Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Ahead of the Budget we got the same message we got from a barefoot, jandal wearing Chippy on day one of his post summer break. More debt. Borrow more and spend more.    Name an issue, pick a portfolio, any portfolio, where Labour has not criticised the government for cuts and promised to restore spending to pre-Willis levels.  The latest example is pay parity, but that is just the latest in a long and growing list of items on the wishlist.  In case they didn’t get the memo, Kiwis voted for cuts at the last election. If we’re doing our bit, the government ought to do its bit. That’s the politics of it. The economics have been up for debate. Net core crown debt has more than doubled on pre-Covid to $182 billion or 42.6% of GDP. Like our tourist arrivals, debt has unfortunately not returned to normal pre-Covid levels.  Some of this is inflation but much of it is not. There’s spending that went too far and got baked in. A couple of things to note. Yes, government debt is low compared