Honourable Ministers;
The Chairman and Board of Directors of the Public Rental Board; 
Members of the Private Sector: 
Ladies and gentlemen.

Bula Vinaka and a very good afternoon to you all.

I’m delighted to be here with all of you here in Nasinu after the past week that I spent in the Parliament leading my Government through the deliberations and the passage of the 2018-2019 National Budget. 

In many ways, our last parliamentary session was a remarkable week. The passage of the budget was the culmination of our bold vision, our consistent policies and the steady agenda of delivering promise after promise for our people. A game plan for Fijian progress that has been the hallmark of my Government from the very beginning. 

That budget is a product of our nine straight years of growing the Fijian economy. It is a natural result of unemployment in Fiji sitting at a 20-year low, while enrolment in Fijian schools sits at an all-time high. And it is the next phase of the decade of delivery brought by my Government to Fiji; the new roads, new bridges, new airports, new ports and jetties; new infrastructure that is connecting our people to one another and new services that are making life safer, better and more enjoyable for Fijians everywhere. 

But what shone above all else throughout last week, was that again we saw what makes this budget really special; that it is a budget designed, in every way, to benefit families in Fiji, and it is a budget built on the same values that build strong, stable, and successful Fijian families.

That includes every member of every family in Nasinu. 

Of course, your families will all benefit from the tremendous new package of family support in this budget, the 98 working days of maternity leave and paternal leave as well – for the very first time. I know that means a great deal to Fijian fathers, even though it’s about two to three decades late for some like myself. There’s also the new parenthood assistance payments for low-income families on the birth of a new child. And when you do need to take time to care for members of your family who may be sick or who need your help, there are now also five days of Family Care Leave each year for employees in Fiji. 

Of course, your children will benefit from free education, free textbooks, and subsidised transportation to school, along with the record new funding we’ve allocated towards tertiary loans and scholarships for post-secondary education. In fact, in total we’ve allocated over one billion dollars towards the Fijian education system in this budget. The first sector to ever receive such an amount funding and – fittingly – it’s in education, the single greatest investment we can make in our people and in our future. 

My fellow Fijians, Nasinu is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. It is here that we need to show that, in Fiji, rapid growth and a booming population are absolute guarantees of higher standards of living and of economic sustainability. That begins with making your communities in Nasinu cleaner and safer places to live, work and raise your families. 

In this budget we’ve announced funding for standardised rubbish bins throughout the country, and we’re starting that programme right here in Nasinu. We’ve also introduced rubbish pick-ups Monday through Friday throughout your communities every week of the year. And we’re launching a new pilot programme in Nasinu to collect and reuse organic waste, like leaves and kitchen waste, to create compost that can be used in Fijian farms.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we are celebrating that more Fijian families are receiving access to affordable and quality housing, as we officially commission 36 new public rental board flats for occupancy, funded to the tune of 2.4 million dollars by my Government.

Just as families are the heart of Fijian society, the home is the heart of any family. And that is what this development represents for your families, a home. A place where your children can grow-up and where you can instil them with the values and principles that make good Fijian citizens, with the knowledge that you are living in stability and with security. 

This an incredible milestone for many of you, and this is project is borne from the unparalleled assistance my Government has already given for Fijians looking for high-quality housing for their families – at rates they can actually afford to pay. 

But I’m proud to say our national agenda in delivering quality, affordable housing for Fijians – our vision – is even bigger and far more ambitious. And the latest national budget does an enormous amount to give more families the chance to not only find quality housing, but to give them the shot at owning homes as well. 

In this budget, we announced the formation of a new Ministry, the Ministry of Housing and Community Development, with the mandate to give more Fijians more access to quality and reasonable housing at affordable prices. 

To start that off, we’ve put even more funding into the First Homeowners Grant, and have established two tiers under the grant. Households making under $50,000 a year now qualify for $15,000 in assistance towards the construction of their first home and $10,000 towards the purchase of their first home. Families making between $50,000 and $100,000 annually also qualify for this assistance for the first time, with $10,000 for the construction or $5,000 towards the purchase of their first home. 

We’re also taking our work with commercial banks one step further by directly subsidising interest rates for Fijian families with an annual income less than $50,000 who take out loans to buy or construct their first home, or who purchase land as well; bringing those rates down a full percentage point for a period of three years. 

We also introduced a new grant, the First Land Owners Grant to help more Fijian families purchase or lease land. Households who make less than $50,000 will be granted $10,000 towards the purchase or lease of land, which eventually can be the site on which that they construct a new home of their own. 

We’re covering the cost for Fijian communities looking to survey their land to transition to fully fledged lease agreements. And we have a new agreement with FNPF to develop multifamily housing units for a new lost-cost housing project. We’re not fronting any capital costs. Instead we will subsidise rent for low-income tenants. And once these developments are completed, we’ll see an immediate spike in inventory of affordable accommodation in Fiji, both for rental and sale, with strata titles available at different price points for Fijian families. 

That’s barely a snapshot of everything the budget includes, and I encourage every Fijian to read everything that’s included in the budget online at the Ministry of Economy website, or in the National Budget Kits that were sent out in the Fiji Sun. 

Friends, that’s the good news – at least some of it. 

But what was less remarkable about this past week of budget deliberations, was that even after four years in the Parliament, again, we were all subjected to the same old, tired and backwards criticism from the same old, tired and backwards-thinking members of the Opposition. Four years in the Parliament, and it’s still more of the same. The same political sniping and the same blatant hypocrisy. In the same breath they wrongly called this budget irresponsible they demanded more money be spent across the board, in ways that make no strategic sense for our economic growth and the wellbeing of our people. And then they went about selling the same lies to anyone who will listen and making the same absurd and expensive promises they can never hope or afford to keep. 

But despite all of that, I know – we know – who the real winners are from this budget. It is you, the Fijian people, and it is your families. It is your victory we marked by passing this budget. You are the ones whose lives will continue getting better. And it is you who is set-up to realise the greatest and widest range of opportunities ever at your disposal, the same goes for your children, the same goes for every member of your families, and every one of your fellow Fijians. 

It is only because of the commanding majority granted to my Government in the last election by you, the Fijian people, that this budget was passed. That overwhelming mandate from the Fijian people is the entire reason our nation has been on the fast track of development. And there is still so much more we can achieve – but only if we have consistency and continuity of government policies. Only, if the Fijian people again make their voices heard loudly clearly in the next election that they want Fijian progress to continue. 

Because, rest assured, if our future is left up to any other political party in Fiji, no family would feel any of the immense benefits my Government is bringing to our nation. No promises would be delivered, no progress would be made, in fact we’d actually move backwards into the past, and your dreams for yourselves and for your families would stand no chance of being realised. 

Thank God, that isn’t the Fiji we know today. 

To our families here this afternoon, who will reside here in this new housing development, this is your day. And I not only encourage all of you to take pride in this new development, I encourage you all use this opportunity as a stepping stone for yourselves to one day go on to build or buy homes of your own. 

Because I assure you, whatever your dreams for yourselves and for your families may be, my Government will be there to support you and your ambition. We will always listen to you, we will always strive to serve you, and we will always deliver for you, for your communities, and for every one of your families. 

Congratulations on this new development. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome home. 

Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.