Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
With only three weeks in government, the pre-Christmas Budget will be a "mini, mini, mini Budget", says the Prime Minister.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is set to release that budget on Wednesday which will coincide with the Treasury's latest economic update.
Christopher Luxon told Morning Report that he thought the coalition government had "done really well" in its first three weeks in power.
"The economy has been under major strain, there's been a hell of a mess that's been left behind by the previous government.
"We'll have a mini, mini, mini Budget in our three weeks in government. We've been able to undertake some action that we think will start to ... restore some confidence in the economy and the management of those books."
The government has been making no apologies as it powered through repealing the Labour government's legacy piece by piece - as promised ahead of the election.
The dual mandate was first to go, followed by Fair Pay Agreements and the Clean Car Discount as the next items crossed off National's to-don't list.
Just yesterday, the government announced that Let's Get Wellington Moving was scrapped and that it would fund a second Mount Victoria tunnel and upgrade the Basin Reserve instead.
Greater Wellington Regional Council would take over the Golden Mile project in the retail area, and make bus corridors a priority.
"We're repealing things that make no sense," Luxon said.
When asked about a timeline for New Zealanders to start to feel an ease in the cost of living, given rising unemployment, Luxon said that the government was committed to tackling inflation.
"We've got some tough decisions ahead and this is a function of when you mismanage an economy as badly as it has been managed.
"Yes, unemployment's been rising because the economy's slowing and contracting. The economy's contracting because interest rates are too high, interest rates are too high because inflation's too high."
Luxon said that was why the government got rid of the dual mandate for the Reserve Bank, directing it to only focus on dropping inflation below 3 percent.
But he emphasised that tangible differences would take time to feel.
"It's been three weeks trying to undo some damage caused over six years, so ... it will take time, but we're taking steps immediately as you can see."
As to where you'll find the Prime Minister over the holiday period, Luxon said he would be heading to the beach between Christmas and New Year's.
"I'll ... get the t-shirt and shorts on, muck around with the family and hopefully get in a bit of fishing, that would be lovely."
