National’s plan to secure New Zealand’s future

Maintaining a strong set of government books matters for New Zealanders. It is essential to delivering lasting prosperity for New Zealand and is one of the most practical things a government can do for household budgets.

Spending restraint helps take pressure off inflation and keep taxes low. When government debt is at moderate levels, interest rates are lower, the cost of financing this debt is less, and New Zealand has fiscal headroom when the next earthquake, severe weather event or global economic shock hits us.

When National entered government in 2023, we inherited a very difficult set of books, with ongoing budget deficits. Over the previous six years, government spending had gone up 70 per cent, and government debt had tripled. The interest costs on this debt were rising fast, and today taxpayers are still paying the equivalent of four Dunedin Hospitals every year just to cover them.

National introduced much-needed fiscal discipline. We did so by carefully prioritising where taxpayers’ money is spent, stopping spending in low-value areas and reinvesting it in the frontline services New Zealanders rely on such as hospitals and schools. In total, we have reprioritised around $50 billion over three Budgets to invest in frontline services, rather than increasing taxes to find the revenue.

As a result of our careful economic management, independent Treasury forecasts show that overall government spending is coming down as a proportion of the economy, a return to surplus is expected soon, and after next year the government debt curve bends down rather than up. Under a National Government, this fiscal repair will continue.