An extra $2.2 billion will be pumped into health over four years to help cope with an ageing population and record immigration.
Finance Minister Bill English has perfected his poker face, so when he described the Budget as "predictable'' nobody believed him.
KiwiRail has been warned that current government handouts cannot continue - as new spending in transport bypasses Auckland and goes to regional roading.
After today's Budget announcement, Jimmy Ellingham looked at a variety of scenarios and how the announcements would affect them.
The housing initiatives in the Budget are firmly targeted at pressure points in Auckland.
Society's most vulnerable will receive a $650 million funding boost spanning health, welfare and education services aimed at helping those at-risk "lead better lives''.
Universities offering science and medicine will get extra money to help them grow those subjects.
A national bowel screening programme will be rolled out after today's Budget set aside $39.3 million over four years.
Health and housing should be front and centre of Finance Minister Bill English's eighth Budget today if the Government wants to stave off growing dissatisfaction with its performance.
Prime Minister John Key is dampening down expectations of a housing fix in tomorrow's Budget.
It is not often that the big surprise in a Budget is something that will not be in it at all.
New Zealand's regional areas are about to get some relief in dealing with freedom campers, with a $12 million fund for what Prime Minister John Key yesterday described as "small infrastructure projects''.
Another $25 million has been earmarked for the New Zealand Cycle Trail in this year's Budget. Prime Minister John Key said this afternoon that the funding would help link up existing...
The Government is set to confirm plans next month to force councils to unlock more land for housing.
Labour's finance spokesman Grant Robertson says Prime Minister John Key is irresponsible to raise the prospect of a $3 billion package of tax cuts after 2017.
The Government will not be throwing money at housing initiatives in the Budget, Prime Minister John Key says.
The Government is being accused of continuing "corporate welfare'' after Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced an extra $15million in funding for commercialisation of scientific research and supporting start-up companies.
Labour and the Greens have again in recent weeks been banging their heads against a wall: trying to dislodge John Key from his supra-political perch.
A new advice line for victims of sexual violence will be set-up after $46 million was pledged to help overhaul the sexual assault services sector.
Confirmation that 3000 emergency housing places to be funded by the Government are mostly already provided shows New Zealanders have been misled, the Green Party says.