Budget 2021 will be published on Thursday, 20 May 2021. Journalists and analysts are invited to register their interest to attend a briefing under lock-up conditions.
Registrations of interest are now being taken from those who wish to attend.
To register your interest, please email to [email protected] by 5.00pm on Thursday, 22 April and provide your organisation, name, and role title.
Note: The information below assumes New Zealand will be at COVID-19 Alert Level One. This information may change if the Alert Level changes before Budget Day.
What: Embargoed briefing, under lock-up conditions, for Budget 2021
Where: The Banquet Hall, Parliament, Wellington
When: 10.30am to 2.00pm Thursday 20 May 2021
Access will be available to the Banquet Hall from 10.00am. Documents will be available from 10.30am and Treasury officials will be available to answer technical questions arising from the Budget documents.
The Minister of Finance will attend the Budget Lock-up briefing.
As in previous years, priority for attendance will be given to:
- national and international media organisations, and
- economic and financial analysts attached to either financial institutions or national organisations that provide relevant specialist advisory services.
Registration of interest to attend indicates your acceptance of embargo provisions (see the terms and conditions below) but does not constitute an invitation to attend – spaces are limited.
The Treasury will contact those who have registered an interest to attend with a response to their application from 6 May. Any updates on COVID-19 Alert Level changes and impacts will be communicated as needed.
Hand sanitiser and face masks will be available at the briefing.
All documents will be published on the Treasury’s website at or shortly after 2.00pm on the day of the restricted briefing.
Please note that due to space constraints the number of people attending from any one organisation may be limited, and some registrations may be declined.
For more information, please contact [email protected]
Terms and Conditions for attending the Budget Lock-up
By registering your interest to attend, you agree to adhere to the rules of the Budget Lock-up. Any individual or organisation that breaches the embargo rules may be refused permission to attend future restricted briefings.
The terms and conditions for the Budget Lock-up are:
- No information (including but not limited to text, voice, images or data) may be transmitted, received, or released in any manner from the Budget Lock-up from 10.30am until the embargo is lifted at 2.00pm on Thursday, 20 May 2021. Please note this includes social media. This restriction applies irrespective of whether the information is about the Budget or not.
- Mobile phones do not need to be surrendered before entering the lock-up, however should be turned off or switched to flight mode until the embargo is lifted.
- At 1.50pm, those attending the lock-up briefing will be permitted to start preparations to transmit information.
- No one will be permitted to leave the venue once Budget information has been distributed. Bathrooms are located within the banquet hall.
- Accredited representatives of the Parliamentary Press Gallery will be permitted to leave the venue at 1.50pm so they can attend the 2.00pm start of Hon Grant Robertson’s Budget Speech in the House of Representatives. The 2.00pm embargo still applies.
- At 2.00pm Treasury staff will announce the end of the lock-up, which is when information may be transmitted, and when remaining journalists and analysts may leave the venue.
- In the unlikely event that the building has to be evacuated before 2.00pm due to an emergency, the embargo will not be lifted. People will be directed to leave immediately; however they will not be allowed to transmit or communicate Budget information.
- Camera crew: If your news organisation requires camera crew and equipment at the lock-up, please indicate that with your RSVP.