Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke after the usual cabinet meeting on Monday, stressing that the coalition's first budget will be unveiled on Thursday.
She said ministers had gone through their departments “line by line” and found around 240 individual savings initiatives that could be included in the budget.
They varied considerably in size, with some being just a few hundred thousand dollars a year and others in the tens of millions, she said.
“I think New Zealanders will be surprised at where exactly so much of their money has gone,” Willis said.
“We uncovered a slew of government initiatives – many of which we had never heard of before – that have swallowed up tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I think New Zealanders will be relieved to see that there is now a government that is going to make sure their money goes to the best use.”
Meanwhile, the government's baseline budget cuts – based on the latest advice – would eliminate around 2,250 positions in government departments and close a further 1,150 vacancies, while further savings initiatives (not included in the baselines) would cut a further 500 positions.
“Budget 2024 has required us to carefully prioritize taxpayer dollars, and Budget 2024 is unashamedly a budget for the frontline,” she said.
However, she said it was about the money, not the overall workforce.
“I don't rule out further changes to the staffing structures of the public services. They can change. Our focus will remain on the front line and that means there could be further changes in the back office in the future.”
However, she said the number of jobs cut by the austerity exercise was still changing, and advice she had seen suggested the number of jobs added to the economy could be even greater than those being cut.
She had encouraged ministers where possible to be frank about the number of jobs that would also be created by new initiatives, she said.
“We will have more to say about that through specific announcements.”
Health NZ, for example, had yet to finalize its workforce plan for the coming years, but the government hoped to employ many more nurses, she said.
Afterwards, Labor leader Chris Hipkins said Willis' suggestion that more jobs would be created than cut showed that the initial suggestion of cuts was “probably smoke and mirrors in the first place”.
“The number of teachers, for example, goes up and down every year based on the number of additional students… Trying to say that they funded those additional teachers by cutting other jobs is a bit unfair when they should have funded them anyway.”
He said Labor budgets also had a large number of savings initiatives each year, so he was not surprised the government had found 240.
He said it would be revealed to New Zealanders on Thursday whether Luxon and Willis would deliver on the tax cuts they promised at the election – which he suggested would be a $250 tax cut.
National was criticized for some of its language which repeatedly emphasized the maximum entitlement of $252 per fortnight, but admitted that before the election only 3,000 households were expected to be able to claim that full amount.
“Fundamentally, I think the government is making the wrong choices here. Every time Christopher Luxon or Nicola Willis say 'we couldn't afford that', consider that they have given $2.9 billion in tax cuts to landlords ,” Hipkins said.
“The proof is in the pudding.”