Nicola Willis: Minister for Economic Growth on new portfolio

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has made a series of changes to his cabinet for the new year.

Melissa Lee has been demoted from his ministerial team, taking her economic development and ethnic communities portfolios off her.

Lee’s economic development portfolio had morphed into economic growth, which has been given to Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

“[Willis'] focus will be on leading the Government’s growth agenda to unleash the potential of our businesses to grow, develop talent and attract investment,” Luxon said.

Nicola Willis says signs of economic recovery are already starting to show.

"Our plan is about more than simply getting through the recent economic downturn."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has started the new year with
multiple changes to cabinet. Doctor Shane Letti has lost the
Health portfolio. Simon Brown becomes a new Minister for Health
while handing over his Transport portfolio to Chris Bishop Melissaly
is gone, losing the Economic Development portfolio, which is to
be renamed Economic Growth and handed to Finance Minister Nikola Willis.

(00:21):
Finance Minister and Minister of Economic Growth. Nikola Willis joins me. Now,
good morning, Nikola, thank you for your time.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good Marthery, great to be on the show.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Is this a new portfolio or just a new name.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it is a new portfolio because the Pen's given
me the mandate to make sure that across all of
the portfolios that make a difference to our businesses, exports,
our industries, our innovators, that we are doing all that
we can so that they can grow, so that they
can best more harm more people, add more value to
what they're doing. And so that means pulling that together

(00:55):
across government, working of course through the Economic Development Agency,
are and doing the work that has been done there
in the past, but building on that to really drive
our growth ad you forward.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
So how are you going to do that. What are
your plans for your extended role.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, my plans are to get alongside New Zealand small businesses,
our industry leaders, some of those entrepreneurs in our community,
and to work with them to say, Okay, what are
the things getting in your way that are making it
hard to do business in New Zealand. Because the truth
is when businesses are doing well, when they're investing, when

(01:32):
they're spending, when they're hiring people, that's when all New
Zealanders do well. And that's what we want to see.
And we know whether it's regulation, whether it's the way
the science system's working, whether it's the education system, infrastructure,
our investment rules, those things can really get in the way.
So we've been a government that's been making reforms across
all of those areas. But we want to keep going.

(01:54):
We want to go harder. We want to make this
one of the best places in the world to do
business because that will be fit everyday in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
So can you give me an example of how you
might work with another portfolio and another department.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, Well, a good example is the Science and Innovation Space.
Doctor Shane Reshi as a Minister for Science, Innovation and
Technology will take responsibility for delivering changes in that area.
My role will be to work with some of our
businesses and industries and to say what do you want
to see happening there, and then to make sure that

(02:26):
we're prioritizing that work effectively, that it's being delivered in
a timely fashion, and also to make sure it really
connects with that economic growth goal. Are we doing the
things in our science and innovation system that will make
New Zealand a wealthier place where people have better choices
and better jobs, and across all of the portfolios, whether
it's the commerce portfolio where we want to see greater

(02:48):
competition in many of our sectors, whether it's the infrastructure
portfolio where we want to see infrastructure delivered better. It's
about continuously working with ministers to say, Okay, we're doing
in a way that will make the ship go faster,
that will make New Zealand grow faster. So I'm looking
forward to it.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Minister, you said yesterday that you want to make New
Zealand a great place for the next generation. You spoke
about our children wanting to live here in New Zealand,
But what about Now what about the young people coming
out of university? What about people thinking of having a
family here in New Zealand. I mean we all want,
you know, we don't really want to wait and need
another generation for New Zealand to be a great place
to be.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Well, I know that that's exactly what I have in mind, Francisca.
My point is for them to want to stay here.
Those are exactly the young people I have in mind.
They need to see not just about what New Zealand's
doing now. They're thinking about what will my life be
like in New Zealand. And I'm raising a family of
my own when I'm here in my thirties, and I
want them to look at New Zealand and see, actually,

(03:47):
this is a country that's going to get beiser and better.
We've got enormous prospects and a world where there's huge
amounts of instability. Here, we are huge natural resources, incredible
sectors across our economy in a government who's going to
back them to grow so that this place will be
a place of great jobs and opportunities. That's what I
want our young people to see. That's exactly the agenda

(04:09):
that I want to try forward.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Nick and I thank you so much for your time
this morning. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
That was the new Minister of Economic Growth there, Nikola Willis.
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
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