Latest fromBudget 2016

COMMENT: The population is up, the Govt wants debt to go down. Net result: not a lot left to play with, writes Brian Fallow.

COMMENT: In any relationship, familiarity can breed contempt if the needs of either party fail to be addressed, not yet so with Budget 2016.

Military and intelligence agencies will get a combined $479 million in extra operational funding over the next four years.

COMMENT: English faces challenge in curbing Key's enthusiasm for tax cuts before election.

The Budget confirmed $69.8 million of new operating funding over the next four years to help eradicate bovine tuberculosis.

The Government's big-spend on "social investment" is being treated with scepticism by some of those battling issues such as housing and child poverty.

The long-planned information technology project aims to completely overhaul the country's taxation system.

Today: Donald Trump reaches the number of delegates he needed to secure the party's presidential nomination for the White House and a 31-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Christchurch sex worker Renee Duckmanton. And US President Barack Obama meets with his G7 counterparts in Japan and pushes to finish negotiations on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership before the end of the year.

New parents Mike Alsweiler and Gemma Mann saw nothing in the Budget to get them closer to buying their first home.

Bowel cancer survivor Peter Krijger is relieved that NZ will at last get a national screening programme to detect the disease at its earlier stages.

The Government will pay beneficiaries $3000 to move to cities such as Auckland for work.

Victoria Crone says the council needs to do more, while Phil Goff argues the Government is not doing enough.

Lack of Budget housing initiatives earned the Government criticism from many quarters yesterday.

COMMENT: The 2016 Budget is a mix of bullish and Billish, writes Toby Manhire.

NZ's skills shortage was highlighted in the Budget yesterday with the Govt allocating $256.5m to promote tertiary education and apprenticeships.

A trial is under way to streamline border processing for low-risk travellers and traders, starting with those who fly across the Tasman.

The Government's "boring" Budget could pave the way for National to take big tax cuts to next year's election, Prime Minister John Key says.

A man who spent 18 years in state care says he is "terrified" by the Budget changes to Child, Youth and Family.

Everybody wants more out of the Budget but no one wants to pay extra taxes to cover it. Everyone wants to go to heaven no one wants to die, writes John Tamihere.

After proclaiming in previous years that coal, oil and industrial dairy would be the economic salvation of the nation, they are all noticeably missing from the Budget this year, writes Dr Russel Norman.