Todd Muller National MP

This month saw the Labour government deliver their first budget and I must say, as MP for Bay of Plenty, I was underwhelmed and disappointed.

During the campaign great things were promised, but they ended up delivering what can only be described as a major let-down for teachers, nurses, police and anyone who drives a car.

This was a tax, spend, borrow and hope budget.

In spite of inheriting a bustling economy with 10,000 job being created every month, Labour is taxing more, spending more, borrowing more and hoping that their broken promises are not noticed.

Some 1800 new sworn officers over three years became 220 new cops over five years, there are no universal cheaper doctors' visits and no free iPads for every child at school – but there are $2.2 billion of new taxes from a government that promised 'no new taxes”.

This was a budget that had its priorities all wrong. Winston Peters got his billion dollars for diplomats and a new embassy in Sweden, but it came at the expense of vital investment like the Tauranga Northern Link and a new secondary school for the Bay.