“We did not increase taxes and we did not cut core services,” Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said during last week’s 2017 Prime Minister’s Back-to-Business Breakfast.
“Our Government was proactive in cutting waste in the public service, and we put some non-priority infrastructure projects on hold.
“These pressures all occurred at a time when our country was facing one of the worst drought in recent memory.”
O’Neill said this affected food supplies in communities vulnerable to extreme weather. The situation was further worsened by climate change.