Budget 2025 reaction
The government's cuts, savings and new spending have been revealed in this year's
Budget
.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis described her second Budget as 'No BS', while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon labelled it the 'Growth Budget'.
Meanwhile the Labour party says it's being paid for by New Zealand women.
Catch up with all the post-Budget 2025 reaction as it unfolded below:
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Fast track or slow track? The data problem that could hurt development
"I think inevitably the lack of information does mean a slow track," Simon Upton says. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins The government's fast track for building big infrastructure will be a slow track if New Zealand does not get its head around its hotchpotch of datasets about what is all around us. This warning about "globs" of siloed data hurting development is coming from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. It follows years of failed attempts to unlock billions of dollars of growth from getting a better grasp on everything geospatial - that is, what is in the physical environment and how it interacts. "It's a place-based thing", said commissioner Simon Upton. "If you want to know about where you're going to farm something or where you're going to build something, you need to put together a whole lot of place-spaced or geospatial information, and that's currently held in all sorts of dispersed places." The three-decade struggle with the Resource Management Act had showed up what was at stake. But though this law was in for another overhaul, the key data piece was still missing. "The reason I think that the current moment really is a critical, is that this government is the second government in a row that's trying to completely upend the resource management system and do it all differently." The gap would bog down the government's controversial fast-tracking of big projects, Upton said. "From what I can see, the fast-track process still requires people to pull all the information together and so the panels that are looking at this, they're going to have to give people the time to pull that together and then analyse it. "I think inevitably the lack of information does mean a slow track. "The time has come when we need to be able to 'federate' or pull together that dispersed information so that people can make good decisions." His new report lists a whole raft of shortcomings in the geospatial system: It was "plagued" by duplication, overlaps and significant gaps, was poorly accessible, lacked leadership and was dispersed across scores of councils, agencies, catchment groups and other community bodies. "Without robust environmental information we won't be able to judge if costly actions and mitigations undertaken are making a difference," the 19-page report said. Upton has campaigned for a joined-up - or "federated" - system for years. In a 2022 report, he pointed out how the info gaps around land use, and water quality and use - at many of the 1500 water monitoring sites, for example, only a few types of measurements were made. "Compared with surface water, groundwater is even less well understood." In the marine ecosystem, "luck has driven much of what we know. For example, the early discovery of large submarine volcanoes in the Kermadec Arc, north of New Zealand, was largely the result of serendipitous mapping". The country has tried to get serious about geospatial before, with little to show for it. Over 15 years ago, the first national geospatial review said a massive jigsaw of joined-up datasets constantly being added to, would be worth billions to the economy. So the government set up a geospatial office, its job was to set up the technology, policies, standards and human resources for networks of "open, accessible and interoperable" data. But by 2014, the office (NZGO) was writing a 40-page report about the bureaucratic indifference and fragmentation that had derailed attempts to set up a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) framework by 2014. RNZ got the report under the OIA. "Despite a review and reset in July 2013, low attendance and low engagement in ... governance groups was ongoing and meetings were frequently cancelled," Land Information NZ told RNZ in an OIA response to questions about the fate of a system that was promised to deliver billions in benefits. The geospatial effort dragged its feet for a host of reasons. "Organisations tended to participate in the national SDI for their own ends rather than because Cabinet has directed them to, or to deliver a public good", agencies "didn't have the resources to participate if they didn't get direct benefit"; or they found it "difficult to understand let alone explain to others" so could not get a budget for it. It did not help that it lacked "identifiable measures towards a defined 'end game'". By 2017 the NZGO "was effectively disestablished". The geospatial strategy still exists, but orphaned and without a champion, multiple geospatial industry players told RNZ. Simon Upton put his shoulder to the uphill push years after this drawn-out (2006-17) and failed attempt - he was not in the country at the time it was going on. "But I'd make this observation," Upton said. "This is not sexy stuff. This is scarcely a vote-winning territory, talking about data. "It is not something that is likely to enliven government officials or politicians. "This is really the the engine room stuff." But the government wanted to do spatial planning, so a big job was there to be done, he said. "If you want to do it differently and do it successfully, you are going to need much better information."
Scoop
2 hours ago
- Scoop
New Poll: Labour Becomes Largest Party, Economy Top Concern
Press Release – New Zealand Taxpayers' Union The Economy more generally is the most important issue to voters at 20.2 percent (+3.7 points), followed by the Cost of Living at 18.1 percent (-8.3 points), Health at 11.9 percent (-5.0 points) and Employment at 5.8 percent. Bad news for National in the latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll as Labour would now be the largest party in Parliament, gaining three seats to 44. The Coalition would still just about cling on to power on these numbers. The poll, conducted between 07 and 09 June shows National drop 1.1 points on last month to 33.5 percent, while Labour are up 1.6 points to 34.8 percent. ACT is down 0.4 points to 9.1 percent, whilst the Greens are down 0.9 points to 8.2 percent. New Zealand First also drops 1.3 points to 6.1 percent, while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.6 points to 3.3 percent. Headline results and more information about the methodology can be found on the Taxpayers' Union's website at For the minor parties, TOP is on 1.8 percent (+1.3 point), Outdoors and Freedom is on 1.1 percent (+0.7 points), New Conservatives are on 0.7 percent (+0.7 points) and Vision NZ on 0.6 percent (+0.2 points). This month's results are compared to the last Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll conducted in May 2025, available here at The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 62 is down 1 seat from last month. The combined seats for the Centre-Left is up 2 seats to 60. On these numbers, the Centre-Right bloc could still form a Government. National remains on 42 seats again this month, whilst Labour is up 3 seats to 44. ACT is unchanged on 12 seats, whilst the Greens are down 1 seat to 10. New Zealand First drops 1 seat to 8 seats, while Te Pāti Māori remains on 6. For the first time since October 2024, Cost of Living has been replaced as voters' top issue. The Economy more generally is the most important issue to voters at 20.2 percent (+3.7 points), followed by the Cost of Living at 18.1 percent (-8.3 points), Health at 11.9 percent (-5.0 points) and Employment at 5.8 percent. Commenting on the results, Taxpayers' Union Spokesman James Ross said: 'Labour taking the lead and growing concern over the economy should be a worrying sign for the Government in the first Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll since the Budget. Voters are losing faith in the managed decline on offer.' 'With inflation finally under heel, cost of living has slipped off the top spot for the first time in over three years. But lower interest rates don't make a sound economy on their own.' 'The so-called Growth Budget's only pro-growth policy offered a 1 percent boost to GDP over 20 years, spiralling debt and no credible pathway back to surplus.' 'Growth wins votes, stagnation doesn't.'
1News
4 hours ago
- 1News
Kāinga Ora to use wool carpet in new state homes
Kāinga Ora has announced it will use wool carpet in new state homes from July, following a directive that government agencies use wool in the construction and refurbishment of their buildings. The change in procurement rules, to make wool the preferred option in government buildings, was a directive to about 130 agencies in April and takes effect from July. On Wednesday, the state housing provider announced it would follow suit, with 4500 new state houses expected to be fitted out in the next three years. The return of wool carpets to state homes was welcomed by Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson at Fieldays the same day. "The decision is great news for sheep farmers, and all the New Zealanders whose jobs and incomes are tied to the fortunes of our world-leading wool industry," Willis said. ADVERTISEMENT The morning's headlines in 90 seconds including passengers stuck on ferry overnight, new flights to Sydney coming, and the weirdest things we leave in Ubers. (Source: 1News) She said the Government wanted wool producers to have more opportunities to supply woollen products to the construction industry "wherever practical and appropriate". "Kāinga Ora's new supplier agreement was made possible because the agency chose to re-open an initially nylon-only carpet tender and give wool a chance to compete. "I'm told woollen carpet manufacturers responded very strongly to that opportunity and that the new carpet supply agreements come with no additional cost." The new procurement requirements covered government-owned buildings that cost $9 million or more, and refurbishments of more than $100,000. A spokesperson said the total value of the Kāinga Ora contract was commercially sensitive and couldn't be disclosed. Nicola Willis speaks to media at Parliament on May 6. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT They said some contracts for carpet in homes had already been let, but under the new supply agreement newly contracted fit-outs would be met through the wool-carpet supply contract. Where nylon carpet had already been installed in existing homes Kāinga Ora would continue to use nylon carpet for single room or smaller patch repairs. Willis said the message was clear. "When wool was put back on the table it more than held its own, delivering value for taxpayers and a win for sheep farmers." She said the new policy directed government agencies to identify opportunities to use woollen products, and to properly consider a range of factors in procurement including whole-of-life cost, sustainability and health benefits. "We're leveraging government spending to back the wool industry and the New Zealand economy. I hope private businesses will follow our lead." A new Kāinga Ora home in Richmond, August 2023. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee (Source: ADVERTISEMENT She previously said natural qualities allowed wool to dampen sound and absorb pollutants, while woollen fibres contributed to healthier indoor environments by naturally regulating humidity and improving air quality. Patterson said the move continued to deliver on a New Zealand First and National Party coalition agreement to prefer woollen fibres in government buildings. "Woollen fibres create safer, healthier and more sustainable living environments for families." He said the sector contributed $549m to the economy in the financial year ending 2024 from exporting processed and unprocessed wool products. "The Government is determined to help lift the fortunes of the strong wool sector in supporting our sheep farmers."
