Budget critical element in getting NZ Back on track - Carl Bates

Carl Bates

Carl Bates is the MP for Whanganui.

OPINION

Finance Minister Nicola Willis will present her first Budget to Parliament and the nation on Thursday, May 30.

The current economic conditions have significantly increased the demands Minister Willis has to balance as she pulls the Budget together.

A Treasury briefing the day the Government took office informed them the economy was in danger of a structural deficit.

The majority of the increase in Government debt from $5 billion to $100b was the result of the last Government continuing to spend more money than it earned.

Much of the spending was in areas that did not improve services or outcomes for New Zealanders on a daily basis.

The Finance Minister responded quickly with a mini-Budget in December which found $7.5b in public sector savings.

Thursday’s Budget will build on the ethos of spending being reprioritised to areas where it will produce the best outcomes for New Zealanders.

The commitment to invest $140 million in new funding for 1500 social houses to be provided by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) is especially welcome and will lead to fewer families living in motels.

Likewise, the decision announced this week to fund the Gumboot Friday organisation to provide additional mental health services will enable more young people to have counselling sessions to meet their acute needs.

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has signalled his intention to fund providers on the front line rather than funding being caught up in the Wellington bureaucracy, an approach I support.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently promised there would be “no bells and whistles” in the Budget.

Instead, the focus will be on ensuring the basics are done well to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and provide better public services.

Education is a particular passion for me, as the father of a new entrant and a preschooler, and I especially welcome the investment into the nationwide rollout of structured literacy programmes.

The investment of $53.6m into the training and recruitment of 1500 teachers, announced at the weekend by Education Minister Erica Stanford, is another excellent initiative.

And modest tax relief targeted at low and middle-income New Zealanders will help to ease the burden of the cost of living crisis on working New Zealanders.

Wages have raced ahead of tax rates, which have not been adjusted for inflation since 2010.

As Nicola Willis delivers her Budget tomorrow, I have no doubt it will be a critical element in the coalition Government’s unrelenting quest to get New Zealand Back on Track.