Latest / Best of Business / Nicola Willis: Finance Minister unveils steps to ease cost of living as Government outlines third quarterly priorities

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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister unveils steps to ease cost of living as Government outlines third quarterly priorities · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
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  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: With us right now as Nicola Willius the Finance Minister. Evening, Niccola,
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  Speaker 2: good evening, Heather. Now what are you in charge of
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  Speaker 2: in terms of the New Action Plan?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the rebuild the economy and ease the cost of
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  Speaker 3: living section of the plan has a number of initiatives
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  Speaker 3: in it, and is the Finance Minister. I take an
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  Speaker 3: interest in many of those, and I'm also, of course
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  Speaker 3: always in charge of delivering on our policy. So textically
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  Speaker 3: from the thirty fifth of July, that'll be me.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so you've gone because you famously had the biggest
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  Speaker 2: one in the last planned didn't Yeah, the budget? So
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  Speaker 2: have you gone from the one?
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  Speaker 1: It was?
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  Speaker 2: It like overload Nicola in Q two and then rest
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  Speaker 2: are a wee bit in Q.
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  Speaker 3: Three now because we're already planning for next year's budget Heather,
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  Speaker 3: and as we've said, it's going to be another tight one,
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  Speaker 3: so we need to be looking right now where money
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  Speaker 3: is not going to its best impact so we can
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  Speaker 3: make good decisions on that. And I'm also very focused,
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  Speaker 3: as you'll imagine on how we strengthen this economy and
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  Speaker 3: get it growing faster. So I'm working with ministers across
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  Speaker 3: government on what we can do to make it easier
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  Speaker 3: for businesses to invest, to hire people to grow.
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  Speaker 2: Number fifteen on the Listers initiate the second regulatory review
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  Speaker 2: to identify and remove unnecessary red tape. Do you know
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  Speaker 2: what that's going to be.
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  Speaker 3: Into That has not been decided yet. The first one,
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  Speaker 3: of course, is on early childhood education, where there are
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  Speaker 3: lots of red tapes and early childhood centers that both
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  Speaker 3: make that care more expensive and harder to deliver. And
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  Speaker 3: I think that David Seymour will be making an announcement
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  Speaker 3: about the second review shortly yet.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know what it is?
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  Speaker 3: I do. I do know what it is, but I
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  Speaker 3: don't feel a Sunday. You see, it's his review to
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  Speaker 3: announce and I want him to have the fan fare
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  Speaker 3: and celebration about it. But it's another area of life
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  Speaker 3: where we've had complaints from people saying they're rules are ridiculous.
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  Speaker 2: Is it in scaffold because I'm into that If it
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  Speaker 2: does include scaffolding.
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  Speaker 3: It's no, it doesn't. But what we are doing in
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  Speaker 3: the next three months is getting rid of the barriers
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  Speaker 3: to oversee building products being used in New Zealand. So
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  Speaker 3: that will make it cheaper for diires like you to
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  Speaker 3: get the range of products and doing your house renovation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the problem the scaffolding is when you can't do
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  Speaker 2: it yourself. Hey, I'm fascinated by number sixteen. Take Cabinet
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  Speaker 2: decisions on new regulations to remove the ge ban. Now,
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  Speaker 2: had that been in there a few years ago, that
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  Speaker 2: would have been such a hot potato. Do you think
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be this time is just going to
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  Speaker 2: Do you think it's going to just kind of float through?
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  Speaker 3: Well? I think that New Zealanders understand that science has
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  Speaker 3: moved on a huge amount and if we want to
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  Speaker 3: be part of solutions for our climate issues and we
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  Speaker 3: want to have smart food producers, we've got to get
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  Speaker 3: the program and make safe use of Do you.
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  Speaker 2: Think we've come around to it. I think we have.
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  Speaker 3: The conversation has really changed from where it was a
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  Speaker 3: decade or two ago. I remember the outrage about Helen
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  Speaker 3: Clark and Cornngate, and that seems like a different era.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're now in an era where people understand
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  Speaker 3: the power of science. Of course, we have to safely
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  Speaker 3: reflate these new techniques and technologies. That's appropriate, but other
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  Speaker 3: countries all over the world are doing it and we're
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  Speaker 3: well behind the April, so let's play catch up.
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  Speaker 2: Are we doing an inquiry into what happened in whide One?
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  Speaker 3: We will do a short sharp review. I was in
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  Speaker 3: Hawk's Bay on Thursday and there are questions being asked
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  Speaker 3: about how the river mouth and the bar we're managed
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  Speaker 3: and whether or not that lead to the flooding being
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  Speaker 3: worse than it might otherwise have been. So there's questions
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  Speaker 3: for the regional Council and for the local council to
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  Speaker 3: work through. And so yes, we will support a short
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  Speaker 3: sharp review.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah good now, Nicholas. If Hawks Bay Regional Council is
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  Speaker 2: found to have been responsible for not clearing that bar
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  Speaker 2: fast enough, that would be the second time in a
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  Speaker 2: major event that they've let their communities down. So what
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  Speaker 2: happens to them?
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  Speaker 3: Well, this is why we want to first do this
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  Speaker 3: short chart review. I know that Minister Mitchell lets the
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  Speaker 3: regional Council know of that today and I don't want
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  Speaker 3: to get ahead of that. But of course the purpose
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  Speaker 3: of these things is to find out what happened and
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  Speaker 3: how do we stop it happening, So that will be
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  Speaker 3: a mark.
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  Speaker 2: Mitchell has gone in contact with Hawks Bay Regional Council
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  Speaker 2: told them there will be an inquiry.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and he's also been in touch with Wider Today
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  Speaker 3: to let you know as well.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, and you don't know what the potential ramifications could be. Frankly,
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  Speaker 2: these people, if they are letting their communities down, like
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  Speaker 2: literally lives were at risk in the Esque Valley, they
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  Speaker 2: can't be entrusted to keep on actually looking after their communities.
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  Speaker 2: We have to take the task off them, don't we.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's really important. I don't get ahead of it
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  Speaker 3: because I don't understand the ins and outs of what's
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  Speaker 3: happened here. I don't have the facts to hand. So
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  Speaker 3: the first job is get the fact about what actually happened,
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  Speaker 3: then understand if they were in the eras why those
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  Speaker 3: error as a curve. Then understand what we need to
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  Speaker 3: do so that they don't happen again in the future.
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  Speaker 3: So short chat review, get to the fact of the matter,
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  Speaker 3: and then actions from there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff, happy to here. Listen on the GPS.
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  Speaker 2: Do we just need to bite the bullet and allow
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  Speaker 2: them to charge patients more so they can make their
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  Speaker 2: books balance.
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  Speaker 3: Well in some cases GPS will do that. We put
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  Speaker 3: in considerable funding in our budget for health and ring
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  Speaker 3: sense to significant portion of that for primary health care.
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  Speaker 3: So more than half a billion dollars in uplift and
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  Speaker 3: funding for primary health care this year alone. So we
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  Speaker 3: recognize that GPS provide a vital health service for many
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  Speaker 3: of us. It's actually the only time we interact with.
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  Speaker 2: The problem is okay, So the problem is they can
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  Speaker 2: only raise their fees by as much as Health New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand says they can, and at the moment what they
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  Speaker 2: are able to charge, you know, the funding that they're
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  Speaker 2: bringing in is about a quarter of or maybe half
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  Speaker 2: of what they need. So they need to charge people
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  Speaker 2: a whole lot more. Would you be open to that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's something they're working through with Health New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: right now. And of course it varies from community to
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  Speaker 3: community and health user to health user. I think we
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  Speaker 3: all recognize that there are some people who are more
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  Speaker 3: able to pay than others, and so Health New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: are working through what is the requirements that's currently in place,
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  Speaker 3: How do we make sure that that's going to work
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  Speaker 3: for GPS over the next twelve months and what does
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  Speaker 3: that funding that bring them look like? So their active
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  Speaker 3: discussions happening at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Why was Andrew McKenzie told to quit a KO.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not sure that was the case.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Simon Mota basically told us before that he sat
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  Speaker 2: him down, told him to quit.
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  Speaker 3: Well, obviously that's an employment matter. It's a matter between
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  Speaker 3: that board chair and Andrew McKenzie. So you've been talking
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  Speaker 3: to the right to some who has the ability to
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  Speaker 3: comment on that and betail on that Simon, So I
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  Speaker 3: heard him on this matter.
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  Speaker 2: He had to say nice things about Andrew McKenzie though,
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  Speaker 2: because like it's an employment matter and stuff. You don't
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  Speaker 2: have to Nikol because you're a politician. So was he
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  Speaker 2: not up to the job? Oh?
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  Speaker 3: I have to be very careful at all times, heither,
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  Speaker 3: because I don't employ Andrew McKenzie. The board does, and
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  Speaker 3: I have to respect that and know my place.
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  Speaker 2: No fair enough, Okay, did you watch the debate?
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  Speaker 3: I watch parts of it, yes, And and as a
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand government minister, I am most of you that
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  Speaker 3: it's very important that Americans make their own decision about
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  Speaker 3: who they wish to vote the president in the consideration
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  Speaker 3: of who did wash on the debate and not a
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  Speaker 3: matter for me.
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  Speaker 2: You won't say out loud, he's obviously going senile.
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  Speaker 3: I won't say that.
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  Speaker 2: No, Okay, have you found any replacement fairies?
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  Speaker 3: Yet? We have got options on the table, and as ministers,
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  Speaker 3: we are considering those options. We want to replace the
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  Speaker 3: fairies in a way sensible, that represents good value for money,
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  Speaker 3: and that's better thought through than the last proposition, which
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  Speaker 3: would resulted that were too big for the birds and
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  Speaker 3: may not even have been able to negotiate the stray.
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  Speaker 2: Actually, hey, that's not in the forty forty action plan
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  Speaker 2: for the quarter. So when do we find out about
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  Speaker 2: the fairies?
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  Speaker 3: You'll find out about the series once ministers have made decisions,
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  Speaker 3: and I expect that we'll be within the.
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  Speaker 2: Quarter three months. I suppose we can live with it. Nickole,
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  Speaker 2: I have you how are you going to meet with
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  Speaker 2: the key we rail bosses in the next week.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we are hoping to get together this week. I'm
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  Speaker 3: started sounding hesitant because I haven't actually seen whether my
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  Speaker 3: office had landed the meeting time for There's lots of
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  Speaker 3: ministers who are wanting to meet with a rout at
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  Speaker 3: the same time.
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  Speaker 2: All right, I hope it's early in the quarter that
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  Speaker 2: we find out in Nickel are just saying, because I'm
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  Speaker 2: here for the fairies by the way.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, we understand and and we are keen to
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  Speaker 3: get to a solution too, but really can also not
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  Speaker 3: to repeat the mistakes of the past. We're arguably decisions
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  Speaker 3: were rushed, but then the ramifications of which went thro
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  Speaker 3: So we want to do it once and do it right.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Nicholas, thank you so much, appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: That's Nikola, willis the financing and stuff. Found it very
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  Speaker 2: hard to hide my disappointment that I may have to
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  Speaker 2: wait three months to find out what's happening with the fairies.
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