Maori Affairs part of $1b Budget cut

Parekura Horomia's Maori Affairs portfolio was not alone in suffering a drop in funding in the Budget - 18 other departmental allocations were also lower than the previous year.

While some of the falls were tiny, others were sizeable and together they totalled around $1 billion.

The money available for Government ministers to pitch for in Finance Minister Michael Cullen's seventh Budget was limited by Labour's hefty pre-election promises and post-election deals with minor parties.

Mr Horomia, who came under attack last week for failing to seek more funding for Maori Affairs in the Budget, fired back by saying he had "done well" to keep the ministry's allocation relatively steady when others had fallen.

An analysis of the Budget shows Mr Horomia was correct to say that other departments or areas had lower allocations for 2006-07 compared with the estimated actual spending in 2005-06.

The list includes Economic, Industry and Regional Development, Energy, Conservation, Defence, and Finance.

Labour has been keen to highlight the Government's additional spending in the Budget - which outweighed the cuts - such as boosts to roading and health.

Asked about the examples of lower funding, a spokesman for Dr Cullen said the Government "remains committed to getting value for money for taxpayers".

In many areas, the lower funding occurred because spending in the 2005-06 year was boosted by events that either don't recur in 2006-07 or can't be predicted.

An example is Emergency Management, which sees its allocation fall because last year's spending included disaster relief help for the Bay of Plenty, and a package for flood-hit Matata.

Biosecurity's allocation has fallen by $21 million to $151 million, due to spending in the 2005-06 year being lifted by "one-off" funding for responses to disease - namely fall webworm, painted apple moth, didymo, sea squirt and the southern saltmarsh mosquito.

The office of Biosecurity Minister Jim Anderton said responses to such "incursions" weren't included in baseline funding because it wasn't usually known what resources might be required.

Economic Development has had its allocation cut from $361.2 million to $286.5 million, with a large portion of the difference coming from a halving of the large budget screen production fund.

This assistance fund has been used to back large-scale films such as King Kong and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But it came under fire this year when an economic evaluation by the Treasury cast doubt on its impact.

Now the fund's Budget allocation has halved compared with the actual spend in 2005-06 - but a spokeswoman for Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard said that didn't signal a purposeful reduction of spending.

The money put into the fund fluctuated according to the number of films being made in NZ and how many fitted the criteria to apply, she said.

"It's not a set amount each year, it just depends on who applies," the spokeswoman said.

The Treasury also said that one-off funding for New Zealand's participation in the 2005 World Expo in Japan affected the Economic Development allocation.

Energy's funding allocation dropped by $66 million as costs associated with the maintenance and operation of a reserve power generator at Whirinaki declined.

Finance has had a large cut, due in part to lower expected contributions from the Crown to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

Climate Change's allocation tumbled by $106 million to $42 million, as uncertainty surrounded the Government's policies in the area following the axing of the carbon tax proposal.

However, $100 million has been set aside in the Budget as "contingency funding" for work on the use of biofuels and broader climate change policies.

Defence is down by $160 million, due to a decline in the amount of money spent on the purchase of equipment for the Defence Force.