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Scoop
6 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
King's Birthday: What's Open, What's Closed And How It's Decided Who Gets Honours
Explainer – King Charles' birthday is commemorated with a public holiday on Monday – what's open, how do those royal honours get chosen and should we still celebrate it, anyway? Nik Dirga, Digital Explainer Editor Explainer – King Charles' birthday is commemorated with a public holiday on Monday – what's open, how do those royal honours get chosen and should we still celebrate it, anyway? Here's everything you need to know about the holiday. What's open on Monday? Do I have to work? It is a public holiday, but some people may still have to work depending on their employer. Employees are paid time-and-a-half and entitled to a paid day off if a public holiday falls on a normal working day for them. However, if you are a contractor or working for yourself, you don't get those benefits. You can read more about public holiday rules for employers here. Trading restrictions don't apply on Monday as they do for Easter holidays, the morning of Anzac Day or Christmas. Shops, restaurants and cafes can be open as usual but it pays to check opening hours beforehand. I'm gonna want a latte, do I have to pay a surcharge? Because businesses have to pay employees more on a public holiday, it raises their costs. So some businesses choose to add a surcharge to their prices on holidays. The typical surcharge is 15 percent. However, businesses must be clear about announcing those charges to customers via signage, verbally or other methods. Customers can also complain to the Commerce Commission if they feel misled or a charge was excessive. King's Birthday is also about celebrating New Zealanders' achievements Dozens of New Zealanders will be given royal honours which will be announced on Monday for excellence in their fields. It's the second time each year honours are given out – they're also announced on New Year's Eve. Cool, can I get an honour? Who decides who gets them? Literally anyone can nominate someone living who they think deserves a Royal Honour. (Unless you try to nominate yourself, which is not allowed and also kind of weird.) The Honours Unit at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet processes between 800 to 1000 nominations a year, Blair Teesdale-Moore, senior communications advisor with the department, said. 'The unit prepares a draft citation for each one based on the information in the nomination and letters of support,' she said. The Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee then considers every nomination individually in a series of confidential meetings over several weeks. 'As chair of the APH committee and the King's primary advisor on honours matters, the prime minister advises the King on the final honours lists,' Teesdale-Moore said. 'By long-standing constitutional convention the King of New Zealand acts on the advice of the prime minister – this includes the formal approval of New Zealand Royal honours.' Once the draft list is set, it is then given informal approval by the governor-general, run by potential recipients first – 'a small number decline,' Teesdale-Moore said – and then it's off to the King, who is the head of our honours system. Hang on, the King was born in November. Why are we celebrating in June? King Charles III turns 77 on 14 November. So why are we wishing him a happy birthday now? Blame the weather. The tradition of celebrating the monarch's birthday in the northern summer dates back hundreds of years, and is tied in with the Trooping the Colour ceremonial event held every June in London. The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is believed to have been first performed during the reign of King Charles II from 1660 to 1685, the British Army says. In 1748, during the reign of King George II, the sovereign's birthday first became a celebrated holiday. Trooping the Colour became tied in to celebrate the monarch, no matter when their actual birthday was. Ever since then, the king or queen has basically had two birthdays – the real one, and the big old fancy military parade one. Trooping the Colour will be held in the UK on 14 June this year. Is the King's Birthday really something NZ should be marking in 2025? That's a matter of opinion and it all depends on who you ask. As part of the Commonwealth, King Charles is New Zealand's head of state. Of course, there have been calls to change that, which ramped up after the death of Queen Elizabeth II following her 70-year reign in 2022. Monarchy New Zealand organisation did not respond to requests for comment from RNZ by deadline, but on its website calls the monarchy 'something all Kiwis can be proud of'. 'It's a vital component of our government, a guarantee of our democracy, and a sign of our maturity and independence as a nation. 'The King is a completely apolitical head of state (who) represents all New Zealanders regardless of their political views. This cannot happen in a republic.' However, there are also calls to abandon the holiday celebrating a monarch on the other side of the world. Savage, the chair of the New Zealand Republic organisation, called King's Birthday an 'empty public holiday that celebrates nothing in particular. It is no one's birthday and even the Brits don't celebrate it as a public holiday'. 'It has already been surpassed by Matariki as a proper, meaningful public holiday. New Zealand Republic was one of the first groups to start campaigning for Matariki and we are campaigning to replace King's Birthday with a spring time public holiday in September.' NZ Republic suggests a replacement public holiday could be Citizenship Day, when New Zealand citizenship was officially established on 6 September 1948 by the passing of the New Zealand Citizenship Act, or Suffrage Day on 19 September, marking the day in 1893 that NZ signed into law allowing women to vote. But for now, your public holiday off is thanks to the King.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Budget Day 2025: What You Need To Know
Article – RNZ Explainer – Budget Day is coming on Thursday, but what does it all mean? RNZ is here to tell you what you need to know. Nik Dirga, Digital Explainer Editor Explainer – Spoiler warning: If you're not a numbers person, this might not be your week. Thursday is Budget Day, the biggest day of the year for the government, economists and journalists as Finance Minister Nicola Willis announces how much the National-led coalition will spend, where it will go and how. What is the Budget? Simply put, it's when the government lays out how it plans to spend money in the coming financial year, and where that money will come from. Every May, typically on a Thursday, the minister of finance delivers the Budget in a speech in the House. Parliament will then go on to debate the details. The government is required to present its Budget to Parliament by 31 July each year. Budget Day isn't a done-in-one – the process behind it all carries on throughout the year, in a never-ending cycle from one Budget to the next. Select committees will scrutinise the spending plans and eventually pass the Budget presented on Budget Day. In the 2025 Budget Policy Statement released in December that kicked off this year's cycle, Willis said the government's goals were a stronger, more productive economy, more efficient and effective public services and to 'get the government's books back in order and restore discipline to public spending'. Read more: So what actually happens on Budget Day? There are a lot of elaborate rituals to Budget Day, which is equal parts practical and political spectacle. Finance ministers often have their own quirks that turn into traditions – Sir Bill English was known to enjoy a pie at the start of Budget Day during the John Key years and Labour's Grant Robertson tucked into a cheese roll or two. Last year, Nicola Willis' children made cookies for their mum and the prime minister. This year's treats menu remains under lock and key. On Budget Day 10.30am – Media and other interested parties will go into lockup at the Beehive – no phones, no internet – and get a first look at the Budget. A pile of documents will be released to them under a strict embargo. The finance minister will also give a presentation to journalists during lockup and journalists will dash to complete first takes on the highlights. If you break that embargo, you're in big trouble, as the Wall Street Journal found out in 2022. 2pm – The Budget embargo lifts, and here on RNZ and everywhere else you'll suddenly see a flood of Budget information. We'll be here to live blog coverage throughout the day. This video produced by Parliament goes through what happens on Budget Day: In Parliament, after Willis gives a presentation, the prime minister and other political parties will all weigh in as debate begins on the Budget. Expect kudos and criticism in equal measures, followed by a lengthy period of hot takes and analysis that will continue for days to come. Why is it such a big deal? Roads? Hospitals? Schools? Resources we all use every day fall under the Budget. Willis has called this year 'The Growth Budget', in line with the government's long-term goals to return to a surplus by 2029 at the latest. We already know quite a lot about what the Budget will include. 'If you've been paying attention to the build-up to the Budget you probably won't learn anything new on Thursday,' University of Auckland emeritus professor of economics Timothy Hazledine said. 'Perhaps wealthier citizens will be interested in whether the minister announces means-testing of KiwiSaver and best-start transfer payments. And wealthy foreigners may be hoping for relaxation of rules limiting their high-end property purchases in Aotearoa NZ.' So what are the key things to look for Thursday? Less spending and a big focus on that 'growth' word. Willis said in April that the government is halving its operating allowance from $2.4 billion to $1.3b. That means less money for additional funding for government departments this year. In a recent pre-Budget speech to BusinessNZ, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also signalled restraint: 'The minister of finance was right last week to say Budget 2025 won't be a lolly scramble. It's not that we can't afford it, although frankly we can't.' Luxon has said the government needs to stay disciplined and focus on – there's that word again! – growth. And of course, there's also a lot of uncertainty in the global economy right now due to US President Donald Trump's trade wars and tariffs. Luxon has already announced an increase to the capital expenditure – new money set aside in the Budget to maintain or upgrade assets. That money, which would be split mostly across health, education, defence, and transport, will total $6.8 billion. One of the biggest pre-Budget controversies this year has been the government making changes to pay equity claims under urgency. 'The big bad news for many people (especially women) is the 'reprioritisation' of billions of dollars from pay equity spending,' Hazledine said, noting that at the same time defence spending was going to get a big boost. Another key thing to look out for are hinted changes to KiwiSaver, which may include means-testing the government's contribution to the retirement fund. Hazledine said that despite challenging conditions, New Zealand is doing 'quite well' in the global economy. 'Prices for our major commodity export (dairy products) are high (and so therefore we are paying more locally for milk and butter, alas), and our major service export, tourism, seems to be recovering from the Covid slump. 'The minister will be trying to keep a lid on borrowing whilst not threatening chances of a good economic recovery – a delicate balancing act.' Does the Budget really make a difference? New Zealand Budgets have helped make or break a government. The late Michael Cullen, finance minister from 1999 to 2008, famously liked to say that 'budgets don't win elections, (but) they can lose them'. In 1938, Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage's Labour government introduced the Social Security Act with policies that were intended to provide 'from the cradle to the grave,' and shaped New Zealand society for decades to come. In 1958, the Labour government released what became known as the 'Black Budget', where Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer attempted to reduce demand for overseas goods through imposing additional taxes on cars, alcohol and tobacco. It didn't go down well and Labour lost the 1960 election after just a single term in office. And in 1991, the National government's 'Mother of all Budgets' released by Ruth Richardson heralded sweeping welfare reforms and privatisation. The National government went on to barely win the 1993 election in one of our closest contests. While in 2019, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's 'Wellbeing Budget' introduced $1.9 billion in mental health funding – but as RNZ has reported, questions remain about the impact that funding had. Willis aims to make the 'Growth Budget' of 2025 a key part of the government's legacy. On Thursday, we'll all start to find out how successful it will be.
