• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation
Global site
  • Global site
  • Algeria
  • Botswana
  • Cameroon
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Libya
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Morocco
  • Nigeria
  • Namibia
  • Senegal
  • South Africa
  • Togo
  • Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua
  • Argentina
  • Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and St. Maarten
  • Barbados
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Canada LLP
  • Canada RCGT
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Montserrat
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Puerto Rico
  • St Kitts
  • St Lucia
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
  • Turks & Caicos
  • Afghanistan
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Malaysia
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam
  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Channel Islands
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Italy - Bernoni
  • Italy - Ria
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kosovo
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macedonia
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Netherlands
  • Northern Ireland
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Serbia
  • Slovak Republic
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • UK
  • Uzbekistan
  • Bahrain
  • Egypt
  • Jordan
  • Kuwait
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Yemen
  • Lebanon
Grant Thorton Logo

Grant Thornton Logo Grant Thornton logo

  • Meet our people
  • Insights
  • Services
  • Industries
  • Careers
  • Locations
  • Business advisory services
  • Financial advisory services
  • Tax
  • Audit
  • Operational advisory
Business advisory services Home
  • NZTE support for businesses impacted by COVID-19
Financial advisory services Home
  • Asia Services Group
  • Business valuations
  • Capital markets
  • Complex and international services
  • Corporate insolvency
  • Debt advisory
  • Expert witness
  • Financial models
  • Forensic and investigation services
  • Independent business review
  • IT forensics
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Raising finance
  • Relationship property services
  • Restructuring and turnaround
  • Transaction advisory
Tax Home
  • Corporate tax
  • Employment tax
  • Global mobility services
  • GST
  • International tax
  • Research and Development
  • Tax compliance
  • Transfer pricing
Audit Home
  • Audit methodology
  • Audit technology
  • Financial reporting advisory
Operational advisory Home
  • Business architecture
  • Internal audit
  • IT advisory
  • IT privacy and security
  • PCI DSS
  • Process improvement
  • Procurement/supply chain
  • Project assurance
  • Risk management
  • Robotic process automation (RPA)
  • Energy and resources
  • Financial services
  • Food and beverage
  • Health and aged care
  • Media and entertainment
  • Not for profit
  • Professional services
  • Public sector
  • Real estate and construction
  1. Grant Thornton New Zealand
  2. Press releases
  3. 2018
  4. Budget 2018: Is a camel a horse designed by committee?

Budget 2018: Is a camel a horse designed by committee?

24 May 2018
  • Press releases
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012

The compromises of the Labour-led government’s first budget was a sign of the consultation required in a coalition, says Grant Thornton’s Greg Thompson.

MMP has bestowed a three-way coalition upon us and politics in New Zealand has now become a matter of consensus. This means that hard decisions are difficult to make and certain policies may inevitably become watered down to ones that are more palatable – not only for the red, black and green teams, but for the voting public at large. Any fractures in the coalition could lead to the disintegration of public confidence and an inability to make necessary policy adjustments needed placate the coalition and keep the peace.

While Budget 2018 sought to make good on election promises, a number of these have not been fully provisioned in the budget; they are awaiting the outcome of consultations that are currently underway. A sure sign that the age of consultation has well and truly arrived in New Zealand politics.

Last month it was widely reported that the government now has more reviews and working groups than coalition MPs. The list of 75 groups covers a multitude of issues and topics, from supporting our Māori communities right through to our freedom camper conundrum. A rough count reveals that political hot potatoes like technology, the environment, health and education each have six reviews and/or working groups each, followed by housing, agriculture, infrastructure, justice and the Christchurch regeneration, each of which have somewhere between three and five.

Take for example the Tax Working Group, grappling with the poison chalice of taxation principles and whether capital gains tax should be introduced. A combination of consultation and drip-feeding the opinions of the people into discussions leads to hard decisions becoming more mainstream and acceptable.  

The benefit of consultation is obtaining expert opinions to deliver acceptable outcomes. There’s also the hope that this collaborative, brains trust approach could yield outcomes not originally anticipated, ones that really benefit New Zealanders.

The problem with consultation arises from the slowdown in decision-making and delivery of outcomes versus the urgency of the change that is required. Other significant minuses are the additional cost of running the consultation, and the dilution of a clear direction that aligns with the ideology of the government of the day.

Ultimately, where a three-year term is accepted as being an unrealistic time frame in which to deliver real change, consultation enables a longer term view – and a belief among the voting public that things are happening, they are being heard, and that their views will be taken into account.  

It’s yet to be seen if our threescore and 15 committees will present us with a camel; at best, as Budget 2018 has indicated, we will receive a horse that perhaps doesn’t run as fast as the rest.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Greg Thompson
Partner and National Director, Tax 

Grant Thornton New Zealand 
T +64 4 495 3775
E greg.thompson@nz.gt.com

  • Follow us on Instagram
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Facebook icon
CONNECTclose
  • Contact us
  • Make an enquiry/submit an RFP
  • Meet our people
  • Careers
  • Alumni
  • Locations
ABOUTclose
  • About Grant Thornton
  • Insights
  • Press
LEGALclose
  • Privacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap

© 2021 Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL) - All rights reserved. "Grant Thornton” refers to the brand under which the Grant Thornton member firms provide assurance, tax and advisory services to their clients and/or refers to one or more member firms, as the context requires. GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. GTIL and each member firm is a separate legal entity. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL does not provide services to clients. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another’s acts or omissions.

    • EN