The Economic Growth Minister says she's had another supermarket express their interest in setting up shop here.
Nicola Willis has repeated the call we need more competition to pressure prices.
Speaking last week, she said there's been some expressions of interest from overseas, but would not say who or how many,
Willis says since then, she's had another potential player get in touch.
She explained it was someone who contacted her office directly, saying they had a potential proposal to enter the market.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. Nikola Willis is the Finance Minister. Good evening,
Good evening, Ryan, Minister. I know that this is not
your particular purview the FMA, But have you been told
anything about an arrest in the devail case today?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
No? I have not been briefed on that, Ryan, Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Are you aware of it?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm not Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Inflation, we're obviously going to get a decision from the
Reserve Bank this week and I won't ask you to
comment on it because I know you can't. But Robert McCulloch,
who's the economist, he came on this show tonight and
he said, actually, they in terms of what they are
legally required to do the Reserve Bank, they have met
the standard. They have got inflation in the target range,
(00:39):
and that's all they're required to do under the changes
that you made to their remit.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Have listen, the sole mainainate of the Reserve Bank, by
law is price stability, and that's to find it as
getting inflation in that one to three percent bracket. And
like you said in your introduction, where is it now,
it's exactly at the midpoint, it's two percent.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
In terms of what their remit is, Minister have they
achieved it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, they are back on target, which is good news,
but there's also plenty of indicators suggesting there's a lot
of spere capacity in the economy. So the risk is
that if interest rates are kept restrictive, the nactual inflation
goes below the target ban. So those are the factors
that the Reserve Bank has to weigh up when it's
(01:26):
making its decision on the future of the official cash rate.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Was taking out the requirement to look at the wider
economy and to look at an employment etc. A mistake?
I mean, they could potentially not move down this week
on Wednesday because you took that out of their remit.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Absolutely not, that's not the case. They still have to
have a view to the stability of the economy. That's
still part of the way in which they make their
considerations under that statute. And they do have to have
avert a view on where inflation is going. And as
I say, it's not okay if inflation gets below one percent,
(02:05):
and they'll have a mind to that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Inflation is, as we're kind of been alluding to, the
beast is kind of being tamed and growth in you
focus for you.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Do you have a target in terms of growth, No,
I don't. I do want to see that the forecast
return to growth this year occurs. That's what both the
Reserve Band and the Treasury are forecasting. My role is
to influence the conditions in which growth can occur. Ultimately,
it will be up to individual employers to harm or people,
(02:37):
individual businesses to decide to expand individual entrepreneurs to start
a business. What I need to do is set conditions
in which all those decisions are a little easier.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Is it not a bit odd that this is a
government so focused on targets and quarterly reports and numbers
and aspirations, and to not have a target on your
biggest aspiration.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, let's remember this is all about Ryan. Ultimately, this
is about New Zealanders who have gone through a massive
cost of living crisis. Is still finding it pretty tough
with the cost of living actually, And what we're saying
is we're going to deliver the things that will make
a difference to your cost of living. So that's first
stopping out of control inflation, so prices aren't increasing as quickly, too,
(03:20):
creating conditions in which interest rates are coming down so
your mortgage isn't as expensive and three setting the condition
so the economy can grow, so that you actually have
the opportunity for faster growing wages which allow you to
get on top of those costs. So we are doing
a broad range of things to support all of that,
from delivering infrastructure to bringing on competition in the supermarket sector,
(03:45):
to improving our education system. All of those things support growth. Ultimately,
as I say, it is the decision of individual businesses
and entrepreneurs and others whether they invest in growth.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Business test reporting that you have come to an agreement
with New Zealand first on changes to the overseas investment.
This is about the foreign home buyers. True or false?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That is not something that has come to cabinet.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So you've been Is it something you've discussed with New
Zealand first?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I haven't directly knows PM. I can't speak for the PM.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Is National talking to New Zealand first about this? Is
it fair to say?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think both Winston Peters and me and Erica Stanford
and others have been open about the fact that there
is discussion happening about what are the conditions in which
we might want to relax those rules. How would we
satisfy ourselves that that was in the interests of New
Zealanders in New Zealand. Obviously, National came into the coalition
with a strong view on that New Zealand First and
(04:48):
other view, and we've continued to discuss that any.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Idea when it might go to cabinet. Nope, you said
during the election campaign you get seven hundred and forty
million a year from the two million plus. Have you
run the numbers on five million plus what you get?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
No? I haven't run those numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I come.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Because I haven't been asked to provide that support for
a specific proposal at the stage, right.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I see more as more. Is it fair to say
it's more at a leader to leader stage at this
point you haven't been brought in to get the numbers
or the details over that.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, I think that's a fair way to characterize it.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Fair enough. Hey, the prior event over the weekend, what
did you make of Destiny Church's protest? Well, Well, actually no,
let's put the protest to one side, because that's quite
a separate thing. It was the pushing and the shoving
and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, here's what I thought. If the complaint of the
Destiny Church was that they were worried about children getting scared.
Then actually what they did was scary because what children
saw was violence and an appropriate behavior by adults. So
in an attempt to some protect the children, I think
they did the very opposite.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Good point supermarkets. Who is this potential third supermarket player?
Is it LD?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Look? As I said, I'm not going to reveal the
interest that has come to us because there's a very
commercially sensitive expressions of interest. I can say that subsequent
to my remarks last week, we have had another unsolicited
proposal come in, which is good to see because what
we're saying is, look, if there are barriers to you
(06:32):
wanting to come to New Zealand, we're prepared to look
at them. Whether that's the Resource Management Act, the Overseas
Investment Act, any of the regulatory issues which may have
prevented people in the past from making these investments, we're
prepared to tackle. And that's attractive. Now. I can't promise
that someone will want to put their capital on the line,
but what I can do is do everything possible to
(06:53):
get a competitor in because I want New Zealanders to
have more affordable groceries, and I think the current model
is not serving us well and I'm determined to fix it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So you've had a second, what you've called an unsolicited offer.
What exactly does that mean? Have they said we will
come to we want to come to New Zealand, here's
a list of things you need to change before we do.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
In this instance, it's someone who contacted my office directly saying, look,
we have a potential proposal to enter your market. Who
can we engage with about how the government could facilitate that.
I've referred them to the National Infrastructure Agency, who are
set up to take these kinds of proposals and to
evaluate them, and we will work through that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And is this offshore I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, actually the nature of it could be a combination
of offshore and domestic.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay, a little copro. Thank you, minister. Great to have
you on the program as always on a Monday evening.
For more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive, listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Right now. Nikola Willis is the Finance Minister. Good evening,
Good evening, Ryan, Minister. I know that this is not
your particular purview the FMA, But have you been told
anything about an arrest in the devail case today?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
No? I have not been briefed on that, Ryan, Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Are you aware of it?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm not Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Inflation, we're obviously going to get a decision from the
Reserve Bank this week and I won't ask you to
comment on it because I know you can't. But Robert McCulloch,
who's the economist, he came on this show tonight and
he said, actually, they in terms of what they are
legally required to do the Reserve Bank, they have met
the standard. They have got inflation in the target range,
(00:39):
and that's all they're required to do under the changes
that you made to their remit.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Have listen, the sole mainainate of the Reserve Bank, by
law is price stability, and that's to find it as
getting inflation in that one to three percent bracket. And
like you said in your introduction, where is it now,
it's exactly at the midpoint, it's two percent.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
In terms of what their remit is, Minister have they
achieved it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, they are back on target, which is good news,
but there's also plenty of indicators suggesting there's a lot
of spere capacity in the economy. So the risk is
that if interest rates are kept restrictive, the nactual inflation
goes below the target ban. So those are the factors
that the Reserve Bank has to weigh up when it's
(01:26):
making its decision on the future of the official cash rate.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Was taking out the requirement to look at the wider
economy and to look at an employment etc. A mistake?
I mean, they could potentially not move down this week
on Wednesday because you took that out of their remit.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Absolutely not, that's not the case. They still have to
have a view to the stability of the economy. That's
still part of the way in which they make their
considerations under that statute. And they do have to have
avert a view on where inflation is going. And as
I say, it's not okay if inflation gets below one percent,
(02:05):
and they'll have a mind to that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Inflation is, as we're kind of been alluding to, the
beast is kind of being tamed and growth in you
focus for you.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Do you have a target in terms of growth, No,
I don't. I do want to see that the forecast
return to growth this year occurs. That's what both the
Reserve Band and the Treasury are forecasting. My role is
to influence the conditions in which growth can occur. Ultimately,
it will be up to individual employers to harm or people,
(02:37):
individual businesses to decide to expand individual entrepreneurs to start
a business. What I need to do is set conditions
in which all those decisions are a little easier.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Is it not a bit odd that this is a
government so focused on targets and quarterly reports and numbers
and aspirations, and to not have a target on your
biggest aspiration.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, let's remember this is all about Ryan. Ultimately, this
is about New Zealanders who have gone through a massive
cost of living crisis. Is still finding it pretty tough
with the cost of living actually, And what we're saying
is we're going to deliver the things that will make
a difference to your cost of living. So that's first
stopping out of control inflation, so prices aren't increasing as quickly, too,
(03:20):
creating conditions in which interest rates are coming down so
your mortgage isn't as expensive and three setting the condition
so the economy can grow, so that you actually have
the opportunity for faster growing wages which allow you to
get on top of those costs. So we are doing
a broad range of things to support all of that,
from delivering infrastructure to bringing on competition in the supermarket sector,
(03:45):
to improving our education system. All of those things support growth. Ultimately,
as I say, it is the decision of individual businesses
and entrepreneurs and others whether they invest in growth.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Business test reporting that you have come to an agreement
with New Zealand first on changes to the overseas investment.
This is about the foreign home buyers. True or false?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That is not something that has come to cabinet.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So you've been Is it something you've discussed with New
Zealand first?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I haven't directly knows PM. I can't speak for the PM.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Is National talking to New Zealand first about this? Is
it fair to say?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think both Winston Peters and me and Erica Stanford
and others have been open about the fact that there
is discussion happening about what are the conditions in which
we might want to relax those rules. How would we
satisfy ourselves that that was in the interests of New
Zealanders in New Zealand. Obviously, National came into the coalition
with a strong view on that New Zealand First and
(04:48):
other view, and we've continued to discuss that any.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Idea when it might go to cabinet. Nope, you said
during the election campaign you get seven hundred and forty
million a year from the two million plus. Have you
run the numbers on five million plus what you get?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
No? I haven't run those numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I come.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Because I haven't been asked to provide that support for
a specific proposal at the stage, right.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I see more as more. Is it fair to say
it's more at a leader to leader stage at this
point you haven't been brought in to get the numbers
or the details over that.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, I think that's a fair way to characterize it.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Fair enough. Hey, the prior event over the weekend, what
did you make of Destiny Church's protest? Well, Well, actually no,
let's put the protest to one side, because that's quite
a separate thing. It was the pushing and the shoving
and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, here's what I thought. If the complaint of the
Destiny Church was that they were worried about children getting scared.
Then actually what they did was scary because what children
saw was violence and an appropriate behavior by adults. So
in an attempt to some protect the children, I think
they did the very opposite.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Good point supermarkets. Who is this potential third supermarket player?
Is it LD?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Look? As I said, I'm not going to reveal the
interest that has come to us because there's a very
commercially sensitive expressions of interest. I can say that subsequent
to my remarks last week, we have had another unsolicited
proposal come in, which is good to see because what
we're saying is, look, if there are barriers to you
(06:32):
wanting to come to New Zealand, we're prepared to look
at them. Whether that's the Resource Management Act, the Overseas
Investment Act, any of the regulatory issues which may have
prevented people in the past from making these investments, we're
prepared to tackle. And that's attractive. Now. I can't promise
that someone will want to put their capital on the line,
but what I can do is do everything possible to
(06:53):
get a competitor in because I want New Zealanders to
have more affordable groceries, and I think the current model
is not serving us well and I'm determined to fix it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So you've had a second, what you've called an unsolicited offer.
What exactly does that mean? Have they said we will
come to we want to come to New Zealand, here's
a list of things you need to change before we do.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
In this instance, it's someone who contacted my office directly saying, look,
we have a potential proposal to enter your market. Who
can we engage with about how the government could facilitate that.
I've referred them to the National Infrastructure Agency, who are
set up to take these kinds of proposals and to
evaluate them, and we will work through that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And is this offshore I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, actually the nature of it could be a combination
of offshore and domestic.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay, a little copro. Thank you, minister. Great to have
you on the program as always on a Monday evening.
For more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive, listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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