Budget 2025 should be the austerity budget that Finance Minister Nicola Willis didn't have the guts to deliver in 2024. Instead, her lame first year Budget prolonged New Zealand's economic stagnation (of course, former PM Hipkins and Worst Finance Minister Ever, Grant Robertson, bear most responsibility). The problem is that Willis doesn't want to associated with former National Party Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, who cut government spending by over 5% in her famous 1991 Budget. However, that problem is easily solved.
