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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister speaks ahead of Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update release · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk zed be follow
• 0:12
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Now we'll get to Shane Soley with the market, shortly,
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  Speaker 2: the MTA on Wafts and Gavin Gray out of the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: UK before top of the hour. Right now, Nikola willis
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  Speaker 2: the Finance when It'ster joins me live, Minister, good evening,
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  Speaker 2: Good evening, Ryn. I'm assuming you would have been pleased
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  Speaker 2: to see this statement that Arna Breman has come out
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  Speaker 2: with the Reserve Bank governor kind of fixing up or
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  Speaker 2: correcting what the market was interpreting from that November meeting.
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  Speaker 3: Well, she did note that financial market conditions had tightened
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  Speaker 3: beyond what was implied by the Reserve Bank central projection,
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  Speaker 3: that they were monitoring that and would continue to assess it.
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  Speaker 3: And I note that the market has responded since she
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  Speaker 3: made that statement, with wholesale rates coming down.
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  Speaker 2: It's great. I mean, I know you can't direct the
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  Speaker 2: Reserve Bank tell them what to do, but did you
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  Speaker 2: say or give a nudge to say, hey, maybe you
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  Speaker 2: know you need to clarify your position, or you know,
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  Speaker 2: tell us what you really think about it something like that.
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  Speaker 3: I think this is entirely consistent with what doctor Braman
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  Speaker 3: has said she will do, which has been an open,
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  Speaker 3: transparent and clear communicator, and that's what she's achieved with the.
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  Speaker 2: Statement, God, isn't it refreshing?
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  Speaker 3: It's good, she's great, She's a great appointment.
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  Speaker 2: Ryan right, did Caminet talk about the terror attack in
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  Speaker 2: Sydney today and if so, what was discussed?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we did. We shared our concern and what was
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  Speaker 3: clearly an anti Semitic attack and how vulnerable that makes
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  Speaker 3: Jewish people feel around the world, but particularly here at home.
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  Speaker 3: We talked about how shared support for that community and
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  Speaker 3: our willingness to do what's required to ensure they continue
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  Speaker 3: to feel safe here in New Zealand, and just our
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  Speaker 3: general feeling of horror that such an event could occur,
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  Speaker 3: in our sympathy for all Australians affected by it.
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  Speaker 2: Could you get any updates on security alerts for New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand whether we need to be more worried here?
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  Speaker 3: No, that wasn't what happened at cabinet, and regardless, we
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  Speaker 3: don't comment publicly on matters of national security.
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  Speaker 2: Debra Hart, who's with the Holocaust Center, she came on
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  Speaker 2: the program today and unprompted, she singled out Chloe Swarbrook
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  Speaker 2: for some of her language and rhetoric around Jewish people.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think politicians need to take this as as
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  Speaker 2: a sign to call the jets?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes they do. We need to be really careful
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  Speaker 3: that in attacking the policies of a particular government, as
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  Speaker 3: some political parties have done with regard to Israel, we
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  Speaker 3: don't incite violence and hatred against the people, the Jewish people.
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  Speaker 3: And there is no question I know from speaking to
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  Speaker 3: the Jewish community that many in that community have felt
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  Speaker 3: singled out by some of the rhetoric coming from politicians
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  Speaker 3: in our parliament. There is no place for anti Semitism
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  Speaker 3: in New Zealand. Re Jewish person in this country deserves
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  Speaker 3: to feel safe.
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  Speaker 2: You've got the hay for coming out this week and
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  Speaker 2: well everyone reckons you're going to push a surplus out.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we did this, will you push a surpace
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  Speaker 2: out or not dance last week? So we won't do
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  Speaker 2: it again this week? But do you have do you
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  Speaker 2: have anything you want to say about that? Because people
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  Speaker 2: I think people are expecting it now, I'm minister.
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  Speaker 3: You see, Well, there's one sleep to go and tomorrow
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  Speaker 3: what I get to set out is the government's continued
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  Speaker 3: path back to surplus, our path to bending the debt
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  Speaker 3: curve down, all of which can be achieved with ongoing
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  Speaker 3: fiscal discipline. Importantly, I also get to update the Treasury's
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  Speaker 3: economic forecasts, and that's what shows the picture for more
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  Speaker 3: job creation and come growth into the future, people doing better.
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  Speaker 3: And then on Thursday we get the actual update to
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  Speaker 3: what's happened in the economy over the past few months
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  Speaker 3: and all the signs from economists, including my own, that
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  Speaker 3: we actually grew fast in that September quarter than anyone
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  Speaker 3: was previously prepared to predict.
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  Speaker 2: Right, let's talk about the weird debate. It's I'm calling
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  Speaker 2: it a weird debate because it seems it's gone on
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  Speaker 2: too long. Like, just do it, or just shut up
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  Speaker 2: a bit.
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  Speaker 3: I'll look home with you, Ryan. We've booked a venue.
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  Speaker 3: All that matters to me is there's a moderator. The
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  Speaker 3: tax payers Union can live with that. All media can
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  Speaker 3: be there happens this week so that we can get
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  Speaker 3: it done. I'm up for it. But look, it seems
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  Speaker 3: that there's all sorts of coming and going from the
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  Speaker 3: other side. Frankly, if they don't want to have the debate.
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  Speaker 3: That's on them.
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  Speaker 2: So who So what was what moderators did you agree to?
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  Speaker 2: You agreed to the bank, the Cameron Bagri, Winston Peters
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  Speaker 2: and they won't agree to that or something like that.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, we said, look, cam bag re fine, Winston
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  Speaker 3: Peter's fine, Toby manheih fine, that doesn't really matter to us.
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  Speaker 3: The key thing is I didn't want the timing to
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  Speaker 3: clash with the release of GDP economic Dart on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 3: And then I thought it was important that will media
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  Speaker 3: be able to cover the event. Other than that, I
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  Speaker 3: don't really care, let's.
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  Speaker 2: Do it, Okay, Well they wanted to have it on
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  Speaker 2: this program, So did you not agree to that? What's
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  Speaker 2: wrong with this program?
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  Speaker 3: Look? I'm an equal opportunity player and I didn't want
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  Speaker 3: to preference one media outlet over another. There was interest
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  Speaker 3: from everyone. TV and Z wanted to host it, stuff
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  Speaker 3: wanted to host. Who cares New Zealand even put in
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  Speaker 3: a y me.
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  Speaker 2: You got radio, you got online, you got streaming, you
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  Speaker 2: got you got everything under the sun, all handed to
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  Speaker 2: you on the plant Minister.
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  Speaker 3: And well, I'd certainly want you to be covering it.
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  Speaker 3: That's for sure, which is partly why we rejected the
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  Speaker 3: idea of just doing it, for example, on the platform
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  Speaker 3: let everyone go.
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  Speaker 2: Did the platform get in there with a bid too?
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  Speaker 3: Yes?
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  Speaker 2: Did anyone not come in with a bid?
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  Speaker 3: Not that I'm aware of, There was, there was widespread interest.
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  Speaker 3: And look for me, you know, I want it to
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  Speaker 3: be about the substance, which is that I have very
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  Speaker 3: good answers to a lot of the half bait attacks. Well,
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  Speaker 3: we'll have that particular lobby group mate, and I would
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  Speaker 3: relish the opportunity to give them rebuttal in real time.
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  Speaker 2: We'll have to take you with for I suspect this
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  Speaker 2: thing is not going to happen. It's going to be
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  Speaker 2: for anyway, let's talk about that. So Avatar, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: I saw you at the premiere. You looked fantastic in
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  Speaker 2: the frock gown whatever it was, in the walking down
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  Speaker 2: the red carpet. So that's great. What about what? Thank you?
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, run, thank you. This is totally what I
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  Speaker 3: was expecting in my interview.
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  Speaker 1: This south.
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  Speaker 2: The rebate situation though, So James Cameron saying, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this is good, but we could do more. Does he
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  Speaker 2: have a point, because if it works, then you want
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  Speaker 2: to be competitive, don't you.
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  Speaker 3: Well, look, we have made a confirmation that we're going
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  Speaker 3: to continue that rebate and that involved a big commitment
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  Speaker 3: and this years budget, and I've listened to the sector
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  Speaker 3: who said to me, look, you need to make some
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  Speaker 3: tweaks to this minister if you want to attract more
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  Speaker 3: international productions. We made some changes a few weeks ago
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  Speaker 3: that have been welcomed by the sector and which actually
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  Speaker 3: the Film Commission have told me has led to more
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  Speaker 3: expressions of interest very rapidly following those changes. So look,
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  Speaker 3: we're a listening government. We want the film sector to
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  Speaker 3: succeed here and we'll make sure that those settings are
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  Speaker 3: working to ensure we get international productions coming here, creating
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  Speaker 3: Keywi jobs, creating big Kiwi incomes. That's what we want
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  Speaker 3: to see.
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  Speaker 2: Brilliant. Hey, minister, this will be our final chat for
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  Speaker 2: the year. Well, I'm off on Thursday. You'll be off
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  Speaker 2: whenever you're off. What are your plans this summer?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm very fortunate. I'm going to go to Riversdale
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  Speaker 3: Beach on the Widded Upper Coast with our kids and
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  Speaker 3: they'll be doing surf life saving. I'll be reading a
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  Speaker 3: couple of novels, and maybe having a Gen T or two.
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  Speaker 2: Enjoy well deserved rest. Nikola willis the Finance Minister for
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