National Party leader Todd Muller wants to work with the Government to fast-track its proposal to be in place within weeks to pay businesses cash for new hires.
Should National get into Government, the JobStart scheme announced yesterday promises businesses a $10,000 per new employee hired between November 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.
Mr Muller said because Finance Minister Grant Robertson was prepared to consider the scheme, he hoped it could be introduced before November.
“As the Minister, Mr Robertson can direct officials to fine-tune the policy and implement the administrative details to get this up and running immediately,” Mr Muller said.
“I have offered to meet with the Minister to share National’s insights and analysis on which JobStart is based.”
He said the National Party would be “delighted” if JobStart was delivered early on a bipartisan basis to address unemployment and help create new jobs.
Under the scheme, businesses would get $5000 on the new employee's first day, and the other $5000 after 90 days.
The scheme is capped at $500 million. National expected it to cover 50,000 new hires.
Mr Muller said the scheme intended to "give small business owners greater confidence to hire new people".
He said the scheme was "strongly welcomed by the business community" as a way to get people back to work.
Mr Muller asked Jacinda Ardern if she accepted that "more direct cash support for small businesses will help prevent job losses?"
When asked about National's scheme yesterday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said it was "not really a new idea, after the GFC ... we saw a number of schemes to support employers to take on staff".
"In many ways it builds on what we’ve already been doing in terms of apprenticeships."
On if he would consider the approach, Mr Robertson said the Government's focus was "on the immediate needs people have and the immediate creation of jobs".
"I notice the proposal talks about something happening in November, it's certainly an idea that we're prepared to consider, there's one or two issues with what I've heard that I would question.
"There are always a range of ideas available but as we work through the process of job attachment, supporting people with incomes and creating jobs, we’ll consider all the ideas then.
"We welcome constructive ideas that are about getting people into work."
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