Budget 2014

Finance Minister Bill English has delivered an election year Budget which delivers a bigger than forecast surplus, free doctors' visits for 400,000 more children, big cuts to ACC levies and dangles the prospect of tax cuts in front of voters.

Farmers have been given another $40 million to fund irrigation schemes, as part of a programme which Labour has called "the privatisation of freshwater by stealth".

Key Auckland transport projects have received a boost under the Budget 2014 through a $375 million interest-free loan to the NZTA.

The Government will slash tertiary tuition fees for science, agriculture, and some health science courses such as physiotherapy, Budget 2014 shows.

An additional $50 million in funding has been allocated for the Canterbury Earthquake recovery in the Budget.

Parents of new and young children are the biggest winners in the 2014 Budget, which delivers a $500m package to extend paid parental leave by four weeks, extend free GP visits to under 13s, and increase parental tax credits for lower income families.

The Government has promised more than $25 million to battle the outbreak of a kauri-killing disease.

So much for the election-year Budget which was not going to be an election-year Budget.

Finance Minister Bill English has defended today's modest Budget measure to trim the cost of new homes as one step in a larger programme to improve home affordability.

The police budget has been frozen for the fifth consecutive year, and the Government had no immediate plan to increase it again before 2018.

Prime Minister John Key said one of the choices that today's Budget surplus would present was the possibility his party could promise tax cuts in the campaign for the September 20 election.

Finance Minister Bill English has paid tribute to frontline public servants for helping to get the Government books back in surplus for the first time in six years in tomorrow's Budget.

Prime Minister John Key said the May 15 Budget would continue to maintain discipline over Government spending and said the prospect of large increase in spending "can be a distraction'' in the public sector from solving problems.

Prime Minister John Key is ruling out ''election bribes'' either in the Budget next month or in the election campaign, saying anything more than a modest increase in spending means higher interest rates.

The geographic spread of the extra spending allocated to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise by the Government was welcomed yesterday by ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard.

The May Budget will have no plans for tax cuts, Prime Minister John Key confirmed yesterday, and he sought to dampen expectations that there would be anything significant in the future.

Finance Minister Bill English cautioned against complacency and promised careful Government spending in the Budget next month.