Pacific MPs say NZ First's $5000 baby bonus misses the household reality

A $5000 annual payment for new parents would not go far enough to ease the pressures facing Pacific families, Labour and the Green parties say.

New Zealand First's Kiwi Kids Grant would see eligible parents receive a tax-free payment of $5000 a year for each child during their first three years of life.

The grant would apply to a family's first, second and third child, with a maximum payout of $45,000 per household over time.

Payments would be made monthly through Inland Revenue, with parents able to claim the first year as an upfront lump sum for their first child.

NZ First says the policy, which would cost about $400 million a year once fully implemented, is aimed at supporting families and reversing declining birth rates.

The party points to data showing citizen births fell from 52,506 in 2006 to 36,351 in 2025, while the national fertility rate dropped to 1.53 births per woman, far below the population replacement threshold of 2.1.

Speaking with Andre Fa’aoso on Pacific Mornings, Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni says the focus needs to be on the wider pressures families are facing.

New Zealand First says the grant aims to reverse declining fertility in New Zealand. Photo/Unsplash

In the PMN News-Horizon Research Pacific Issues Election Survey released last month, 90 per cent of Pacific respondents identified cost of living as a top issue going into the election.

Sepuloni says the proposed payment does not address the wider pressures shaping decisions about whether families can afford to have children.

“$5000 per year wouldn't even cover the childcare costs for one child. There are so many other issues that families are facing in terms of affordability, the cost of living, cost of housing,” she said.

“The structural costs that influence their decisions on whether or not they can start a family or whether or not they can have more children.”

Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says support for families must go beyond a one-off payment, arguing parents also need secure jobs, fair wages and affordable living conditions.

“Presumably you want these babies to live in warm homes and their parents or guardians have good jobs as well. So on one hand, it's very good of them to say all this but where's all the support?” he told Fa’aoso.

Sepuloni says decisions about having children are shaped by wider pressures including housing affordability, childcare costs and whether families have secure incomes.

The concerns raised by Sepuloni reflect the findings of the PMN-Horizon survey where nine in 10 Pacific respondents identified cost of living as a major issue ahead of the election.

Listen to Carmel Sepuloni’s full interview below.

With Pacific unemployment at 11.6 per cent in the latest Stats NZ figures, Sepuloni says economic security is a key concern for families.

Statistics New Zealand released on Wednesday show Aotearoa’s unemployment rate has risen to 5.6 per cent, its highest level in nearly 11 years with 171,000 people now unemployed.

“What has been proposed by New Zealand First is not a policy that would work for increasing the population,” Sepuloni says.

Listen to Teanau Tuiono’s full interview below.

Tuiono also questioned whether the NZ First baby bonus policy addressed the wider support families need.

He says supporting families means addressing the economic position of women, particularly those working in lower-paid, female-dominated sectors.

“Why didn't they want to pay their mothers? This is the political party that cancelled 33 pay equity claims. Those pay equity claims were generally the roles that were female-dominated roles,” Tuiono told Fa’aoso.

NZ First says the Kiwi Kids Grant is about giving parents more support during the early years of raising children and helping address New Zealand’s declining birth rate.

Party leader Winston Peters has defended the policy, saying it is backed by evidence showing the need to encourage more families to have children.

PMN News has approached NZ First for comment.

The debate comes as political parties campaign ahead of the election on 7 November with Pacific families continuing to highlight the pressures of housing costs, wages and the affordability of raising children.