David Seymour: Deputy Prime Minister says strikers haven't won the public's sentiment

The Deputy Prime Minister isn't buying the argument strikers have won the war on public sentiment.

Thousands downed tools across the education, health and public sector yesterday and took to the streets calling for better pay and working conditions. 

David Seymour - who's also the Associate Health Minister - told Ryan Bridge that it's important to talk about facts, rather than sentiment. 

He says the pay requests being made aren't sustainable with the Government's current finances. 

Seymour says teachers and nurses have had recent pay increases - more than many tax payers. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the mega strike's been and gone. What happens now?
David Seymour's Deputy Prime Minister Associate Health and Education, Good
morning minister, Good morning Ray. What's your take on the
public sentiment because from where I'm sitting, it seems like
the unions might have won the battle on this one.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, you can talk about sentiment, but we need to
stick to fact. The pay requests that are being made
just sustainable given the government's finances, and they are disconnected
from the reality that the New Zealanders who actually pay
the taxes to funds any increase have had themselves. You

(00:42):
look at teachers, fourteen and a half percent in the
last three years, sixty six percent or two thirds of
teachers paid over one hundred thousand dollars. In the case
of nurses, starting on seventy five under the office, they've
had someone who starts today as a nurse will be
on eighty six thousand dollars by next year as a graduate.

(01:06):
That's after a year's step and the rais that's being
offered that a nurse would top out at over one
hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year. I don't
think that that reality has really hit. But certainly those
conditions are pretty attractive compared with what most of the

(01:26):
people actually paying the taxes and who have to rearrange
their day yesterday, if they have children or who need
needed surgery yesterday, are getting themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Given that, will you then rule out reevaluating a fiscal
envelope to up an amount that might be offered by
the Public Service Commission or health en.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Z Well, I'm not going to make a decision like
that on the radio right now, but there are certain
realities that you know, there's a series of dominoes that
fall and you have to put them back up. We
had huge governments that led to huge inflation, that led
to high interest rates that led to a recession.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
So that we are now getting any more. They know
you won't give them any more than what you will Well, Amed, Well,
I'm just well, we'll negotiations, Runderway, I'm not going to negotiate.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
But we are now controlling the spending, we know, with
half the inflation, with half the interest rates, and we're
now getting the economy back on its feet. I mean,
that's the practical reality that New Zealand faces after the
last five years. Now, you know, there seems to be
a disconnect between that reality and some of the rhetorican
demands from the Union organizers.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Hey, minister, we headed a Trump going with sanctions against
Russia and oil companies overnight. Good news.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, look, it's it's pretty simple. There are some people
that fudge this, but you need some moral clarity. This
is an illegal war by Putin, who was a dictator,
and it's important not just for the Ukrainians' lives but
all of our freedom that Ukraine succeeds and pushes Russia out.

(03:05):
So that's been by personal position for a long time.
It's also our government's position.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
What about the you know, the Turkey, China, India buying
the oil. That's the real problem, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, I agree. I mean the intention of our government
and our allies is that Russia is not supported. If
people want to do that, then obviously we don't approve
of it. But you know, everyone has to decide what
sort of world they want to live in. If you'd
like one with the rule of law and strong international
borders where people can live peacefully, that's one option. The

(03:39):
other is that some states can alter their borders and
brutalize people by force. So that's another type of world,
but not the one that we want.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
David semi appreciate your time this morning. Thank you definitely,
Prime Minister Associate Health and Education. For more from Early
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