Robertson flags focus
Finance Minister Grant Robertson says Budget 2022 will be the first of a ‘‘new normal’’ following the ‘‘crisis’’ budgets of the Covid19 era.
But despite the crisis receding Robertson told a business breakfast yesterday he would not be taking his foot off the gas to ignore long-term challenges – particularly New Zealand’s fragmented health system.
He said halting this kind of spending would not suddenly make petrol cheaper.
Robertson is delivering his fifth Budget next Thursday, and delivered a speech previewing it in Wellington.
‘‘Budget 2022 will be about health. It will be about setting up a national health system that can meet the needs of our nation,’’ Robertson said, referring to the Government’s plan to abolish the
District Health Board (DHB) system and create a national health service.
‘‘The quality of healthcare and the availability of specialists differs from region to region. The system is fragmented and inefficient, with management structures too often getting in the way of the best approach to care. Prioritising issues at a national level, as we had to do with Covid19, is extremely difficult while working across numerous DHBs.’’ He defended the need to focus on this and other long-term challenges like climate change despite the high-inflation environment, which National has blamed on government spending.
‘‘If we decided against reforming our health system, we would not see lower petrol prices;