Is That It?

National’s vision for Aotearoa and NZ First bites back.

I’ll land on my feet like I always do
leave it up to gravity

Songwriters: Abraham Kunin / Ben Lawson / Joe Kaptein / Thomas Scott.

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Nicola navigates choppy waters.

Nicola Willis looked to the horizon and said she could see it coming: a surplus, that mythical, long-sought destination.

Some doubted that it was real, but Admiral Willis said if we reduced the crew's rations further and didn’t encounter any choppy weather, we would surely reach the promised land of surplus.

Then she said there would be 240,000 more well-paying jobs, and some began to suggest that the Finance Minister had crossed from reality into the land of wishful thinking. A place where it’s all puppies and unicorns, and there is definitely no tsunami of global economic uncertainty about to hit our shores and render all of Nicola’s claims null and void.

An imaginary surplus and 220,000 ghost jobs; Nicola is quite the fantasist.

That was her rationale for the budget, even though she provided no evidence to support what seemed improbable claims.

Pipi wrote, “Imagine telling students that getting rid of what you promised (fees-free year) will result in plenty of jobs. Given what's on the table, does she expect them to go into roading or building? What 220,000 jobs are being created?”

Heather said, “A real magician, quite astonishing, with many wondering if there is anything in the cupboard for dinner tonight. But no, the magician cannot find anything for them.

I did not hear anything about help for food banks, not a crumb of help. Food banks will be very disappointed; they face the cutting edge of hunger every day.”

National’s Priorities.

At a time of high unemployment, with people struggling with the cost of living and a health system held together through the heroic efforts of healthcare workers, the government chose to ignore all of that. I posted:

Roads, prisons, and the military will take priority, while public services will continue to struggle, and nothing is allocated for the cost of living.

We all knew the budget would lack any sweet treats, but Nicola went further, cutting the portion sizes of gruel, and leaving no hope of second helpings.

Maria wrote, “Those of us who are not ‘sorted’ will just have to suffer while their mates and pals continue to get richer. Remember to check your electoral enrolment and remember to vote.”

Maryann said, “That money for prisons would be better spent on rehabilitation.”

The budget has an additional half a billion dollars going on Corrections due to a booming prison population; I agree with Maryann, surely there are better options for helping people than spending $200k a year to lock them up.

Mary commented, “What sort of government makes punishing people into a growth industry with no positive benefits for anyone?”

It doesn’t say much for the government’s ambitions for our country that the only industry that seems to be growing is the one that locks people up.

If there was a silver lining, I was pleased to see more funding for Māori broadcasting; that was a bit off-brand for this government, whereas a reduction in funding for RNZ was right on brand, with a $1.4 million cut on top of last year’s $4.6 million cut.

What came across was the infighting within the coalition over superannuation, with National and ACT seeking to tighten eligibility and Winston saying he would never support it.

Infighting and name-calling.

Unusually, in the political lock-up that preceded the delivery of the budget, Nicola Willis talked about something that wasn’t even in it, but clearly she wanted it to be - the age of Super eligibility.

She told the assembled journalists, “Parties who say they won’t do anything about it are prepared to rob everyone in this country under the age of 50 for their own political expediency. I reject that approach,” which was clearly aimed at NZ First.

Shane Jones. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Jones described Willis’ words as a tawdry attempt to force NZ First into a position on future budgets and called her unprofessional for doing so.

I had to laugh; imagine being called “unprofessional” by Shane Jones, a Minister who has thrown out every rule in the book and yells out inappropriate and offensive terms during Parliament.

Winston Peters was somewhat more polite, though a tad threatening, calling Willis’ politicking on Superannuation during a budget in which it has not been changed an “unfortunate mistake”.

He continued, “If it’s only 5.2 per cent, not 7, 8, 9, 10 per cent like in some countries, then why have you got this concern? Or is it because you don’t know how to run an economy with enough wealth creation, so that we’re going forward and growing at 4, 5, and 6 per cent, which is what we’ll be doing if we ever get a chance to run this economy.”

Not only throwing it back at Willis but also casting doubt on her ability to manage an economy.

Winston Peters. Image: Stuff.

Nicola had future generations in mind, she said, not enough to do anything about climate change or anything like that, but for their welfare decades from now, when she is not in charge. So the investments made are not to address the here and now, but more for the maybe and who knows? For example, healthcare.

Now you might think that with a $6.5b increase in health spending, the government had listened to the people working in our health system and increased funding, but you’d be wrong. Much of the new money in social services is for infrastructure that won’t help our overloaded system for years, by which point, no doubt, the build price will have increased many times over.

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Now for something a little different, something very special that you might have seen: it’s Lynda Topp from last night’s Aotearoa Music Awards (AMA), and she has a few things to say. I do recommend a tissue, and please watch.

It’s been another tough period for subscriptions, with numbers declining. So a plea: if you enjoy my writing and can afford $80 for a year’s subscription or $8 per month, please consider a paid subscription; your support would be very much appreciated.

Have a good Friday, folks, and remember this government only gets to enact most of this budget if they get voted back in, so let’s not let that happen.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

To end, there was an incredible amount of talent at the AMAs last night, and, fortunately, so far as I’m aware, no sign of a drunk Chris Bishop yelling out at the stage, unhappy with the diversity on display.

One of your fellow readers, Geoff, a true gentleman, had a special reason to celebrate when his son Ben won Producer of the Year for ANITYA (Tom Scott). Here is the track "Till Then" from that album, with Ben Lawson as Producer, Mixing Engineer, and Studio Producer. Well done, that man.