1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,520
Speaker 1: I think we knew that the government books were going

2
00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: to be bad, right, but I don't know that we

3
00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:04,320
Speaker 1: knew that it was going to be this bad. There

4
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,520
Speaker 1: is no way that we're going to get to the

5
00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:08,920
Speaker 1: surplus that we expected in twenty twenty eight. In fact,

6
00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:11,159
Speaker 1: that is now so far away it's not even in

7
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,120
Speaker 1: Treasury's forecast period anymore. It'll be some time. Who knows when.

8
00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,320
Speaker 1: Sometime in the twenty thirties, We're going to have to

9
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,040
Speaker 1: borrow another twenty billion dollars in debt to tide us

10
00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,640
Speaker 1: over the next four years. That's going to push our

11
00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 1: interest payments over ten billion dollars every year. So we

12
00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,760
Speaker 1: are already spending more, will be spending even more on

13
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,640
Speaker 1: our debt interest than we spend on defense, corrections, police

14
00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 1: and customs combined every single year. Now, this is not

15
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,640
Speaker 1: the current government's fault. This is caused by a recession

16
00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:41,720
Speaker 1: that was caused by Adrian Or and the Reserve Bank

17
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:43,519
Speaker 1: to try to deal with labors over spending in the

18
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,239
Speaker 1: bank zone problems, but national and not doing what they

19
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 1: need to be doing right now. I mean, these guys

20
00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 1: need to be cutting way harder than they are right now.

21
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,839
Speaker 1: There is a measure that we use to look at

22
00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 1: how much government spending is adding to or reducing from

23
00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,440
Speaker 1: economic growth. It's called public consumption. Nikoliwillis was supposed to

24
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,800
Speaker 1: cut public consumption by one point four percent. This year,

25
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: she cut it by zero point two percent. I mean

26
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,320
Speaker 1: there's basically no cut at all. It's so close to zero.

27
00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,320
Speaker 1: Next year it was supposed to be cut by two

28
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,120
Speaker 1: point two percent. It's going to be cut by another

29
00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 1: zero point two percent. Again no cut. There is not

30
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 1: much being cut here. We still pay the wages of

31
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,640
Speaker 1: fourteen thousand more public servants than we did in twenty eighteen.

32
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,840
Speaker 1: The government has only cut one public agency, which is

33
00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,959
Speaker 1: the Productivity Commission. Nikola Willis spent more in her last

34
00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,840
Speaker 1: budget than Grant Robertson ever did in any of his budgets.

35
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,800
Speaker 1: Now National keeps saying they have to do this, They

36
00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,119
Speaker 1: can't cut more because they don't want austerity. We are

37
00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,280
Speaker 1: so far from austerity. It's not funny. We are spending

38
00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:42,920
Speaker 1: more money. We are hiring more public servants than we

39
00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,480
Speaker 1: did six years ago. Now, the trouble with that is

40
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: that currently, with all this big spending, we're in a recession.

41
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 1: Six years ago we were not in a recession. National

42
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,840
Speaker 1: needs to treat this like the economic train wreckord is

43
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,080
Speaker 1: and cut their cloth accordingly. They might not be responsible

44
00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,040
Speaker 1: for the mess that we're in, but they are responsible

45
00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,800
Speaker 1: now for fixing it, and so far, they're not really

46
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,200
Speaker 1: fixing it. For more from The Mic Asking Breakfast, listen

47
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 1: live to News Talks at B from six am weekdays,

48
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,440
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.