National Party finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis says Finance Minister Grant Robertson's pre-Budget speech this morning "read like a resignation letter".
Robertson's speech - delivered this morning to the Wellington Business Chamber - revealed the Government had saved about $4 billion through its reprioritisation programme, instigated early in the tenure of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
In the speech, Robertson said tax cuts were not an appropriate economic policy at the moment, nor was austerity.
He also hit out at the Opposition, saying he did not "go around telling people that spending on public services will go up, public debt will go down and taxes will be cut, all at the same time".
"That fiscal Bermuda Triangle is the domain of the Opposition, and I don’t believe it is either realistic or credible."
In response today, Willis said she believed Robertson was "resigned to the fact that he does not have what it takes to restore discipline to Government spending".
Robertson should find the savings needed to ensure New Zealanders could "keep more of their own money", she said.
"New Zealanders are suffering from a prolonged cost of living crisis and they have a government that has been spending with wild abandon."
Asked if she believed this year's Budget would be Robertson's last, Willis said: "I certainly hope so".
She said National wanted to deliver tax reduction that would adjust income tax thresholds for inflation.
"We would want to do that in a way that didn't add to inflation, so that means finding the savings to fund that package.
"We would also want to ensure there is more funding going into frontline health and education services and that will require repriortisation of some things that are lower priority - be that consultancy spending [or] money going into government advertising."
She said the goal would be "books that are in balance and debt that's being paid down".
Willis said there was "huge amounts of money" going into the government bureaucracy.
"I am confident that if we really want to let New Zealanders keep more of what they earn, we will find the savings."
Earlier today, in a statement, ACT leader David Seymour said Robertson's "admission" of $4b in savings was "embarrassing" as it was less than 1% of the Government's entire budget.
“Robertson is relying on people believing that $4 billion is a big number, but in the context of the entire government budget, it is minuscule.
“In other words, Grant Robertson is standing by 99 per cent of his spending. When you consider the utter waste that has taken place over the last six years, that is an extraordinary statement."
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