NZ Centre for Political Research

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*Unless this Government takes drastic action soon, we are headed for economic disaster. Wayne

*No. Government spending will be dependent on who the government want to bribe to support them (national) at the next erection. Neil

*They should have done more. Geoff

*A resounding NO. Jane

*Key will never do what he was mandated to do. He is a money man and stays around those who have it. He had no intentions of increasing the productivity of New Zealand. When he is voted out in November, he'll go off to Hawaii and stay there. The man is sleeze! Jack

*We have a goverment not prepared to grasp the nettle. Sadly. Bill

*No definitely not...the go-lightly attitude to placate the voters was not good...most of the news was just ideas picked out of a hat...there was no definite action in any part..a lot more could have been done regarding the DPB and Student Loans along with cutting Government spending, but if they did that they would not get back in power next time and that is what it is all about. Audrey

*This budget was just a sop for the masses. The REAL budget will be announced immediately AFTER the election. Dont get too upset, the best (or worst) is yet to come. Ray

*There is a great need to get rid of superfluous ministries and unnecessary Commissions. Catherine

*It is imperative the government reduces their spending and tries to change the benefit dependant culture we have in this country. They should be rewarding those who go back to the work force and not penalizing them. Jane

*Handouts to Maori, DPB and the Dole are dragging our country down. Government must stop handing out money and encourage people to be responsible for their own lives. Peter

*Any country that runs at a constant loss will eventually go bankrupt. We are well on the way! Peter & Mabs

*Want to see the inefficient wealth return mechanisms of working for families and kiwisaver replaced with simple and efficient tax cuts to the lower tiers. These labour constructed instruments of dependence are an insult. Aaron

*John Key didn't bother with a mandate for MCA, ETS laws so who does he think he's fooling? Visionless, gutless politician whose only concern is his knighthood which he must never get. Double-Dipton English should have been retired after 2002 election. Where did the money come from for Iwi claims- outrageous racist mumbo-jumbo? Finlayson is a arrogant disgrace! Monica

*Absolutely not! We still have too much legislation, too many bureaucrats overseeing it - at both gummint & local levels - and far too much welfare. In addition, gummint shouldn't be running commercial enterprises, as they aren't competant & conflicts of interest arise. Dave

*This was a vote winning, easy going budget. Wait until next year if National get back in or worse still if Labour get in.
Either will say they have a mandate and really screw it to the taxpayer. But what is the alternative? Bernie

*The power and influence of the of the public sector unions, especially the P.S.A., teachers and police must be subdued. Public sector salaries must be greatly reduced and then capped. Civil servants are the new upper middle class. Govt. managers are the new rich. Ask any small business owner.Govt. employment has created a growing smug and privileged group of arrogant servants who act like masters. Cut the budget, cut the salaries, reduce the regulation and legislative burden as well,curb the promotions,close down the career paths, reduce their work hours. Render them irrelevant. and unnecessary. Then get rid of at least half of them. Even on the dole, they will cost us way less. Get the state out of education, privatize health, localize policing. The greedy state sector unions are bankrupting the nation. Campbell

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*But it was what I expected from the smiling Show pony. He is a one man political party and I knew he wouldn't have the courage to do a thing to lose a vote. He lost mine a week after he got in so he wont be worried about people like me. English is just Keys wee lap dog and does as he is told. Glad to see he made extra provision for the Maoris to claim the Seabed and foreshore. Chris

*On my most recent visit, last month, to Singapore I was forced to the conclusion that we should sell New Zealand to Singapore! That would:
Provide a drastic reduction in crime!
Welfare would be eliminated among other things and our economy would be free to advance!! Jim

*Too much money wasted on part-maori issues. Peter

*The reason I say NO! is where does the $37 Billion the fisheries share of Maori partnership go to? Oh I forgot I read somewhere $10 Billion is put on the GDP leaves a balance of $27 Billion Maori got what? Less then a billion and I dont see where the rest is gone.. hope you can find out from Mr Finlayson or Pita Sharples maybe, those rednecks like gtp jumping up and down on trade me opinon and politics can read your findings and eat his toejam socks. Kia Ora. Paree

*We are still top heavy and over governed for the size of the country. Bruce

*Get rid of all race, age and gender based ministries and commissions as well as next to useless quangoes. Their existence has been a luxury that we can no longer afford. If they all disappeared overnight, no one would notice apart from those immediately drawing salaries from them. Richard

*We are still top heavy and over governed for the size of the country. Bruce

*Not by a long shot. Dave

*Too many policy analysts and the like. Appalls me all the money going into Foreshore and Seabed claims. Josie

*It has been a furtive budget, hiding National's intentions to 'go for it' if re-elected in November. One huge saving can be made by calling a halt to funding every whim made by iwi. Isn't the billions they have been given enough already?
Also the practice of giving M.P's huge subsidies to live in their own houses while attending parliament is outdated as well. Wasn't Bill English given $45,000 towards costs for one year for his own home in Wellington? Also when an M.P. resigns or leaves parliament all entitlements should stop! Even the grossly overpaid CEO's salaries stop when they resign. This alone would save huge amounts on future budgets. How many ex-parliametarians is the taxpayer still funding with even a portion of their previous salary? Finally DO NOT SELL OUR NATIONAL S.O.E's! How much more income will go out of the country, leaving us with increased costs in the basic necessities for living? Cecelia

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*Just another spineless side show by this National Socialist Government.
Maori affairs should be shut down, we don't have a department of Celtic affairs.
If Maori are too lazy to preserve their language lit it die. The only place to learn a language is over the breakfast table, $75 million down the drain.
Why do we have a ministry of racing, another million down the drain.
Government must be brought back to it's proper function and size.
This week sees the anniversary of N.Z. first Parliament with 37 members, in my opinion that is more than enough to run a country of our size. Michael

*Until we enact a law that says Governments can only spend the same as last year plus inflation we will never control spending. Albyn

*WE need a Dr. Beeching to go through with an axe the 60% of waste needs to be identified and cut. Christopher

*Government is trying to con the people with numbers which are clearly rubbish. Simon

*It hasn't gone far enough but there are enough "sheeple" out there to go along with this and National will probably get back in and still do nothing. Little wonder people leave. Peter

*TOO many Govt depts., or similar orgs. David

*Far too much on Maori. Kevin

*The government didn't really cut spending at all. All it did was a bit of shuffling of the money and largely hold spending to the current levels instead of the usual increases. The goverment is still borrowing billions of dollars more than it is taking in revenue which means the government debt - a burden on my children and grandchildren for decades to come - is still burgeoning. National are a spineless lot who are unwilling to make the hard decisions in the best interests of the future of the country. At last there is some chance of ACT getting the numbers necessary to put some backbone into the government. There is plenty of slack to be cut in, for example, education. The wastage on unnecessary bureaucracy and PC police could be slashed if education were set free from the shackles of state control. The imagination could run wild identifying the plethora of profligacy in government activities. Duncan

*How many Televisions and Radio stations do we need or subsidise. As for handing out money to Maori to contest the Seabed and Foreshore ownership, is beyound belief only a yess prime minister. Bill

*Feeding money to Maori is racist & waste of taxpayer funds. Ian

*The first thing to do is to cut the size of parliament. This would save a huge amount. Get rid of MMP which could be blamed for expanding the size of our government. Far too big for our small country. It doesn't make sense to give huge sums to Maori groups to enable them to make claims for millions of taxpayer dollars. Is there any end in sight to this topsy turvy government! Dorothy

*And the biggest saving can be achieved by cutting the Maori handouts!!!!!!!!! Maurice

*This government have not the brains to kick start A 250cc motor bike let a lone a country crying out for change. How about tax holidays for green field start ups, there is a list of possibilities that a third former could dream up, but the wise men in wellington are devoid of any imagination. John

*They must get rid of the ETS scam. Frank

*The quality of govt spending awful, and the waste in social payments, huge. Christopher

*Where is a coherent and understandable vision for the future of our country? Government spending is far too high when complared to growing economies such as Singapore. Laurence

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*A Wasted Opportunity !
The Budget was predictable and in firework terms a damp squib.
No doubt the National Party Spin doctors were a work, saving votes for the next election and nobody in Politics likes to known as a “kill Joy”. Better by far to show the face of humanity and generosity, let future generations pay the Bill.
Regretfully New Zealand is locked into an electoral system which generates the absolute need to please everyone; this ensures the downward slide we have had since the implementation of the MMP system.
The failure of the National Party reflects on us all, and the Opposition have reverted to its age old roots of socialism...that of Rich verses Poor. An example, the present Labour Party “Farmer bashing”, make em’ pay their fair share. The greatest vote catcher for any election.
The exodus across the Tasman will increase, and this fair country will be left with a huge debt, which ultimately be paid in full by the final adoption of pure Communism/Maori/Luddite economy.
Again one must revert to the past in judging our present Parliamentary Representatives.
Quote
“Why do the holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self interest suggests? Why does intelligent mental process seem so often not to function?''
Barbara Tuchmann.
The March of Folly 1984. Brian

*Get rid of all the 'list' M.P. Max time for M.P.s =3 terms in office (9) years by then they are all time expired. Clive

*The handouts are still there. Bob

*It didnt; even start to tackle the problem. Keith

*It is very sad that todays politicians have not learn't to lead by example in cutting their own salaries and perks first. We need strong leadership not the present mob of whimps! Forbes

*Soft budget. No hard decisions made. Key wants a second term. He is moving further to the left. Wonder he hasn't invited Helen back. She is well qualified to take up ministry of social welfare in Keys government. Time for Nats voters to rattle the cage. Thats if there are any left out there after the Foreshore and seabed debacle. Lets scrap the minimum wage and get people working. We need young people with some sense of purpose and hope. Get the Government out of the agreements between workers and employers. Open up the playing field. Time to give the bosses a reason to start employing again. Goodness knows they have been running scared for long enough. If we dont change direction we will end up where we are headed. Where we are headed is surely not where we will want to be. Ed

*You can't keep bleeding the workers till they can't afford to live here anymore! Toughen up and stop giving our money away!!!!!! Andy

*No real incentive for large companies to invest here. When the right incentives were offered by Southern Ireland, large companies were falling over themselves to move there. Jim

*Can we afford Maoriism, which is the cancer of this country. Henk

*They have just tinkered with it. Don't want to upset the voters you know. Absolutely no political courage whatsoever. It'e going to be very interesting to hear Dr. Brash's ideas on this. Ronmac

*I don't see any cutbacks in the handouts that are going to fund all these ventures such as maori lanuage etc. The only real thing I saw was a cut to Kiwisaver when this country should be saving. Lawrie

*Just more tinkering, nothing really strategic. Graham

*Pitiful the state our nation is in and now we are to fund Maori claims as well. What a joke. Get rid of Treaty claims altogether. And ETS and MMP. Don

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*No - govt spending as a proportion of GDP is at an unacceptable level. Alan Greenspan regards the single most important contributor to economic growth as being the rule of law. To satisfy ideological agendas, New Zealand has permitted the gradual and increasing decay of the rule of law in many significant areas. Personally, we would not contemplate relocating our high-tech company back to New Zealand, until considerable improvements have been made toward restoring respect for the rule of law, particularly in New Zealand's secret courts. Dave

*The day of reckoning will come for NZ - sooner rather than later if Labour win the election, and only a little slower with National at the helm. Labour are already bribing voters with promises of even more hand-outs paid for, of course, by higher taxes on the 'rich' - more of whom will head across to Australia. Gary

*Why isn't the public sector working with the Govt. The Govt needs to promote jobs and yet the immigration service is encouraging overseas temporary workers? Richard

*Bureaucracy is costing this country far too much. Takes too much money out of the system. Sonia

*Government needs to set an example by refusing their pay rises. Stop borrowing. If we have no money we cannot spend. Mary

*We have a spineless Gov't bankrupt of new idea's and blind to those that work in other countries. Norm

*I suspect that there was no across the board examination of Government spending and potential cuts thereto. Too many sacred cows have either been left untouched or not slashed hard enough. Additionally scope existed for some programmes to have been cut entirely. Messrs English and Key lack the fortitude to be more decisive. Peter

*And they will pay for it at the election as their weakness becomes clearer over the next 6 months. They have just handed a re-invigorated ACT 4-5% of extra votes . Lech

*They increased it. I am determined not to give my vote to National or Labour. Glenn

*Not in a million years. Jim

*Successive governments and indeed much of the media have created a cargo cult mentality whereby a large proportion of the population judges the budget by how much it is going to "give" them. Peter

*Spending cut = less spending - I just can't believe that they don't understand that you should spend LESS than your income, not more. This simple fact is understood by almost everyone else! Teresa

*Unquestionably NO! but we are getting used to opportunities lost now so no great shock, on carbon tax, the noises coming from the global warming brigade indicate some concern, could this be because if they cannot get serious buy in to carbon trading and the world doesn't melt then they won't be able to claim credit and their theories will be exposed as rubbish. John

*P.M. and his cohorts have never replied to my suggestions regarding a new business which would reduce overseas spending by billions; create jobs, save everyday N.Zers billions, initiate new businesses, reduce the cost of everyday commodities, reduce pollution. I refer to NEW technology which can change coal to gas (used to fire electric turbines ) change gas to diesel, All at less than 30 cents per litre. Senior coal executives have told me that the bureaucrats are blocking this NEW technology. P.M. was told about this 3 years ago, 3 times. Malcolm

*It is not so much a case of the need to cut Govt spending, if there had been some serious effort to re-allocate that spending into more profitable directions. IE,incentives on R & D spending, replacing funding cuts to various export orietated projects. Hugh

*Getting rid of the dead wood in their own ranks would go a long way to help. Clark

This week's poll asks:

Do you believe the Budget went far enough to cut government spending?

*No - this budget is a mirage. It's all about winning the election not about building a prosperous future. Jim

*We needed a budget that brought about courageous reforms. The public would have respected National for doing that. Andrew

*The amount of money that is being wasted by the government is scandalous. All the money that pours into organisations that produce nothing of benefit is outrageous. We see it every day in our communities with stupid government-funded projects that deliver nothing except the wages of those people running them. Karen

*The budget hasn't cut anything. Spending has gone up. National is full of wind. Let's hope Don Brash can do better. Stephen

*If we ran our businesses like National is running the country we will all go broke! David

*I love the quote by Milton Friedman - once politicians get their hands on our money they are like drug addicts and can't stop themselves spending. The only answer is lower taxes. It is the only way to keep ourselves safe - from them! Prue

*When Bennett WASTES 22 BILLION DOLLARS a year on dole and DPB bludgers, they have not even scratched the surface.

Try spending 2 BILLION on welfare (no DPB or dole unless you have previously paid tax).

Then we can increase spending on Health by 10 BILLION and on Education by 10 BILLION (10+10=20=welfare savings).

But has Bennettt or English or even Key got the metaphorical BOLLOCKS for the job?

NO.

Just like Key's promise to "listen to the opinion of New Zealanders"... Mark