Auckland's housing situation is as bad as Christchurch, Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce tells Liam Dann on The Economy Hub.

COMMENT: The Government is having to spend more than $2 billion just to stand still rather than forge ahead and pay down debt.

Today - Russell John Tully has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non parole period of 27 years at the High Court in Christchurch and Hillary Barry will read her final 6 o’clock bulletin tonight after 23 years at TV3. And Amber Heard has split from Johnny Depp after just 15 months of marriage

The Finance Minister says the Government will consider paying debt off more slowly in order to afford tax cuts.

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

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.

COMMENT: This Budget will not be defined by what is in it, but by what is missing, Labour MP Grant Robertson says.

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

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.

The Government's plan to sell state houses to private providers has hit a hurdle after a major buyer pulled out of the process.

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.

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

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

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

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.

For the Aucklanders stuck in rush-hour traffic wondering what's in the Budget for them, the answer is not a lot.

More school spending for the most "at-risk" children is welcomed by West Auckland couple Mathew and Tuhe Tauia.

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

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

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.

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

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.

In his Budget speech, Bill English proudly says that government expenditure is down to less than 30 per cent of GDP, and that's the way that it's going to stay.