The Budget is here and the cover is…underwhelming

Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has revealed the first glimpse of this year’s Budget and it’s, well, boring.

But that’s exactly how she wants it.

“I think we've had six years of a government that wants to be judged by how snazzy its slogans were and how pretty its pictures were. We want to be judged by results,” Willis said.

Gone are the days when pictures of stunning beaches or smiling happy Kiwi families adorn the Budget cover, this year it’s simply what it says on the tin: “The Estimates and Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand”.

Willis restored a tradition of Finance Ministers past, trekking out to the Bluestar printing presses in Petone to gleefully hold up a copy of her Budget for the cameras.

But she’s bucking another historical trend, naming her Budget, instead saying she is focused on the substance and what’s inside.

Earlier this week Willis revealed the Government had found more than 240 savings initiatives in the budget aka cuts.

Asked how much this Budget would hurt New Zealanders Willis replied, “I I think New Zealanders will do well out of our Budget because what they will have for the first time and many years as a responsible government looking after taxpayer dollars carefully.”

Expect NZ First and ACT to be big winners in the Budget - perhaps even above and beyond what was settled on in the coalition agreements which took an agonising six weeks to negotiate.

”There are some very significant commitments in this Budget, which we owe to our coalition partners,” Willis said.

Asked if there will be additional wins for her coalition partners beyond the coalition agreements, Willis didn’t rule it out, “that’s for you to judge tomorrow.”

At least by choosing a boring cover, the government avoids the stock photo pitfall former Finance Minister Grant Robertson fell into.

The Kiwi family on the cover of his 2019 Budget had recently moved to Australia because the cost of living got too high in New Zealand.