Finance Minister Nicola Willis was as good as her word – the 2026 Budget contained no lolly scramble and was focussed on investing in public services, the 1News political team says.
Willis today delivered her third Budget, where she continued to speak of financial discipline and revealed that New Zealand was expected to return to surplus sooner than expected.
Live updates: Finance Minister Nicola Willis unveils 'responsible' Budget 2026
There was a boost for the health system, and a new levy on banks and insurers.
Speaking inside the Budget lock-up, where journalists and analysts pore over Budget documents ahead of their public release at 2pm, 1News senior political reporter Benedict Collins said Willis was practicing what she had been preaching.
“The Finance Minister Nicola Willis was as good as her word, no lolly scramble here, no sweet treats. In fact, it was kind of a Budget for keeping the lights on in New Zealand, a lot of investment into our public services.”
Areas such as the ageing rail network, police stations and regional hospitals were other areas to receive a bump, and there was over $1.7b for an extension to the Waikato Expressway.
“Investing in those public services, nothing really there for cost-of-living relief.”
Watch: 1News Q+A Budget Special 2026 on TVNZ+
The expectation that New Zealand would return to surplus in 2028-29 was eye-catching, 1News Business Correspondent Jason Walls added.
“The Finance Minister was at pains to point out today that that came from a number of areas, various different reprioritisations and savings.”
That included cuts to the public sector and fees-free for third year university students, as well as things like reprioritisations for Kainga Ora construction costs, Walls said.
“A really significant move in the direction that I don’t think a lot of people were thinking. That was really for the Finance Minister the crux of what she was talking about today, she mentioned many times that this was a Budget for the future in terms of no short-term sugar hits, and making sure debt levels and surplus levels were a lot more sustainable than we’ve seen in the past.”
There was plenty of new money for health, including a further lowering of the bowel cancer screening age and more cash for IT systems, both of which were under wraps until today.
Budget 2026: Key announcements, winners and trade-offs explained, watch on TVNZ+
1News Political Reporter Sophie Trigger said the latter was of interest, given the recent ManageMyHealth hack.
“The Government has obviously seen there are some shortcomings in security systems in the health system and was wanting to inject some money into that space.”
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