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New Zealand First has announced it will campaign on introducing a ‘Kiwi Kids Grant’ that will support New Zealand citizens raising their first three children, through the first three years of their lives.
The ‘Kiwi Kids Grant’ will help with the costs of raising a child through the vital first three years of a child’s life, encourage Kiwis to have more children, and remove the barrier of the increasing costs of having children.
The rate of New Zealand citizens having children has dramatically fallen over the past decade from 52,506 in 2006 to just 36,351 in 2025, a 30 per cent drop in just the last 10 years, the party says.
New Zealand’s current birthrate is 1.53 births per person, which is well below the rate of replacement of 2.1 births per person needed to maintain the population.
“This is a ticking timebomb for the future of our country,” New Zealand First says.
“With an ever-decreasing birthrate, we will face a future where we are totally dependent on immigration to maintain our economy and mounting costs of supporting our population and growing our economy.
“As the number of New Zealand citizen births is dramatically decreasing, the non-citizen birth number is dramatically increasing, from 8,001 non-citizen births in 2006 to last year almost doubling to 14,380 births.
“Put in simple percentage terms, in 2006 87 per cent of all births were by citizens and 13 per cent non-citizens.
“Last year that percentage was just 72 per cent New Zealand citizens giving birth, and 28 per cent non-citizens.
“This equation is severely unbalanced and will only equal a diminishing Kiwi population.”
The party says the ‘Kiwi Kids Grant’ is a universal, non-means tested grant of $5000 annually for the first three years, and for each of the first, second, and third child.
The regular monthly payment will be facilitated through Inland Revenue, with an option of the first-year grant for the first child being taken as an upfront lump sum to help with the costs of preparing for a first child.
The $5000 will be tax-free and will be in addition to all other existing mechanisms of support that parents are currently eligible for.
One parent must be a New Zealand citizen to be eligible for the grant.
The policy has an estimated cost of $400 million by the third year once the full cycle is established.
