[drunkenmagician]

I'm a Kiwi, but living abroad now. I have mixed views on this announcement, I do agree with the basic sentiment that NZ is broke and has been for a long time. That means 'decisions' on public spending need to be in the national interest, for the current govt, that translates into 'fiscal interest'. That said, cutting "all" govt funding to social sciences is not the right call. I would have though that a smaller budget and stricter set of criteria for funding would have been a better approach. NZ has always had a 'fringe element' looking for funding for dubious research of limited value, but de-funding everything that is not of economic value feels like the wrong approach.