A young family, beneficiaries, young adult and retirees make up a panel who share what they want to see out of this year's Budget. Photos/John Borren/George Novak
The Young family
Hemi Tipene and his wife have four children aged 2 weeks, 1, 6 and 7, plus two foster children aged 11 and 13.
His wife is a stay-at-home parent, he is an employment consultant and is also on the Board of Trustees for Brookfield School. They have been living in the same Brookfield rental for the past nine years, and are saving for their first home.
What is the best thing that could come out of the Budget for you and your family?
More money from Working for Families. Mr Tipene said the cost of living seemed to be rising all the time and the tax credit scheme hadn't kept up.
More support for foster parents would also go a long way in his family, which includes two foster children.
The family had been living in their rental for the past nine years and would like to see more help for first-home buyers.
What would you like to see in the Budget that would help your local community?
Mr Tipene would like to see the Government build or buy more state houses in Tauranga - not all in the same area, but scattered around established neighbourhoods. An increase in the Accommodation Supplement would help people struggling to pay Tauranga's expensive rents, he said.
He wished Tauranga had more community centres where families in need could find help. Tauranga also needed more police officers and resources to deal with problems relating to gang violence, robberies and burglaries, he said.
What national issues would you like to see more money allocated to and why?
A strong education system was important to him. He said schools needed more money to help children with low social skills, from deprived backgrounds or with learning difficulties settle into school. In the current system those children seemed to bounce between social agencies, becoming disruptive in class through no fault of their own.
Schools had to jump through a lot of time-consuming hoops to get help for them.
In his day job he saw many people who had been made redundant and were struggling to find more work. He would like to see more support for people during that tough transition.
Which issue could influence how you will vote in September and why?
No particular issue.
The Beneficiary
Maxine Paterson is a Tauranga beneficiary with three children. She also started the Facebook page What's on special this week in Tauranga for bargain hunters.
What is the best thing that could come out of the Budget for you and your family?
I'd like to see more money put into health and education as our children are the future and need to be looked after. Give the schools more funding to inject into their education and health support with no cutting back on children's health needs.
What would you like to see in the Budget that would help your local community?
More money put into policing and extra police at the local community stations. No tax on fruit and vegies and sanitary products but dreams are free.
What national issues would you like to see more money allocated to by the Government and why?
More money allocated to building state homes for those that are homeless, this has got out of control, and people should be entitled to warm, dry housing. Address the needs of the homeless. Put a cap on rentals as they have got to the point where a lot are finding it unaffordable. Not making parents go back to work so soon after having a baby and letting them have maternity care paid for longer. Plus not making solo parents have to look for work as soon as the baby turns one, three years is better when they get 20 free hours, less expense on solo mums.
What main issue could influence how you will vote in September's election and why?
How much they will put into education and health and what the party will do to address the homeless issue. Plus any tax cuts, what will they do to help the lower and middle class not the rich and wealthy. And if they will cap the rents and have lower interest rates, make it easier for first home buyers to get into their own homes.
Tessa Hunter is a 24-year-old flatting in Mount Maunganui. She is a university graduate and a technical officer at Zespri.
What is the best thing that could come out of the Budget for you and your family?
I'm worried I won't be able to afford a house in Tauranga when the time comes. Auckland has been given funding in the Budget for 34,000 new homes - cities like Tauranga and Christchurch also have huge projected growth, so what about us? I would like to see more go into housing affordability - maybe an increase in the homestart grant for certain regions would be a place to start.
What would you like to see in the Budget that would help your local community?
Infrastructure support for Tauranga. It still feels like a small city but we are growing so fast it needs extra investment to support the growth in schools, hospitals, housing, roads. What national issues would you like to see more money allocated to by the Government and why?
The Department of Conservation is so underfunded. All the national parks that they maintain for us are one of the major drivers of tourism and pump huge amounts of money into the country, but the people who take care of our beautiful sites aren't funded nearly enough.
What main issue could influence how you will vote in September's election and why?
Increasing social investment - organisations that play a huge part in dealing with social issues, like domestic violence, are relying on donations at the moment. Places like Women's Refuge need much better funding.
The Retirees
John Hodgson, 75, and wife Judi have two sons and four grandchildren and live in Bethlehem. John is retired but keeps busy with the New Zealand China Friendship Society which includes taking college and tertiary students to China. He also runs a forum for opera buffs, setting up film evenings using DVDs and big screens. Judi is a community palliative care nurse at Waipuna Hospice.
What is the best thing that could come out of the Budget for you?
Relief for medical expense in all categories, surgical and medical. Significant numbers of retired people can't afford medical insurance, or won't afford it in order to put more bread on the table and enjoy a nice-to-have like a bottle of wine. My health is excellent, but I am not looking forward to the day when my health slips.
What would you like to see in the Budget that would help your local community?
Develop ways so that we don't have as many cars on the road. Tauranga is getting terrible. The Government should be offering more incentives to get people out of their cars and into public transport. I would also like more financial consideration given to creating a more harmonious society for the different ethnic groups that are coming into our community.
What national issues would you like to see more money allocated to and why?
Let's address the cost of housing. It's all talk, talk, talk but what are we getting from it? A lot of people can't afford to buy a house. We hear in the news about kids not leaving home. Parents go into retirement with the expectation that the children would be off their hands.
Which issue could influence how you will vote in September's General Election and why?