From 1 July 2007, the maximum parental leave payment increases by nearly $20 per week, further supporting families with young children, Minister of Labour Ruth Dyson said this week. The rate increases from $372.12 per week to $391.28 per week this Sunday, and applies to all new applicants as well as those already receiving parental leave payments.

"Paid parental leave supports new parents at a critical time. With over 60 per cent of women now participating in paid work, paid parental leave is helping to support the choices they are making about their families and their careers," says Ruth Dyson. "We introduced paid parental leave for the first time in New Zealand history in 2002, and increased it from 12 to 14 weeks in 2005. Last year the Government extended paid parental leave to self-employed parents, so that it is now available to nearly 90 percent of all women in paid work.

"The increase in the rate will give working families more money in their pockets, in line with the other policies being introduced by our Labour-led government on 1 July – 20 free hours of early childhood education per week, and lower doctor fees and prescription charges for everyone enrolled at a Primary Health Organisation."

Spending money on the health and well-being of our children rather than cutting tax is the best investment for New Zealand’s future, say Health Minister Pete Hodgson and Minister for Social Development and Employment David Benson-Pope.

In a speech at the Christchurch School of Medicine, Pete Hodgson outlined the Labour-led government’s investments in the health of young New Zealanders over the past seven Budgets, and how important the social development programme has been for children and young people.

"We are rebuilding oral health services in schools and the community; we have lifted vaccination rates from around 60 percent up to over 80 percent and are working to get it higher; we have successful screening programmes including screening of newborns for metabolic disorders, hearing impairment and we’ve improved screening techniques for Down Syndrome.

"Smoking rates have been halved among teens, improvements in the provision of child and adolescent mental health services are being secured year by year and the Government is supporting hundreds of programmes around the country to help fight obesity and encourage youngsters to lead a healthier lifestyle.

"Our children and young people are not only our future, their health and well-being is a measure of the health and well-being of our society and how we care for them says much about us as a nation."

Housing New Zealand has launched an ambitious campaign to encourage tenants living in its 68,000 state houses to install energy-saving light bulbs, Housing Minister Chris Carter announced today.

High-quality energy-saving light bulbs, such as Ecobulbs, use 80 percent less power than standard light bulbs and last 10 times longer. Replacing five standard light bulbs with Ecobulbs can save householders around $650 in power costs over the life of the bulbs. Ecobulbs normally cost about $5 each. Mr Carter said to help make the switch, state housing tenants will be able to buy five Ecobulbs for $10 – a saving of around $15.

Vouchers for the energy-saving bulbs have been included in Housing New Zealand’s quarterly newsletter to tenants, Close to Home, which will be delivered to letterboxes this week. Tenants have until 2 September to redeem the vouchers at participating Shell service stations nationwide.

"Reduced energy demand and usage is good for the economy and the environment, and that benefits all New Zealanders. If just 40 percent of state house tenants install Ecobulbs, throughout the life of the bulbs we will have saved enough electricity to power Queenstown for a year, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 53,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide."

The latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show that research spending is growing, which is very positive for our science sector, says Research, Science and Technology Minister, Steve Maharey. The 'Research and Development Survey 2006' shows that total research and development (R&D) has increased 10 per cent since the last survey in 2004, to $1.8 billion.

"The figures show that private funding is increasing, but much more investment is needed to bring New Zealand businesses into line with other OECD countries, which have far higher levels of private R&D spending. The survey shows that businesses now finance 41 per cent of total R&D expenditure – a rise of 19 per cent. This is a positive sign, but more growth is needed.

"The Labour-led government aims to further improve that through a $630 million tax incentive for businesses to carry out their own research. Under the tax credit, businesses investing in R&D can earn a 15 per cent tax credit on that spending. For example, a company investing $100,000 in research would get $15,000 back in a tax rebate. The incentive will make New Zealand more internationally competitive, overseas companies will find it more attractive to invest in R&D here, and it will help our businesses be more innovative and successful.

"The survey shows the Labour-led government is still the largest funder of R&D providing $785 million, or 43 per cent of funding in 2006 – up 8 per cent on 2004."