updated on 20.11.2020
NZD 12.1 billion business continuity package:
· NZD 5.1 billion in wage subsidies for affected businesses in all sectors and regions;
· NZD 126 million in COVID-19 leave and self-isolation support;
· NZD 2.8 billion income support package for most vulnerable, including a permanent $25 per week benefit increase and a doubling of the Winter Energy Payment for 2020;
· NZD 100 million redeployment package;
· NZD 600 million initial aviation support package. (KPMG)
updated on 30.10.2020
A right-wing British politician has outraged Kiwis online after likening New Zealand to Nazi Germany in a series of tweets taking aim at Jacinda Ardern and the Government's Covid response.
Suzanne Evans, a former journalist who hopped from the Conservative Party to the UK Independence Party before ditching politics, regularly shares posts critical of using lockdowns to tackle Covid-19.
Yesterday Evans said that "New Zealand now has a fascist government under @jacindaardern. Are you going to act, @amnesty?".
The comment came above a retweet from fellow lockdown-sceptic Bernie Spofforth, who had shared an edited video containing messages from Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Jacinda Ardern about the policy of moving all positive cases to quarantine facilities and enforcing testing.
updated: 15.10.2020
Migrant workers have the same employment rights and obligations as all other New Zealand workers. Employers and employees must discuss in good faith the implications of COVID-19 on their working arrangements.
Employers who are impacted by COVID-19 can apply for the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy and COVID-19 Essential Workers Leave Support for all employees who are legally working in New Zealand, including employees who:
have a NZ work visa
have a condition on their NZ temporary visa that allows them to work in NZ
are international students whose visa allows them to work in NZ.
Up to date information is available on the Employment New Zealand website.
If your work, student, visitor, limited, or interim visa expires after 9 July, your visa will not have been extended. If you intend to apply for a new visa to continue working, studying or visiting in New Zealand after your current visa expires, you need to submit an application online for a new visa. There may be delays in processing it.
updated: 30.04.2020
The NZ$16.1 billion (US$9.62 billion) stimulus includes wage subsidies, bolstering the healthcare sector’s response to the virus, more money for low-income families and those on social welfare, and changes to business tax.
The package will also include wage subsidies for employers of migrant workers.
Around 300,000 migrants live and work in New Zealand. An approximate of 170,000 are temporary work visa holders.
Sources: