Latest / The SME Stream / Nicola Willis: Finance minister on Government debt worse than initially thought

Transcript

Nicola Willis: Finance minister on Government debt worse than initially thought · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: The government's financial books have sunk further into debt. In
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: the year to June, Treasury has revealed the deficit on
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: the Crown books deepened by three point four billion dollars.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: It was also one point eight billion dollars worse than
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Treasury forecast in the May budget. Nikola Willis is the
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Minister of Finance and she is with us now. Good afternoon, Nicola, thank.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: You for being with us. Great to be on the show.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: What's your reaction to these numbers?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Well, Lock, this just underscores the need for the government's
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: ongoing efforts to restore discipline to public spending. Where we
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: were elected on a mandate of tidying up the books
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for spring a bit more respect for tax payers money
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and getting New Zealand back into a more sustainable financial position,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and these numbers underscore why that is so necessary. Of course,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: they relate to the year that's passed, during which a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: very important event happened, which was a change of government,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and we're taking a much more disciplined path going forward.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: What is driving this? What are the expenses the main ones?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Well, there's been a real build up in the amount
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of spending that the government does as a proportion of
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the overall economy that's increased dramatically in recent years, adding
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eighteen billion dollars to New Zealand government
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: debt in just five years. And that's what happens when
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: people are all disciplined about the spending choices they make.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: We've seen significant growth across the public sector. We've seen
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: lots of spending going in lots different directions, and we've
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: come in and seeing that is not sustainable. Essentially, we're
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: spending more than we earn, that we are living beyond
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: our means, and just like any household or business, we
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: need to get those books back in balance. And we've
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: seen in New Zealanders we've seen that does involve some
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: tough decisions. It does mean we can't say yes to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: everything that we want to. At the same time, we
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: can drive investment where it's needed by pulling our belt
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: in on the things that are less necessary.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Minister, can can you just keep cutting? Is that the
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: way we're going to counter it?
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, we've made a pledge that we will continue to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: invest more in the health system and every single budget
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: that we deliver more funding will go into our schools.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: We're going to keep funding those important frontline services. But
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: what that requires from us is that we keep looking
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: across all of the spending that the government does to say, well,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: where's it being wasted, Where's it not going to a
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: good use, where is it not actually delivering good outcomes
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: for the New Zealanders it's meant to serve. And so
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I've committed for as long as I'm Finance Minister, I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: expect every public agency, every minister, every day to be
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: looking at where's the money not delivering really from tax payer,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: because if we can put that money into a school
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: or a hospital, we should do.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: You regret to the tax cuts, the tax cuts in
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: light of.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: This absolutely not. You know, you can't operate as a
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: government by saying we'll just spend waiver we want and
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: then we're treat taxpayers like a bottomless atm who can
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: keep funding. And that was essentially the approach of the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: last government. They allowed the amount of tax that New
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Zealanders were paying to increase dramatically and that was hitting
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: working people. And my view is that every family, every household,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: knows how to spend their money after their best studs,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and as a government we need to respect that our
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: tax cutsforth modest. They just restorted bit of balance.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, thank you so much for
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: your time. It is fifteen past five.