Ele Ludemann: More should pay for prescriptions

The reinstatement of a $5 prescription charge will no doubt result in the media finding some sob stories.

It is a lot less likely there will be stories pointing out the major beneficiaries from the previous government’s removal of the fee were the big foreign-owned pharmacies that hadn’t been charging customers.

Kerre Woodham: Are these new changes the end of the world?

Big day today. Paid parental leave increases in line with increases to the average weekly earnings, so if you're about to go off on maternity leave, you will have an increase in parental pay for up to 26 weeks.

Regional fuel and diesel taxes gone, saving the drivers of Toyota Corollas - those fairies of the land, the wakas of the whenua – about $6 every time they fill up, but you will need that $6 because that's going to go somewhere else.

Kerre Woodham: I'd rather pay $100 on prescriptions than have to sell the house to keep a loved one alive

The ‘vote for me’ bribe policies continue.

National was promising yesterday to pay for 13 cancer treatments not currently available to patients in New Zealand. They're available in Australia, not in New Zealand.

Peter Wilson: The Week in Politics - Reserve Bank raises OCR, Budget reaction continues

Ahead of Wednesday's Monetary Policy Statement there was much speculation about how the Reserve Bank would react to the government's budget spend-up.

Would it increase the Official Cash Rate by more than the expected 25 basis points? Would it say further hikes were needed because of the inflationary effect of increased spending?

Opposition parties warned that mortgage rates would be higher for longer, more pain for struggling homeowners.

They were eagerly awaiting anything that could be interpreted as "we're raising interest rates because of the budget".

None of that happened.