By Andrew Patterson

If ever there was a budget that had to get Kiwis a bit excited about their future economic prospects it was this one.

Let's face it, as far as our economy goes we're stuck in something of a proverbial rut right now.

We only need to look across the Tasman where Australia is booming, while the NZ economy is bobbing around basically going nowhere fast!

That has to change... and while the debate about whether we can ever catch Australia is somewhat academic, we have to at least put some effort into "pulling up our socks" as former school principals might have told us in the past!

What this budget will at least do is make a few people question why they should be leaving our shores. Arguably, that is possibly one of the most important goals this budget had to deliver on.

If we don't keep our best and brightest here, or at least provide some incentives for them to stay, then we may as well forget about trying to remain a first world economy.

What I also like about this budget is that - finally - the Government is dealing with the problem of property being the only asset class we seem to want to invest in. Yes, there are plenty of investors burned by the finance company experience or share float disasters (Feltex) that can point to personal experience where, with some justification, they can say they were badly let down by the "system" when investing in other asset classes. While proposed changes to the Securities Act and the creation of a 'super' regulator should go some way towards addressing that issue, the fact remains that we need to grow our economy, and that requires investment dollars to do so.

We need to create literally thousands of new and innovative businesses that are going to provide the jobs and tax revenue in the future and that will require smart kiwis staying here to do so.

So lets hope this budget finally creates some much needed momentum and begins to move the economy forward, but also, more importantly, gets Kiwis a bit excited about our future prospects.

This budget is a good start for the Government, but the success of this budget will ultimately be judged on whether it can turn the economy around and achieve much needed economic growth. The expectations so far are modest at best. If we're to seriously get the economy moving, then future budgets will have to be much more ambitious.