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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister unbothered by underwhelming poll result for the coalition · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow
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  Speaker 2: The numbers from the latest poll. So earlier we had
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  Speaker 2: the taxpayers in your Curier pole. Now we have had
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  Speaker 2: the one News Varium poll. This This is the gist.
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  Speaker 2: It basically backed up the Curier pole. The left block
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  Speaker 2: would have the numbers to govern if an election were
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  Speaker 2: held tomorrow. National down three to thirty four, Labor up
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  Speaker 2: four to thirty three, so at one point gap Green
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  Speaker 2: Steady on ten, Act up one to nine to Party
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  Speaker 2: Mardi down three to four. New Zealand First On five
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  Speaker 2: down one third, PM Well Luxton's back preferred Prime Minister
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  Speaker 2: Christopher lux and twenty two down to Chris Hopkins up
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  Speaker 2: two on to seventeen joining us this evening. Nicola Willis
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  Speaker 2: the Finance Minister and Minister for Economic Growth. Good evening,
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  Speaker 2: Good evening, Ron. How do you feel about those numbers?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, poles move around. Even between those two
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  Speaker 3: polls that you've read out the text PAS Union one
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  Speaker 3: and the tvnz'd one, their differences in the numbers. One
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  Speaker 3: we're up, one we're down. But look overall the message
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  Speaker 3: that I'm hearing very loudly from New Zealanders as they've
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  Speaker 3: been through a tough time economically and they really want
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  Speaker 3: to see us focused on making them and their family
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  Speaker 3: feel more financially secure. And that's exactly what we're doing,
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  Speaker 3: and that's what we should be focused on.
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  Speaker 2: Is your leader getting the tone right when he says
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  Speaker 2: the plan is starting to work but people are still hurting?
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  Speaker 3: Well, people are hurting. There's no questions.
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  Speaker 2: So is he getting the tone right? Do you reckon?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't quite know what you mean by that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll give you an example when Jacinda Aderne
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  Speaker 2: refused to say there was a cost of living crisis
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  Speaker 2: despite the fact everybody was feeling it hard in the pocket.
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  Speaker 2: And then we've got your leader who comes out and
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  Speaker 2: says the plan is starting to work, We're starting to
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  Speaker 2: get back on track. But actually for most people, things
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  Speaker 2: are still really expensive. A lot of people haven't had
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  Speaker 2: a pay rise and they probably feel like it's a
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  Speaker 2: little the message might be a little out of touch.
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  Speaker 2: Can you see that angle?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, of course, And I don't think the Prime
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  Speaker 3: Minister would disagree with anything you've just said. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we see it in our communities every day. There is
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  Speaker 3: no doubt. There are families across the country who went
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  Speaker 3: through a massive cost of living crisis are still struggling
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  Speaker 3: to keep up with prices. There are people who have
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  Speaker 3: lost hours of work, who have lost jobs. There are
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people who are really struggling because of
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  Speaker 3: a downturning economy. So the question isn't is it tough?
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  Speaker 3: It is tough, there is no doubt. The question is
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  Speaker 3: what should we do about it? And what we're doing
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  Speaker 3: is we're making sure that we're keeping inflation back under control,
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  Speaker 3: that we've got interest rates coming down, and that we're
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  Speaker 3: driving for the underlying growth that's needed to create more
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  Speaker 3: job opportunities and ensure New Zealanders can get paid more
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  Speaker 3: and can keep up with the cost of living. That's
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  Speaker 3: what we should be doing. And I know everyone would
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  Speaker 3: like it to be an overnight success, so I get
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  Speaker 3: that because people have been through many years of hardship
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  Speaker 3: in some cases. But what we're doing as a government
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  Speaker 3: is doing the things we can do every day to
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  Speaker 3: make a difference, and we've just got to keep doing that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's tough. Even though I was talking
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  Speaker 2: to a friend in Wellington at the weekend they're you know,
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  Speaker 2: twenty five percent of their property value, their biggest as
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  Speaker 2: set wiped off, and their rates going up fifteen percent.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's pretty rough, you know.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really rough. And you know, in Wellington we've
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  Speaker 3: had the combination of a council that's been really distracted
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  Speaker 3: from the issues that people care about. I get it
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  Speaker 3: in the air all the time, the people WELLINGTONI and said,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, why are they taking away car parks and
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  Speaker 3: building more cycle ways when we've got leaking pipes and
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  Speaker 3: rising rates bills? Those are fair questions to ask. And
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  Speaker 3: I think similarly people are looking at the government and saying,
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  Speaker 3: I want to know that you're focused on me and
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  Speaker 3: my family, how much i can earn in my paypacket,
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  Speaker 3: that I'll have job security, that I'll have savings for
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  Speaker 3: my future, that my kids can afford a home. I
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  Speaker 3: want all of those things too, Ryan. And so the
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  Speaker 3: question is do we keep up the old approach of
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  Speaker 3: the government, which decided the way to deal with it
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  Speaker 3: was to borrow more, spend more, throw money at ever
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  Speaker 3: increasing bureaucracies, or do we get on with growing the
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  Speaker 3: real economy and backing employers firms, innovators to grow and
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  Speaker 3: that's our approach.
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  Speaker 2: And let's talk about that. The Foreign Investors summit that's happening.
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  Speaker 2: We're spoken to Chris Bishop about it so across the
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  Speaker 2: details of it. But will there be actual announcements from
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  Speaker 2: this or will it be this is you know, this
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  Speaker 2: is who we are and what we're about, and we
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  Speaker 2: hope you might go away and make a decision later,
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  Speaker 2: or will it be like the one in the UK
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  Speaker 2: where they came out and they said, all right, we've
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  Speaker 2: actually got some deals ready to sign.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the goal is to present to a range of
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  Speaker 3: international investors opportunities for investment in New Zealand, both in
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  Speaker 3: terms of growing parts of our economy, whether that's aquaculture
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  Speaker 3: or the space industry or agriculture, but also in terms
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  Speaker 3: of significant infrastructure plans our government has underway. It would
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  Speaker 3: be pretty weird if a deal was signed in the room,
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  Speaker 3: because you'd want the government to be doing a much
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  Speaker 3: clearer negotiation than that. But what we're hoping is that
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  Speaker 3: it leads to relationships that then lead to deals in
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  Speaker 3: due course.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think Winston's warming up to the foreign buyers
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  Speaker 2: homes buying things?
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  Speaker 1: Well?
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  Speaker 3: I heard his comments on Mike Coskings Show the other day,
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  Speaker 3: and I think he's demonstrated he's an open minded chap
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  Speaker 3: and as I think I've said to you before, he
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  Speaker 3: seems interested in what's good for New Zealand and New Zealanders.
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  Speaker 3: And on that score, it's my view that allowing more
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  Speaker 3: people to buy homes here when they are contributing to
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  Speaker 3: the New Zealand economy is a good idea. So those
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  Speaker 3: conversations will continue.
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  Speaker 2: So they're still ongoing. You still kind of bad room
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  Speaker 2: every now and then.
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  Speaker 3: Every now and then, well, as you know, Ryan, we've
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  Speaker 3: got a very full agenda of government programs and the
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  Speaker 3: Minister of Foreign Affairs has many things on his plate.
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  Speaker 3: So look, we do lots of things at one time.
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  Speaker 2: We need to keep giving sixty million a year to
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  Speaker 2: the Cooks.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have a really important relationship with the Cook Islands.
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  Speaker 3: It's an incredibly close relationship and that that funding reflects
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  Speaker 3: a long standing support that we offer to the Cook
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  Speaker 3: Islands people. And I haven't heard any questions about that
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  Speaker 3: funding being in jeopardy at this stage.
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  Speaker 2: The US tariffs Trump sign on steel and Aluminium's Ozzy's sorry,
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  Speaker 2: very worried about that as you can imagine how big
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  Speaker 2: an impact could it have on us and are we
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  Speaker 2: trying to get out of it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, look, we've taken note of the announcement, but we
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  Speaker 3: actually need to see the specifics before we can comment
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  Speaker 3: on in detail about what it means for New Zealand, because,
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  Speaker 3: as you know, our steel and aluminum exports to the
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  Speaker 3: US already face a US tariff. We were one of
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  Speaker 3: the countries who didn't get off the hook last time
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  Speaker 3: during the last Trump administration, So we don't know yet
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  Speaker 3: if the announcement will actually change anything for our New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand exporters. Our steel exporters have continued to export into
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  Speaker 3: the United States, as have our amum exporters, despite the
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  Speaker 3: tariffs that were put on them previously.
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  Speaker 2: But these tarifs will obviously go on top of the
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  Speaker 2: previous ones.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Well, the details aren't yet clear Ryan exactly what
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  Speaker 3: the arrangements will be. What we have at the moment
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  Speaker 3: is a twenty five percent tariff on our steel and
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  Speaker 3: ten percent on aluminium, So it's yet to be seen
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  Speaker 3: what the details are for New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: Will you be fighting for an exemption?
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  Speaker 3: Look, we will always put the interest of our exporters first,
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  Speaker 3: and that means minimizing the tariffs that they face, and
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  Speaker 3: so our diplomats will be working extremely hard behind the
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  Speaker 3: scenes to put New Zealand's case forward.
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  Speaker 2: Will you look at the superage at the next election.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, that's not a discussion we've had as a
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  Speaker 3: national party caucus. Yet. I've gone on the record though,
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  Speaker 3: saying look, I'm a mother of four kids and I
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  Speaker 3: want to be honest and look them in the eye,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, I want to be able to say
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  Speaker 3: that we're going to keep New Zealand superannuation sustainable into
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  Speaker 3: the future. And when you look at the greatest hare
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  Speaker 3: of spending that it's going to take up over time,
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  Speaker 3: and the diminishing number of young people who will be
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  Speaker 3: paying tax to support it, it seems to me that
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  Speaker 3: there will come another time for a conversation about the
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  Speaker 3: age of eligibility. But as I say, we don't have
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  Speaker 3: a national party position on that right now. But I
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  Speaker 3: think it's one of those ones where politicians should be honest.
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  Speaker 3: If they are saying that we're going to keep everything
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  Speaker 3: exactly the same, they then have an obligation to explain
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  Speaker 3: why young New Zealanders will need to be paying a
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  Speaker 3: shiver's load more tax to support that.
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  Speaker 2: Is it something that you're and the Prime Minister have
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  Speaker 2: spoken about.
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  Speaker 3: No, we haven't, actually.
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  Speaker 2: Minister, I thank you very much for your time. I'm
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  Speaker 2: great to have you on a Monday evening. As always,
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  Speaker 2: we'll see you next week. That is the Finance Minister
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  Speaker 2: Nicola Willis.
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