Finance Minister Grant Robertson says “this is a Budget that’s appropriate for a time where people are struggling” at his annual photo opportunity Wednesday morning. Video / Mark Mitchell / Adam Pearse
The impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the Government’s books couldn’t be more clear as Finance Minister Grant Robertson reveals the cover of Budget 2023 ahead Budget day tomorrow.
Titled “Support for today, Building for tomorrow”, the cover features a photo taken from Bluff Hill in Napier that looks south along the coastline towards Cape Kidnappers. Napier was one of the hardest-hit areas in February when the cyclone hit the North Island’s east coast.
The photo, taken by Robertson himself, shows a glorious day in Hawke’s Bay prior to the cyclone.
Robertson’s regular photo-op and light-hearted banter with journalists on the day before the Budget is revealed was slightly less jovial this year, likely in light of a lethal fire in Wellington’s Newtown that claimed an as yet unconfirmed number of lives but could be as many as 10.
As the Wellington Central MP, Robertson said visiting the site and speaking with residents of the Newtown hostel where the fire occurred had been challenging for him.
“I think many of you would have seen yesterday that I was pretty upset yesterday about the fire,” he said.
“This is my constituency, many of these are people that I either have worked with previously or certainly know in one form or another, so I was pretty affected by that yesterday and indeed continue to be today.”
Finance Minister Grant Robertson fielding questions from journalists as he presents the cover of Budget 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He would not speculate on the cause of the fire, which was still yet to be determined.
On the Budget, Robertson said it had been “very difficult” to put together for two reasons.
“One, the economic circumstances that we are in as a country and that people are facing.
“And secondly, the arrival of the cyclone in the latter part of putting the Budget together was a real challenge.”
He described Budget 2023 as “appropriate for the times.
“This is a Budget that’s appropriate for a time when people are struggling, where we do need to invest to support them, but at the same time, we’ve got to come back from those big spending Covid budgets.”
He also indicated the Budget could be the last of the Government’s economic initiatives prior to the election.
“I think we’ve got a lot of investments we’ve put in in recent times that you’ll see more and hear more about post-Budget, then we get into the election campaign and we change hats and it will be the Labour Party talking about what we’ll be doing next term.”
Robertson, speaking from the Parliament steps, was wearing the tie former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gifted him for a prior Budget - a tradition the pair had.
He said it was his understanding that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be continuing the tradition this year.
Asked whether he trusted the Prime Minister’s fashion sense, Robertson gave a very deliberate “no comment”.
