The smiling woman adorning the cover of the New Zealand government's latest budget reportedly says she has given up on the country and moved to Australia.
New Zealand's and eschewed the simple cover designs of the past in favour of a vibrant photo of a woman and girl below the words "The Wellbeing Budget".
But the person in the stock photo, Vicky Freeman, told the NZ Herald she and her 9-year-old daughter - also pictured - moved across the Tasman since the photo shoot because of the unreasonable price of living in Auckland while working as an actress.
"I don't follow [politics] at all, to be honest," Ms Freeman told the paper.
"A friend just messaged me and said: 'You're all over the news'. And I was like: 'What, what have I done? I'm not even there'."
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leaves Parliament holding a copy of the budget cover. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Ms Freeman - who also reportedly lived in Australian during her 20s - and her daughter now reside in Queensland.
"I just said to my daughter I can't do another year here .. the TV stuff was going well, it was good but not great pay. When you're just an extra or featured. It was hard and my daughter was like 'yeah mum, just tell me when and I'll pack my bags'," she said.
Opposition leader Simon Bridges held the photo up as he greeted reporters after the budget announcement, saying it demonstrated it was "all spin and glossy pics".
