Sophie Trigger: ZB senior political reporter speculates about the pre-Budget announcements

There's less than a month left to go until the 2025 Budget - and there's plenty of speculation about the announcements to come.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has been clear in her initial statements that this coming Budget will be focused on getting the books back in order.

The Government has slashed its operating allowance to just $1.3 billion dollars - a substantial drop from the $2.4 billion forecast by Treasury.  

ZB senior political reporter Sophie Trigger says it's been made clear this won't be a 'lolly scramble' Budget.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
And joining us now to talk local politics News Talk.
They'd be senior political reporter Sophie Triggers with me. Good morning, Sophie,
Good morning, Francesca. How are you good? Thank you?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Right?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
The House is beck this week, has had a three
week recess and of course we have the budget coming
up on the twenty second of May. Are you expecting
a flurry of pre budget announcements or do you think
the fine Nance minister is going to keep these sort
of things quite tightly tucked away.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, yes, you're quite right, Francesca. Parliamentarian's return this week
after a long recess break, and we do have the
budget coming up in less than three weeks away, so
we could expect some pre budget announcements to be made
in the next couple of weeks. But the Finance Minister,
Nikola Willis has also been very clear in her warnings

(01:02):
not to expect too much from this budget. She made
a pre budget speech this week saying the government plans
to cut to billions of dollars worth of programs that
started under the previous government. In order to free up
cash for the budget, and she also said that there
would be just one point three billion dollars worth of
new discretionary operating spending. That's what we call the operating allowance,

(01:25):
which is the smallest amount since twenty fifteen, and that's
also a big drop from what was planned with Willis
last year, saying the budget would include two point four
billion dollars of new operating spending. So Nichola Willis has
told ministers not to expect any new money unless they
can come up with their own cost cuts to be reinvested.

(01:46):
And she said while most public sector departments won't be
getting any new money, there will be some exceptions in
areas like health, education, law and order, defense, and a
small number of critical social investments. She also said that
they have found room for what she's called modest measures
to support business growth and to provide some carefully targeted

(02:09):
cost of living relief. But she certainly made it very
clear that the budget isn't a lolly scramble, so we
certainly won't be expecting to see big spending announcements in
the next coming weeks.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Fantaska finance ministers like to sort of sit the vibe,
don't they. They like to give you sort of the
tone of what to expect and from everything you're saying,
I imagine it's tight would be the word I would use.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yes, Yes, she's definitely advising people to keep their expectations
very low.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Where are we at with the senior doctors and their
strike action over ongoing pay disagreements.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yes, this has been a big story this week, Francesca.
We had more than five thousand senior doctors led by
the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, on strike for twenty
four hours and they're not ruling out further industrial action now.
Newstalk ZB spoke with some of the striking doctors earlier
this week, many of whom had some really powerful stories

(03:07):
about what they see day to day, and union executive
director Sarah Dalton says that while people out there on
the picket lines are committed to staying in New Zealand,
they want enough colleagues to make their work sustainable and
safe now. Health Minister Simeon Brown has not been too
happy about the strike action, and he's particularly drawn attention
to the fact that over four thousand surgeries, planned treatments

(03:31):
and specialist appointments have been delayed as a result of
the strike, and Simeon Brown claims a credible offer was
put to the union and he's urged the union to
go back to the negotiating table, saying Health New Zealand
had applied to the Employment Relations Authority for urgent facilitation
to resolve the dispute, and a meeting between representatives of

(03:53):
the union, Health and z and the er was due
to take place on Friday. We haven't yet heard too
much more about what went on, but as I said,
they haven't ruled out further strike action and this will
be something particularly on the government's mind considering that it
has set a target to reduce waitlists in planned care

(04:15):
and obviously thousands of delayed surgeries is not what it
wants to see in terms of meeting that target.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Sophie Trigger, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
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