Budget 2025: Govt spending needs to fund communities, not corporate greed – Marama Davidson

Marama Davidson says her Green Party's alternative Budget invests in people over profits to build a fairer Aotearoa. Illustration / Paul Slater

A better world is possible and we make no apology for trying to build it.

When we launched our Green Budget, we knew there would be people out there, like our CEO Prime Minister, who would rather sling insults and half-baked hot takes than engage in the substance.

We must see this for what it is: a desperate attempt to protect privilege and distract everyone from the reality that we can do much better for ourselves and each other by making the rich pay their fair share.

I think most of us can agree that everyone deserves to see the doctor or dentist when they need to. Or that something as crucial as early childhood education should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford it.

This is why our Budget makes these things free. We can provide this and so much more by putting our communities first and pushing aside the corporate greed that is dominating this Government.

We know the economy is not working for our communities. We can see this in the rising number of homeless people on the streets, in the record number of people leaving the country and the growing number of kids living in poverty.

The failure of successive Governments to invest in our communities is the root cause of the struggles Aotearoa faces now. The past four decades are a failed experiment in trying to run a country without investing properly in the things that matter.

Instead of doing the same and expecting anything different, as I am sure the current Government will tomorrow, we have put an alternative on the table.

The Prime Minister has talked about the need to grow the economy, telling people that all we need is a bit more growth and all our troubles will wash away.

The reality is that the economy has been growing for generations, while at the same time we’ve seen our environment degraded, communities shattered and wealth inequality undermine our sense of shared purpose.

The solution here is not just more growth: we need to share what we have fairly. There is no point in growing the pie if you are going to continue to leave a large portion of society with crumbs.

We need to make sure our money is going into our communities, not towards feeding corporate greed.

We know the investments our Green Budget sets out would pay off immediately and far into the future.

Community-focused investment is common sense, this is something even the Minister of Finance has recognised, saying “not all spending is a cost. Some spending is investment that provides a social and financial return over the longer term”.

Our Green Budget proposes serious investment in what people need to live good lives. Everyone will be able to put food on the table, live in a warm home and receive the care they need, when they need it under our plan.

All of this despite 91% of people paying the same or less in income tax.

Our plan will actually see less tax on income than the Government’s current settings while raising the money needed to invest in the things that are important.

All of this is possible by taxing wealth fairly and putting our money towards what matters – not tax cuts for tobacco companies or landlords.

Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will deliver a Budget built on rolling back pay equity, a Budget that takes money from our most vulnerable and places it in the palms of a wealthy few. I want everyone to know that it does not have to be this way, change is possible.

Our plan sets out exactly what this change could look like and we are so excited to share this vision with communities across the motu [nation] as we take our Green Budget on tour.