New Zealand has now had three “Wellbeing Budgets”: the prototype in 2019, the COVID-19 “Rebuilding Together” version in 2020, and today Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced the Labour government is “Securing our Recovery”.
With Labour governing with an absolute majority, projected debt levels lower than initially forecast and nearly NZ$1 billion from last year’s COVID-19 recovery fund unspent, expectations for housing, health, climate change and welfare have been heightened.
Here, our three experts respond to today’s budget and assess its implications in various crucial areas for the year ahead.
A budget for middle New Zealand
Jennifer Curtin, Public Policy Institute, University of Auckland
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