Oct 12, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
A business think tank says there's not much different in National's fiscal plan from its budgets of the past couple of years. The party wants to keep the operating allowance at $2.4 billion, with…
Bryce WilkinsonGuest
Mike HoskingHost
Now, Dr. Bryce Wilkinson is a senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, of course, and former Treasury director, and he's back with us.
I mean, does anyone understand what this means, and are they remotely accurate, and does it swing a vote?
Uh, [laughs] um, I'm not a politician, so I can't say if it swings a vote, but it is a mirror, uh, as to what a political party thinks, um, the voters it's trying to attract, uh, will do.
Um, I read the budget as a continuation of what National has been doing to try and get back into surplus since its first budget in, um, 2018- uh, 20, uh, uh, 2024.
Um, the- and which is basically, uh, try and hold the line on spending, which is pretty tough, um, given the increases coming through and interest on debt because of the rising public debt, and also, uh, pressures with the aging population.
And it's hoping for economic growth to, to, um, keep lifting tax revenues and other revenues to close the gap, and that is essentially what, um, this, uh, the National's budget statement is doing.
There's handouts there and there, um, but, um, it's, it's keeping within that overall plan.
The 7.5 billion headroom versus the 10.5 billion headroom, the difference is the equity.
National don't have the pay equity or the same pay equity equation, therefore it's less.
Oh, yes, the pay equity is, uh, uh, potentially enormous and, um, I, n- not a challenge I've been able to see Labor, um, convincingly show how they're going to do it yet.
Now, Dr. Bryce Wilkinson is a senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, of course, and former Treasury director, and he's back with us.
I mean, does anyone understand what this means, and are they remotely accurate, and does it swing a vote?
Uh, [laughs] um, I'm not a politician, so I can't say if it swings a vote, but it is a mirror, uh, as to what a political party thinks, um, the voters it's trying to attract, uh, will do.
Um, I read the budget as a continuation of what National has been doing to try and get back into surplus since its first budget in, um, 2018- uh, 20, uh, uh, 2024.
Um, the- and which is basically, uh, try and hold the line on spending, which is pretty tough, um, given the increases coming through and interest on debt because of the rising public debt, and also, uh, pressures with the aging population.
And it's hoping for economic growth to, to, um, keep lifting tax revenues and other revenues to close the gap, and that is essentially what, um, this, uh, the National's budget statement is doing.
There's handouts there and there, um, but, um, it's, it's keeping within that overall plan.
The 7.5 billion headroom versus the 10.5 billion headroom, the difference is the equity.
National don't have the pay equity or the same pay equity equation, therefore it's less.
Oh, yes, the pay equity is, uh, uh, potentially enormous and, um, I, n- not a challenge I've been able to see Labor, um, convincingly show how they're going to do it yet.
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