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Budget 2025: Gisborne leaders share their thoughts on hits and misses for the region

Budget 2025: Gisborne leaders share their thoughts on hits and misses for the region

NZ Herald23-05-2025

Some in Gisborne have welcomed Budget funding for cyclone-damaged roads and a 20% tax/depreciation incentive on business assets, which could create jobs.
Others criticised a lack of investment in critical areas, such as housing and Gisborne Hospital, while subsidising the fossil fuel industry.
The Gisborne Herald approached some leaders in

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One of the things MPs like most about the Budget debate — the freewheeling discussion of the Finance Minister's hard work — is that it enables them to speak about almost anything so long as it can (sometimes very loosely) be linked back to the Budget. Hence this week our southern MPs have been talking about possums, utes, outer space, Barker's sweet chilli sauce ... and every so often about something of vital importance. On Tuesday Taieri Labour MP Ingrid Leary fell into the latter camp with an impassioned speech about the state of the nation's mental health system. "The Budget would have been the perfect opportunity to [workforce gaps], including the 1594 full-time equivalents that the NCAT — which is the National Committee for Addiction Treatment—has identified as missing from the NGO frontline," Ms Leary said. "But no, they did not. Instead, they threw a paltry bit of money to help the transition at emergency departments for the withdrawal of police. 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