In the political universe, a newly-discovered fiscal hole is a wonder to behold

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

New Zealand politicians love a fiscal hole. Indeed, recent history is littered with accusations of accounting errors, costing miscalculations, and financial holes.

The most recent example involves the Green Party and its newly announced wealth tax, which the party was forced to correct after an error was found in its numbers.

The policy had been overestimated by a whopping $800 million due to counting a cost as revenue, with the party putting this down to a “typo”. The economist who worked on the policy with them later admitted he made a “regrettable error”.

The reaction from politicians and parties when they realise they mucked up has made for compelling politics over the years, while the barbs thrown from the other side have led to some juicy exchanges.

Here are five notable reactions to fiscal hole allegations over the years.

John Key tells Phil Goff to show him the money

In what became one of the most famous one-liners in recent New Zealand political history, then Prime Minister John Key taunted Labour leader Phil Goff over his party's policy costings during a live election debate.

During the Press debate in Christchurch, Key goaded Goff on the question of what he believed was a $14 billion hole in Labour’s policy promises.

“Show me the money,” Key asked Goff on multiple occasions. “Where's the $14 billion coming from,” he also said.

All Goff was able to do in response was say Labour’s financial spokesperson would reveal all at a later date.

‘I will be proven correct’, Steven Joyce on Labour’s alleged $11.7b hole

In 2017, then Finance Minister Steven Joyce accused Labour of having an $11.7 billion hole in its alternative fiscal plan.

Joyce alleged Labour had made five accounting mistakes in its costings, something the party, including leader Jacinda Ardern, called “pure fiction”.

Various economists debated the merits of Joyce’s claims, with some saying he was wrong, while others claimed he was right.

Joyce, however, was firm in his thoughts to the end, telling the AM show: “Unfortunately, sadly, I think it looks like over time I will be proven correct.”

Debate around Joyce’s fiscal hole claims continue to this day.

National’s $4b fiscal gap an ‘irritating mistake’

In 2020, National Party finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith admitted that a '$4 billion hole' found in the party’s fiscal and economic plan was an “irritating mistake”.

Labour had accused National of having the hole in its economic plan, saying they had used the 'wrong numbers”.

As it turned out, the error occurred after National used May Budget figures instead of numbers from the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update for Super Fund contributions.

Goldsmith apologised for the error and called it an 'irritating mistake” that an external checker had missed.

‘How big is his hole?’, Nicola Willis asks Grant Robertson

Parliament erupted in hysterics in 2023 after National finance spokesperson Nicola Willis’s unfortunate choice of words when probing Finance Minister Grant Robertson on the state of the government's books.

“How big is his hole?” Willis asked Robertson before pausing, realising she had left out the word fiscal in her question.

“That is not in the public interest, I assure you,” Robertson responded.

Willis then gathered her composure and completed the question she had intended to ask. “How big is the New Zealand Government’s financial hole,” she said.

Afterwards, Willis admitted she was “embarrassed” by the gaffe, but that “no offence was intended”.

Christopher Luxon defends ‘rock solid’ numbers

Ahead of the 2023 election, National found itself under the microscope over its tax policy, with Labour claiming it “looked dodgy”.

The policy cost $14 billion; however, the fiscal hole accusations came quickly, with Labour saying the policy had credibility issues because it relied on a plan to bring back foreign buyers of homes worth more than $2 million and tax them at 15%.

“This puts the credibility of their tax cut plan into severe doubt,” Labour’s David Parker said in response to the policy.

A group of economists agreed – with their analysis showing National had a half billion dollar gap in its costings.

Asked if he was confident National could tax foreign buyers from China, National leader Christopher Luxon said their numbers were “rock solid”.

'I can tell you in the National Party we understand the economy and we are rock solid on our numbers,” he said.