Labour leader Andrew Little. Picture / Mark Mitchell
Labour leader Andrew Little. Picture / Mark Mitchell
Relief for low income earners will prove a mirage for many and the Budget underlines National's lack of vision, opposition parties say.
In a speech to Parliament, Labour leader Andrew Little said the spending on tax changes spoke to Finance Minister Steven Joyce's other role - as National's campaign chairman.
However, Little said the tax changes would only benefit many low income earners by $1 or less a week, and thus named it the "one dollar bill Budget".
The Budget was a chance to show the Government took problems like poor mental health services, low wages, congestion and overcrowded schools seriously, "and they muffed it".
"Labour is committed to fixing the housing crisis, clearing our roads of gridlock and fixing the $1.7 billion hole in health," Little said. "[This] is not a Budget for the future, it's a Budget for September 23."
Greens co-leader James Shaw. NZ Herald photo by Mark Mitchell.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the Budget gives with one hand and takes with the other. It showed National as the "masters of the shell game" - delivering most relief for high-income earners while maintaining the appearance of helping those earning less.
"National couldn't just give - they had to take away as well. New Zealanders will be paying the social and financial cost of National's inaction for many, many years to come ... looking busy is not the same as achieving actual results."
The Government had given up on solving the housing crisis and put up stop-gap, piecemeal measures for other issues like transport.
"National says new motorways will drive productivity. But Aucklanders now spend the same amount of time stuck in traffic every year that they spend on holiday ... nine years is a long time to put your trust in a government that is big on announcements and short on results."
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the Budget was "willful, wanton, weak, woeful, wobbly" and voters would quickly realise it delivered nothing for them.
The spending plan showed National's lack of vision and underlying philosophy, and the party's desire to "hang on" for three more years, Peters said.
"I have never seen so many sheep going to the slaughter, clapping away their way to it," Peters said of National's backbench MPs. "Some of them are reading the Budget again, trying to make head or tail of it. Because they can see it might have been the longest suicide note in history for them."
Efforts to address poverty, mental health services and infrastructure are all in "disarray", Peters said: "I have never seen such a disparity between the rich and the poor".
Their view
Labour leader Andrew Little: "For all National's talk about tax cuts, the reality is a single cleaner on a minimum wage will get just $1 a week extra. It's the one dollar bill Budget."
Green Party co-leader James Shaw: "National says new motorways will drive productivity. But Aucklanders now spend the same amount of time stuck in traffic every year that they spend on holiday."
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters: "Some of them [National MPs] are reading the Budget again, trying to make head or tail of it. Because they can see it might have been the longest suicide note in history for them."
