July 1, 2025 • 7 mins
We ask the Prime Minister if he’s doing a Sir Keir Starmer; excelling on the world stage and dropping the ball at home on the domestic front? And does he have a “Big Beautiful Bill” waiting in the wings?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wednesdays on the Country, the Prime Minister kicks off the show,
except last week when he was doing work on our
behalf offshore NATO, and of course before that China. Let's
have a look at those trips, Prime Minister. You're getting
good reviews for your work there, not such stunning reviews
on the domestic front. But let's concentrate on China to
(00:20):
start with.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, look amazing places. You know, Jamie and I had
felt that New Zealand had lost a lot of awareness
within China. So really it's a big opportunity for us
to deepen our economic relationships. While I was there, we
did about one point two billion dollars worth of deals,
about four hundred million dollars in meat and horticulture and
dairy and it's a massive economy. It's the second biggest economy,
(00:43):
it's our biggest trading partner. And you know, even so,
there's still so much more opportunity because there's five hundred
million people in the middle class living like a standard
living similar to what we have here in New Zealand.
So yeah, that's a huge opportunity for us. So it
was just about raising our profile and we had you know,
Fonterra along with US Miles, we had Nathan guys brilliant
(01:04):
on the meat industry is doing a great job there.
There's lots of opportunity for red meat actually in China.
And you know we had all the key sector leaders
and CEOs with us, which was fantastic. And so that
was a really successful trip and good just to raise
the profile of New Zealand, to sell more primary industry products,
to sell more education and tourism and no, it's a
(01:25):
really successful.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Did you have to like tippy toe along a political
tight rope awe, but you know, cuddle up to President
She and Premiere Lee because they're a bit worried that
we're going the American way.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, I mean I've met with them before and being
very clear from day one, from when I became Prime minister,
you know, we have areas of collaboration and cooperation with China,
which there's still more for us to do together and
that's all good stuff. But yet we have different political systems,
we have different histories, we have different values, and we
have differences frankly as you do. Actually in all the
relationships are there with different countries and so it's important
(01:59):
if you've got a law standing and mature partnership and
relationship that's been over fifty years. You should be able
to talk about the differences up front and be very
direct about it as well, and that's the sign of
a strong part or good partnership, I think. So you know,
they know, you know. I raised and discussed all the
things that you know. We have our differences, but we
also talked about the areas where we can cooperate and
(02:19):
actually do more business together, which is important for New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
From there you went on to meet with the NATO
Secretary General, get it wrong, Mark Rutter, who was an
old mate yours or an old work colleague of yours
at UNI level. That's a handy connection.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah. He was the Dutch Prime minister for fourteen years
during the John Key era. He was probably one of
the most probably the most successful center right politician in
recent history. So he was Prime Minister of the Evidence
for a long time. And then obviously he has taken
on the role of Sextary General. But I flew straight
from Beijing into Brussels, and what was good there Jamie
was I've got to know she'll have underlyon who's the
(02:54):
President of the European Union, and I've been talking to
her obviously about you know, making sure that in a
world of tariffs and lots of trade uncertainty, that actually
Europe and the CPTPP countries actually continue to uphold the
trading laws and rules so that there's no tip for
tap punishments or breakdown in those rules. But the thing
about Europe's really exciting because Europe and the UK we've
(03:17):
historically had these old ties that go back one hundred
years or so, but we've also you know, we've not
had always in so far away, but we haven't had
new stuff to drive the relationship forward. And in both cases,
the FTA agreements have been really good. So if you
think about the last twelve months, we added an extra
extra billion dollars, it's up twenty five percent our exports
to Europe and you go to a place like the Netherlands.
(03:40):
I went to Rotterdam Port where most of our goods
go into and you know, it's fantastic. And there's also
investment coming out of Europe investing into New Zealand, you know,
so that was really good. So it was partly that,
and then obviously NATO was the security side, which Mark
or as you said, the Sixtra General of NATO around
and that was more about, you know, the things common
(04:00):
interest between us in the Indo Pacific region and the
things in the euro Atlantic region, and particularly the war
in Ukraine was a big focus point.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, are you talking about the europe war in Ukraine.
One man who's been at the forefront of negotiations around
that is Sekaia Starmer, the Labor Prime Minister in the UK.
Fran O Sullivan wrote an interesting piece in The Herald
suggesting that maybe you're doing a bit of a Sekaire starma,
excelling on the world stage, dropping the ball at home
(04:27):
on the domestic front. What do you say in your defense?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, what a load of rubbish. The bottom line is
I'm very focused on domestic New Zealand That's why I
go overseas is because everything I'm doing overseas is about
trying to help us grow our position and improve our
position here at home. One in four of our jobs
are actually tied to trade. Doubling our exports is really
important to It's a big goal, but it's important because
that's actually how we're leading our economy out of the
(04:52):
mess that we've been and just just think about it.
In the last quarter, we grew the economy zero point
eight percent, four times faster than Australia, faster than many
other Western economies. Why is that happening. It's happening because
if you look at our goods deficit, that went from
ten billion deficit down to three point eight billion in
less than twelve months. And that's because we're actually doing
the trade internationally that I need to be able to
(05:13):
sell to the world for so now, I'm really proud
of what we're doing to lift the intensity the trade
internationally and that's got real benefits for us here at home. Yep,
it's still tough, but look at it. Inflations from seven
to two point five percent, interest rates are coming down,
the economy is growing for the first time in a
long time. Unemployment's peaking and will start to come down
as well. Now we've got to push on and make
(05:34):
sure that people can feel it in their cost of living.
And I know that's been difficult, but you know that's
what happens thanks to a labor government that mismanaged the
economy for six years.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Let's just finish with Heartland New Zealand. You're there today.
I think with Sue's Redmain, the star of the Rural
Support Trust debate. She was great at field Days. She
got one of the best shots into the night. Mind you,
you've got a good one and we won't we won't
go there with that one.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But go there, Jamie. We're trying to for our relationship exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But let's just talk about sues Redmain and what you're
doing and what is it. Tye happy today, Yeah, tay
happy today.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to see some of the good stuff that's
happening in wool which is really great. There's some really
enterprising entrepreneurs that are doing an incredibly good job there.
But it's a chance to get out across ranger tech
A there's some there's some great companies in regional New Zealand.
I'm going to meet with PEC fuel Systems. I've got
Hotapo Pine. We're going to go meet with Honest Wall
(06:28):
for which the guys doing some creaticol entrepreneurial stuff and
with World as well. So you know, the great thing
is that for places like the fuel systems business, for
the pine and forestry businesses again, for them to actually
invest in new capital, plant and equipment by virtue of
the investment boost program that we've put in place, that's
again designed so we can get this economy moving and
(06:49):
growing into a much stronger place. So yes, it's good,
always good to get out of Wellington. And that's what
I try and do as fast as I can. Come
to Wellington, get out as quickly as possible, so you
can go see what's happening on real world.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, there you go. We'll enjoy your day and TI happy.
It's not too late to introduce a big, beautiful bill.
It's worked for Trump, it could work for you on
the home front. Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Always good to talking to Jamie. You take care of
a great week.
Wednesdays on the Country, the Prime Minister kicks off the show,
except last week when he was doing work on our
behalf offshore NATO, and of course before that China. Let's
have a look at those trips, Prime Minister. You're getting
good reviews for your work there, not such stunning reviews
on the domestic front. But let's concentrate on China to
(00:20):
start with.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, look amazing places. You know, Jamie and I had
felt that New Zealand had lost a lot of awareness
within China. So really it's a big opportunity for us
to deepen our economic relationships. While I was there, we
did about one point two billion dollars worth of deals,
about four hundred million dollars in meat and horticulture and
dairy and it's a massive economy. It's the second biggest economy,
(00:43):
it's our biggest trading partner. And you know, even so,
there's still so much more opportunity because there's five hundred
million people in the middle class living like a standard
living similar to what we have here in New Zealand.
So yeah, that's a huge opportunity for us. So it
was just about raising our profile and we had you know,
Fonterra along with US Miles, we had Nathan guys brilliant
(01:04):
on the meat industry is doing a great job there.
There's lots of opportunity for red meat actually in China.
And you know we had all the key sector leaders
and CEOs with us, which was fantastic. And so that
was a really successful trip and good just to raise
the profile of New Zealand, to sell more primary industry products,
to sell more education and tourism and no, it's a
(01:25):
really successful.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Did you have to like tippy toe along a political
tight rope awe, but you know, cuddle up to President
She and Premiere Lee because they're a bit worried that
we're going the American way.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, I mean I've met with them before and being
very clear from day one, from when I became Prime minister,
you know, we have areas of collaboration and cooperation with China,
which there's still more for us to do together and
that's all good stuff. But yet we have different political systems,
we have different histories, we have different values, and we
have differences frankly as you do. Actually in all the
relationships are there with different countries and so it's important
(01:59):
if you've got a law standing and mature partnership and
relationship that's been over fifty years. You should be able
to talk about the differences up front and be very
direct about it as well, and that's the sign of
a strong part or good partnership, I think. So you know,
they know, you know. I raised and discussed all the
things that you know. We have our differences, but we
also talked about the areas where we can cooperate and
(02:19):
actually do more business together, which is important for New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
From there you went on to meet with the NATO
Secretary General, get it wrong, Mark Rutter, who was an
old mate yours or an old work colleague of yours
at UNI level. That's a handy connection.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah. He was the Dutch Prime minister for fourteen years
during the John Key era. He was probably one of
the most probably the most successful center right politician in
recent history. So he was Prime Minister of the Evidence
for a long time. And then obviously he has taken
on the role of Sextary General. But I flew straight
from Beijing into Brussels, and what was good there Jamie
was I've got to know she'll have underlyon who's the
(02:54):
President of the European Union, and I've been talking to
her obviously about you know, making sure that in a
world of tariffs and lots of trade uncertainty, that actually
Europe and the CPTPP countries actually continue to uphold the
trading laws and rules so that there's no tip for
tap punishments or breakdown in those rules. But the thing
about Europe's really exciting because Europe and the UK we've
(03:17):
historically had these old ties that go back one hundred
years or so, but we've also you know, we've not
had always in so far away, but we haven't had
new stuff to drive the relationship forward. And in both cases,
the FTA agreements have been really good. So if you
think about the last twelve months, we added an extra
extra billion dollars, it's up twenty five percent our exports
to Europe and you go to a place like the Netherlands.
(03:40):
I went to Rotterdam Port where most of our goods
go into and you know, it's fantastic. And there's also
investment coming out of Europe investing into New Zealand, you know,
so that was really good. So it was partly that,
and then obviously NATO was the security side, which Mark
or as you said, the Sixtra General of NATO around
and that was more about, you know, the things common
(04:00):
interest between us in the Indo Pacific region and the
things in the euro Atlantic region, and particularly the war
in Ukraine was a big focus point.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, are you talking about the europe war in Ukraine.
One man who's been at the forefront of negotiations around
that is Sekaia Starmer, the Labor Prime Minister in the UK.
Fran O Sullivan wrote an interesting piece in The Herald
suggesting that maybe you're doing a bit of a Sekaire starma,
excelling on the world stage, dropping the ball at home
(04:27):
on the domestic front. What do you say in your defense?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, what a load of rubbish. The bottom line is
I'm very focused on domestic New Zealand That's why I
go overseas is because everything I'm doing overseas is about
trying to help us grow our position and improve our
position here at home. One in four of our jobs
are actually tied to trade. Doubling our exports is really
important to It's a big goal, but it's important because
that's actually how we're leading our economy out of the
(04:52):
mess that we've been and just just think about it.
In the last quarter, we grew the economy zero point
eight percent, four times faster than Australia, faster than many
other Western economies. Why is that happening. It's happening because
if you look at our goods deficit, that went from
ten billion deficit down to three point eight billion in
less than twelve months. And that's because we're actually doing
the trade internationally that I need to be able to
(05:13):
sell to the world for so now, I'm really proud
of what we're doing to lift the intensity the trade
internationally and that's got real benefits for us here at home. Yep,
it's still tough, but look at it. Inflations from seven
to two point five percent, interest rates are coming down,
the economy is growing for the first time in a
long time. Unemployment's peaking and will start to come down
as well. Now we've got to push on and make
(05:34):
sure that people can feel it in their cost of living.
And I know that's been difficult, but you know that's
what happens thanks to a labor government that mismanaged the
economy for six years.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Let's just finish with Heartland New Zealand. You're there today.
I think with Sue's Redmain, the star of the Rural
Support Trust debate. She was great at field Days. She
got one of the best shots into the night. Mind you,
you've got a good one and we won't we won't
go there with that one.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But go there, Jamie. We're trying to for our relationship exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But let's just talk about sues Redmain and what you're
doing and what is it. Tye happy today, Yeah, tay
happy today.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to see some of the good stuff that's
happening in wool which is really great. There's some really
enterprising entrepreneurs that are doing an incredibly good job there.
But it's a chance to get out across ranger tech
A there's some there's some great companies in regional New Zealand.
I'm going to meet with PEC fuel Systems. I've got
Hotapo Pine. We're going to go meet with Honest Wall
(06:28):
for which the guys doing some creaticol entrepreneurial stuff and
with World as well. So you know, the great thing
is that for places like the fuel systems business, for
the pine and forestry businesses again, for them to actually
invest in new capital, plant and equipment by virtue of
the investment boost program that we've put in place, that's
again designed so we can get this economy moving and
(06:49):
growing into a much stronger place. So yes, it's good,
always good to get out of Wellington. And that's what
I try and do as fast as I can. Come
to Wellington, get out as quickly as possible, so you
can go see what's happening on real world.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, there you go. We'll enjoy your day and TI happy.
It's not too late to introduce a big, beautiful bill.
It's worked for Trump, it could work for you on
the home front. Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Always good to talking to Jamie. You take care of
a great week.
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