Budget Day 2025
Budget
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At 2pm Thursday, the government opened its books and revealed Finance Minister Nicola Willis' second Budget.
Willis called it the 'No BS Budget', while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon labelled it the 'Growth Budget'.
Catch up with all of RNZ's updates for Budget 2025 as it happened below:
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RNZ News
13 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Bill to ban protesting outside private homes passes first reading
Standing in for Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, James Meager said the bill would be a welcome relief to many MPs, officials, and other individuals who had been targeted. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Legislation to make protesting outside someone's home an offence has passed its first reading at Parliament. The bill would apply to demonstrations directed at a specific person outside their private residence, considering factors like how 'unreasonable' the protest is. Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori opposed the bill, expressing concerns it could override the right to freedom of protest, and there were existing tools police could use. Standing in for Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, James Meager said the bill would be a welcome relief to many MPs, officials, and other individuals who had been targeted. He said the bill was a balance of rights and freedoms. "The protection of New Zealanders' privacy is fundamentally important in our society, as is the ability to protest. The government upholds both of these values," he said. Meager said the public's right to protest was protected by the Bill of Rights Act, but demonstrations outside homes could impede on someone's right to privacy. "Unreasonable, disruptive intrusions into people's private spaces are simply unacceptable," Meager said. The government believed existing legislation did not clearly reflect the importance of privacy in the context of demonstrations, meaning police had difficulty in applying offences like disorderly behaviour. The offence would only apply if the protest was targeted at a specific person outside their private residence, meaning marches that passed by someone's house would not be covered. Time of day, duration, the demonstrators' actions, noise levels, and distance to the premises would also be factors in determining the offence. Despite Labour leader Chris Hipkins earlier expressing his concerns that protest had become personalised, Labour did not support the bill. Labour's Duncan Webb. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Its justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said the bill "chips away" at free speech rights, and New Zealand could not call itself a liberal democracy while passing legislation that prohibited demonstration. "The point of political action is to disrupt. It is not to be nice, it's not to be convenient. Protest is disruptive, that's what a protest is." Webb acknowledged other MPs have experienced people acting inappropriately outside their residences, but the legislation was targeted to suppress political action. "If that's your problem, the easy fix is actually to fix the offence of disorderly behaviour, and make it clear that disorder that flows into a private premise can in fact still amount to that offence." The Green Party also opposed the bill. MP Celia Wade-Brown said threats to people's safety or their families' safety were unacceptable, but the new offence had a disproportionate punishment. "Three months in prison, $2000 fine, this is not a parking ticket." Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said if police felt they could not apply existing legislation to remove someone behaving unreasonably outside another's home, then police should "check their practice." Speaking in support of the bill, ACT's Todd Stephenson accepted there were two competing rights in the legislation, but the Select Committee phase would be a chance for a discussion about how the balance could be struck. "It's worthwhile at least going through the Select Committee process and uncovering what powers the police do or don't have currently, but they're saying they don't have sufficient powers." Casey Costello from New Zealand First said it was a "sad, sad indictment on our democracy" that the legislation was even needed. "We know we have politically motivated groups who will purposely release private residential addresses of elected officials, of businesspeople, in order to invoke an intimidatory approach to dealing with decisions." Costello disagreed it was a limitation on protesting, but a protection for people's privacy. "It is absolutely reasonable to say that we will ensure that voices can be heard, but my children, my mother, my family will not have to bear the price of the decisions or the public position that I hold," she said. The Justice Committee will now consider the bill, and will report back within four months.
RNZ News
13 minutes ago
- RNZ News
CBD brothel plan abandoned after mayoral candidate's condemnation
The location of a potential new brothel on Hastings' Heretaunga St West. Photo: Jack Riddell A man with plans to open a brothel in Hastings' central city says he's been forced to abandon it because of what he claims is intolerable pressure from local body election candidates. Hardeep Singh had applied to the Hastings City Council's District Licensing Committee for a liquor licence for a premises on Heretaunga St West, in a block of shops between Nelson St and King St. The application said the nature of the business set to be conducted under the licence was "brothel". On Wednesday, Hastings councillor Damon Harvey - who is running for mayor - posted a photo of the application on Facebook with his condemnation of it. Singh claimed his landlord told him his phone had immediately started ringing with people against the idea of a brothel, and he had decided he did not want one in the premises. "I am very disappointed. I have lost a lot of money," Singh said. "I would like to ask those councillors who have been complaining what they are going to do to improve the nightlife in Hastings? "After 4pm its a ghost town. I am not doing anything illegal. I was trying to create a safe place for sex workers instead of them being on the streets." Harvey wrote on his post: "Well respected developers along with you - the ratepayer, have invested a lot into the revitalisation of Hastings and the last thing we need is a brothel on the main street of the CBD. "Brothels are a compliant activity, but it comes down to 'right business and the right location,'" Harvey said. "This area of the CBD needs an uplift. I've talked to many businesses in this part of town, and they want to have an enhanced hospitality and retail block." Mayoral candidates Marcus Buddo and Steve Gibson said they also opposed a brothel in the city. "No, I don't think we need a brothel in Hastings," Buddo said. Gibson said, as a Christian, he couldn't support a brothel in the community. "It degrades family values and undermines community wellbeing. The same goes for this council promoting drag queens reading to children," Gibson said. "Hastings deserves leadership that protects childhood innocence and strengthens, not erodes, the values that hold our families together." Mayoral candidate Wendy Schollum disagreed with the backlash. "Sex work has been legal in NZ for more than 20 years, and sex workers deserve safe, regulated workplaces like anyone else," Schollum said. "As the Chair of the City Centres Forum, my concern is not about legality, it's about ensuring the new operators engage constructively with their business neighbours. The wider CBD ecosystem must remain vibrant and safe for all." Wellington regional co-ordinator of the Aotearoa NZ Sex Workers' Collective Cherida Fraser said people should welcome new brothels, especially in the regions. Fraser said sex workers in the regions don't have many options. "If they aren't happy with their conditions, this gives them an option. "There's also safety in numbers. We were looking forward to working with the brothel and supplying them with free condoms." She said there were about 3500 to 5000 sex workers in New Zealand at any given time. "It's difficult to put a precise number on it because the stigma means many of them keep quiet." Anna Buckley (L) and Nevaeh Howard from Anna's Beauty Lounge and Academy on Heretaunga St W, right next door to the proposed brothel. Photo: Jack Riddell Anna Buckley's business, Anna's Beauty Lounge and Academy, was right next door to the proposed brothel. "I feel like it's not something that our community needs on its main street of Hastings," Buckley said. "We are a training facility with young students. And just on a moral ground, it doesn't sit easy with me." But Singh said the plan for the brothel's hours was that neighbouring businesses would be closed. "It is a night time business, so it wouldn't affect them." Hastings Business Association general manager Lucinda Perry said as an organisation representing the interests of Hastings CBD businesses, it had significant concerns about the impact a brothel in the heart of Hastings' main street would have. "Our members work hard to create a welcoming, safe, and family-friendly environment that attracts shoppers, visitors, and investment," Perry said. "A business of this nature is not consistent with that vision. We believe it would undermine the work that has gone into revitalising our city centre. We respect the legal right for such businesses to operate, but strongly believe the CBD main street is not the appropriate location," she said. "The focus should remain on growing a vibrant, positive mix of retail, hospitality, and services that strengthens Hastings as a destination of choice." The landlord, who Local Democracy Reporting, has agreed not to name, said he didn't know his premises was going to be used as a brothel. A Hastings District Council spokesperson said the brothel would comply with the District Plan if it opened. "It is a commercial activity in a commercial zone. A building consent has been issued to conduct some alterations within the building." LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
37 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Plans to shut down Eves Valley Sawmill
life and society employment 5:23 pm today It's understood owners Carter Holt Harvey want to shut down the Eves Valley Sawmill and consolidate its timber operation at its Kawerau plant. The closure will cost more than 140 jobs in the Tasman district. The plan is under consultation until 1 September, but local leaders have little hope the proposal will change. Tasman District Mayor Tim King spoke to Lisa Owen.
