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Speaker 1: Where you can't say that we weren't warned. Nikola Willis

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Speaker 1: will be taking to government spending like a butcher to

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Speaker 1: a fresh carcass. She has been saying that for months.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday she has the operating allowance to one point three billion.

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Speaker 1: All this because she wants to do what she said

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Speaker 1: she'd do and planned to do, and that's balanced the books.

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Speaker 1: By twenty twenty nine, the recessions cut her tax take,

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Speaker 1: So you either push your surplus out or you trim

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Speaker 1: your spending. Labor of course, says this is austerity and

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Speaker 1: it's bad and we should be spending more, not less. Well,

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Speaker 1: we know where that got us, don't We waist deep

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Speaker 1: in our own shite shape that Willis is now wading

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Speaker 1: her way through trying to clean it up. Budgets are

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Speaker 1: just bigger versions of what we all do in our

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Speaker 1: own day to day lives. We make decisions, We make

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Speaker 1: choices about how much to spend, how much to borrow,

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Speaker 1: what we spend on, and more importantly, what we don't.

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Speaker 1: And if you ask most Keywis today what they're doing

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Speaker 1: right now, are they doing a hipkins borrowing and splashing

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Speaker 1: the cash, stacking the pantry with nice brand spanking new

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Speaker 1: purchases or are they doing a willis spending on the

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Speaker 1: stuff that you need, cutting the stuff that you don't,

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Speaker 1: and trying to balance your budget so you can start

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Speaker 1: paying down your debt. I reckon most Kiwis are doing

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Speaker 1: the latter, and in that score, she's on the money.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing to worry about, and it's a

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Speaker 1: worry every time there's an election. The political calculation for

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Speaker 1: budget twenty twenty five will be very different to Budget

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. You can get away with running a

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Speaker 1: tight ship in the off season, but next year we're

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Speaker 1: going to the polls. Just look across the Tasman for

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Speaker 1: a whiff of how mad that makes us and by extension,

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Speaker 1: our politicians. Elbow's borrowing so much for his spandan angle

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Speaker 1: election promises that stand in pause, threatening to downgrade their

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Speaker 1: triple A credit rating. Debt funded elections spending so out

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Speaker 1: the gate, it's pushing government outlays to the highest levels

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Speaker 1: since World War II. They're now promising to cut seven

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Speaker 1: billion dollars out of the public service. Least they push

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Speaker 1: the boat out too far. And this is a labor

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Speaker 1: government across the testament. Let's not forget the Coalition's been

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Speaker 1: dining out on the credit card too. It's not just

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Speaker 1: the lefties. And this is the lesson and the warning

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Speaker 1: this morning. Being frugal and thrifty is easy when you're

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Speaker 1: not trying to buy an election. So yes, Willis is

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Speaker 1: making the right noises for now, but next year might

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Speaker 1: just be a different story. For more from Early Edition

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Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news Talks it'd be

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Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.