Nicola Willis: Finance Minister on the Government's plan to boost economic hopes ahead of election

New polling data has revealed less Kiwis have faith the current Government can turn the economy around ahead of the upcoming election.

A New Zealand Herald-Kantar poll has found voters are evenly split on Labour's proposed capital gains tax and about 45 percent of respondents in an IPSOS survey scored the Luxon-led Government below 3 out of 10.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it's clear a significant number of people are still opposed to the capital gains tax and  the Government has plenty of time to expose the negative impacts.

"There's also a big, undecided group in the middle and those are the people that we will be speaking to between now and the election."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
We're Business meets Insight the Business Hour with Rayan Breach
and Mass Motor Vehicle Insurance. Your futures in good hands,
News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
That'd be good evening, six after sixth grade to have
your company coming up this hour, we will look at
the Greens mining announcement that they've made today. You could
drive a truck through the holes in it. Also Shane
Solely on the Market's Gavin Graham the UK for US Starman.
They're trying to crack down on a legal migration, finally
doing something, being pushed by Farage into that. Joining me
first those Nicola Willis Finance Minister. Minister, good evening, good evening,

(00:36):
Good to have you on the show. Let's start with
this polling around the capital gains tax. What do you
think does it look like you're in the IPSOS polling,
It looks like you've lost the room.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Well on the capital gains tax. You can see that
already significant numbers of people oppose that tax. And I
tell you what, between now an election day, we will
have a lot more opportunities to point out out the
significant negative effects that will have on groups of voters
and the economy. So I expect the numbers and support
will continue to fall.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
But the numbers and support are the same as the
ones apposed, aren't they.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
There's also a big undecided group in the middle run,
and those are the people that we will be speaking
to between now and the election. And I also think
some of the people who may at this stage be
saying they support it haven't yet recognized the impact it
could have on them, their family, their business, their employer.
And so we have a job between now and the
election to make sure everyone understands what labor are threatening

(01:34):
to do.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Are you convincing though? Do you think you're convincing, because
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
It's pretty convincing that labor have a track record, which
is they waste a heck of a load of money,
then they run out of money, so they come after
your money. And whenever they say they're going to do
a little tax, they end up doing a big tex
This makes sense, everyone understands and suit it. An additional
tax isn't good for anything.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
But this is the problem. You have been saying this
for two years now. Do people actually think that or
are I When you look at the IPSOS poll, you're
no longer the most trusted party on the economy, you're
no longer the most trusted party on the cost of living,
You're no longer the most trusted party on most issues.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Well, I think in terms of that IPSOS pole, it
is at a point in time where I think many
of us me and the government are included, want to
see the economy performing better. It's at one point in time.
It's one pole between now an election day. There are
twelve months to go. I'm confident the economy will be
performing a lot better over the next few months. And

(02:34):
when New zealand Is are faced with the basic question,
who do you trust to strengthen the economy going forward?
The people who got us into the mess with all
of the extra debt and inflation and the rapidly rising
interest rates, or the people have had to do the
hard yards of digging us out of that, who have
actually delivered stable inflation, dropped interest rates and a growing economy.

(02:56):
I think they will choose National.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Thanks for letting us know the elections in November, much appreciated, Minister.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
A year or so from now, right, No, you.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Said twelve months, Minister, So I am listening to that,
but you know, you.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Know it's not my promise to make though it's the
Prime Minister.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh, I know, you don't have to. It was your
mistake to make That's what it was when you when
you appointed Andrew Costa, what exactly did you know? Did
you know at that point this is to the Social
Development Agency as Social Investment agency? Did you know at
that point that he had been involved with MC skimming
and that there was the MC skimming affair situation bubbling away?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
So he was appointed to the Social Investment Agency in September. Yeah,
and the complaint which the Independent Police Conduct Authority have investigated,
wasn't referred to them until October yep.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
But his contract didn't start until November eleven, and the
Minister Mitchell found out November sixth. When did you find out?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Well, I was briefed that there was the conduct complaint
going on, and around December I was informed by Andrew
Costa that he was being interviewed as part of that investigation.
And it has always been my position and other minister's position,
that that investigation needed to be conducted thoroughly and fairly,

(04:20):
and that no one should be leaping to any conclusions
about it until it had conducted its process.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
So you were saying minister, you weren't told by your
colleague Mark Mitchell anything to do with this until December.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
No, what I'm saying is that Andrew Costa informed me
in December that he was being interviewed as part of
the process I had.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
When you found out? Right, So when did you find out?

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Well, you recall at that time was the Public Services
Minister and so as part of that, of course, the
mix skimming appointment had been put on hold. And so
I've been informed of the PCA investigations in that capacity.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Right, and yet so why did you, I mean, why
did we let this appointment proceed?

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Which appointment of Costa? Well, as I said to you,
he was appointed in September and the complaint wasn't made
to the IPCA until October.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, but it's contracted to the start till November eleven.
So you could have canned before.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
We couldn't have, but but ran We couldn't have prejudged
what the outcome of that investigation would be. That would
not have been, that would have been.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
So you knew there was something going on, but you couldn't.
You were powerless to do anything about it? Was that?
Were you a bit worried?

Speaker 3 (05:40):
I certainly didn't know the conclusions that the report has made.
In particular, I didn't know that information had been withheld
from the Public Service Commission about the nature of mix
skimming's previous relationships. I didn't know that proper investigation had
not occurred into complaints that had been made. I didn't
know that it attempts were made to rush that investigation

(06:03):
and indeed our THEIPCA to conclude its findings quickly. None
of that was known to me.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Now that you know it, do you trust him?

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Now that I know it? I am concerned. As I've said,
I was shocked and appalled when I read the conclusions
of that report, and having read that report, I rang
the Public Service Commissioner to convey my views about its findings.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
This Uber decision, the government's going to be legislating in
this area anyway? Does that sort of because there's a
thousand Uber members who are union members who aren't part
of this case. There's only four members part of this
particular case, but it could have wider implications for all
unionized Uber drivers. Will you stop that from happening?

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, we knew that there had been some certainty about
this area of the law, which is why the government
had moved to provide more clarity so that everyone would
know where they stood going forward. The courts obviously have
made their decision, which we need to respect. I haven't
read the full judgment yet, so I can't give you
an interpretation of its full impact. But in general, the

(07:05):
government is very reluctant to retrospectively legislate on these matters.
So our position would be about the arrangements going forward.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Carbon price, carbon market. The price of carbon units about
sixty percent of what it was two weeks ago, even
before the government announced a bunch of changes, you know,
decoupling all that sort of stuff. Is this market credible?
I mean, you've got people coming out now saying basically,
just cancel it.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Well, we are committed to the emissions trading system and
from our perspective, aligning the ets with our domestic targets
makes the most sense and is consistent with the law
which binds us on our mission reduction plans. And actually
our decisions are in that nature are working. We're seeing
decarbonization across the economy. We're seeing that we're on target

(07:52):
to meet our missions reductions plans, and the ETES is
playing a very critical role in all of that. So
my message back to the market would be that the
emissions trading scheme is central to the government's and mission
reduction objectives and we intend that it should continue to be.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
You heard anything about the warehouse getting into supermarkets?

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Oh, that's something that I hear about from people all
the time.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Okay, what have you heard?

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Well, I hear people speculating about it, and I always say, well,
the people to ask about their business plans are the
warehouse themselves, not me.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Minister, appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with
me tonight. That's Nichola Willis, Finance Minister. Quarter past Sex
News Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
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