I have just arrived home from a three-country visit to South-East Asia where New Zealand’s economic prosperity was at the heart of our efforts.

I took with me a 25-member business delegation who were looking to make new connections and renew existing relationships in Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines.

This was invaluable for the high-powered group of CEOs, which was led by Dame Therese Walsh of Air New Zealand and Miles Hurrell of Fonterra.

Whilst the focus of each country was growing the already-warm bilateral relationship with those countries’ leaders, it was also about increasing the two-way business between us.

My meetings with Prime Minister Lee in Singapore, Prime Minister Srettha in Bangkok, and President Marcos in Manila were fruitful for both relationship and business purposes.

In Thailand, I talked about tripling our two-way trade by 2045. In the Philippines, President Marcos and I set a shared goal to grow trade by 50 per cent by 2030.

Travelling together with New Zealand businesses enabled the delegation to showcase New Zealand’s best. The commercial announcements and deals between New Zealand companies on the trip and counterparts in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines represent the growth of long-term, strategic partnerships.

This Government wants to support Kiwis to get ahead, and I will be doing that at home and around the world.

That is why we are rebuilding the economy to ease the cost of living to ensure the all-New Zealanders can benefit from high performing public services.

This week it was announced inflation has dropped to 4 per cent, the lowest it’s been since June 2021. This is encouraging news, but there is a lot more work to be done to ease the cost of living for hardworking Kiwis. The Government has a plan to fix Labour’s mess and get the economy back on track.

We are helping to ease the cost of living by reducing taxes for hardworking Kiwis, introducing our FamilyBoost childcare tax credits, and ensuring the Reserve Bank is focused solely on reducing inflation.

We also learnt this week that there has been an increase of 70,000 people on Jobseeker Support since National was last in government. We want to ensure we help these Kiwis back into work, so they have greater opportunities in life. This is why the Government has set a target to reduce these numbers by 50,000 people by 2030 and we have a plan to do it.

Part of our plan to achieve this target includes ensuring sanctions are utilised and implementing six-month work check-ins to ensure beneficiaries are looking for work. We are also working on mandatory reapplication for Jobseeker benefits every six months, new non-financial sanctions, and a traffic light system to help job seekers comply with their work obligations.

However, rebuilding the economy is our most important plan to both ease the cost of living and get more Kiwis into work. Our comprehensive plan includes stopping wasteful Government spending,

cutting red tape, building infrastructure, growing skills, and strengthening our trade connections. It’s only through a strong economy that we can reduce the cost of living, lift incomes, and afford the public services that New Zealanders rely on. -Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand