Simplifying Government Spending: The Orbviz Interactive Experience

Quicklink: NZ Budget on OrbViz

If your eyes glaze over when someone says, “Government Budgets,” you’re amongst friends.

These documents are filled with colossal figures that are more intimidating that a bear with a bee sting, and financial jargon that is more inaccessible than a Swiss bank. If you don’t have a background in economics or finance – which is most of us - the complexity acts as a barrier, and you’ll likely struggle to make sense of hundreds of pages of complex charts, graphs and text to find the story within the numbers.

There should be a support group for struggling citizens who – through no fault of their own – really have no clue where their money goes.

Here at Orbviz, we've made it our mission to break down these barriers. We've developed an intuitive data storytelling tool that transforms complex budget data into engaging and easily understandable visual forms. This isn't just a static representation of numbers but a dynamic and immersive exploration of data that invites you to interact with the figures, thereby enhancing understanding and fostering insight.

At the heart of our visualisation is an array of bubbles, each one representing a distinct budget allocation. The size of each bubble isn't arbitrary; it's a visual cue to the magnitude of spend. The bigger the bubble, the bigger the spend.

Engage with the tool and join us in this exploration as we peel back the layers of the New Zealand 2023/24 Budget, one bubble at a time. As a quick primer, let's explore three of the top budget allocations:

1. Social Security and Welfare ($45,662,273,000): This is the largest slice of the NZ budget pie, represented by the biggest bubble in our visualisation. When you click on the red tab, or “Social Security and Welfare” on the summary table in the left-hand panel, you'll get more detailed information. Can you see what subcategories this massive figure is broken down into?

2. Health ($27,758,042,000): Health is another significant area of spending for the NZ Government. If you click on “Overview” you can see the distribution of the full budget across all departments. Click on the “Health” header and you can see how this funding is distributed among various departments and projects within the health sector.

3. Education ($20,790,582,000): Finally, the third largest allocation goes to education. Dive deeper into the dark blue tab to understand how these funds are split between different levels of education and initiatives.

While these sums may seem gigantic, they start to make more sense when you see them visually and interact with the data. Each bubble in our visualisation is split by Functional Classification, Department, and Appropriation Name, giving you a more nuanced view of how taxpayer money is being put to use.

Remember, the bigger the bubble, the bigger the spend. And if you want to narrow down your exploration, you can easily filter by vote. Go ahead and click around – there's a whole budget to explore! Going from macro to micro is just a mouse click. It's not just about delivering information; it's about fostering engagement and facilitating understanding.

We believe that when Government spending becomes transparent and accessible, everyone benefits.