Tag: Budget 2026

RNZ budget cuts are more ideology than good sense

Why doesn’t the National Party and its coalition partners simply admit that they want Radio New Zealand to die a natural – or perhaps unnatural – death?

First, the National government under John Key froze RNZ funding for eight years. Then the coalition led by Christopher Luxon wasted little time to impose a $4.9 million annual reduction. Now the latest Budget imposes a further $1.4 million a year baseline cut. The broadcaster was already operating at a net deficit of $886,000 on last year’s accounts.

That $6 million cumulative annual cut is in addition to the effects of inflation, which has breached the 1-3 per cent target in the past two quarters and is expected to hit 4 per cent in the current quarter. Treasury predictions of a future rate fall fail to allow for a demagogue in the White House and a dictator in the Kremlin.

It is clear that National and its bed mates do not like the state-owned broadcaster, and Christopher Luxon installed a minister to reflect that attitude. Paul Goldsmith has been anything but a champion for RNZ and, as result, it has had no-one to fight its corner in Cabinet

RNZ is seen as a bunch of Lefties whose sole aim in life is to bring unjustified grief to the good people on the other side of the political spectrum who really do know how to run the country.

Of course, that is nonsense. Continue reading “RNZ budget cuts are more ideology than good sense” →

Goldsmith’s expectations and return of a fighter ace

There is no better clobbering machine for a government than the money mallet. So should RNZ prepare itself for another hammering from the coalition government when the 2026 Budget is announced in six weeks time?

In its Budget last year, the coalition gave the state-owned broadcaster a whack by announcing it would receive $18 million less funding over the next four years – an annual reduction of $4.6 million.

The government’s letter of expectation to RNZ last month criticised it for running up a $0.5 million deficit in 2024/5, increasing operating costs by 16 per cent, and employing more staff. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith went on to say, in a tut-tutting tone, that there was “a vital, ongoing expectation that RNZ deliver improved performance”.

There was no recognition of the fact that the 2024/5 year ended only a month after the 2025 Budget cuts were announced and, since then, RNZ had cut its own budgets in line with its reduced funding, and had reduced staff by 5.3 per cent.

That makes Goldsmith’s letter curious to say the least and invites some reading between the lines.

What I see is a further tightening of the screws. His failure to recognise the moves that have been made since the 2025 budget cuts paints a picture of an organisation that has been profligate when, in fact, it has responded to the 2025 budget as it needed to do. Continue reading “Goldsmith’s expectations and return of a fighter ace” →