The stage was set for one of Parliament's larger annual set-piece events. Almost every MP was present.
The Press Gallery area (left) was sparsely populated with reporters, photographers and videographers - most of the press gallery journalists had spent three hours in the pre-budget lock-up with the documents and were at their desks trying to weave a deluge of data and messaging into stories.
The public galleries were unusually quiet.
Even the pre-budget delivery of copies of the Budget Speech has politics. Delivering a copy to the Green Party's co-leaders Willis bows especially deeply. When she arrives at Winston Peter's seat, he stays seated-to the amusement of those in his own party.
Willis delivers her speech. Budget speeches are not an easy listen. They tend to be an endless whirl of numbers carefully chosen from the multitude to support a series of political messages. It takes a feat of concentration to stay focused for a forty-one minute speech.
