-- introducing a new family service, with $70m funding a year, within the Social Welfare Department.
-- raising the accommodation supplement by 10%, at a cost of $110m a year.
-- spending $110m a year more on special benefits, and reviewing the formula for living costs.
-- rentals on Housing NZ houses are frozen pending a review of their affordability for tenants.
-- raising the adult minimum wage from the present $6.375 and hour to $7. (With a review a year later which may see it increase towards NZ First goal of $7.50).
-- an immediate review of minimum wage rates for under 20-year olds.
-- the Employment Contracts Act to be kept under "continuous review" as to the security of employment and fairness it offers.
-- introducing the concept of "fair bargaining" into the Employment Contracts Act and investigating whether "casualisation" of employment is being used to undermine the development of competition in some industries.
-- employing 500 more police officers in the next three years.
-- scrapping the regional RHA health purchasing system, and the Crown Health Enterprises will no longer be required to be profit-driven.
-- scrapping asset testing for elderly hospital patients, and introducing free medical care for pre-schoolers.
-- boosting education funding by an extra $384m, mainly for primary and secondary schools.
-- working towards the reintroduction of universal living allowances for tertiary students at rates comparable to the dole.
-- scrapping the $1 billion "fiscal envelope" cap and settling treaty claims on their merits.
-- setting up independent think-tanks for Maori -- a Maori Education Commission, Maori Health Promotion Unit, Maori Economic Development Unit, and a Maori Employment and Training Unit.
-- urgently addressing the teacher shortages

Sources -- The Dominion 12 December 1996 "Jobless may get $10 an hour for community work" by NZPA, New Zealand Herald 12 December 1996 "Work, train to get the dole" by Roger Fea

The coalition government document says that "... it is accepted that as a general principle it is economic policy, as distinct from employment policy, that determines the numbers of employed." Consequently, the coalition deal widens the Reserve Bank's inflation target to 0-3%, and employment and growth will now be written into the goals of Reserve Bank Governor Dr Don Brash.

But Dr Brash made it clear last week that this would not alter his interpretation of his brief, arguing that the best way the bank could promote the creation of wealth and jobs was "by protecting the purchasing power of the nation's money". He also says that the spending boost that NZ First gained from National in the coalition negotiations may frustrate the coalition's efforts to deliver an export-friendly economy.