National announcing a cost saving measure that will end up costing us... again

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]This week, the National Party decided the way to fix the economy was to announce that they plan to lay off 9,000 people to streamline the public service and get the amount of people working in it to an imaginary target of 1% of the population, which is a number that I'm pretty sure is getting smaller as the population shrinks as so many of us leave to go overseas. Oh, if you're one of the 355,000 people who have moved overseas during this government's term, international voting starts on October 21 this year, and you might be eligible to vote if you have been a New Zealand citizen and in the country at least once in that past 3-year term. Just head to vote.nz to make sure that your details are up to date to check your eligibility and to make sure that you have your say in this year's general election. Now, there's a heap of dumb stuff associated with these changes, like the fact fewer ministries still have the same amount of work to get done, or that Finland, where the finance minister is basing some of these changes on, actually has a working social safety net designed to lift people up, not keep them down, and a shared willingness to be taxed properly, to look after each other instead of a system designed to keep the wealthy coalition donors happy and make poor people say that they're thankful for an extra two bucks 50 a week tax relief while the essentials and food basics shoot up in cost.

[00:01:11]And even the over reliance on AI is really risky. Remember Australia's Rabbo debt scheme? You know, the one that ended up claiming 1.73 billion was owed by 400,000 people when it wasn't due to an automated system with no human oversight. Or the UK Horizon post office scandal, which saw an automated system used as evidence to convict over 700 postmasters for fraud that never occurred. So, I'm sure that a government that rushes decisions under urgency and record numbers will make sure there's plenty of checks and balances in the system they're using to fire the equivalent of the population of Huntly for. But here's the thing. When it comes to decisions that end up harming the wider public and wasting public money in the name of pleasing their corporate donors and saying that they're great at the economy, the National Party are really good at doing this. You know, like the repeal of the smokefree legislation where they stripped protections designed to severely restrict tobacco retailers and lower nicotine levels which health advocates argue is going to lead to preventable deaths and higher health care costs or the abolition of the MAI Health Authority where they dismantled a dedicated system designed to close the systemic longevity and health equity gaps for indigenous New Zealanders.

[00:02:20]There was the reintroduction of 90-day employment trials where they restored the ability for all businesses to dismiss new workers without cause within 3 months, reducing the security for vulnerable workers. There was the scrapping of fair pay agreements which canceled sectoral bargaining frameworks, halting wage floor increases for low paid sectors like cleaning, security, and bus driving. There was reversing the clean car discount which eliminated subsidies for electric and hybrid vehicles while implementing a road user charge on EVs which increases the lifetime cost of low emission transport.

[00:02:52]There was so many public sector workforce cuts mandated baseline budget cuts from of 6.5 to 7.5% across ministries resulted in over 10,000 job losses and reduced in operational capacity for public services. There was having the Kiwi Saver government contribution which was a cut to the MC maximum annual government co-contribution from 521 to $260 in the budget last year reducing long-term retirement savings for low to middle income earners. There was the elimination of firstear feesree tertiary education. They actually shifted these fees free support scheme from students in a first year to their final year which raises the upfront financial barrier for entering higher education.

[00:03:33]And then they canled it. So 30,000 students now need to incur extra debt to finish their study. There was the reintroduction of interest deductibility for landlords, restored tax write-offs for residential landlords, which critics argue shifts billions in tax burdens away from property investors while driving up housing competition. Oh, and this cost more than they claim that they're going to be saving from firing those 9,000 people and streamlining everything with AI. They canled the Oakland regional fuel tax which removed a key funding pipeline for Oakland's transit infrastructure resulting in a funding shortfall for local transport networks. They altered the Reserve Bank mandate which stripped the supporting maximum sustainable employment directive from the central bank forcing an exclusive focus on inflation that critics argue tolerates higher unemployment which we are seeing now.

[00:04:20]They've imposed stricter jobseker sanctions which escalates benefit cut penalties for non-compliance with work readiness obligations increasing the financial precariousness of job seekers. There was the scrapping of the Lake Onanoui pumped hydro project which canled long-term renewable energy storage investigations leaving New Zealand reliant on volatile fossil fuel generation during dry years which will cost us more and degrade the environment faster. There's changes to commercial property depreciation, which removes the tax depreciation deductions for commercial buildings, which increases the tax liability and operational costs for local businesses. There was scrapping the winter energy payment tweaks, limited expansions to targeted energy subsidies, putting low-income families at higher risk of fuel poverty during winter. There was reductions to disability support services, which restricted flexible funding criteria for disabled people and their carers, reducing access to specialized equipment and restbite care. And just this week, they announced that they're going to be changing the law in Parliament so that the court ruling that people who care for families with members with disabilities aren't counted as full-time carers. There was repealing the clean car standard penalty, which eased emission restrictions on vehicle importers, allowing high emitting vehicles to remain cheaper, and prolonging air quality issues. There was ending taxpayer funding for section 27 cultural reports which banned state legal aid funding for pre-sentencing reports which advocates have argued limits judges context regarding defendants background and systemic rehabilitation. And Paul Goldsmith has admitted is going to disproportionately impact MAI and Pacifica communities.

[00:05:54]There was implementing military style youthmies. You know the boot camps. They funded them for serious youth offenders despite all of the historical evidence showing high recidivism rates and poor long-term outcomes which have continued with what they're doing now. There's the reintroduction of local referendums on MAI wards which forced councils to hold costly public votes on established MAI electoral representation adding financial strain and racial tension to local body politics. There was the suspending of the raising of the retirement age alternative which kept the universal pension age flat while reducing overall structural funding which worsens the long-term fiscal burden on younger taxpayers. There was the trimming of the healthy school lunches budget which meant that restricted funding for school meals by roughly 107 million through outsourced bulk ingredient changes led to critics arguing that this has lowered nutritional quality. There was axing state care uh oversight changes which halted planned independent structural overhauls of the child protection framework leaving vulnerable children in a system criticized for structural failures. There was cancelling let's get Wellington Moving infrastructure plan which abandoned a multi-billion dollar mass transit and pedestrianization project for the capital city which delays congestion relief. is halting the multi-asset science city framework which defunded collaborative science hubs in Wellington reducing nationwide research capability and causing highlevel job losses. There was extending prison bed capacities funding which was where they directed 472 million to manage expected prison population growth from stricter sentencing laws instead of allocating those resources towards preventative social spending. There was the fasttrack approvals legislation which introduced laws allowing a trio of ministers to bypass local environment checks for major infrastructure which critics say risks long-term ecological damage. There was lowering of the minimum wage realterm increases which sets minimum wage bumps below the prevailing rate of inflation resulting in a real-term spending power cut for minimum wage workers. There was introducing public transit fair increases for youth which ended halfp price and free public transport concessions for children and young adults, increasing daily commuting costs for families.

[00:07:58]There was scaling back funding for warmer Kiwi homes which reduced the scope of state subsidized home insulation and heating installations leaving low-inccome rentals colder and costlier to heat. And that's just 30 of the things that they've done. You can find up to 200 negative outcomes from government decisions on my website at election2026.co.

[00:08:17]code. Z. But when it comes to money wasting, well, these people also have form and your money to burn. You remember them cancelling that IRX into islander ferry project? That was 500 million plus and break fees, windown costs, and exit penalties for upgraded rail ferry contracts before the cost of the new fairies and delays of years for their delivery. There was the landlord interest deductibility package I mentioned before. That's 2.9 billion in lost tax revenue over four years to fund retrospective property investor write-offs. There was scrapping the Oakland light rail project. That was 228 million spent on planning, land acquisition, and design work that was completely written off. There was scrapping that clean car discount I mentioned before, the feebait that was 250 to 300 million structural swings from a self-funding scheme into a net fiscal loss of vehicle duty revenue.

[00:09:08]There was the Ministry of Regulation.

[00:09:10]That's 15 to 25 million annually in new administrative baseline operational and executive staffing costs being spearheaded by the person who wants to cut government and reduce red tape.

[00:09:19]There was repealing and replacing the RMA system that was already in the process and the government threw that out and decided to start again with a 50 million plus bill in sunk local government setup costs and transitional consultancy fees for dissolved water entities. There was the funding of the treaty principles bill, $4 million in public sector staff, uh hours legal review, select committee resources, and heightened policing for protest in a bill the prime minister confirmed that they weren't going to support anyway.

[00:09:47]There was extending the prison infrastructure capacity I mentioned before. That's 472 million in capital allocation earmarked to build new prison wings to accommodate stricter bail laws that could be used on helping people in social settings. There's the reintroduction of the local uh Mai Ward referendums that cost between $2 and $5 million across various local councils because they were forced to pay for it after the government decided that they had to do it. There was the retail crime advisory group. That was $2 million in administrative and consulting allocation that collapsed internally due to structural disagreements before delivering its primary goals. There was the $216 million for tobacco company kickbacks to cover lost revenue that claimed or because they claimed that people would be switching to heated tobacco products. And those poor tobacco companies should be compensated for that. Turns out that the revenue drop actually happened not because people were switching, but because of a massive black market that popped up, the one that the National Party claims would pop up under Labor and ended up actually costing tobacco companies around 225 million in loss revenue. Good thing they had those kickbacks. Oh, and don't forget the Road Cone hotline. They started that with a budget of 400 grand.

[00:10:55]They ended up spending about 150 grand on setting it up and running it and cancelled it after a few months. In the end, they removed fewer than one road cone per call. And it cost about $136 for every complaint lodged. So, yeah, this week's announcement is kind of surprising. It's clearly designed to appeal to act voters and to keep the taxpayers union. There's neither a union or any kind of official regulatory body off her back going into the budget and election. And while senior national leadership seemed really happy to announce firing 9,000 people, we need to remember it's far from an isolated incident and who the government is willing to harm and how it's willing to waste money to keep their donors happy and their boots on the necks of everyone else. Now, if you want to be surprised, you should be asking yourself why our state broadcaster keeps platforming known astroturf lobby groups that work with and support the coalition to say the government is doing the right thing, like it's an unbiased commentator. But you shouldn't be surprised when this government does horrible things that are going to end up harming people. Hey, thanks for sticking around till the end of the video. While you're here, why not hit that like button or share the video or even subscribe to the channel. You could even become a paid YouTube member so you can see things released in advance and get access to some exclusive content. And like all these awesome people, you get to have your name at the end of the credits as well.