South Island Minister James Meager.
South Islanders have broadly given Budget 2026 the thumbs up - though there are caveats.
Mentions of Te Waipounamu were sparing in the Finance Minister's speech on Thursday with a handful of towns getting a mention, mostly in the context of roading projects.
State Highway 60 at Tākaka Hill, State Highway 6 from Cromwell to Frankton, Frankton to Kingston and Haast to Hāwea, and State Highway 94 from Milford to Te Anau will benefit from $400 million of funding to increase state highway resilience across the country.
The other noteworthy items for the south are plans for the government to buy land in Queenstown for schools and a new police station in Greymouth.
