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Ryan Bridge: Budget 2025 will be frugal, but will Budget 2026? · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Where you can't say that we weren't warned. Nikola Willis
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: will be taking to government spending like a butcher to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: a fresh carcass. She has been saying that for months.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Yesterday she has the operating allowance to one point three billion.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: All this because she wants to do what she said
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: she'd do and planned to do, and that's balanced the books.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: By twenty twenty nine, the recessions cut her tax take,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So you either push your surplus out or you trim
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: your spending. Labor of course, says this is austerity and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: it's bad and we should be spending more, not less. Well,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: we know where that got us, don't We waist deep
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in our own shite shape that Willis is now wading
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: her way through trying to clean it up. Budgets are
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: just bigger versions of what we all do in our
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: own day to day lives. We make decisions, We make
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: choices about how much to spend, how much to borrow,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: what we spend on, and more importantly, what we don't.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And if you ask most Keywis today what they're doing
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: right now, are they doing a hipkins borrowing and splashing
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the cash, stacking the pantry with nice brand spanking new
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: purchases or are they doing a willis spending on the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: stuff that you need, cutting the stuff that you don't,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and trying to balance your budget so you can start
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: paying down your debt. I reckon most Kiwis are doing
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the latter, and in that score, she's on the money.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: But here's the thing to worry about, and it's a
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: worry every time there's an election. The political calculation for
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: budget twenty twenty five will be very different to Budget
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. You can get away with running a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: tight ship in the off season, but next year we're
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: going to the polls. Just look across the Tasman for
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a whiff of how mad that makes us and by extension,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: our politicians. Elbow's borrowing so much for his spandan angle
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: election promises that stand in pause, threatening to downgrade their
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: triple A credit rating. Debt funded elections spending so out
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the gate, it's pushing government outlays to the highest levels
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: since World War II. They're now promising to cut seven
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: billion dollars out of the public service. Least they push
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the boat out too far. And this is a labor
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: government across the testament. Let's not forget the Coalition's been
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: dining out on the credit card too. It's not just
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the lefties. And this is the lesson and the warning
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: this morning. Being frugal and thrifty is easy when you're
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: not trying to buy an election. So yes, Willis is
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: making the right noises for now, but next year might
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: just be a different story. For more from Early Edition
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news Talks it'd be
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.