package of reforms aimed at strengthening the Resource Management Act (RMA), and improving water quality and the way fresh water is managed.

The Government is investing $15.8 million of operating funding and $10.7 million of capital funding over the next four years to ramp up measures to protect New Zealand’s magnificent kauri forests from the dieback disease.

“Kauri is an iconic species for New Zealand and one of the oldest and largest organisms on earth. Kauri dieback is a significant threat to their survival and we need to ramp up our efforts to protect these magnificent trees,” Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith says.