BUDGET PROTEST: About 100 people marched up Queen street protesting last week's budget which Sue Bradford said was an attack on low income workers.

Around 100 people carrying an effigy of Paula Bennett marched up Auckland's Queen St today.

They were protesting against the government's budget released last week - though Social Development Minister Paula Bennett came in for particular attention.

The march was organised by the Coalition for Social Justice included Sue Bradford, John Minto and Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni.

John Minto, of the group Global Peace and Justice, fronted the march of about 100 people, leading the crowd in chants. ''Stand up fight back, Aotearoa is under attack.''

Sue Bradford, ex-Green MP, and now a member of Auckland Action Against Poverty, spoke at the conclusion of the march up Queen Street

She said there was currently ''an attack against low income workers'' and frontline staff at Work and Income were being trained to stop people getting what they were entitled to.

Janette Saxby from West Auckland carried a life sized paper mache replica of Paula Bennett.

''This is Paula Bennett, Paula 'go and get a job' Bennett, Paula who forgot that she was a beneficiary and now goes overseas to buy her shoes, so I made her with no feet."

Saxby who said she was a ''refugee'' from the Christchurch earthquake is currently unemployed and had just been evicted from her home.

''There are no jobs, so being squeezed off a benefit onto a job that's minimum wage makes you worse off. I've got children so I can't afford childcare, I can't afford to get a job and be sick.

''[My daughter] just needed two weeks off school to have an operation, if I had a job I would have had to quit anyway. I have been struggling to make a living. I've got two degrees, but I can't get a job. I'm trying not to start crying but I am just so stressed.''

But in unveiling his third budget as Finance Minister, Bill English said "protecting the most vulnerable is a priority" and there was a focus on creating more jobs.

"By taking firm, early and decisive action, the Government is managing the downturn to cushion the immediate impact on New Zealanders and to enhance future growth. The Government is determined that the economy will make the adjustments it needs and emerge in better shape once the recession ends," he said.

"We are particularly concerned that the economy creates new jobs. The burden of a recession falls most harshly on those who lose their jobs and on their communities. We owe them every effort to create the opportunity for a new job."

However the budget did claw back Working for Families and KiwiSaver entitlements and sent a message to public servants that they face a massive $1 billion cut to funding for state agencies.

State asset sales were also be part of the mix, with a promised sale of up to 49 per cent of power companies Meridian, Genesis, Mighty River Power and coal company Solid Energy.

English said he expected the NZ Superannuation Fund and KiwiSaver funds to become long-term shareholders in those companies.

The biggest cuts come from KiwiSaver subsidies, with the Government set to halve the $1040-a-year member tax credit and remove the tax-free status of employers' contributions. The KiwiSaver changes will save the Government $2.6b over four years.

It will also wind back the Working for Families scheme, saving a further $448 million over four years. Lower-income families will see slight increases, but more than 7000 families with annual incomes over $60,000 will no longer qualify.

Some middle-income families will also lose out, with a one-child family earning $70,000 a year facing a cut of $5.33 a week.

Student loan rules will be tightened, saving $447m over four years.

Taken together, the measures are intended to push the Government's books back into surplus by 2015, a year earlier than previously forecast.

It is expecting a record deficit of $16.7b this year and a deficit of $9.7b next year.

At today's protest, Labour MP Sepuloni told the protesters: ''People are struggling. They can't afford to put food on the table, petrol in the car or pay their power bills.''

She said the government's budget this month had done nothing to alleviate people's suffering.

The Labour MP criticised the budget's $25 million allocation to military style camps. ''Paula Bennett thinks 'put them into army training and that will get them a job'... The reality is there are no jobs.''

The Coalition for Social Justice was set up specifically to protest budget cuts. A spokeswoman for the group said it stands for ''a decent standard of living so we can live in harmony in Aotearoa''.