Cliff Taylor

Spending went... Bananas.

Spending was 8%, 9%.

Yeah, I mean, some of that was post-COVID, but a lot of the money that was spent on COVID wasn't pulled back.

I suppose on the plus side there, he did put the legislation in place for the two funds, but nonetheless, you're right, current spending is...

has increased hugely.

And I suppose the question when you stand back is like, you know, in general, what have we got from this period of

of plenty in the public finances in terms of permanent improvement in services.

Not a lot.

Yeah.

In some areas, I suppose we've... Name three areas where we've had improved services.

Yeah, I probably couldn't, but I think the government's been, the state has been trying to keep up with a rising population and a lot of areas has failed.

That's the bit of national planning that just that fell through.

You know, the state has done well in building a lot of new schools, for example, around the country.

It seems to be in a fairly efficient process.

But in general, infrastructure spending has just came to a halt and we're kind of paying the price for it now.

It probably works well when you get in the system in general.

I mean, generalisations are always very difficult in terms of areas like health.

But once people get in the system, the level of treatment they get is clearly, lifespans have improved, treatments have improved, cancer treatments come forward very significantly.

The problem is that the cues to get into the system, particularly the public system, remain

remain enormous.