Latest news with #LiamDann
NZ Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Reserve Bank rate cut call
Business editor at large Liam Dann discusses latest Monetary Policy Statement and what it means. Video \ Jason Dorday
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Budget 2025: Best Start payment changes to hit young Kiwi families' pockets
A recent mother told the Herald, 'This will mean more babies in daycare full time from 6 months and less babies born. 'It might seem like a small amount to get, but it's a big help. 'The threshold for it to start decreasing is less than what two parents working 40hrs on minimum wage would earn. Working for families, yeah right,' she said. The mother who had a baby at the start of this year said, 'This is the only thing we're entitled to because it currently isn't means tested, but as you know we aren't big earners really. 'With the cost of living, we only really break even.' She said her family was lucky that their daughter was born at the start of the year, so they will still get the payments after paid parental leave ends until their daughter's first birthday. 'If it had impacted, it is the difference in me being able to ask my workplace if I can do 32 hours instead of 40 (so 4 days instead of 5) when returning at 6 months,' she said. The mother said she thought it would impact families who are median earners or where the mum or the primary carer earns the most. 'It's too much of a financial hit in this current climate to have them be the stay-at-home parent,' she said. The Herald hit the streets of Central Auckland on Thursday afternoon to see how people were reacting to the Government's changes to Best Start. 'It's kind of sad for people who don't really have much income,' two young parents said. 'It would probably be a lot harder to look after the baby [if we did not have the Best Start payment], and just not being able to get him all the things he needs. 'It makes it harder for people who want to just live, really, I think it's a lot harder on the future generation. 'For younger people growing up, and especially younger families, buying a house and all that kind of stuff, it's just going to be a lot harder for everyone.' Families of children born before April 1 next year won't have their Best Start payments income-tested and would continue to receive the maximum amount until their child turned 1. Means-testing had been expanded to help fund changes to the abatement threshold for Working for Families. The current threshold has been unchanged since 2018, despite inflation and wage growth, Upston said. 'This means the scheme has become less effective at supporting low- and middle-income families.' 'Accordingly, the Government is lifting the Working for Families abatement threshold from $42,700 to $44,900 and raising the abatement rate from 27% to 27.5%.' Families with incomes close to the new threshold will get greater additional payments – up to $23 a fortnight, she said. Do you have questions about the Budget? Ask our experts - business editor at large Liam Dann, senior political correspondent Audrey Young and Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny - in a Herald Premium online Q&A here at at 9.30am, Friday, May 23.
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Budget 2025: Young Kiwis, families, react to Kiwisaver, Best Start changes
KiwiSaver is also getting a shake-up, with the Government halving its yearly contribution from $520 to $260, and raising the default employee contribution from 3-4%. The Student Loan repayment threshold is being frozen at $24,000, rather than rising every year as it used to, meaning borrowers will have to start paying it back at a relatively lower yearly income. And the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update noted house prices were likely to jump 5.4% by 2026. The Government has defended the changes, saying tweaks to KiwiSaver would encourage people to save more and have little impact on KiwiSaver balances, while means-testing Best Start would help fund a boost for Working for Families. The Herald hit the streets of central Auckland to gauge young people's reaction to the Government's spending priorities and announcements, and ask if they would be directly impacted. 'It's kind of sad for people who don't really have much income,' two young parents, who asked not to be named, said of the change to Best Start. 'It would probably be a lot harder to look after the baby [if we did not have the Best Start payment], and just not being able to get him all the things he needs,' said the couple. 'It makes it harder for people who want to just live. I think it's a lot harder on the future generation. 'For younger people growing up, and especially younger families, buying a house ... it's just going to be a lot harder for everyone.' Others had similar concerns. 'I want to buy a house one day, so the lower the house prices, the better for me,' another young man told the Herald. Commenting on the Government's KiwiSaver contribution change, a third man said: 'I think, as a young person, it's quite appalling. 'KiwiSaver was meant to be a hope for people like us, investing in our long-term futures. 'I think some of these changes are not exactly optimistic and might actually contribute to more young people leaving this country as we go forward.' Two more young parents said some of the changes were 'a bit of a shame'. 'It [KiwiSaver] is to the benefit of the Kiwi person, it's a great scheme, and the more money that's in that, the better for all of our retirements. I thought that would be something that the Government could get behind, so it's quite disappointing. 'I guess, you know, they say when we get to a retirement age, there's potentially not going to be enough money for us to retire at the nice age of 65. So I thought the Government would be interested in trying to alleviate that issue by helping out now.' Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022. Do you have questions about the Budget? Ask our experts – business editor at large Liam Dann, senior political correspondent Audrey Young and Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny – in a Herald Premium online Q&A here at at 9.30am, Friday, May 23.
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Budget 2025 live updates: What's in it for you
NZ Herald 22 May, 2025 01:13 AM Quick Read The Government is unveiling its Budget 2025. Follow our live updates and commentary to find out what's in for you below. Do you have questions about the Budget? Ask our experts - business editor at large Liam Dann, senior political correspondent Audrey Young and Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny – in a Herald Premium online Q&A here at at 9.30am, Friday, May 23. Dansey Rd remains closed, with diversions in place on State Highway 5.
The Spinoff
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
Budget Day 2025 arrives with cuts, cookies and promises of ‘no BS'
With months of pre-budget announcements behind us, the real detail lands today – including where the axe will fall to fund the government's plans, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. A 'no BS' budget in a high-debt reality It's Budget Day, when finance minister Nicola Willis finally reveals what she's calling the 'no BS' budget – though its 'formal, Christian' name is the 'Growth Budget'. But can a budget really deliver economic growth at a time of fiscal constraint? Commentators are sceptical. As Liam Dann notes in the Herald (paywalled), despite the 'growth' branding, the government's room to manoeuvre is limited by high debt and inflationary pressures. It will likely try to address the growth conundrum with one simple trick: 'reprioritising money from areas it thinks aren't boosting growth, to ones it thinks will', Dann writes. A stimulus package isn't on the cards; at best, the budget is expected to be fiscally neutral, or even mildly contractionary. Willis says it will be a 'reality budget' that delivers 'genuine hope for the future', but growth, in this context, may have more to do with political messaging than immediate economic outcomes. Pre-announcements pave the path As both Liam Dann and The Spinoff's Alice Neville point out, the standard run of pre-budget announcements serve a strategic purpose: they allow governments to seed positive headlines while keeping the inevitable cuts under wraps until the main event. That strategy has been on full display this year, with big-ticket items like a $12 billion defence package, a $577 million screen production rebate, and over $774m in redress for those abused in state care announced in advance. The final document, released at 2pm today, is expected to include 'one or two' attention-grabbing initiatives designed to dominate headlines – and hopefully draw attention away from the cuts. A narrow fiscal tightrope At the heart of Budget 2025 is a reduced operating allowance of $1.3 billion, making it the tightest in a decade, Neville writes. While capital spending has been nudged upward to $4 billion, operational spending (ongoing costs for things like public sector wages and infrastructure maintenance) has been slashed or reallocated, with pre-committed funds eating up much of the budget. A major savings drive – including billions clawed back from the pay equity reforms and cuts across a swathe of ministries – has allowed the government to launch new initiatives without significantly increasing debt. Still, as BNZ economist Matt Brunt notes, the operating allowance is 'likely not even enough to cover natural cost increases from population growth and inflation'. The government's gamble is that reprioritisation, rather than fresh borrowing, will deliver a good-enough result. There'll be 'no rainbows, or unicorns either,' Willis said on Wednesday. For people worried that their public sector job is at risk, it's not exactly a reassuring line. Lockups and lamingtons The rituals of Budget Day offer a touch of levity amid all the spreadsheets and political spin. At 10.30am, journalists and analysts descend on the Beehive's Banquet Hall to read the budget in the lockup, a strictly embargoed zone with no phones, internet or contact with the outside world until 2pm. 'It's like a sleepover, with all the lollies. An exam, with all the pen and paper. A digital detox, with all the blocked internet access,' wrote Jessica McAllen in The Spinoff back in 2018. The lockup is also famously obsessed with snacks: in past years, sausage rolls, sushi and lamingtons (or the lack of them) have sparked almost as much commentary as the fiscal outlook, writes Anna Whyte in The Post (paywalled). Willis' own routine includes cookies baked by her children and, at day's end, a whisky from the prime minister – just 'one dram', she clarified yesterday. After the embargo lifts at 2pm, the rest of the day is filled with speeches, standups, press releases and parliamentary debate. As ever, The Spinoff will feature coverage throughout the afternoon and into Friday. This evening, look out for the traditional crossover episode of Gone By Lunchtime x When the Facts Change, with Toby Manhire and Bernard Hickey chewing over the biggest stories from the day, and what they could all mean for New Zealanders.
