Te Pāti Māori's Takutai Kemp on Raising Incomes and Reducing Costs: 21 August, 2023

As part of 95bfm's election coverage on the local economy this week, Hanna spoke to Te Pāti Māori's Takutai Kemp about the party's economic policies.

Te Pāti Māori is campaigning on raising incomes, focusing on the lower end of the income spectrum. They plan to do this by raising the minimum wage, legislating for yearly increases to the minimum wage, universalising student allowance, supporting pay equity for Māori nurses and teachers, and supporting trade unions. Hanna spoke to Takutai about these policies, including whether they would push up costs and addressing Aotearoa's low-wage economy. 

The party is also seeking to remove GST from kai. While the party has long campaigned on this policy, Labour introduced a similar policy two weeks ago to remove GST from fruit and vegetables. Hanna and Takutai discussed the differences between these two policies, namely administrative simplicity and paternalism, and responded to economists' critiques of such policies.