A Bread and Butter Budget.

But give us roses too.

I feel sorry for Grant Robertson, his is an impossible position.

Fix all the stuff, the broken infrastructure, the roads, the homes and lives damaged by these weather events. The people in limbo unable to live in their homes, maybe even to get to their homes. You have to do that.

Invest in our social services, pay the teachers and nurses what they deserve, build more capacity - we can’t be having these long waiting times. Someone drove their car at the emergency department of North Shore Hospital on Saturday. Who knows why? Chances are it wasn’t a satisfied customer.

Probably best to sort out Climate Change it seems like it’s getting worse, rapidly. How can young people forgive you if don’t do something to secure their future? More to the point how are you going to fund these cleanups if they happen every year?

Crime - goodness we can’t have all these ram raiders. I know you increased police funding and there are more police on the beat, whereas National closed community police stations through a lack of funding. But apparently all this crime is down to the Labour Party. Well, if the people on the internet are to be believed.

So quite a bit to spend that money on Grant. Now for the hard bit.

You’ve got to do all that without any new taxes. Without increasing the existing ones. And actually, given there is an election coming up, see if you can find some tax cuts while you’re at it.

Plus of course stop borrowing money to pay for it and start paying down the debt accrued during Covid.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson fielding questions from journalists as he presents the cover of Budget 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Is that enough of a challenge? Are you ready for the best part?