Peeking behind the curtain of Budget 2024
The annual document dump reveals previously unknown details about how the coalition's first budget came together.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, September 13.
In today’s edition: The ongoing saga of ousted Green MP Darleen Tana and her former party continues in the High Court, the country’s youngest MP wins a global award, and why is Eden Park removing some of its permanent seats? But first, what new documents teach us about Budget 2024.
‘Proactive’ document dump reveals new budget details
A dump of documents released yesterday revealed a wealth of previously unknown details about how the coalition’s first budget in May came together. As the Herald’s team of press gallery reporters explained, each budget day is followed by a “proactive” release of documents explaining behind the scenes details, including government priorities and official advice. This year’s dump was slightly less proactive, the Herald noted, given it came in mid-September while most are released no later than August. The reason for that is twofold, with details of both government cuts and new funding initiatives revealed.
It’s been a few months since the budget was released – you can find our full report from the time here – but its core was the long-awaited tax reduction package that came into effect from July. With a price tag of $14bn, it required significant cuts across government departments and the public sector. As BusinessDesk’s Jem Traylen explained (paywalled), the documents show that while most agencies ultimately met the 6.5-7.5% savings target, it wasn’t an easy road. Four months out from budget day, nine agencies had failed to find the necessary savings and whether they would was “in doubt”. It shows that while the government’s budget was, at least in terms of delivering what had been promised, largely successful, things weren’t always straightforward behind the scenes.
Let’s take a peek under the budget hood and see what we can learn.
How Winston got his way at Mfat
Earlier in the week, Stuff’s Tova O’Brien obtained documents that revealed foreign affairs minister Winston Peters had gone above the finance minister and negotiated budget cuts at his ministry directly with the prime minister. It’s part of the reason, O’Brien’s reporting suggested, that Mfat was largely spared from the wholesale cuts that impacted other ministries.
Yesterday’s budget dump, explained Glenn McConnell, revealed further details. Peters did present a proposal that would meet the call for a 6.5% cost saving, though with “great reluctance”, and ultimately Mfat found just $15m to spare, amounting to about 1% of its budget. Treasury officials questioned this, arguing that other departments were more directly involved in the lives of everyday New Zealanders and “there is not a clear rationale for exempting MFAT from the savings process and treating it differently to other agencies”. Peters told the PM it would be “seriously unwise” to push ahead with wider cuts to the ministry, though other departments weren’t so lucky.
Officials pushed back on key funding pledges
The documents reveal that the government opted to go ahead with key policy pledges despite advice from officials. As part of its health spend, and as a commitment in the coalition agreement, the government committed $24m in funding to Mike King’s Gumboot Friday charity. We talked about some of the backstory and controversy earlier in the year. But as RNZ explained, Treasury suggested scrapping this, or at the very least phasing in it, arguing that “investment to address mental health issues is better directed to preventative initiatives”.
The planned funding of new cancer drugs, which ultimately didn’t appear in the budget, also came in for scrutiny. As the Herald reported, Treasury questioned the level of funding that had been committed and warned it would be insufficient. Ultimately, following widespread backlash in the weeks after budget day, the government announced a boost to Pharmac’s overall budget instead.
The “uncertain” cost of reintroducing charter schools was also questioned by officials, reported Kate Nicol-Williams at 1News. In late January, officials warned against including charter school funding in Budget 2024 and issued subsequent critical advice in the months that followed. When the budget was made public, it was confirmed that $153m had been allocated over four years and legislation is expected to pass this month. Meanwhile, RNZ’s John Gerritsen reports that the government was told of the wellbeing benefits of the school lunches scheme – but gave it a trim anyway.
Climate impact of the budget
Writing for Newsroom Pro (paywalled), Marc Daalder has helpfully dived into the climate impact of Budget 2024, with officials warning that the mix of cuts and new policies would equal 2.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions out to 2050. Officials at the environment ministry were shut out of the budget process, with Treasury largely left to calculate the climate impact. That 2.8m tonnes equates to about 5% of the country’s annual total, but it’s also equivalent to “100,000 additional cars on the road or 16 months of nonstop coal-burning by the Huntly Power Station”.
Labour’s climate spokesperson, Megan Woods, said the budget figures don’t paint the full picture. “We need to remember that the government did most of its slashing of climate initiatives within days of coming into office through the mini budget in December,” she said.
Freya Finch has found the time to dream
“I used to have a 40-to-50 hour a week hospo job while also making art. But now I have so much more time to give. It means that the work gets deepened because I can afford to sit with it for longer. I’m coming to it with more energy.”’
Freya Silas Finch is a multidisciplinary queer and trans artist working across theatre, film and performance art. Ahead of their solo show A Slow Burlesque, opening soon in Auckland, Finch tells us about their creative process – and balancing art and money – for the new instalment of Art Work. Read it here. (sponsored)
Tana v the Greens continues in court
The ongoing saga of ousted Green MP Darleen Tana and her former party continued in the High Court yesterday. Stuff’s Steve Kilgallon, who first reported on the claims of migrant exploitation linked to Tana’s husband, was in court, explaining that Tana’s lawyers argued she had been unlawfully thrown out of the Greens and blamed for her husband’s behaviour.
But the lawyer for the Greens argued that Tana was experiencing “buyer’s remorse” over her decision to quit the party. The court stoush comes after the Greens announced it would be holding a meeting to consider invoking the party-hopping rule that could see Tana booted out of parliament altogether. At the eleventh hour, Tana called for a judicial review of the proceedings and the meeting was put on hold.
The decision by judge Justice Johnstone has been reserved.
Dane and Stacey on making travel a business, owning half a dog, and finding balance
Earning money while you travel sounds like a dream to many of us – so how hard is it to make the dream a reality? Travel content creators Dane and Stacey joined Kiwibank’s This is Kiwi podcast to talk about documenting their adventures online, and remembering to sometimes put the camera down and take it all in. Read an excerpt from the interview on The Spinoff now. (sponsored)
Listen: Navigating our economy forward
As recently as late May, the Reserve Bank thought it wouldn't need to cut rates until well into 2025. However, a batch of leading indicators revealed a slump in economic activity through June, and the RBNZ decided to hit the brakes by lowering the official cash rate in it's August monetary policy statement.
Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway talks to Bernard Hickey about why the RBNZ decided to change course, what kinds of data they are lacking compared to other central banks, and what they can't change about our economy.
Party like a 10 year old
You have until Sunday to go in the draw to win a mega hamper of goods ranked by The Spinoff. All you have to do is have your say on Hera Lindsay Bird’s ranking of our rankings. If you’re a member, you can get an extra entry by logging in and collecting the treasure hidden in stories posted this week. Find out more here.
Not a member? Now is a great time to show your support. We cannot overstate how vital support from our readers is, so thanks for being part of our story. Ten years, 29,000 articles published, all free to read, we wouldn’t have made it to this mighty milestone without you.
Click and Collect
The country’s youngest MP – Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke – is one of four international recipients of the One Young World Politician of the Year award.
Children are missing out on free school lunches at a school south of Auckland because staff are eating them, a parent alleges.
Health minister Shane Reti has announced details of how the government’s health targets will be met – but don’t expect more money.
Yesterday we looked at the return of mpox to our shores. There are now five confirmed cases in New Zealand, all with links to the Winter Pride Festival.
For BusinessDesk subscribers, an interesting report on HelloFresh being caught out for using undisclosed AI images in its marketing. (paywalled)
In concert news: Dua Lipa is heading our way for a show in Auckland next April. It’s a pretty big deal considering other major acts, like Green Day and The Killers, have joined the long list of performers visiting Australia but not coming to see us.
Meanwhile, Eden Park has taken out some of its permanent seats to increase capacity for concerts as it doubles down on efforts to secure more major live acts.
The annual MTV VMAs were held yesterday, and Taylor Swift came out on top. This Consequence of Sound piece takes aim at another winner, Katy Perry, and includes this line: “Perry exemplified what label support for mediocrity looks like”. Yikes.
Anna Rawhiti-Connell reveals how Spinoff readers ranked our rankings – and the results have us shook. Shanti Mathias describes how we know that New Zealand isn't doing enough to fund climate action overseas. Alex Casey gets under the skin of local body horror Grafted to find out how it was made. She also interviews a teenager for the inside scoop of being a young person in a 700-person town. Catherine McGregor analyses the response to the Trump-Harris debate (and Taylor Swift's endorsement). Hera Lindsay Bird advises a reader who has broken up with a long term partner - but now isn't getting asked out.
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday morning. Have a wonderful weekend.
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Damn, I got treasure #9 today ... I'm still missing #2. Argh!