The pressure is on for the Government to ease the 'cost of living crisis' for struggling New Zealanders in today's Budget.
It's already signaled climate change and the health reforms as the two big-ticket - and time-sensitive - items.
Communities have told RNZ a financial hardship emergency is brewing for the country's squeezed middle class as the cold winter months close in.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Political reporter Anneke Smith has more.
