Our Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has his feet firmly under the table, so what major policy changes will affect your business?
National outlined some of the headline changes it wanted to make within its first 100 days in power. The National-led coalition government have some well underway.
Here are some of the major changes businesses should watch out for:
- The reintroduction of 90-day employment trial periods: The National-led government has extended the availability of 90-day employment trial periods for all businesses, reversing changes under the Employment Relations Amendment Act made in 2018, which scrapped 90-day trials for businesses with more than 20 employees.
- Clean car discount and ‘ute tax’ to end: The clean car discount, under which people could claim back up to $8,625 for an electric or hybrid vehicle, will disappear for all vehicles registered after 31 December 2023. The levy on higher emissions vehicles, such as utes, has also been scrapped.
- Fair Pay Agreements cancelled: The government has also repealed the Fair Pay Agreements Bill, which was introduced to give workers in certain industries powers to negotiate minimum employment terms.
Collective agreements can still be negotiated by unions through collective bargaining, however with the repeal of the Fair Payments Agreements Bill, any person or organisation that obtained personal information for the purpose of Fair Pay Agreement bargaining must now dispose of that information in line with the Privacy Act 2020. - Fuel tax changes: National have previously stated that the Auckland fuel tax, which adds 11.5 cents to every litre of petrol sold in the city, is set to go, however no indication on the timing of this has been released. National also wants to cancel planned fuel tax increases that would have added a further 12 cents to the litre.
- Rural regulations set to go: National and Act have committed to reducing regulation and red tape in the farming sector. What that looks like we are still to find out. We’ll keep you posted.