May is the traditional month when governments release their Budgets.
In his first major speech since the election, Mr Robertson would have yesterday left many disappointed with the lack of detail.
His speech was wide-ranging but contained few more details than were revealed during the election campaign. However, Mr Robertson said one of the things the Labour-led Government would be doing differently was how it decided priorities and measured the success of economic strategy.
"It is true to say our GDP growth in New Zealand has been relatively impressive on a global scale. But that tells us only a fraction of the story."
GDP was a measure of activity, not the quality of the activity. On a per-capita base, the GDP performance had been less impressive than many of New Zealand’s OECD counterparts.
Labour’s supply-and-confidence agreement with the Green Party committed the Government to working on new sustainable development indicators.
Mr Robertson said he had also asked Treasury to further develop and accelerate the world-leading work it had been doing on the Living Standards Framework.
The framework focused on measuring success in developing four areas — financial, physical, human and social.
"These give a rounded measure of success and of how Government policy is improving our wellbeing. This is a far better framework for judging our success."
It was easy to say a policy was successful because it raised GDP
but it raised a question if it came at the expensive of the physical environment.
Mr Robertson also questioned if New Zealand could be successful if the skill level of the workforce was not improving at the same time.
Success would mean more than just a strong balance sheet, as important as that was. It would be marked by how the Government improved the wellbeing of all citizens.
The framework was still being developed but he saw the approach of focusing on wellbeing and lifting living standards as a core element of how he would create future Budgets and measure the success of the Government’s work.
"It is too late in the process to make significant changes in this regard for Budget 2018, but I will have more to say when I deliver that Budget about how this approach will drive our future work."
The half-year economic and fiscal update would be released on December 14, along with Mr Robertson’s Budget Policy Statement.
The Finance Minister stressed the half-yearly update would show the Government was meeting its Budget responsibility rules, in particular the commitment to reduce net core Crown debt as a percentage of GDP to 20% within five years of taking office.
One of the core elements of the Government’s 100-day plan was the reversal of National’s tax cuts, which would provide $8billion of "fiscal headroom" during the forecast period.
The $8 billion would more than meet the costs of the 100-day plan, and provide resources to invest in Budget 2018 and beyond, he said.
The policy statement would also outline Government priorities for Budget 2018 and show the level of operating and capital allowances for the next four Budgets, he said.
It was sometimes easy to forget it was little more than a month since the Government was sworn in. The Government was making good progress in building the better and fairer New Zealand it had been charged with doing by the public, Mr Robertson said.
