Budget 2025: What's been announced so far

Finance Minister Nicola Willis will deliver the government's Budget 2025 - the Growth Budget - on Thursday.

It will be her second annual Budget, setting out how and where money will be spent over the next financial year.

Willis has warned that the Budget will be very tight, reflecting uncertainty in the global economy.

Here is everything that has been announced so far:

'Billions' could be saved through pay equity overhaul

The prime minister said new pay equity legislation announced earlier this month could save the government "billions of dollars".

The Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed through all stages in Parliament, after being rushed through under urgency.

The controversial legislation raises the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim and halted all 33 current claims.

Christopher Luxon said that money had been set aside in the Budget to deal with claims under the new legislation. He said the costs could be lower by "billions of dollars".

$6.8b boost to capital spend

Capital expenditure - new money set aside in the Budget to maintain or upgrade assets - will be higher than originally forecast when the government delivers its Budget.

The prime minister said the money, which would be split mostly across health, education, defence, and transport, will total $6.8 billion.

It means the net capital allowance, once savings identified in the Budget have been accounted for, will increase from the $3.6b previously signalled to $4b.

$1b cut to operating allowance

The government has freed up "billions" of dollars through additional public service cuts to be redeployed into "New Zealand's most pressing priorities".

The government is halving its operating allowance - the new money it has available to spend at the May Budget - from $2.4b to $1.3b.

That will result in only a small number of government departments receiving additional funding this year with Willis characterising next month's Budget as "no lolly scramble".

No new compensation scheme, but nearly $800m for abuse survivors

The government opted against setting up a new compensation scheme for survivors of abuse in state care - in favour of putting more money in the current system.

That's despite a new system being the key recommendation of both the Royal Commission and the Redress Design Group.

But the Minister-in-charge, Erica Stanford, announced the Budget will commit $774 million to improve the current system.

$600m extra for Pharmac

The government confirmed $604 million over four years in extra Pharmac funding, to cover "up to 54" new medicines including 26 cancer treatments.

Former Health Minister Shane Reti said it will mean the agency can fund all 13 cancer drugs promised at the election, or replacements that are "as good or better", and will benefit about 175,000 people in the first year.

$577m boost for film industry

Willis announced the more than doubling of the government's film subsidy, saying the New Zealand film industry could not survive without the rebates.

The $577m injection over the rest of this year and the next four brings the total International Screen Production Rebate to $1.09b.

The new money will increase funding for 2024/25 to $250m, and to $210m from 2025/26 onwards "to better reflect current forecast demand".

$190m 'Social Investment Fund'

Willis unveiled a new $190m Social Investment Fund on Thursday designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders.

It forms the centrepiece of a $275m commitment over four years to the government's social investment approach, with more details expected in next week's Budget.

The fund would be governed by the new Social Investment Agency and was expected to invest in at least 20 initiatives in its first year.

$164m over four years towards after-hours health care

The government committed to greater accessibility to urgent and after-hours healthcare in the regions, with several new 24-hour services planned around the country.

New funding of $164m has been allocated over the next four years, with 24-hour urgent care clinics "identified" for Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin.

The funding boost also covers "new and extended" daytime services for other centres, including Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru.

$140m school attendance service to tackle truancy

The government is allocating $140m to tackle truancy with a new school attendance service.

The funding boost is aimed at supporting more schools and reaching double the number of students over the next four years, according to Associate Education Minister David Seymour.

He said the funds from this year's Budget included about $123m for the delivery of a new attendance service and almost $17m to support and strengthen front-line attendance services.

Kāhui Ako school programme 'set to be disestablished'

A second leak of Education Ministry documents shows the government is forging ahead with plans to axe a $118m school programme and redirect the money to support for disabled learners.

The two images of a 10 April document, obtained by the Labour Party and sighted by RNZ, said Kāhui Ako was "set to be disestablished effective from Budget 2025".

They showed a governance paper titled 'Update on Disestablishing Kahui Ako (Budget Sensitive)', which referred to a plan of 15 actions for disestablishing the scheme.

$100m for expert maths teachers and tests

This week's Budget will allocate $100m over four years for expert maths teachers and maths tests at primary and intermediate schools.

In a pre-Budget announcement last week, Education Minister Erica Stanford said most of the money, $56m, would pay for the equivalent of 143 full-time maths intervention teachers to help primary school children who were struggling with the subject.

She said $40m would be spent on small group maths tutoring for up to 34,000 children in Year 7-8 each year.

$35m towards keeping drugs out of the country

The government is putting an extra $35m over four years into keeping drugs and organised crime out of the country.

In a pre-Budget announcement on 10 May, Customs Minister Casey Costello said New Zealand was being increasingly targeted and there were growing challenges.

Costello said the extra funding would boost the number of staff and increase the technology that Customs has. It comprises $21m in operating expenditure and $5.5m in capital funded through Budget 2025, plus an additional $8.2m from third party levies and fees.

It will be used to create up to 60 additional roles over the four years.

$1.5m funding boost for Māori Wardens

Māori Wardens will receive a $1.5m funding boost in this year's Budget, which they say will ensure they're better equipped to keep communities safe.

The wardens are a group of volunteers that support communities with things like safety, security, youth training programmes and emergency management.

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said Saturday's announcement reflected the important work they do, some of which involves "seriously remarkable" responsibilities around community safety.

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