Latest / Best of Business / Nicola Willis: Finance Minister on Adrian Orr getting $416,000 after quitting Reserve Bank

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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister on Adrian Orr getting $416,000 after quitting Reserve Bank · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
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  Speaker 2: And as per usual, Nichola willis the Finance ministers with us.
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  Speaker 2: Hey Nicola, Hi Heather. Now, when did you find out
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  Speaker 2: that the Reserve Bank was paying Adrian all that money?
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  Speaker 1: Well?
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  Speaker 3: I knew that they had negotiated an exit agreement, and
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  Speaker 3: then I learned about the restraint of trade provision when
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  Speaker 3: the Bank released information about mister Or's departure under the
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  Speaker 3: Official Information Act on the eleventh of June.
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  Speaker 2: So did you know on the eleventh of June that
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  Speaker 2: he was being paid this much money?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 3: I learned the amount today, just like everyone else.
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  Speaker 2: Should they have told you earlier.
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  Speaker 3: That wasn't my expectation, because those arrangements were always a
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  Speaker 3: negotiation between the Reserve Bank Board and Adrian war and
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  Speaker 3: I had been assured that they had done those negotiations
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  Speaker 3: in accordance with the terms and conditions in his contract,
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  Speaker 3: which had already been agreed when he was reappointed as
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  Speaker 3: governor in twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so I know that it was so. The restraint
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  Speaker 2: of trade was in his contract signed yolks, go right correct.
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  Speaker 2: Was the amount that would be paid to him in
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  Speaker 2: his contract?
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  Speaker 3: I don't know, but I have been advised by the
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  Speaker 3: Bank that it was negotiated in accordance with his contract.
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  Speaker 3: So I expect that the quantum reflects that.
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  Speaker 2: But not necessarily. I mean they might have upped it
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  Speaker 2: or whatever because they felt is this not a question
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  Speaker 2: you should be asking them?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I have been given confidence that the Reserve Bank
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  Speaker 3: have negotiated the exit agreement in accordance with their contractual obligations.
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  Speaker 3: It's an employment matter. I am not privy to all
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  Speaker 3: of the details of that negotiation, but what they had
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  Speaker 3: was that he needed to have a restraine of trade
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  Speaker 3: period for six months off set against any incumpnience. That
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  Speaker 3: was in the terms because that was that's in the
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  Speaker 3: terms and conditions of his appointment as governor. So the
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  Speaker 3: amount does reflect that because that when in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 3: two that was negotiated. Obviously I wasn't the minister then,
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  Speaker 3: that was under a previous minister. Those were the terms
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  Speaker 3: of his contract, But.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know what. We know that the restrainer trade
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  Speaker 2: was in there, but we don't know whether the restraint
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  Speaker 2: of trade meant that he had to be paid this much, do.
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  Speaker 3: We Well, it does seem the right amount given that
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  Speaker 3: it was for a period of six months, so that
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  Speaker 3: would be commensurate with the six months of us.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, are you comfortable with us?
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  Speaker 3: Well, obviously it's a very big number, and so I
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  Speaker 3: think I probably had the same reaction to hearing that
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  Speaker 3: number as many New Zealand as what. It's a big number.
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  Speaker 2: It really is. Now listen, what is the problem with
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  Speaker 2: the electricity market that you guys are trying to fix
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  Speaker 2: with the announcement last week? What's the problem.
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  Speaker 3: The problem is that when we have a dry year,
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  Speaker 3: that is, there isn't enough rain in the hydro lakes,
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  Speaker 3: then we run into electricity shortages on the days when
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  Speaker 3: there isn't enough soulo. So it's the shorter and make
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  Speaker 3: part for the lack of hydro it is the lack
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  Speaker 3: of firm in capacity in dry years. And how do
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  Speaker 3: we motivate people to invest in the electricity generation that
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  Speaker 3: leans on gas and oil? When and coal? When in
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  Speaker 3: the past the past government said no, no, one hundred percent
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  Speaker 3: renewables by twenty thirty. We don't want all bad How
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  Speaker 3: do we correct? So our job now is to make
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  Speaker 3: it very clear to the market that they can have
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  Speaker 3: confidence about investing in those assets because New Zealand needs them.
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  Speaker 3: But when we have a dry year, we need there
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  Speaker 3: to be enough backup gas or cold capacity that we
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  Speaker 3: can keep the lights on.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, now, Nikola, if there's one thing we've learned about
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  Speaker 2: the market in the thirty years since the Bradford Reforms,
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  Speaker 2: it's that the market cannot be relied on to generate.
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  Speaker 2: So why don't you guys just build the generation or some.
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  Speaker 3: Well, well, effectively, that's what we're doing by being majority shareholders,
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  Speaker 3: but by being majority shareholders and three of the major
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  Speaker 3: gen taylors. And what the Frontier report said is in
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  Speaker 3: order for those Gen tailors to have access to the
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  Speaker 3: capital needed to make these investments in the future, it
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  Speaker 3: may require a call on the taxpayer to provide additional
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  Speaker 3: investment to keep our equities.
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  Speaker 2: I understand, but I'll tell you what I do up
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  Speaker 2: for that, are you instructing the companies that you majority
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  Speaker 2: own to build more generation?
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  Speaker 3: We are requesting that they bring forward proposals to provide
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  Speaker 3: dry year power.
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  Speaker 2: Why also, because that's the idea behind thermal Co is
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  Speaker 2: that you just you ring, and I think that thermal
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  Speaker 2: co's a nutty idea, but the general the idea behind
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  Speaker 2: it is that you build your own generation, So why
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  Speaker 2: don't you just worry?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, this is in the boring detail part of the announcement,
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  Speaker 3: but let me step it through for you, which is
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  Speaker 3: that we are going to require in future transpower to
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  Speaker 3: measure what they think then and lack of capacity for
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  Speaker 3: the dry year looks like is at the moment we
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  Speaker 3: don't really have reliable measurement of that. And then we've
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  Speaker 3: said we will regulate to ensure that amount of capacity
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  Speaker 3: is available. Now we're going to work with the sector
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  Speaker 3: on what the detail of that regulation looks like. But
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  Speaker 3: in the first instance, what the Frontier report said was
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  Speaker 3: the first thing you've actually got to do is get
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  Speaker 3: rid of this barrier, which is that then not sure
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  Speaker 3: that they can make those investments or can We're getting
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  Speaker 3: rid of that barrier. And the Huntley Agreement, which the
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  Speaker 3: Commerce Commission approved last week is really important. So that's
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  Speaker 3: Huntley having a burg stockpile of coal and an agreement
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  Speaker 3: that all of the gentailors will contribute to the cost
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  Speaker 3: of keeping that going, and that Genesis will have to
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  Speaker 3: sell hedging contracts to people outside of those main entities,
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  Speaker 3: which keeps competition going on the market. So we're seeing
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  Speaker 3: a response happening in real time, but we are correcting
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  Speaker 3: for a massive signal failure by the last government.
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  Speaker 2: Have you had any protesters outside your house about Garza?
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  Speaker 3: I have not, Thank goodness.
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  Speaker 2: I worry that.
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  Speaker 3: I don't see why my children should have to be
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  Speaker 3: included in what is a political protest. There's nothing wrong
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  Speaker 3: with coming to the front steps of Parliament. There's lots
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  Speaker 3: of places to protest very loudly in New Zealand. You
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  Speaker 3: don't need to go outside someone's home.
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  Speaker 2: How far how long before that legislation has done so
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  Speaker 2: you can so these guys can be hustled off and
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  Speaker 2: chucked in jail or whatever.
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  Speaker 3: Well, parliament's considering it at the moment, and it's on
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  Speaker 3: the legislative agenda, we are progressing it.
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  Speaker 2: How far away do you reckon it is if it's
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  Speaker 2: in submission phase at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I don't know where it sits on the agenda,
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  Speaker 3: but obviously it's something that we intend to pass this term.
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  Speaker 3: But here's the thing. Heither there shouldn't have to be
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  Speaker 3: a law for people to know what decency and civility is,
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  Speaker 3: and it's simply indecent and uncivil to protest in that way.
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  Speaker 3: And it says more about the protesters than it does
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  Speaker 3: about the issues they're trying to draw attention to.
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  Speaker 2: Couldn't agree more. Now, are you teaching your kids to cook?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the thing is there's going to be a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people my mum's age are going to hear this
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  Speaker 3: response and think I'm doing a bad job. But the
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  Speaker 3: truth is not, really, We're still at the stage of
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  Speaker 3: trying to teach them to pick their own towers up
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  Speaker 3: and put their clothes away. I think they could probably
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  Speaker 3: make a smoothie, a peanut butter sandwich. I know that
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  Speaker 3: my twelve year old learned how to make Japanese omelets
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  Speaker 3: in his cooking class and he likes making those. I
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  Speaker 3: think my fifteen year old could probably make himself a
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  Speaker 3: bowl of pasta priest. But that's about it.
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  Speaker 1: It's not that bad.
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  Speaker 2: Going to be fine, Nicola. I'm like, the German is
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  Speaker 2: catastrophizing this, Nicola, and I'm saying to her, it's fine
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  Speaker 2: because we've got the Internet and it can step you
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  Speaker 2: through it when you need to write ah.
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  Speaker 3: Look, they'll be absolutely fine. In fact, one of my
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  Speaker 3: close university friendships was formed with a man who only
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  Speaker 3: knew how to make tuna pastor. And he's so much
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  Speaker 3: better for having had his female flatmates teaching a thing
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  Speaker 3: or two. And you can learn these things in due courses.
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  Speaker 3: It's not rocket science, it's cooking. And yep, my kids
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  Speaker 3: could survive on peanut butter sandwiches for a while, I think,
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  Speaker 3: And look, Mum's probably taught them a few things.
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  Speaker 2: Long good on Granny, Nicola, Thanks very much, Nicola willis
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  Speaker 2: the Finance Minister Heather Restraint of Trade. Who would employ Adrian?
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  Speaker 2: Very good question.
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