Budget 2022: What do we know so far?

Budget Day is upon us, with the Government revealing on Thursday afternoon how it is planning to spend the country's money for the next financial year.

Budget 2022 will be released at 2pm on Thursday, May 19. Watch TVNZ 1 from then for the 1News Budget Special, hosted by Q+A’s Jack Tame, and follow 1News.co.nz for the latest news.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson signalled in December that Budget 2022 would feature a "one-off" $6 billion spending boost for day-to-day expenses and that cash would be poured into the health system.

He also signalled a return to a sort of "new normal", in contrast to the Covid-19-tinged "crisis" Budgets of 2020 and 2021.

The $6 billion figure is being criticised by the Opposition - National leader Christopher Luxon said it showed the Government had "no plan for the economy except to spend more money", while ACT leader David Seymour offered an alternative Budget he said would reduce debt and lower taxes while cutting public services.

Associate Finance Minister Megan Woods told Breakfast earlier this week the Government needed to keep a focus on long-term issues like climate change or it would cost Kiwis more in the long run.

As for the state of the Government's books, Treasury figures published earlier this month showed an $8.1 billion deficit in March 2022. That's in contrast to forecasts that the deficit could reach more than $12 billion. Revenue was also higher than expected - largely driven by a bigger tax take - while expenses were lower than forecast.

READ MORE: Budget 2022: What is it and should you bother?

Robertson also announced new rules for lending ahead of Budget Day - a ceiling of 30% of GDP.

Here's what's been announced so far:

The Government is putting $100 million across four years into a specialist mental health and addiction package. This will include additional funding for community-based crisis services, developing a specialist workforce, and existing child and adolescent mental health and addiction services.

READ MORE: Mental health advocate: 'Not much' improvement despite $1.9b

A further $90 million will go to expanding mental health support for children as part of the school-based Mana Ake programme.

The Government's first emissions reduction plan, unveiled on Monday, set out some strategies New Zealand could take to reach its emissions budget target between 2022 to 2025. Among the announcements was a trial of a scrap-and-replace scheme - the exact details of which haven't been announced in public - to help low and middle-income Kiwis buy EVs.

The plan sets out where $2.9 billion of the $4.5 billion Climate Emergency Response Fund would be used over the next four years. The money comes from Emissions Trading Scheme proceeds - meaning its funding is outside this year's $6 billion operating allowance - and Government top-ups.

Robertson said the plan marked "the most significant day in our country's history on climate".

Greenpeace said the plan failed because it omitted the impacts of dairy pollution while Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the Greens would have gone further and that the plan had a "Labour hue". National said it agreed with the emissions reduction targets for the next 15 years but criticised the emissions reduction plan's spending choices and its lack of detail.

Family and sexual violence Minister Marama Davidson announced that an additional $114.5 million would go towards implementing implement Te Aorerekura, the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence.

The 25-year strategy set up a tangata whenua advisory group in December and aimed to make the justice system safer, hold those who use violence to account and change their behaviour, and offer tailored services for different communities, including ethnic, Pasifika, Māori, Rainbow, males and people with a disability.

Of the boost, $38 million will go to community-led responses and another $38 million will go to strengthening existing initiatives in Māori and Pacific communities and developing initiatives for ethnic communities, older people, and youth.

The Government said its package worth more than $600 million, which will roll out over the coming years, will increase police numbers, tackle gang violence, and extend rehabilitation programmes.

The money would be spent on things like increased policing and Corrections staff, delivering the firearms register the Government passed into law in 2019, more support for victims, and services that help people who have offended transition back into the community.

It comes amid growing pressure on the Government to address a spate of recent ram-raids, gang-related incidents and shootings, a growing backlog in district courts, and questions over police response times.