Question: Who wants a pay rise? Who deserves a pay rise? Simple question, easy answer. 

Answer: Everybody and most kiwis. By and large we’re hard workers and deserve more.

Teacher, nurses and doctors. By and large, yes. Yes. Yes. 

At the weekend, more reports of doctor shortage - Whakatāne this time. Last week it was a teacher shortage. 

Union came out and said what unions say. Throw some cash at it. Higher salaries. More staff. Problem solved. 

The problem is not what to do but how to pay for it. 

Remember our government is borrowing money from overseas lenders to pay for everyday items like teachers' salaries, fixing roads and paying welfare. Operational spending. We’re paying interest on that borrowing. 

That interest bill is the highest it’s ever been in our nation’s history and even with National and ACT in government, who are meant to be the right ones, we will keep borrowing for this stuff and won’t start paying it back until at least 2030.

Most know the uncomfortable truth about our situation. We’re no longer the wealthy, productive and plentiful country we used to be. 

So rather than simply saying we need to be paid more. We deserve to be paid more. Which nobody disagrees with.

We need to ask how.

How do we make this a wealthy, prosperous country which can afford to do that?

The Aussies pay 30% more but they mine the Bejesus out of the place.

We sell tourism but moan when there are too many camper vans on the road.

We turn our nose up and gold digging in Otago, a region founded on doing exactly that. 

We put the boot into our farmers who are about the most productive on earth and who provide protein, nutrients and goodness to 40-million people globally.

It’s easy to demand things, it’s not so easy to pay for them.

That’s the real challenge not just for the government, but for every single one of us, in 2026.