Mark Sainsbury: Election adds dash of spice to fiscal show

Labour leader attacking the government after the reading of the Budget 2014 in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

I hate Budgets. I lack the financial analytical skills to be able to see through all the smoke and mirrors and for years they were basically boring. The highlight of Budget day was often the quality of refreshments served up to the hacks and experts in the lock-up.

So this year at least I had the luxury of viewing it as a regular citizen.

My first problem watching Bill English's sixth Budget was where to watch it. While TV3 gave us an hour live, TVNZ seemed content to run May the Best House Win, which I suspect was not a reference to the hallowed House of Parliament but rather a calculation that viewers weren't interested or it's no longer TVNZ's job to be across major events.

The best thing going for this Budget is the fact it's an election-year offering and that changes everything.

This one was true to form. What is anyone going to remember from it? Not their vision, which is always in short supply, but a surplus (even if, as most suspect, the figures were fudged to get there). You can't knock the concept of a surplus as Labour conceded. And free doctor visits for kids up to 13.

David Cunliffe came out swinging with the "Fudge-it Budget" tag only to have John Key accuse him of stealing. Key said the best line in his speech was lifted from Herald correspondent John Armstrong's column and that their "Fudge-it Budget" tag was originally one Rodney Hide applied to a Michael Cullen Budget.

Which is a bit rich on Key's part because it's National who should be in the dock for theft having lifted Labour's core policies from right under their noses.

The increase in paid parental leave and the family focus. Heard it before? Sure, Labour has been beating that drum for years.

And the Budget initiatives that resonate are not always the ones that cost the most. Take the $130 cut in ACC levies for vehicle registration. Modest, but how much you shell out to register your car is something that sticks in your mind for a long time. As long as late September? And don't forget that $1.5 billion they have stashed away for future spending.

Wait and see what election promises that can bankroll.

Mark Sainsbury is a broadcaster and formerly political editor at TVNZ.