Ruth Richardson: Former Finance Minister on the need for a publicly funded election policy-costing unit

A former Finance Minister believes there's a need for a publicly funded body to find out what election promises would cost. 

Act and New Zealand First have shot down current Finance Minister Nicola Willis' proposal, which would have allowed resources from the public sector to cost policies of political parties up to 10 months before an election. 

Ruth Richardson was the Finance Minister in the 1990s and told Ryan Bridge Willis is on the right track, but the proposal falls short of what's required. 

She says we want a publicly resourced body, independent of the executive to ensure more informed public and parliamentary debate. 

Richardson says the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility is a gold standard example of what we should be creating. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking of a budget office, the government's voted against setting

(00:03):
up an independent costing his agency. This is an agency
that would have let political parties fact check their numbers
before making big promises and before the accusations start flying
inevitably about fiscal holes and fiscal cliffs and black holes.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis took the proposal to Cabinet Monday,
shot down by Act and New Zealand First Ruth Richardson,
former Finance Minister tax Payers Union chair, on the show

(00:25):
this morning. Good morning, good morning, thanks for being with me.
Do you are you disappointed that Seymour and Winston have
shut this down?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
No, I'm not. I mean, let's start with the problem
that the Minister was trying to solve. I mean, there's
a compelling case for a new fiscal institution that ensures
transparency and credibility in public finance management. And why because
we know the quality of fiscal management has declined, the
budget deficit is structural, and the politicians gained the system

(00:56):
so that my fiscal responsibility rules are no longer enough.
So the Minister was on the right track in recognizing
that action was required, but her proposal falls far short
of what is required?

Speaker 1 (01:10):
What is required then, do you think.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, what's required is that we want a publicly resourced
body that is independent of the executive and that ensures
more formal or more informed public and parliamentary debate. So
we need look no further than the Office of Budget

(01:32):
Responsibility in the United Kingdom, a little bit like the
one we've heard about in the United States, and that
is a body that attends independently of the executive to
economic and fiscal forecasting, evaluating fiscal targets, scrutinizing policy costings,
and assessing fiscal sustainability and highlighting fiscal risks. Now that's

(01:55):
the gold standard, and that I assume is what ACT
in New Zealand first gunning for.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
So we could yet see a different iteration of this.
Is it really going to make a big difference to voters,
particularly around election time? I mean you look at the
Australians have got a form of this, and I mean
you still had you still had your fiscal clips, you
still had your black holes, you still had a lot
of uncertainty.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
No, Australia is not an example that we should be
looking to. We should start with my fiscal responsibility rules
understand they are necessary, but not sufficient. What do we
need to fix the fiscal disclosure problems now? We need
a gold standard institution independent of the executive, that gives

(02:39):
the public the figures that they can rely on publicly,
not stupid that they know that you cannot perpetually rack
up debts and run deficits. The new generation are basically
saying we're generation screwed because we have to pay the
price of all of this. So the public are wanting
figures that they can rely and they want an institution

(03:02):
that's got credibility and that institution is not a parliamentary
office subject to the dictate of public servants run by
the executive. They want an independent fiscal institution and that
I believe is now in public domain and there is
a compelling case for it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Ruth, appreciate your time this morning. Ruth Richardson Taxpayers Union
chare former finance minister. For more from earlier edition with
Ryan Bridge, Listen live to News Talks at be from
five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.