Willis delivers election-year Budget with early surplus pledge — and a swipe at coalition partner NZ First

New Zealand Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered the coalition government's election-year Budget 2026, titled 'Securing New Zealand's Future,' in Parliament on 28 May, projecting a return to surplus in 2028-29 — a year earlier than forecast — with a projected NZ$2.6 billion surplus replacing the NZ$900 million deficit forecast in December. Health received NZ$5.8 billion in new operational funding, while Education Minister Erica Stanford secured NZ$309.6 million to build roughly 232 classrooms for 4,714 students across English and Māori-medium schools.

The Budget's surprise revenue measure is a new levy on banks, insurers and financial firms to fund their own regulation through the Reserve Bank from mid-2027, recovering NZ$209 million over four years. Commentators noted the absence of an election-year 'rabbit': 1News characterised it as a 'keeping the lights on' Budget, with Willis betting that fiscal repair rather than giveaways will carry the National-ACT-NZ First coalition to re-election.

The sharpest politics came on superannuation, where Willis warned that any party ignoring the size of the problem 'is doing so for its own benefit' — read as a direct dig at coalition partner New Zealand First as well as opposition Labour, both of which rule out changes.