Finance Minister Bill English yesterday started softening New Zealanders up for some more bad economic news which he is already blaming on the previous Labour government.
The Government's half-year economic and fiscal update on December 15 would highlight the legacy of Labour's relentless spending increases, he said.
Baseline Budget spending had jumped 45% since 2005, at a time when inflation and the economy only grew by about 15%.
"More than a third of all Budget vote areas received funding increases of over 50% in the past five years and over two-thirds received increases of more than 30%.
"This kind of rampant spending growth is unsustainable and cannot continue."
The fiscal update would also confirm the effect of the recession would be felt on the Government's books for many years, Mr English said.
The Government was already borrowing an average of $250 million a week, every week, over the next four years to ensure it could continue providing public services and maintain welfare entitlements.
The baseline Budget figures for the past five years, which excluded direct payments like benefits or Working for Families, showed the scale of the spending momentum build up under Labour.
That would take some time to turn around, he said.
"No business or household can continue operating this way - and nor can the Government. That's why this Government is taking steps to slow future spending increases and get debt under control.
"If we are to fund new priorities without pushing government debt to unsustainable levels, then finding savings in existing spending will be critical."
The Government believed that recent spending increases provided ample scope for resetting priorities, Mr English said.
That would be a feature of Budget 2010 as the Government delivered its priorities within the $1.1 billion cap it had set out for new operating spending.
Labour finance spokesman David Cunliffe warned that hard-working New Zealanders who were struggling to make ends should be afraid of what lay ahead in Budget 2010.
"The message to Kiwis from Bill English is becoming clearer each day. Expect the `father of all budgets' that will make savage cuts to ACC, education and health. The ghost of Ruth Richardson's 1991 budget, which left thousands of Kiwis unemployed or unsupported, is stalking the halls of the Beehive," Mr Cunliffe said.
Examples given by Mr English of spending increases over the past five years included:
• Education - from $7.7 billion in 2004-05 to $10.7 billion in 2009-10, an increase of 39%.
• Health - from $9.3 billion to $12.6 billion, an increase of 35%.
• Corrections - from $538 million to $1.07 billion, an increase of 98%.
• Police - from $942 million to $1.39 billion, an increase of of 48%.
• Housing - from $40 million to $134 million, an increase of 234%.
However, examples not given by Mr English but included in a set of papers provided by his office showed some spending decreases in the same period.
• Crown Research Institutes - $1.8 million to $1.1 million, a fall of 40%.
• Employment - $27.2 million to $15.3 million, a fall of 44%.
• Emergency management - $24.5 million to $12 million, a fall of 51%.
• Veterans affairs social development - $3.8 million to $500,000, a fall of 88%.
Apart from racing, which had a huge percentage increase but a relatively small dollar increase in spending, Treaty negotiations was the highest percentage mover with an increase of 623%.
Spending on negotiations went from $31.9 million in 2004-05 to $231 million in 2009-10.
