The Finance Minister says Kiwis have learned to trust the instincts of Prime Minister John Key.

Finance Minister Bill English describes it as "probably the tightest Budget in the last 20 years" while opposition parties have labelled it as "zero hope" and drab. So is National's new budget any good?

Thanks largely to some adroit politics on its part, National has yet to cop any substantial public reaction to its various austerity measures.