Latest / Best of Business / Azaria Howell: Newstalk ZB political reporter on what the recent GDP figures say about the economy

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Azaria Howell: Newstalk ZB political reporter on what the recent GDP figures say about the economy · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed B.
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  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: Politics Time Now News TALKSP political reporter Azaria Howell is
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  Speaker 2: with me. Good morning, Azaria, Good morning. So, as I
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  Speaker 2: mentioned earlier on the GDP stats, we're we're great for
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  Speaker 2: the government this week. How damaging is this for Willis
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  Speaker 2: and Luxon and what's the reaction being.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, starting off with a bit of a gloomy story,
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  Speaker 3: a tough economics showing. I mean, GDP figures out late
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  Speaker 3: last week showed an economic depth of zero point nine
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  Speaker 3: percent in the June quarter. That's much more significant than
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  Speaker 3: what was expected the Reserve Bank of the country, the
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  Speaker 3: Central Bank predicted I believe a zero point three percent dip.
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  Speaker 3: So this has been a lot more significant than what
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  Speaker 3: we were sort of thinking we might see. The Ministry
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  Speaker 3: of Finance, Nikola Willis, is also facing some pressure, but
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  Speaker 3: this pressure is coming from more economic conservatives. So first
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  Speaker 3: of all, ACT Party founder and former Finance Minister Sir
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  Speaker 3: Roger Douglas is calling for her to resign in the
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  Speaker 3: interests of the country. Now, those are some strong words,
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  Speaker 3: essentially wanting the minister of Finance to go harder on
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  Speaker 3: slashing wasteful spending. Also, another former Finance minister, Ruth Richardson,
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  Speaker 3: is weighing in on this. She's not calling on Nikola
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  Speaker 3: Willis to resign, essentially, she is calling for an economic
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  Speaker 3: reset plan for further reductions in public service spending as
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  Speaker 3: well as a look at superannuation. So there has been
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  Speaker 3: some criticism from I suppose the economic conservatives there now
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  Speaker 3: later leader Chris Hopkins is also weighed in on this one,
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  Speaker 3: really taking a shot at the government. So in a
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  Speaker 3: recent press conference which I was at, Chris Hopkins said,
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  Speaker 3: and I quote, the entire government should resign, not just
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  Speaker 3: Nikola Willis, all of them.
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  Speaker 2: But that sounds out of his mind, Azariah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean there were these questions obviously
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  Speaker 3: from Roger Douglas, should Nikola Willis us go? Chris Hopkins
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  Speaker 3: taking the chance to really have a crack at all
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  Speaker 3: of them at once, But that's coming from the other
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  Speaker 3: political side, the leader of the opposition. Essentially, they're saying
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  Speaker 3: a different take to what those economic conservatives are saying.
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  Speaker 3: Chris Hopkins is saying the government's cut too much. Jobs
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  Speaker 3: are being lost, So there's some criticism on both sides
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  Speaker 3: of this one here, but the government has responded. They're
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  Speaker 3: saying it's inherited a recession. Meanwhile, Labor is suggesting the
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  Speaker 3: government's full of excuses. Also, the government is confident that
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  Speaker 3: the current quarter will turn around. I mean we're looking
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  Speaker 3: at data from the June quarter. Potentially the current quarter
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  Speaker 3: might have a better showing. Also, this came out when
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  Speaker 3: the US tariffs rather were being announced and when that
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  Speaker 3: was a major topic. So there's a bit more uncertainty
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  Speaker 3: at the time, but it seems pretty certain that not
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  Speaker 3: the entire government are going to have to resign due
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  Speaker 3: to this.
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  Speaker 2: Mar Winston Peters is traveling to New York today as
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  Speaker 2: the UN turns eighty. He's also going to attend the
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  Speaker 2: Two State Solution conference. Are we expecting him to make
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  Speaker 2: an announcement regarding New Zealand's position over Palestine at the
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  Speaker 2: UN this week or is he still in the process
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  Speaker 2: of finalizing that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so New Zealand is finalizing its position on recognizing
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  Speaker 3: a state of Palestine. That decision is expected soon, potentially
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  Speaker 3: not tomorrow, but in the next week or so is
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  Speaker 3: when we're expecting it. So the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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  Speaker 3: Winston Peters, as you say, he's been traveling to New
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  Speaker 3: York for the UN Leaders Week that's ahead of the
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  Speaker 3: United Nations General Assembly, and on the agenda, the big
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  Speaker 3: talking point a discussion then a vote on a formal
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  Speaker 3: recognition of a Palestinian state. Now this comes after France, Australia, Canada,
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  Speaker 3: a number of countries have signaled their intent to support that.
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  Speaker 3: Back home, there's been some cabinet discussions but no final
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  Speaker 3: position taken yet on the matter. There's been a bit
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  Speaker 3: of talking between the three coalition parties, ACT, National and
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand. First they've agreed to come to one final
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  Speaker 3: position on the matter, but it's caused a bit of
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  Speaker 3: tension in the coalition. The ACT leader, David Seymour has
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  Speaker 3: said that we should essentially not recognize a state that's
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  Speaker 3: holding hostages, that referencing har Maas. Now that is despite
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  Speaker 3: the Prime Minister previously saying any future governance arrangement would
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  Speaker 3: not include ha Maas. So Winston Peters responded to Seymour
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  Speaker 3: recently suggesting he broke an agreement. So that has been
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  Speaker 3: quite a big talking point in terms of back home,
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  Speaker 3: but the actual decision it will be made by Winston
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  Speaker 3: Peters in New York. We're expecting that and he will
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  Speaker 3: be speaking to other countries about their views on this,
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  Speaker 3: and really wherever New Zealand lands on this, it will
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  Speaker 3: be a big deal and it will be a big
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  Speaker 3: talking point. But we have seen other countries signal their intent.
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  Speaker 3: I mean this has just come out in the last
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  Speaker 3: few minutes I've been talking talking to you. UK Prime
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  Speaker 3: Minister Kiir Starmer is set to announce that the UK
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  Speaker 3: will recognize a Palestinian state and that is coming in
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  Speaker 3: the next sort of day or so, so a lot
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  Speaker 3: of movement in this space.
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  Speaker 2: Azariah, thank you so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: As always, that was Azaria Hull Newstalks. He'd be political reporter. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: Winston Peters, he is leaving today. He'll return to New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand on Tuesday, the thirtieth of September, so I presume
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  Speaker 2: before then we will have an idea about the decision
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  Speaker 2: that's been made.
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