The Minister of Finance talks us through the ceremonial nature of the delivery of the Budget in Parliament.
The annual Budget is to be delivered by Finance Minister Grant Robertson this Thursday at Parliament, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's all a bit of a fuss.
Of course there's a great deal of public interest in the important fiscal and political event, but also a well worn set of traditions involved around the process that plays out at Parliament, as the minister explained to The House.
It begins with Robertson walking to the chamber ahead of the start of business at 2pm, carrying boxes of Budget documents, assisted by deputy Finance Minister Megan Woods. He hands a copy of his Budget speech each to leaders of the other political parties in Parliament, as well as the Speaker and the Hansard reporter present.
"It's not written down anywhere that we have to do that, but it's part of the ceremonial nature of what's a pretty big day for Parliament," Robertson explained.
At 2pm on Thursday when the House convenes, the Budget and its attendant documents get tabled when the Finance Minister introduces the first reading of the Appropriation 2023/24 Estimates Bill. Robertson said this would include the Wellbeing Budget document, the Budget at a Glance document, and also the Treasury's Budget Economic & Fiscal Update.
Lock-up
The Budget documents are embargoed until 2pm. However, from 1pm, political parties (and permitted media outlets) go into a "lock-up" in the Beehive, where they have access to the documents in advance of their tabling.
"It's another long-standing tradition where governments give opposition parties some time with what are a pretty complex set of documents," Robertson said.
Those in the lock-up can't leave until the bells start ringing for the House to sit at 1:50pm. So in the meantime, if you're walking by outside the lock-up room and you hear screams from within, it's probably not those trapped inside feeling tortured, but more likely yelps of delight by the Budget nerds who positively love this event.
Snack ritual
According to Robertson, it's the former Prime Minister Bill English who was to blame, when he was Finance Minister, for starting the ritual of eating a pie on Budget morning as a way of marking this important day.
"When I came into office, as a good Dunedin boy, I decided we needed cheese rolls, and we've had a variety of sources of those cheese rolls, over the years - some flown up from Dunedin one year, and also produced here in the office," Robertson noted. …