Barbara Edmonds: Labour's Finance Spokesperson on the opposition's take on Budget 2025

Labour's defending its claim the Government's Kiwisaver changes steal 66-thousand dollars from a young person's retirement savings.

The Government's halving its yearly contributions, and bringing in a cap at incomes of 180-thousand.

Default employer and employee contributions will also rise to four percent.

The party's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds told Ryan Bridge halving the Government's contribution will have a big impact.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So key we save pay equity tax changes for businesses
some of the big things to come out of Budget
twenty twenty five delivered by the Finance Minister yesterday. Joining
us this morning is Barbara Evans, Labour's finance spokesperson.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning, Good morning, Ryan's big days today, wasn't it
big day?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Big day and a big claims made as well. Barbara,
you've been accused your party been accused of spreading misinformation
saying that the key we saver for your average young person,
they would be sixty six thousand dollars worse off after
the changes. Will young people young kiwis be worse off
or better off as a net result of the changes

(00:40):
announced yesterday?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
So the sixty six thousand dollars less is what we
calculated from the removal or the halving of the government contribution.
So I understand that with them increasing their contributions, if
they increased into four percent, because remember they could drop
them down to three and then their employer lifting it

(01:04):
up to four percent as well, next they'll be better off.
But they could have been way better off if the
government had kept the contributions in.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
As well, so you would reverse that.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
We're not going to reverse anything. We're not going to
say we're going to put it back in to yesterday
and today is about working through that budget and we
will come together with our fiscal plan pay equity.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
You have already said you would reverse that law change.
Will you restore the full close to thirteen billion dollars
that was taken from to use your words, rated from
the kitty.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, we're absolutely committed to pay equity. What we need
to do is work through how they got to that
twelve billion dollar figure. Close to thirteen billion dollar figure.
That'll probably come up with the budget, release of the
documents and in probably about two months time. We need
to work through that, but we will ensure we don't
we do not shirk our responsibility and we don't want

(02:02):
women to be paid less. So we're going to work
through that, Kevleen, and sure we have appropriate contingency set
aside for it.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
So you will confirm that you'll get you'll restore the
thirteen billion dollars.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
We will, we confirm we're going to reverse the changes.
We're going to work through to see how the government
got to that thirteen billion because there was confusing messages
from the government throughout the House in the last three weeks, wasn't.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
It wasn't that confusing? Yesterday it was close to thirteen
billion dollars. I mean, you can't have it both ways.
You can't run around and say this is women being
thirteen billion dollars has been stolen from women, and then
on the other hand say, actually, we don't know if
that number is right.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
We're going to absolutely make sure we set aside the
appropriate contingencies for it, and we want to work through
to understand how they got to that figure. We are
absolutely committed to pay equity, right, absolutely committed to it.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Would you keep the learning support funding?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
The learning support funding is a good thing, right, But
the problem is they have taken money from elsewhere within
the education system. So again, like everything else in the budget,
like everything we will take to the next election, we
will work through it carefully and we're part of our
fiscal plan going forward.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
So you won't commit to keeping that learning support which
has been welcomed by the unions.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
We welcome extra support for learning support, but does that
have to be at the cost of something else in education?
When the government also gave tax breaks to multinational companies
two point nine billion dollars to landlords. You know there
is funding there because it's about choices. They just have
to choose, and the choices we will make will be
covered in our fiscal plan.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
The problem is you're doing a lot of choices and
not a lot of cutting. Right, So are you sticking
to Grant Robertson's and Treasury's fifty percent cap or not?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
We are working. We are working currently within that cap
that was given to us, both that the government is
working under and part of our fiscal plan. But again
at the.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Elect choices that at the election you won't exceed. If
your plan won't exceed a fifty percent cap, you're confirming
that for us this morning.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
There is still another budget to go, Ryan, and we
still have time to put together our fiscal plan the
way we currently work it, and it's the way that
we started with our own fiscal plan in twenty twenty three.
We will work through it carefully and everybody will be
able to see our plan when we announce it.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Will you get to surplus the same time as national
or would you push that out? Be happy to push
that out again?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Well, when even that's questionable, right, I Mean, I've seen
so many commentators saying, well, do they really think they're
going to get that way for a thin surplus by
ober gal x which is a new measure they put
in by that time. But it's about our fiscal plan.
We're going to work through it carefully and we will
announce it in due course. It's time.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
But the problem you've got, Barbara, is that it's not
adding up right. You've promised so many things. You've promised
to restore so many things. This is going to mean
either borrowing or taxing or pushing surplus out or three
which will it be.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
And it'll be about possibly also changing things that the
government said that they're funding again. They've given a lot
of tax breaks to different sectors. It's all about choices.
Every political party will have that choice. We've still got
another budget to go and we will make sure that
our fiscal plan is measured, it's responsible and it adds up.
We didn't promise two hundred and fifty dollars of tax

(05:25):
cuts to people. We still can't find a family who
actually got the four to fifty.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Barbara, appreciate your time this morning. Barbara Edmonds, Labor's finance spokesperson.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Listen live to News Talk Set B from five am weekdays,
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