Finance Minister Grant Robertson has set out his "Rebuilding Together" Budget against the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis, saying the focus is on job saving and creation. National says the Government lacks a clear plan for the economy.
That concludes our live coverage of the Budget announcement.
Follow continuing coverage and analysis on 1News.co.nz and on 1 NEWS at 6pm on TVNZ 1.
The main points of today's Budget recapped:
$50 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund, $30 billion allocated so far
$3.2 billion targeted wage subsidy extension for eight weeks, but firms need to show 50% revenue fall now
$1.4 billion for trades and apprenticeship training
$1.1 billion for environmental jobs scheme
$3 billion for infrastructure projects
$400 million Tourism Recovery Fund
8000 for new public and transitional homes
PM says economic outlook painful but govt has chosen to act
Wage subsidy scheme boosted by $3.2 billion
National decides against traditional sign of opposition to Budget
What you need to know about Budget 2020
4.26pm: The PM says the Government will work with the tourism industry to bring the sector back to life using the $400 million it has allocated today.
4.22pm: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is now taking media questions about the Budget. She says the wage subsidy has "played an incredibly important role in saving jobs".
4.09pm: Winston Peters says he doesn't believe in "helicopter payments", which give a cash boost to everyone, he believes in "investment strategies".
3.50pm: ASB economist Chris Tennent-Brown says debt growing from 20% to 50% of GDP as a result of the crisis is clearly significant, but will be small compared to the economies of the US and Europe. However he wants to see a more comprehensive plan for the future.
3.45pm: The Budget’s $3.2 billion boost to the wage subsidy scheme pays for an additional eight weeks for businesses who have lost at least half of their revenue, and brings the total allocated to the scheme to $13.9 billion.
3.43pm: The second year fees-free for tertiary students, due to being next year, is now on hold, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says.
3.42pm: Some other numbers from today’s Budget:
$1 billion to replace the Defence Force’s ageing Hercules fleet
$20 million for university students in financial difficulty due to the Covid-19 crisis
New Zealand Post gets $280 million
3.37pm: Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft says the Budget is a realistic response to the crisis but is insufficient, especially for the 150,000 children who were already struggling before the pandemic.
“Covid-19 has shone a light on the glaring inadequacies in our welfare system we already knew have long existed." He wants to see a "child-focused budget later in the year" including free medical and dental care plus free and nutritious school lunches for all children to the age of 18.
3.30pm: Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters' advice to Mr Bridges in Parliament: "On the first day of Level 2, get a haircut and get a proper job."
3.21pm: The PM says the Budget will create 140,000 jobs over the next year, including environmental and rural jobs, and jobs rebuilding "crumbling infrastructure", as well as training for new jobs. She says the money for tourism jobs announced today will be followed by announcements in coming days for the arts, sports and large events sectors.
"We went hard and early to beat Covid-19, now is the time to make the most of the headstart New Zealand has with our economic recovery," Ms Ardern says.
3.11pm: The Opposition traditionally moves a vote of no confidence in the Budget. Simon Bridges didn't do this, which the PM has commented on and said she hopes this means National will vote for it. National deputy leader Paula Bennett says in a tweet that Mr Bridges didn't forget to move the motion, he chose not to in exceptional circumstances.
3.10pm: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says nothing is usual about this time so the response shouldn't be either. We will apply the same unrelenting focus that we have had on our health response to our economic response and that has already started." She said jobs was a focus and the wage subsidy scheme has prevented a spike in joblessness.
2.58pm: The Finance Minister says the Budget is about jobs and training.
He says there will be more to say about support for lower paid New Zealanders but says there has already been a boost to benefits and notes additional sums for food in schools in the Budget.
There are no tax changes in the Budget because that isn't the focus at the moment, Mr Robertson tells TVNZ.
The $20 billion currently not allocated is there because "no one in the world yet knows where or when Covid-19 ends".
2.51pm: Mr Bridges says he supports the backing for business and wage subsidy in the Budget but not "pet projects". He questions the $400m for tourism but $1.2 billion for rail.
2.46pm: National leader Simon Bridges is now responding to Mr Robertson, saying tens of thousands of Kiwis have already lost their jobs and similar numbers have had to close their businesses because of Covid-19. He says a lot of the response of the past eight weeks has gone well but just having a low number of cases is not success given the economic situation. "Our lockdown has proved excessively hard," he says. One thousand people a day are joining the jobless queue, he says. "We've gone soft and slow on the economy."
2.44pm: Finance Minister Grant Robertson wraps up his Budget speech to applause from the Government side by saying New Zealand will rebuild with "hard work, compassion and courage".
2.38pm: GDP is forecast to take a huge hit, contracting by 4.6%, with one year of recession predicted.
2.35pm: Act leader David Seymour says the Budget is "sadly predictable" and lacks imagination with not enough support for the private sector to increase jobs. Also missing was public health and smart borders, he says. he calls the transitional homes fund "Kiwibuild 2".
2.30pm: No increase in benefits is noticeable in the Budget, says political scientist Prof Jennifer Curtin of Auckland University.
2.26pm: A reminder of the main points :
$50 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund, $30 billion allocated so far
$3.2 billion targeted wage subsidy extension for eight weeks, but firms need to show 50% revenue fall now
$1.4 billion for trades and apprenticeship training
$1.1 billion for environmental jobs scheme
$3 billion for infrastructure projects
$400 million Tourism Recovery Fund
8000 for new public and transitional homes
$32 million for food banks
2.25pm: National says it would have done more for business than the Government has announced. It says there is "very little there" for job creation. "How do we stop the pain and restore our prospects as a nation, and I'm not seeing much of a plan there," National's finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith told TVNZ.
2.18pm: Treasury has set aside $50 billion for the recovery, but only $30 billion has been allocated so far.
2.15pm: There was pre-Budget speculation about "helicopter payments" - cash handouts to everyone to promote spending - but these have not materialised.
2.13pm: Economist Cameron Bagrie says it is a "big and bold" Budget but says he would have liked to see more strategy about NZ's future not just "money thrown around like confetti".
2.11pm: The wage support package continues for another eight weeks, but companies now need to show 50% fall in revenue year on year. Previously it was 30%.
2.06pm: “We’re answering calls for significant new investment as we face this 1-in-100 year global shock and rebuild together,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
“The full impact of Covid-19 around the world is yet to be seen. The depth and duration of the pandemic means that the economic outlook is highly uncertain and forecasts will change.
“But what they do clearly show is the scale of the economic challenge that lies ahead.
2.04pm: Unemployment forecast to peak at 10% next month and fall back to pre-Covid levels of about 4% within two years.
Budget to go from surplus to deficit of $28 billion.
2.00pm: Here are the main points:
$50 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund
$3.2 billion targeted wage subsidy extension
$1.4 billion trades and apprenticeship training
$1.1 billion environmental jobs scheme
$3 billion infrastructure projects
$400 million Tourism Recovery Fund
8000 new public and transitional homes
$32 million for food banks
1.05pm: The Director-General of Health has announced today's coronavirus case details. There have been no new cases since yesterday and no further deaths. New Zealand came out of lockdown and into Alert Level 2 today.
12.45pm: The Reserve Bank yesterday spelt out the scale of the financial pressures facing the country, pledging to keep interest rates very low for the forseeable future and pumping billions of dollars in bonds into the economy.
It predicts unemployment to rise to 9%, house prices to fall by almost a tenth, and inflation to possibly fall below the 1% mark.
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