Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Will Nicola Willis' tight Budget go far enough?

I want to talk a little bit more about Nicola Willis’ tight budget - I haven’t changed my position from yesterday and I'm impressed at how little she’s giving herself to play with.

But the truth is, it doesn’t go far enough - at all.

Because understand this - that $1.3 billion that she’s given herself in her operating allowance is new spending. As in, take last year’s budget and now increase it by $1.3 billion.

For context, Nicola Willis spent more money last year than Grant Robertson ever did in any of his budgets - and now she’s adding another $1.3 billion to it.

Now I understand that this is conventional politics - budgets increase every year.  

The last time it didn't, the last time we had a zero budget where we didn’t add any more money was Bill English's 2011 budget - because we’d had the earthquake.

But what that tells you is it’s possible to not increase the spending - and I would argue that is exactly what we should be doing at the moment. Because we are in big financial trouble as a country.

We are running structural deficits - that means we are spending more every year than we make.

If it was a household, we’d be talking about a family spending more than they earn and running up the difference on credit cards every year - but still deciding every year to spend more. That’s what we’re doing.

I think we need to cut big things.

Now, I don’t want to be accused of being a racist, so I'm reluctant to say publicly that we should cut the Ministry for Māori Development or the Ministry for Pacific Peoples - but I am a woman, so I'm very happy to say we should cut the Ministry for Women.

Why do we need it? Why do we need a Ministry for the Environment and also a Department of Conservation? I could go on.

But if we don't get real and start running smaller budgets where we spend within our means, something will have to give.

And the thing every commentator out there seems to want to cut is your pension - because it's very expensive to the country.

Now if I had a choice, I'd keep the pension and cut out nonsense like ministries we don't need and stop spending more every year than we did the last.

Like I said, I'm impressed.

Nicola Willis is going further than I thought she would - but not far enough if we're actually going to fix the country's books.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look, I want to talk a little bit more about
Nikola Willis's type budget. Now, I haven't changed my position
from yesterday. I am still impressed at how little she's
giving herself to play with here in this one. But
the truth is, this doesn't really go far enough, does it.
I mean, it doesn't go far enough at all. Because
understand this, that one point three billion dollars that she's
given herself and her operating allowance is new spending. As in,

(00:21):
what you need to do is take last year's budget
and now increase it by one point three billion dollars. Now,
for context, last budget, Nikola will has spent more money
than Grant Robertson ever did in any of his budget.
So take the biggest budget yet, Nikola Willis's one, and
now add another one point three billion dollars to it.
That's how big it's going to be. Now, Look, I

(00:41):
understand this is conventional politics. This is what happens every year.
The budget goes up every single year. The last time
it didn't. The last time we had a zero budget
was basically about fifteen years ago. Was Bill English's twenty
eleven budget, and he didn't add any more money than
he did the previous year he had a zero budget
because of course we'd have the earthquake. But what that
tells you is that it is possible, isn't it. It's

(01:02):
possible to not increase the spending. And I would argue
that is exactly what we should be doing at the moment,
because we are in big financial trouble as a country.
We are running structural deficits. Our structural deficit is around
the largest in the OECD. Now what that means is
that every single year, we are spending more money than
we make as a country. And this is every year.

(01:24):
This is even in years when the economy is running
red hot. We're still spending more money than we could
possibly make. If it was a household, we'd be talking
about a family spending more than they earn and then
running up that difference in credit cards every year, but
then also making the crazy decision to increase their spending
even though they're living off the credit card. That's what
we're doing now. I think we need to cut some

(01:45):
big things here. I don't want to be accused of
being a racist, so I'm reluctant to say publicly that
we should cut the ministry for Marti Development, or the
Ministry for Pacific Peoples. But I am a woman, and
I'm very happy to see us cut the Women's Ministry
because why on earth do we need that? What's it
doing to your life? Nothing? And then also why do
we have a ministry for the environment and also a
Department of Conservation. I feel like we can cut a

(02:07):
lot of these departments and save a whole lot of money.
I could go on. But if we don't get real,
and this is the real point here, if we don't
get real, and if we don't start running smaller budgets
where we spend within our means on the regular, something
we'll have to give in this country. And the thing
that every commentator out there seems to want to cut
is your pension because it is the most expensive thing
in this country apparently. Now, if I had a choice personally,

(02:29):
I would keep the pension, and I would cut nonsense
like the Women's Ministry and every other ministry we don't need,
and I would stop spending more every year than we
did in the last year, just because that's what we
do now. Like I say, I am impressed with what
Nikola Willis is doing. She's going further than I thought
that she would, but not far enough. If we're actually
going to fix this country's books. For more from Heather

(02:52):
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