Further MPP cuts likely but there's good news for our Pacific aiga

Today is Budget Day, when the coalition government will open their books and say how they plan to spend taxpayer dollars over the next year.

Protests are being held across the motu as thousands of people descended on Tāmaki Makaurau and Otautahi as part of a nationwide day of action ahead of this afternoon's announcement by Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

The campaign group, Toitū Te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty) organised a strike today to "unify Aotearoa and respond to the Government's assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi".

Infometrics chief economist Brad Olsen says the biggest reveal will be the promised tax cuts.

“They have been teased and talked about a lot but we haven't got the details yet. The Finance Minister [Nicola Willis] in the lead-up has said that these tax cuts are going to be meaningful but modest, and I think the difference there is that there's going to be something for households, but given the state of the government books, they're not going to be huge coming forward.”

The main investment areas are expected to be education and healthcare. Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Olsen said some policies that had been announced were likely to have more impact on lower-income households.

“They're not continuing to fund the likes of half-price public transport fares, the likes of the prescription charge likely coming back in, those are areas where I think some households might be getting some in some areas, and others might be getting less in others.”

Labour MP Willie Jackson said the government was showing their true value in where they put their money.

“The anger is rising because the priorities of this government is about their landlords, $2.9 billion.

“So they’ve sacrificed Smoke-Free, they’ve sacrificed the Māori Health Authority, they've sacrificed fair pay contracts, they've sacrificed so much across the spectrum.

“What will our average person in Māngere get, Henderson get, Porirua get? Will there be significant financial support for these groups or not?”

Cuts and some boosts

Olsen is predicting further funding cuts to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and said the cutback on staffing was likely to be met with further reductions in funding.

The government has warned this budget will be tight, with pre-emptive cuts to 5,000 public service roles. Photo/Unsplash

“So if you've had, as for MPP, a 17 per cent reduction in your workforce, you'd expect that there's some further pullbacks in other spending, and so the ministry will have to be a lot more careful with just how much it can try and provide out.”

Across the country, more than 5000 jobs at government ministries have been cut, as agencies were asked to trim up to 7.5 per cent of their operating costs.

With that pullback in the level of staffing, the Government will also be signalling that they'll be expecting better bang for buck, they'll be expecting ministries to try and achieve more, but also being quite careful about how much additional funding that might come through.”

However, Olsen said the Pacific region could be in for increased spend.

“One area that we have seen a bit more investment announced in already is in the Foreign Ministry. There's been $60 million worth of funding that's been able to be redeployed, and a lot of that seems to be focused on providing aid into the Pacific.”

Who is listening to Pacific voices?

Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni is concerned those on low and middle incomes will be most impacted by this year’s Budget, and is heavily critical of the mass job cuts in public service and delivery of essential services.

“Those cuts to public services are going to affect all of us, it puts more pressure on the front line.

“We want to know when we want to access support from our public services, it’s going to be there for us. I don’t think there’s that guarantee under this government.”

Meanwhile, former Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio hopes some of the funding will include Pacific youth leadership initiatives.

“You’d be wanting to make sure that resources were going to a young, fast-growing population and prepare them for future leadership of the nation.

“And when there is no Pacific representation in Parliament, it’s hard to know whether ministers responsible for getting money out to the community would be listening to a Pacific voice.”

Protesters descend on Wellington CBD on Thursday.