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- Engage-in-Brief: 19 May 2025
Engage-in-Brief: 19 May 2025
Holly Bennett
May 19, 2025
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TWO TRICKS TO TRY
The quickest way to get an idea of what’s in the Budget this year is by reading the Budget at a Glance document. This gets published on the Budget website at 2pm on Budget Day, and gives a quick, bullet-point rundown of what the Government thinks are this year’s Budget’s most important features. You can find last year’s Budget at a Glance here, as an example, and you’ll be able to see this year’s on Thursday.
Another quickfire way to get your head around the new Budget is by checking out the Summary of Budget Initiatives document, also published on the Budget website at 2pm on Budget Day. This document shows a breakdown of new spending in the Government’s priority areas. You can find last year’s Summary of Budget Initiatives here. Take a look at it before Thursday, then check back after the new Budget is published to compare the two.
ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW
This Thursday is Budget Day, one of the biggest days on the political calendar. At 2.00 on Thursday 22 May, Budget Day 2025 kicks off. While the media will have had a preview that morning, they’re sworn to secrecy until 2.00, when the Minister of Finance hands around copies of the Budget documents as Parliament begins its sitting day.
The Minister of Finance delivers the Budget statement, and the Budget Debate gets underway. The Leader of the Opposition delivers their speech in reply, and the leaders of each party make a speech before the Budget Debate is put on hold. But Budget Day doesn’t end there. At this point, the House usually enters urgency so the Government can try to progress all of its critical Budget legislation as quickly as possible. Exactly how far each bill is intended to progress varies, but there’s usually a mix — some bills will go through all stages in one go, but others might only get through their first or second readings.
Once Urgency has been declared, it continues until:
All urgent business has been completed,
The Government calls an end to urgency or the House agrees to end it, or
The clock strikes midnight on Saturday.
So the Government is trying to get through as much of its business as possible, while the Opposition tries to drag it out as long as they can, hoping to prevent some of the urgent legislation from being passed.
And that’s Budget Day!
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FROM OUR TAUIRA
We loved our kōrero and left super inspired to take action! Ngā mihi for showing us the ropes in such a fun and engaging way. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge, energy and enthusiasm with us.
ONE FUNNY THING
At the start of each Thursday sitting, the Leader of the House gives a short update about what Business the Government plans to cover in the following sitting week — and this week, it also brings us our One Funny Thing!
That’s it for this edition of Engage-in-Brief. Remember, you have a voice and you can use it. If you need training to support your advocacy efforts simply reply to this email. And on Budget Day, think about how the announcements will affect your own kaupapa — then think about how you can respond!
Mauri ora!
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