Election 2026: Government opens the books – will Nicola Willis finally get her nice surprise?

Analysis byPolitical Editor·NZ Herald·28 Sep, 2026 04:00 PM9 mins to readThomas Coughlan, Political Editor at the New Zealand Herald, loves applying a political lens to people's stories and explaining the way things like transport and finance touch our lives. ‌Finance Minister Nicola Willis, the political champion of Investment Boost. Photo / Mark MitchellAt the end of 2024, weeks after the Government’s one-year anniversary, a somewhat exasperated Nicola Willis took to a lectern and addressed a crowd of economists and journalists in a nondescript conference room at the Treasury. She was unveiling Treasury’s half-year forecasts. Unfortunately for her, those forecasts showed the Crown’s