Opinion: Keep the Budget simple, Grant Robertson

Doug Laing. Photo / File

With the swearing-in of the new Government now history by more than six months it can be hoped that we are entering a fortnight with a bit of demystifying of the situation within this Parliament, the 52nd New Zealand Parliament since the election of the first in 1853.

This grand opportunity is vested in Minister of Finance Grant Robertson who will on May 17 deliver the first Budget of the Ardern Government, it already sure-as-eggs being the case that he won't get it right, or left for that matter.

Confused? Not surprised then, for that is the nature of modern Budgets, the annual opening of the books, which some may not want opened, and straitjacketing of fiscal aims, objectives and policy of the next 12 months.

The big problem is that precious few get to really understand it all, as it becomes a political bunfight where the Opposition parties will slag the Government come what may, intent only on derailing the offering whether good, bad, mediocre or food for thought.

It used to be good Thursday-night entertainment, with some simply-understood things like the price of petrol, cigarettes, and booze, and even the housing and mortgage packages were more-or-less kids' stuff.

The shift to an afternoon delivery in Parliament seemed to change all that.

It's all business, in normal business hours, wrapped up in so many hundreds of pages of detail that it's hard to imagine any of the expert panels have really digested much at all by the time they try to let us know what's really going on.

So, what would people want out of this exercise? A guarantee of as-soon-as-possible homes for all and employment opportunity for all would be starters.

Thankfully, we've probably heard the last of tobacco at Budget time for a while, and alcohol seems to rarely be in the mix, but petrol would be a goer, should there be a move towards a nationwide price-setting structure.

But at the end ... keep it simple Grant, keep it simple.