Ryan Bridge: Jim Chalmers Budget hardly a recipe for affordable housing

Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

That's basically the message to anyone worried about a capital gains tax in New Zealand.

In Canberra last night Jim Chalmers budget was pitched as a 're-balancing' of 'intergenerational inequality'.

Brian Gaynor: Budget prudence needed, not borrow and hope

Recent Budget announcements on both sides of the Tasman clearly indicate the Australian Government has had a borrow and hope strategy, while our Finance Ministers have taken a more prudent approach.

The big question is whether Grant Robertson, the new Labour Finance Minister, will maintain this prudent approach when he delivers his first budget on Thursday.

Brian Gaynor: In this game, we're beating the Aussies

One of the major differences between New Zealand and Australia is their respective political systems and this difference may have contributed to the much stronger financial performance of the New Zealand Government in recent years.

Australia has a bicameral, federal system with 13 houses of parliament and 782 elected representatives while New Zealand has a unicameral structure with only one house and 119 current members.