NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Budget 2018: Govt delivers big boost for public services in first Budget

Audrey Young
By Audrey Young
Senior Political Correspondent·NZ Herald·
17 May, 2018 03:20 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Finance Minister Grant Robertson is congratulated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Finance Minister Grant Robertson is congratulated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Coalition's first Budget has delivered a big boost for public services including $3.2 billion extra for health services over four years - and a large-scale state house building programme.

Spending on Corrections goes over $1 billion for the first time and it gets funding for pop-up prison units to house an extra 600 prisoners.

And an extra $1.6 billion for education will go to early childhood education and a boost for students with higher learning needs.

The big winners

• Health: $3.2 billion injection over four years, including $2.2b more for DHBs and $126m for elective surgeries and other areas. $750m for hospital upgrades and rebuilds.
• Cheaper doctor visits for more than 500,000 people. Free GP visits extended to 13-year-olds (56,000 more children). About 540,000 people eligible for Community Services cards will get $20 to $30 cheaper GP visits. Cost $385m.
• Midwives: $112m more for community midwives, including 8.9 per cent fee increase to level them with DHB midwives.
• Housing: $3.8b to build 6400 more state houses by 2022 - and $170m for emergency housing. Insulation subsidies for low-income families. HNZ to borrow $3b.
• Education: $395 million to build new schools and classrooms.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But health is the biggest winner, with the Government saying the system was starved of funding under the last administration.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said public services had been underfunded for too long.

"Budget 2018 begins the economic and social transformation that must happen if New Zealanders are to have better lives in the decades to come."

It was the largest injection into the health sector for a decade, he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

As well as the $3.2 billion new operating funding for health, there would be an additional $750 million for capital spending, which compared to $150 million in the last National Government's Budget.

Free doctor visits will be extended a year from under 13s to under 14-year-olds and community card holders will get cheaper visits.

Community midwives will get an 8.9 per cent boost in their fees but Robertson was adamant that that should not be taken as a signal for other state sector pay negotiations.

It was special case to address an inequity with hospital-based midwives.
An extra 6400 state houses will be built over four years.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Pay equity for mental health and addiction support workers

22 Jun 12:16 AM

READ MORE:
• Budget 2018: At a glance - what you need to know
• Pop-up prison cells
• 1600 more state houses to be built each year

New Zealand First's big Budget items, for Foreign Affairs and the Provincial Growth Fund, were pre-announced,

But the Green Party's $100 million green investment fund, negotiated in the confidence and supply agreement, was confirmed in this Budget.

The amount of new operating money Robertson had to allocate for this year's Budget increased from $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion because of extra tax revenue – and increased over four years from $21 billion over four year to $24 billion.

New capital allocations increased from $3.4 billion to $3.8 billion. Allowances for future years of expenditure have been adjusted upwards as well.

The books show a forecast surplus for the 2018 – 19 year of $3.7 billion, up from the half-yearly forecast of $3.1 billion.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Treasury forecasts economic growth to average 3 per cent a year over five year, up marginally.

Real wages are forecast to grow each year with annual average earnings rising to $71,000 by 2022.

Among the Budget documents is breakdown of how the Government's extra spending has been funded: 38 per cent from adopting a slower debt track than National; 33 per cent from reversing National's tax cuts; 23 per cent from extra revenue from growth in the economy; and 6 per cent from cutting previous programmes and greater compliance on tax collection.

Robertson has also announced that consultations will begin soon on Independent Fiscal Institution, which was part of Labour and the Greens' Fiscal Responsibility Rules.

Among their tasks would be to independently cost political promises during an election year. Australia, Canada and Britain had similar institutions.

Responding today in the House, Opposition leader Simon Bridges said the "Tax more and borrow more" Budget breaks coalition promises.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It had promised no new taxes, but had introduced regional fuel taxes, an extension to the bright line test, and excise taxes, National's leader said.

"More than $2b more in tax over the next four years, whereas we were giving New Zealanders … tax relief," Bridges said.

Of the $40b in spending over four years, the Government was spending close to $1b on foreign affairs.

He repeated his line that the Government was spending on "diplomats not doctors" - though most of that $1b will go towards foreign aid in the Pacific.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hit back, describing Bridges' post-Budget speech as "Ninety minutes and 30 seconds of shouting".

Ardern said she was proud of today's Budget and had heard a number of names to describe it, including the "spray and walk away budget''.

She acknowledged she did not take offence to that, however, as she remembered it was a mould and algae remover.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ardern said no decision in the Budget was taken lightly. Every dollar spent was considered, prioritised and balanced.

She said National should not be lecturing the Government on debt, having borrowed $50b while in power.

Claims that Labour was spending less on health was false, she said. National had factored in the $1.5b pay equity settlement in its funding, which was "not comparing apples and apples", she said.

"I am happy to debate this Budget, but let's debate the facts not Facebook memes," she said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

18 Jun 09:18 AM
New Zealand

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

18 Jun 09:17 AM
New Zealand

Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

18 Jun 08:23 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

18 Jun 09:18 AM

They allege the Crown ignored Treaty obligations by not engaging with them.

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

18 Jun 09:17 AM
Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

18 Jun 08:23 AM
Premium
Has Tory Whanau's experience put women off running for mayor?

Has Tory Whanau's experience put women off running for mayor?

18 Jun 07:26 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP