Ahead of Budget 2026, Hāpai Te Hauora called for a budget that listens.
A budget that responds to what communities have already been saying over the last year: that prevention matters, warm homes matter, safe sleep matters, and Māori-led solutions matter.
Following yesterday’s Budget announcement, Hāpai Te Hauora acknowledges some much needed investment into areas including frontline services and climate resilience.
However, questions remain around whether long term prevention and Māori-led solutions are being invested in at the scale communities continue to call for.
While we acknowledge the fiscal pressures facing Aotearoa New Zealand, we remain concerned that this Budget continues to focus more heavily on responding to crisis than preventing them in the first place.
This government characterises this budget as responsible economic management. But it feels like tough fiscal austerity. Aggressive spending cuts in the name of rebuilding our economy while its people suffer hardship only redistributes who pays the price.
Communities across Aotearoa continue to carry the weight of rising living costs, housing stress, stretched health systems and climate-related emergencies. In many cases, whānau and local communities are stepping in long before systems do.
Hāpai Te Hauora CEO Jacqui Harema says this Budget was an opportunity to invest earlier rather than continuing to respond once people are already at breaking point.
“Solutions already exist and communities across Aotearoa are leading them every day” says Harema.
“What’s missing is a Budget that will back them.”
Ahead of the Budget, Hāpai Te Hauora called for:
- greater investment in safe sleep support and kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga
- healthier and warmer homes for whānau
- Māori-led climate resilience and emergency preparedness
- continued support for healthy school lunches
- long-term investment in Māori-led community wellbeing initiatives
Hāpai Te Hauora also acknowledges the extension of funded postnatal stays for new māmā as a positive step, and an important opportunity to strengthen early support for whānau through things like safe sleep planning, breastfeeding support and kaupapa Māori antenatal education.
The continuation of healthy school lunches was also positive to see, particularly at a time when many whānau continue to face financial pressure and food insecurity. At the same time, there is still room to improve the quality, nutrition and portion sizes to better support growing tamariki and rangatahi.
However, while some progress was made, Budget 2026 still leaves significant questions around long-term prevention and Māori-led solutions.
We heard about investment in frontline services. But critical gaps remain.
Without funding the preventative measures that keep people out of those services in the first place, what is being treated is symptoms, not causes.
The Government has acknowledged pressures on our primary health system but has missed the mark once again in addressing the root causes driving that pressure.
Prevention works. Ignoring it is short-sighted.
Aotearoa is experiencing the worst homelessness crisis in recent history, yet this Budget still falls short of the urgency needed by communities who are experiencing hardship on the ground. The numbers are alarming. At a time when more whānau are being pushed into insecure and unsafe housing, this Budget does not go far enough. The proposed social housing response may help in time, but it does not meet the urgency of the crisis facing communities right now.
“Budgets reflect priorities,” says Harema.
“If prevention, whānau wellbeing and Māori-led solutions are continually under-prioritised, communities feel that in very real ways.”
“We cannot continue expecting whānau to carry the consequences of decisions that fail to invest early and support solutions communities are already leading.”
Hāpai Te Hauora remains committed to advocating for long-term investment in prevention, whānau wellbeing and Māori-led approaches that strengthen before crisis point.
