Government departments are in for even more belt-tightening, Finance Minister Bill English signalled in Parliament today.He said the Government was going to continue to focus on reducing low-priority and ineffective spending, and on redirecting spending t
Government departments are in for even more belt-tightening, Finance Minister Bill English signalled in Parliament today.
He said the Government was going to continue to focus on reducing low-priority and ineffective spending, and on redirecting spending to front-line services.
New spending in future budgets would be capped at $1.1 billion and the deficit over the next couple of years might be "a bit higher" than previously forecast.
Mr English said the Government had taken a considered approach to achieving better public services for fewer resources.
"Over the next couple of years we would expect to see ... considerable and significant change across most government agencies as they aim to provide more services for less money," he said.
Labour's finance spokesman, David Cunliffe, said there would be more "razor gang spending cuts" in next year's budget and the target areas had the potential to deepen the recession.
"Having given huge tax cuts to already wealthy New Zealanders, National's priorities are truly alarming," he said.
"National's big spending on policy advice is not happening at government department level -- it's happening in the area of government think tanks."
Mr Cunliffe said money had been poured into the taskforce that was set up to find ways to catch up with Australia and another which examined the welfare system.
"National's preoccupation with spending cuts will only make the recession worse," he said.
"It cannot fail to make New Zealanders more nervous about where the economy is heading."
