Job creation promise in Budget 2025 follows public sector layoffs – Editorial

Finance Minister Nicola Willis receiving a standing ovation from her colleagues after reading her Budget 2025 in Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

As the Government dished out the dollars in this year’s Budget, there were flashes of distracting ironies.

National lauded the Budget as the pathway to Kiwis getting ahead.

Part of the improvement to our nation’s lives was that the mega-splash of cash would create 240,000 additional jobs over the next four years.

First, wow. Then, hang on a second.

How impressive is that figure truly when the coalition Government set about gutting public sector jobs last year – the axe still swinging with the likes of Kāinga Ora and Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.

Unemployment rose to 5.1% in the three months ended December. The highest level since 2020.

The Stats NZ data equated to about 156,000 people – more than half of the jobs forecast by the Government, and jobs lost far quicker than the four years the vocational renewal will take.

While every culled career was not the Government’s reckoning, thousands were.

Pulling us away from the loud chant of job creation was an irony more subtle.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis opened her Budget statement to Parliament using te reo.

This is a usual cultural norm in New Zealand. Except our coalition Government flipped the status quo on its head in the name of “comprehension and understanding”.

We have been confronted with the Government’s English-first policy for more than a year now.

The belief debuted back in 2023 when NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi reportedly became the first government department to ditch its te reo Māori name in favour of its English name.

Other public service departments, except those specifically related to Māori, followed suit as the coalition agreement between National and NZ First had dictated.

The latest Government flex is the removal of traffic control stop-go signs in te reo Māori in Hawke’s Bay.

Stop-go signs needed to be very unambiguous, our Prime Minister said.

Others agreed, citing fears for international tourists. Although the pioneer of te reo Māori stop-go signs believed they pose no threat to the public.

Either way, the Government’s stance is clear. Muddied only when it comes to delivering one of its most crucial plans that impacts all New Zealanders.

While Willis’ use of te reo was nothing more than an acknowledgement of the monumental announcement taking place and a nod to how honoured she was to be the voice of it, the experience still jarred.

The effort to put te reo Māori in the backseat has been so assertive by the Government, that the irony of the moment was hard to ignore.

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