-
New Zealand Annual Budget Speech
Mr Speaker, I move that the Appropriation (2013/14 Estimates) Bill be now read a second time. It’s my privilege to deliver the National-led Government’s fifth Budget. When I stood up to deliver the Government’s first Budget, in 2009, New Zealand faced challenges I think we’re only able to fully appreciate with the passing of time. The world had entered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from which it has yet to fully emerge. The New Zealand economy had been in recession for more than a year and some economists were predicting the unemployment rate would go higher than 10 per cent. The ... (full story)