Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Ruth Richardson: Former Finance Minister on the need for a publicly funded election policy-costing unit

Transcript

Ruth Richardson: Former Finance Minister on the need for a publicly funded election policy-costing unit · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Speaking of a budget office, the government's voted against setting
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: up an independent costing his agency. This is an agency
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that would have let political parties fact check their numbers
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: before making big promises and before the accusations start flying
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: inevitably about fiscal holes and fiscal cliffs and black holes.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Finance Minister Nicola Willis took the proposal to Cabinet Monday,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: shot down by Act and New Zealand First Ruth Richardson,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: former Finance Minister tax Payers Union chair, on the show
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: this morning. Good morning, good morning, thanks for being with me.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Do you are you disappointed that Seymour and Winston have
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: shut this down?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not. I mean, let's start with the problem
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: that the Minister was trying to solve. I mean, there's
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a compelling case for a new fiscal institution that ensures
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: transparency and credibility in public finance management. And why because
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: we know the quality of fiscal management has declined, the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: budget deficit is structural, and the politicians gained the system
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: so that my fiscal responsibility rules are no longer enough.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: So the Minister was on the right track in recognizing
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that action was required, but her proposal falls far short
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: of what is required?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: What is required then, do you think.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Well, what's required is that we want a publicly resourced
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: body that is independent of the executive and that ensures
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: more formal or more informed public and parliamentary debate. So
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: we need look no further than the Office of Budget
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Responsibility in the United Kingdom, a little bit like the
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: one we've heard about in the United States, and that
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: is a body that attends independently of the executive to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: economic and fiscal forecasting, evaluating fiscal targets, scrutinizing policy costings,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and assessing fiscal sustainability and highlighting fiscal risks. Now that's
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the gold standard, and that I assume is what ACT
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: in New Zealand first gunning for.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So we could yet see a different iteration of this.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Is it really going to make a big difference to voters,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: particularly around election time? I mean you look at the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Australians have got a form of this, and I mean
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you still had you still had your fiscal clips, you
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: still had your black holes, you still had a lot
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: of uncertainty.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: No, Australia is not an example that we should be
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: looking to. We should start with my fiscal responsibility rules
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: understand they are necessary, but not sufficient. What do we
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: need to fix the fiscal disclosure problems now? We need
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: a gold standard institution independent of the executive, that gives
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the public the figures that they can rely on publicly,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: not stupid that they know that you cannot perpetually rack
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: up debts and run deficits. The new generation are basically
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: saying we're generation screwed because we have to pay the
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: price of all of this. So the public are wanting
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: figures that they can rely and they want an institution
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: that's got credibility and that institution is not a parliamentary
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: office subject to the dictate of public servants run by
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the executive. They want an independent fiscal institution and that
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I believe is now in public domain and there is
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: a compelling case for it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Ruth, appreciate your time this morning. Ruth Richardson Taxpayers Union
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: chare former finance minister. For more from earlier edition with
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge, Listen live to News Talks at be from
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.