Table of Contents
Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
BUDGET - SUMMARIES AND ANALYSIS
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Budget takes from squeezed middle for growth
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Budget 2025 is a bit bitsy - here are the best bits
Luke Malpass (Post): Willis delivers more with less but fiscal risks remain (paywalled)
Bridie Witton and Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Winners and Losers
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Where did the Government get its savings? KiwiSaver, pay equity and benefits
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Shuffling the Deck to Shift the Dial (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): KiwiSaver subsidies & Best Start payments slashed, enormous $6.6b business incentive
Vernon Small (Post): The key take-outs from Nicola Willis’ second budget (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Willis delivers ‘true blue’ Budget with KiwiSaver changes and business tax relief (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Surplus slips further from Willis’ grasp amid economic headwinds
Brent Edwards (NBR): Wafer thin surplus forecast for 2028-29 (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): $7 billion of extra borrowing, higher debt, wafer-thin surplus forecast for 2029 (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Upbeat Treasury predicts rising house prices and GDP growth (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Government books to return to surplus after three years
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Opposition slams Budget 'austerity, cuts', Luxon attacks Greens alternative
1News: Budget views: National 'to lose women's votes', economy 'set up for future'
Spinoff: The great Spinoff hot-take roundtable
Michael Reddell: The (deeply underwhelming) Budget
Michael P. Cameron (The Conversation): NZ Budget 2025 at a glance: follow the money here
No Right Turn: $13 billion
Paddy Gower (Stuff): My five Budget positives
David Farrar: Anyone who calls this an austerity budget is lying
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): This year's Budget doesn't go far enough
Boris Janice and Lillian Hanly (RNZ): At a glance: The big changes, winners and losers
Kelly Dennett (Post): Winners and losers of Budget 2025: Economists give their verdict (paywalled)
1News: Budget 2025: What you need to know
Justin Hu (1News): 'Trade-offs and choices': Finance Minister on $12.8b pay equity saving
Adam Pearse (Herald): Pay equity, KiwiSaver and housing – Where the Government cut $21b
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Coalition claws back savings from pay equity, KiwiSaver in Budget
Thomas Manch (Post): Government Kiwisaver subsidies slashed, $6.6b boost for business tax breaks (paywalled)
Justin Hu (1News): KiwiSaver changes, pay equity 'savings' revealed
Brent Edwards (NBR): Budget includes more spending, plus a new tax incentive (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Herald): The 10 things you need to know, from pay equity savings to subsidising private schools
Joel MacManus and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Some lollies, some scramble, and some woke sushi
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Pay equity savings ploughed back into tax breaks, health, education and gas
Bernard Hickey (The Kāka): Budget 2025 highlights and invite to live chat session at 3.30 pm
Kate Newton (RNZ): Breaking it down: Budget 2025 in charts
Chris Knox (Herald): Every budget item in one interactive
Stuff: Budget 2025: By the numbers
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ ‘Growth Budget’ will aim to expand the economy and slowly shrink the Government
1News: Full video: Q+A Budget 2025 special with John Campbell
Terry Baucher (Interest): A welcome investment boost, the Ghost of Bill English appears and low-income families still face high tax rates
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): A guide to the 2025 Growth Budget for people who hate budgets
Spinoff: Gone By Lunchtime x When The Facts Change: A Budget special
KIWISAVER
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Govt halves contribution to workers’ retirement savings; employers get tax cuts
Derek Cheng (Herald): The clock is ticking on the maximum KiwiSaver Govt top-up. You have five more weeks
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): What will KiwiSaver changes mean for your balance?
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): KiwiSaver is changing - what you need to know
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Government slashes KiwiSaver contributions, default rate climbs to 4%
Justin Hu (1News): What will the Govt's big KiwiSaver changes mean for you?
Eric Frykberg (Interest): Government raises employee and employer contributions to KiwiSaver but cuts its own contribution in half
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): KiwiSaver tweaked to increase savings rates and cut Govt costs (paywalled)
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): Govt halves KiwiSaver top up; default contributions to rise (paywalled)
Kelly Dennett (Herald): Default KiwiSaver rates to increase from 3% to 4% (paywalled)
BUSINESS
RNZ: Depreciation tweaks 'really positive' - accountant
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): One-off 20% write-down on new assets (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): $1.7 billion annual incentive to businesses to bring forward investments (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Banking on a boost from investment (paywalled)
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Tax breaks to boost investment, as trade war whacks growth
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): Accelerated depreciation headlines Govt’s plan to boost growth (paywalled)
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): 'Underperforming' areas cut to pay for 'seismic shift' in education
Raphael Franks (Herald): Increased funding for private schools to support ‘diversity, choice’
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): $646 million boost for student learning support
WELFARE, FAMILIES
Isaac Davison (Herald): Nearly 9000 teens no longer eligible for unemployment benefit under new ‘parent test’
Stuff: How Nicola Willis plans to get young people off Playstation and into training or work
Kelly Dennett (Post): Government to means-test teen beneficiaries (paywalled)
Herald: Best Start payments to be means-tested across all three years
HEALTH
RNZ: No surprises in health, some prescriptions to go annual
1News: Kiwis to get 12-month medicine prescriptions
Mariné Lourens (Press/Post): Budget 2025 promises hospital redevelopment, longer prescriptions, new 111 mental health response (paywalled)
MEDIA
RNZ: More money for journalists, less for RNZ
Shayne Currie (Herald): RNZ funding slashed by $18m over next four years, minister wants stronger audience reach, trust levels
Stewart Sowman-Lund and Nikki Macdonald (Post): Funding cut for RNZ, minister issues 'trust’ challenge (paywalled)
DEFENCE
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Defence Force could get more 'killer drones' after Budget boost
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Gene tech the winner in new science budget
Science Media Centre: Budget 2025: Science system funding – Expert Reaction
Chris Keall (Herald): $212m in cuts to existing programmes as funds ‘reprioritised’; Elevate mini top-up; modest spending on new agencies confirmed (paywalled)
JUSTICE
Katie Ham (Post): $1.1 billion crackdown on crime with tranche of fresh initiatives (paywalled)
Neil Sands (LawNews): Budget 2025 targets court backlogs, $95 million boost for legal aid
ENERGY
Jamie Gray (Herald): Energy sector welcomes $200m Government gas exploration fund (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Government offers $200m for would-be gas investors (paywalled)
TAX
Matt Nippert (Herald): How a $35m funding boost aims to tackle NZ’s ballooning tax debt (paywalled)
Cartoons
