Latest / Best of Business / Nicola Willis: Finance Minister defends Prime Minister Chris Luxon describing voters as 'customers' in sit-down interview

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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister defends Prime Minister Chris Luxon describing voters as 'customers' in sit-down interview · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: the UK seven Pass six. Nicola Willis Finance Minister with
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  Speaker 2: us Now, Hey, Nicola, good evening here. That did you
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  Speaker 2: make of the Prime Minister calling voters customers?
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  Speaker 3: I think it was just a slip of the tang.
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  Speaker 2: Why are you apologizing for it?
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  Speaker 3: Sorry?
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  Speaker 2: Why are you noting for it?
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  Speaker 3: I'm not apologizing for it at all. I think he
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  Speaker 3: was a slip of the tang. I think, as he
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  Speaker 3: said himself, he does does come from a corporate background,
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  Speaker 3: a commercial background. He's always thinking about delivery. He knows
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  Speaker 3: New Zealanders are New Zealanders.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, maybe you're not apologizing for it, but you're
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  Speaker 2: explaining it away. But why, I mean, what's wrong with
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  Speaker 2: him calling voters customers?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you asked me why, and I think it was
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  Speaker 3: just a slip of the tongue. That's all I think
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  Speaker 3: there is to it. I reckon New Zealand has bigger
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  Speaker 3: challenges than whether or not the Prime Minister describes people
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  Speaker 3: as customers. No, I think New Zealand voters would rather
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  Speaker 3: we were focused on those challenges, of course than semantics.
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  Speaker 2: But why is the Prime Minister always apologizing for his
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  Speaker 2: corporate speak. He should lean into this stuff. This is
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  Speaker 2: the stuff he's good at, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that he is very good at getting
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  Speaker 3: driven on outcomes and objectives and targets and accountability. But
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  Speaker 3: he also responds to the questions that he gets asked
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  Speaker 3: by the press and by members of the press. Collery
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  Speaker 3: and that was one of the lines of questioning today,
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  Speaker 3: So he rightfully answered their question.
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  Speaker 2: Explain this to me, because I don't understand this account
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking at. I'm looking at Chris lux and the
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  Speaker 2: guy from Unilever, the guy from a New Zealand. He
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  Speaker 2: was good at business he comes to politics as he
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  Speaker 2: brings his corporate speak with him. It feels perfectly natural
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  Speaker 2: to me, and as a voter, I'm like, I'm pretty
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  Speaker 2: fine about him actually trying to drive business efficiency out
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  Speaker 2: of the government. Right, So, why is it that there
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  Speaker 2: appears to be this kind of move within the National
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  Speaker 2: Party or within the government whatever. I don't know. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: it's from your media minders. Why drive this out of him?
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  Speaker 2: Why not let him actually just be the corporate guy.
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  Speaker 3: Ah, certainly we let him be the corporate guy in
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  Speaker 3: the sense of having those quarterly plans, those targets, driving
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  Speaker 3: results against them. And frankly, if he calls New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: customers and the result of that is that they get
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  Speaker 3: better service, then I don't really think anyone minds what
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  Speaker 3: they call, do they?
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  Speaker 2: Okay? So why did he apologize for it?
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  Speaker 3: Did he apologize so much as just say it was
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  Speaker 3: a slip of the tongue.
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  Speaker 2: Well what he said in the end, I think, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm kind of paraphrasing it, but he did acknowledge that
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  Speaker 2: he needs to sound a little less corporate.
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  Speaker 3: I think he's just he's noted that some people criticize
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  Speaker 3: him for sounding corporate. He said, that's who I am,
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  Speaker 3: it reflects my background, which it does. And if you
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  Speaker 3: don't like it, then you know, I hope that it's
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  Speaker 3: not going to affect you too badly want post for
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  Speaker 3: the kinds of words that he said.
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  Speaker 2: I hope I've got into your brain and I hope
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  Speaker 2: I've infected you enough to go to him and say
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  Speaker 2: to him, no, no, no, you're okay, carry on with
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  Speaker 2: the corporate talk. It's fine.
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  Speaker 3: Will I will let him know I'm seeing him later
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  Speaker 3: tonight and I'll say here, this is stay corporate, be
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  Speaker 3: who you are, talent.
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  Speaker 2: Straight, and that's when the demise of the National Party
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  Speaker 2: probably starts. Taking my advice, but please pass it on.
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  Speaker 2: It's not as bad as he thinks. Now, listen, why
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  Speaker 2: is it on the Family Boost right Why is it
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  Speaker 2: that only thirty three thousand families have claimed this childcare subsidy.
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  Speaker 3: Well, if anyone is listening right now and they have
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  Speaker 3: a child in early childhood education and they've paid fees
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  Speaker 3: in the last few months, please go on to the
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  Speaker 3: IRD website and apply for your Family Boost payment. On average,
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  Speaker 3: families have got about three hundred and fifty dollars out
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  Speaker 3: of that. That's well worth getting. That's obviously more than
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  Speaker 3: fifteen hundred dollar a year. So my advice is go
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  Speaker 3: on and apply for it. I know that when you've
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  Speaker 3: got young kids and you're busy and you're working, going
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  Speaker 3: on to a website can seem like a pain, but
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  Speaker 3: it is worth it. There are literally hundreds of dollars
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  Speaker 3: available to you and it goes straight into your bank account.
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  Speaker 2: Is this a problem that it's just far too complicated
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  Speaker 2: a system.
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  Speaker 3: No, it's not complicated. I've had direct feedback from people
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  Speaker 3: have said, look, it was a bit of a mental
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  Speaker 3: barrier for me should I go onto the website that
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  Speaker 3: I went on and it was easy, it was straightforward,
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  Speaker 3: So that's the feedback I've had. Look, as I've said previously,
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  Speaker 3: whither I would have much preferred it if no one
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  Speaker 3: had to fill in any form, it didn't have to
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  Speaker 3: go onto a website. But the alternative to this approach
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  Speaker 3: was a two year delay, and I wanted New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: families getting that money now, which is why we've gone
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  Speaker 3: with this system.
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  Speaker 2: How many families are getting that full amount.
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  Speaker 3: The full nine hundred and seventy five, I'm not sure.
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  Speaker 3: But in order to get that full amount, you would
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  Speaker 3: have to have paid the maximum amount of fees, and
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  Speaker 3: you would have to be on a low income.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, because the average at the moment is about thirty
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  Speaker 2: two bucks is it a week or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: That's quite low, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's fifteen hundred dollars a year, Heather, and actually
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  Speaker 3: that's pretty meaningful if you're a young family. That's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of money. That's a lot of groceries, that's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of baby clothes, that's a lot of formula. And
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  Speaker 3: so i've heard labor today po pulling that amount of money,
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  Speaker 3: and I just put to the stay in touch with
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  Speaker 3: the reality of what it's like when you've got a
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  Speaker 3: baby at home and you've got a lot of costs
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  Speaker 3: to meet. Actually their backs a week, that's.
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  Speaker 2: Me no, absolutely fair point. But thirty bucks a week
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  Speaker 2: is a lot lower than than was patch right, and
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  Speaker 2: was patched about one hundred and fifty bucks a fortnight.
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  Speaker 2: What's that seventy five bucks a week, so it's about
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  Speaker 2: half of the maximum.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we were always clear, Heather, and I remain clear
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  Speaker 3: that that's the maximum available and people are eligible for
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  Speaker 3: a range depending on how big the childhood fees are.
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  Speaker 3: And how big their incomes. And that's right because our
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  Speaker 3: approach in the National Party is that we like to
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  Speaker 3: target support are to those who need it most.
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  Speaker 2: How do you feel about west pax bumper profit?
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  Speaker 3: Well said previously, What concerns me is that our banks
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  Speaker 3: aren't competitive enough, and what the Comments Commission has said
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  Speaker 3: is that they are more profitable than other banks around
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  Speaker 3: the world. And what I want to see is more
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  Speaker 3: competition so that we get a better deal for New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand customers.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think, because I see Catherine McGrath, who's the
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  Speaker 2: West Pac CEO, is going to be before the Parliamentary
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  Speaker 2: Select Comittee in about two weeks time, do you feel
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  Speaker 2: like this Parliamentary Selectmmittee is actually getting anything yet?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's got a lot more hearings to
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  Speaker 3: go and a lot more detail to it dig into.
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  Speaker 3: I know. The questions that New Zealanders ask me about
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  Speaker 3: is why don't banks lend more to the productive sector,
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  Speaker 3: to businesses and farms that could generate economic growth for
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  Speaker 3: the country. They ask me why sometimes these appears to
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  Speaker 3: be a delay between the official cash rates falling and
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  Speaker 3: mortgage rates falling. They ask me why they don't get
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  Speaker 3: a better deal compared to Australia, where some of the
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  Speaker 3: online banking products seem better. So I imagine all of
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  Speaker 3: those questions will emerge in the Select Committee over the
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  Speaker 3: next few weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel like you've got anything out of the
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  Speaker 2: thing so far? Are you there?
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  Speaker 3: And chief executives of the major banks being held accountable
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  Speaker 3: by Parliament? That New Zealand's representatives can ask those chief
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  Speaker 3: executives questions directly and that they can explore these issues
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  Speaker 3: in depth. Yes, I think there's value in that.
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  Speaker 2: Okay do you think I mean, I've seen some predictions
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  Speaker 2: that this FTA that we've just signed with the GCC
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  Speaker 2: will be the last of the FDA's that we sign.
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  Speaker 2: What do you reckon?
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  Speaker 3: No, I don't think that's true. You know, Todd McClay ll.
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  Speaker 3: Credit to him. This is something that we've been going
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  Speaker 3: for almost twenty years New Zealand. He's been in as
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  Speaker 3: Trade Minister for a year and he's nailed it. He's
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  Speaker 3: delivered it and that's a great benefit to our exporters.
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  Speaker 3: And I think there could be more to come because
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  Speaker 3: what you are seeing is that a range of countries
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  Speaker 3: now are pursuing these bilateral agreements rather than just relying
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  Speaker 3: on multi lateral you know, multi country agreements, and there
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  Speaker 3: is more potential for New Zealand in the future.
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  Speaker 2: Where where would where would the next one be?
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  Speaker 3: Well, of course, one of the areas that we're very
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  Speaker 3: keen to progress stronger trade with US India. That's a
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  Speaker 3: country that's on the agenda. And when we look around
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  Speaker 3: the world, there will be where we want to reduce
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  Speaker 3: those chats.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, do you want to have a punted picking who
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  Speaker 2: wins on Wednesday?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: Is this because of your own personal credibility or is
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  Speaker 2: this for diplomatic reasons?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I have I'm allowed personal views, but as a
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  Speaker 3: guardian of New Zealand's diplomatic interests, it is not appropriate
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  Speaker 3: for me to be running wages on the next US president.
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  Speaker 3: I'll leave that in the hands of American voters.
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  Speaker 2: Fair enough. Hey, Niicola, thank you has always appreciated Nicola
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  Speaker 2: will It's our finance minister.
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