In recent years, there's been a continued bipartisan refusal to level the playing field and significantly redistribute wealth back to working people, back to tangata whenua. Instead, Governments have tried to address problems with bureaucratic solutions, never enabling communities to address the root causes. As a result, inequality in Aotearoa is only getting worse. As Bernard Hickey has reported, the pandemic has made the rich $952 billion richer, while the poor were forced $400 million further in debt to the Government itself. Foodbank use more than doubled. Any Budget that is put forward must focus on reducing inequality and restoring the wealth of the grassroots.