Nicola Willis: Finance Minister speaks ahead of Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update release

The Government's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update is due to be unveiled to the nation tomorrow, and the Finance Ministers outlined her expectations. 

Experts have speculated a projected surplus will be pushed back from 2029 by another year, and Prime Minister Chris Luxon tempered expectations earlier today.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says 'fiscal discipline' will see New Zealand's economy keep growing in the coming months.

"Importantly, I also get to update the Treasury's economic forecasts and that's what shows the picture for more job creation, income growth into the future, and people doing better."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we'll get to Shane Sully with the market shortly,
the MTA on Wafts and Gavin Gray out of the
UK before top of the hour. Right now, Nikola willis
the Finance when it joins me live minister, good evening,
good evening run. I'm assuming you would have been pleased
to see this statement that Arna Breman has come out
with the Reserve Bank governor kind of fixing up or
correcting what the market was interpreting from that November meeting.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, she did note that financial market conditions had tightened
beyond what was implied by the Reserve Bank central projection,
that they were monitoring that and would continue to assess it.
And I note that the market has responded since she
made that statement, with wholesale rates coming down.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's great. I mean, I know you can't direct the
Reserve Bank tell them what to do, but did you
say or give a nudge to say, hey, maybe you
need to clarify your position, or you know, tell us
what you really think about it something like that.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I think this is entirely consistent with what doctor Braman
has said she will do, which has been open, transparent,
clear communicator, and that's what she's achieved with the.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Statement, God, isn't it refreshing?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's good, she's great, She's a great appointment.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Ryan Right, did Cabinet talk about the terror attack in
Sydney today and if so, what was discussed?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, we did. We shared our concern how what was
clearly an anti Semitic attack and how vulnerable that makes
Jewish people feel around the world, but particularly here at home.
We talked about our shared support for that community and
our willingness to do what's required to ensure they continue

(01:36):
to feel safe here in New Zealand, and just our
general feeling of horror that such an event could occur,
in our sympathy for all Australians affected by it.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Could you get any updates on security alerts for New
Zealand whether we need to be more worried here?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
No, that wasn't what happened at cabinet, and regardless, we
don't comment publicly on matters of national security.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Debra Hart, who's with the Holocaust Center, she came on
the program today and unprompted, she singled out Chloe Swarbrick
for some of her language and rhetoric around Jewish people.
Do you think politicians need to take this as as
a sign to call the jets.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, yes they do. We need to be really careful
that in attacking the policies of a particular government, as
some political parties have done with regard to Israel, we
don't incite violence and hatred against the people, the Jewish people.
And there is no question I know from speaking to

(02:39):
the Jewish community that many in that community have felt
singled out by some of the rhetoric coming from politicians
in our parliament. There is no place for anti Semitism
in New Zealand. Every Jewish person in this country deserves
to feel safe.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
You've got the hay for coming out this week. And
while everyone reckons you're going to push a serpl so
I mean we did this, will you push the surplus
out or not dance last week? So we won't do
it again this week? But do you have any do
you have anything you want to say about that? Because people,
I think people are expecting it now, Minister.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
You see, well there's one sleep to go and tomorrow.
What I get to set out is the government's continued
path back to surplus, our path to bending the debt
curve down, all of which can be achieved with ongoing
fiscal discipline. Importantly, I also get to update the Treasury's
economic forecasts, and that's what shows the picture for more

(03:35):
job creation and come growth into the future, people doing better.
And then on Thursday we get the actual update to
what's happened in the economy over the past few months
and all the signs from economists, including my own, that
we actually grew faster in that September quarter than anyone
was previously prepared to predict.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, let's talk about the debate. It's I'm calling it
a weird debate because it seems it's gone on too long. Like,
just do it, or just shut up a bit.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
I'll look home with you, Ryan. We've booked a venue.
All that matters to me is there's a moderator. The
tax payers Union can live with that, all media can
be there, happens this week so that we can get
it done. I'm up for it. But look, it seems
that there's all sorts of coming and going from the
other side. Frankly, if they don't want to have the debate,

(04:27):
that's on them.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
So so what was what moderators did you agree to?
You agreed to the Bank the Cameron Bagriy, Winston Peters
and they won't agree to that or something like that.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
So yeah, we said, look, cam Bag, refine, Winston Peter's fine,
Toby manheih, fine, that doesn't really matter to us. The
key thing is I didn't want the timing to clash
with the release of GDP economic data on thusday, and
that I thought it was important that all media be
able to cover the event. Other than that, I don't
really care.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Let's do it, Okay, Well they wanted to have it
on this program, So did you not agree to that?
What's wrong with this program?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Look, I'm an equal opportunity player and I didn't want
to preference one media outlet over another. There was interest
from everyone. TV and Z wanted to host.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
It, stuff wanted to host Who cares.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
New Zealand even put in a y me.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
You got radio, you got online, you got streaming, you
got you got everything under the sun, all handed to
you on a plant Minister.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
And well, I'd certainly want you to be covering it,
that's for sure, which is partly why we rejected the
idea of just doing it, for example, on the platform.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Let everyone did the platform get in there with a
bid too. Yes, did anyone not come in with a bid, Not.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
That I'm aware of. There was, There was widespread interest.
And look for me, you know, I want it to
be about the substance, which is that I have very
good answers to a lot of the half bait attext.
We'll have to be that particular lobby group mate, and
I would re relish the opportunity to give them rebuttal

(06:06):
in real time.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
We'll have to take you with for I suspect this
thing is not going to happen. It's going to be
for anyway, let's talk about that. So Avatar, by the way,
I saw you at the premiere, you looked fantastic in
the frock gown whatever it was, in the walking down
the red carpet. So that's great. What about what about
thank you?

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Thank you, run, thank you. This is totally what I
was expecting in my interview.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
This the rebate situation though, So James Cameron saying, you know,
this is good, but we could do more. Does he
have a point, because if it works, then you want
to be competitive, don't you.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well, look, we have made a confirmation that we're going
to continue that rebate, and that involved a big commitment
in this year's budget, and I've listened to the sector
who said to me, look, you need to make some
tweaks to this monaster if you want to attract more
international productions. We made some changes a few weeks ago
that have been welcomed by the sector and which actually

(07:06):
the Film Commission have told me has led to more
expressions of interest very rapidly following those changes. So look,
we're a listening government. We want the film sector to
succeed here and we'll make sure that those settings are
working to ensure we get international productions coming here, creating
keyw jobs, creating big Kiwi incomes. That's what we want
to see.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Brilliant. Hey minister, this will be our final chat for
the year. Well, I'm off on Thursday. You'll be off
whenever you're off. What are your plans this summer?

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Well, I'm very fortunate. I'm going to go to Riversdale
Beach on the Widded Upper Coast with our kids and
they'll be doing surf life saying, I'll be reading a
couple of novels and maybe having a gen T or two.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Enjoy well deserved rest. Nicola Willis, the Finance Minister for
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