The reaction to Nicola Willis’ pre-Budget speech today went full throttle before she had even delivered it. The proposals were not especially radical, but you would not know this if you interacted with any media today. It was astounding how quickly large sections of New Zealand’s political and media class moved to attack the measures intended to save money and make our government more efficient. The arguments for consolidating our public service and tightening our belts were shut down before they could even properly be debated.
