Watch live: Labour promises to reinstate pay equity as it releases fiscal plan

Labour has reiterated its pledge to restore the old pay equity scheme, saying it would make the changes in its first hundred days.The party announced the plan to reinstate pay equity alongside the party’s fiscal plan, which sets out how the party will pay to meet its promises. It costed that particular settlement at $2.5 billion over four years. Labour leader Chris Hipkins, finance and economy spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds and workplace relations and safety spokeswoman Jan Tinetti are speaking this afternoon. It will be livestreamed at the top of this article from 2pm. Money for all other pay equity settlements was not included in the plan, leaving about $8.5b not explicitly accounted for. Labour defended the decision not to include an explicit costing , saying “Pay equity is determined through negotiation. It would undermine the process to announce in advance how much had been set aside for individual claims”.Labour leader Chris Hipkins said his government would keep roughly to the same spending tack as the coalition. “We will keep operating allowances at the $2.4 billion set at Budget 2026. Our announced capital commitments fit comfortably within the $12 billion of future capital allowances. We also have almost $10.5 billion of future operating allowances unallocated. We can deliver what we have promised without increasing those allowances,” he said. “We will return the books to surplus in 2028/29 and bring net debt down below 20 percent of GDP over time. We can do that because we have made better choices about where public money goes and will make every dollar work harder,” he said. From January 1, 2027, care and support workers will receive an immediate pay rise of $4 an hour.This will mean the average full-time worker will be $8320 a year better off, or $160 a week before tax.Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Jan Tinetti said: “This election is about the cost of living. Labour is doing what Christopher Luxon refused to do and paying women properly,” “Care and support workers do some of the most important work in our communities, and overwhelmingly they are women.“This immediate pay rise is real money for people who are paying the mortgage, the rent, the power bill and the grocery shop. It reflects their hard work and the hardship they’ve experienced these past three years under National”.The announcement comes as the campaign enters a significant week. Hipkins will face off against National’s Christopher Luxon in the first of the televised leaders’ debates of the election.The Act Party had its campaign launch today, announcing a policy to cut tax on KiwiSaver contributions, funded by axing the Government subsidy on KiwiSaver. The Greens also announced significant transport policies, including a $4 billion scheme to revive some passenger rail routes and a $2 public transport fare cap.