Editorial Two
Issue 416, June 1, 2019
In delivering his first ‘Wellbeing Budget,’ in Parliament on Thursday (May 30, 2019), Finance Minister Grant Robertson has set a new trend in fiscal policy and administration. It contains all the principles and provisions that are dear to the Labour Party while satisfying New Zealand First and the Green Party.
Although Opposition Leader Simon Bridges has condemned the Budget as ‘botched and disappointing,’ there is nothing that can draw any widespread criticism. If any, it could be called falling short of the transformational mode that was promised.
Transformation not overnight
But Mr Robertson knows that fiscal changes will always be challenging and gradual.
However, there are a number of proposals that will be termed sensible.
For instance, the Minister’s proposal to index the benefits to wage increases will be hard to argue against and will be rightly celebrated as progress by Labour supporters.
But as a critic said, it is not a huge change for those at the bottom and pales in comparison to how much former Finance Minister Bill English increased benefits. Getting an average extra $11 a week by 2023 is not transformational.
Other Commitments
There are other Budget commitments that will be generally well received by those who will benefit from them. But some of these were already promised – for instance, the increased funding for schools to get rid of voluntary donations was an election promise and was always on its way. And given the significant underfunding of many schools, the $150 per child to replace donations won’t solve those ongoing budgetary problems.
As Political Commentator Bryce Edwards said, “Yes, Robertson has delivered a different sort of Budget, with lots of language around “wellbeing”, “social capital” and so forth, but will that be enough? Those on the left will want to see something more tangible than this. After all, has spending on health or education – traditional left-wing concerns – really increased when taking into account growth and population increases? It seems not, or at least not by much.
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