"We are still hoping that, even at this 11th hour, reconciliation can happen. But that's where things are and the public need to know it. We need the public to be prepared. We've made all the steps possible we can to ensure there is the least amount of sacrifice, or medical difficulty, with respect to potential patients," Peters said.
There would be no further pay offers coming.
"We haven't got the money," Peters said.
"In the end, we'll only deliver for the nurses and all other public servants if they understand the parameters to which we are confined in a fiscal sense.
"We offered $500 million. That is a massive increase on what they were offered when we became the Government. We've doubled it and found 500 new nursing places and new career steps for them to move more quickly up the scale. That's the best we're able to do. We're not kidding when we say that."
Peters acknowledged that nurses' frustration and anger had built up over many years but he reiterated that the Government couldn't fix all their problems in one pay round.
"We are saying give us some time and over the years we can seriously help your profession and raise its elevation and its pay and its status in this country. But after just six months of Budget preparations we can't do it in that short time."
Peters said it was the best offer the Government could come up with given it had other pressures on its surplus, citing the M. bovis cattle disease outbreak and the PSA kiwifruit disease outbreak as examples.
"This is the best we can do."
