Finance Minister Grant Robertson has taken the opportunity to reflect on Labour's five years in Government as of October 25, saying he was proud of its economic achievements, including record-low unemployment, a bounce-back in economic growth, more house building and the fastest house-building since the 1970s.
Robertson rejected criticism of the Government's reset of Kiwibuild and denied any regret about the $55b of Reserve Bank money printing and loosening of lending rules that has been blamed for a 45% increase in house prices in the first 18 months of Covid.
He made the comments in Parliamentary Question Time and in a post-cabinet news conference as Acting Prime Minister, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was flying to Antarctica (although her flight turned back to Christchurch on Monday afternoon).
He also made the comments after returning from meetings with the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC.
"Much of the discussion revolved around the reaction of the financial markets to the UK's mini budget, the energy crisis in Europe, the US and China relationship and the state of globalization in an increasingly polarized world," Roberts said.
"New Zealand's prospects are very much tied to events overseas, and there will be impacts on our economic prospects from what is happening globally, but I remain convinced that New Zealand is as well placed as any other country to deal with what will be a difficult year ahead," he said.
"A record number of New Zealanders are in paid work. We produce goods and services the world wants. Our books are among the world's best with debt levels well below those of our peers, and we are among small number of countries with some of the best credit ratings in the world from the leading ratings agencies.
"There is also a cause for optimism as we welcome summer, and with that, the ongoing return of international tourists and the important economic boost accompanying them."
Robertson said international card spending was at 88% of pre-Covid levels in August and an expected $350m to $500m was expected to be spent by cruise ship passengers this summer.
"While we can be optimistic for the future, we continue to take a balanced approach and to target our spending where it is needed most. While investing in building an economy that is more resilient and provides greater economic security for New Zealanders. The government, like all our other households in the country, is adapting to circumstances that are outside our control," Robertson said.
"There are no costless decisions and tough choices still need to be. But we do so with a focus on what matters to New Zealanders, growing wages and cost of living pressures, hospitals, schools, housing, and addressing climate change while ensuring we do get onto a sustainable pathway back to surplus and lower our debt as a proportion of GDP in line with long term averages. Those that make promises that are un-costed, untargeted, and inequitable, put that jeopardy as we have seen in the United Kingdom."
Robertson defended the Government's record on house building and pointed to economists' forecasts that supply would meet demand in Auckland next year. He said the Government would continue to build and fund infrastructure after that.
Robertson vs Willis in Parliament
Earlier, Robertson talked in Parliament about the Government's employment record and how manufacturing and services were growing, while they were contracting in the US, UK and Europe.
Opposition Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis challenged Robertson to repeat comments made in an earlier interview about the opportunity for tax cuts.
He responded that: "Total personal income tax payments represented 41.6% of total tax revenue in the 2022 year just ended, compared to 41.5% of total tax revenue in 2017—that would be an increase of 0.1%," he said.
Willis then challenged Robertson about the Government's 16% increase in spending while workers real wages had fallen 3.7%.
"When you take out the emergency Covid spending, the Government spending as a percentage of GDP was 30.9%. That is, effectively, the long-run average. The member might also recall that when her party was in office, following on from the Canterbury earthquakes, spending reached as high as 34% of GDP and then came down. We're at 35% in the face of an even bigger economic shock."
Question 4 - Nicola Willis to the Minister of Finance from New Zealand Parliament on Vimeo.
89 Comments
Everything failed. If only they admitted their mistakes and learned from them imagine where we could have been now. The following would have been actually delivered = 100,000 new homes, Auckland airport rail link, second harbour crossing, solid transport system accommodating everyone enough to have 50% of cars removed from the road, rail freight increasing 500%, no truancy from schools, higher education levels than all OECD countries, no gang activity in NZ, zero crime, bike trails throughout the Motu, emissions free farming, country covered in carbon absorbing trees, seaweed farms to do the same, zero climate change conditions (ie perfect snow in the north island)...ahhh but to dream of what could have been
Its the new normal in politics (globally). Do not apologise, do not admit mistakes, tell the voters you will do whatever they want.. then once elected ignore all your promises and just meet the needs and wants of your donors and mates.
Exactly what happened in the uk.. and now the tories have become so desparate to cling to power they will make anyone the PM. So they have elected the king of the elite, a powerful banker and hedge fund manager more wealthy and better connected than the king and possibly one of the richest families in the Uk/world - the very people that are causing the problems. Similarly we may soon elect a wealthy 7house luxon.. the very of type landlord that caused our issues. I wouldnt expect either to act in the interests of the people over themselves and their mates.. and i think thye dont even really hide it.
Check this out, dear lord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Robertson
Thank you, GR, for those few words from the trough.
Unfortunately, this guy's views matter, given govts have steadily bloated to spend 42% of GDP:
New Zealand - ratio of government expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) 2027 | Statista
The public sector headcount has increased by 30% since this man took office. 28% of public workers are now on 100k+ with agencies such as Ministry for Pasifika boasting 2/3rd of their staff earning six-figures.
At least, his own electorate has benefited big time from the taxpayer cash splash.
Robertson rejected criticism of the Government's reset of Kiwibuild and denied any regret about the $55b of Reserve Bank money printing and loosening of lending rules that has been blamed for a 45% increase in house prices in the first 18 months of Covid.
Interesting how he doesnt regret any of this stuff.. which led to this...
proud of its economic achievements, including record-low unemployment, a bounce-back in economic growth, more house building and the fastest house-building since the 1970s.
Maybe because the economic result of the two combined hasnt hit quite yet ....
..mor interesting will be to ask history books, the poor and disadvantaged and those that lose everything.. what they think about his legacy in about 5 years.
Agree but in the past we have exploited peoples wants well..... now we stop looking for oil and gas... ban nurses and others from entering nz, charge nurses from the Philopines 30k to get there NZ certs.... its a total mess, all we do is farm homeless people in one of our best tourist towns.... while pissing off the real farmers.... total mess - forgot to add, we pay rich people to buy teslas..... these a^$ clowns have to go
Agree but in the past we have exploited peoples wants well..... now we stop looking for oil and gas... ban nurses and others from entering nz, charge nurses from the Philopines 30k to get there NZ certs.... its a total mess, all we do is farm homeless people in one of our best tourist towns.... while pissing off the real farmers.... total mess - forgot to add, we pay rich people to buy teslas..... these a^$ clowns have to go
The education rort is toast in my opinion. NZ was never going to attract the best, brightest, and most ambitious from Asia. They all get snapped up by the top U.S. schools. And the size of prize for the students is bigger post-study in terms of career advancement.
If find it interesting that in corporate life, being frank and up-front about your successes and failures, is a positive, that garners engagement and perception of performance, while the same never seems to happen with politics.
I don't know if it's proven to be inherently unsuccessful in politics, or just never been tried....
Democracy does look crap until you look at China and then think you would never get a chance to vote Labour out...... I think ACT are going to get a LOT of votes. The country needs a big push right but Nats need to hold centre ground, if the left doesn't turn up (like recent council elections) it will be a clean out of labour and any quality will quit knowing they are years from power..... Without Winstone we would never had had these clowns in the first place
The right will undoubtedly be extremely aware & wary of the point you make. And the left don’t think they need them any more than they want them. That puts them squarely in no man’s land. All of that will show up on election night and that will be their swan song.
If find it interesting that in corporate life, being frank and up-front about your successes and failures, is a positive, that garners engagement and perception of performance, while the same never seems to happen with politics.
So true. Real champions don't spend their time patting themselves on the back.
“Robertson denied any regret about the $55b of Reserve Bank money printing”
”Robertson said he was proud of NZ’s economic achievements”
It is hard to believe Robertson believes NZ is doing well economically. Excessive money printing & excessive government spending has not resulted in better outcomes for NZ. There also appears to be no plan to grow GDP & that will be a big problem for NZ as it won’t be able to repay its debts in a timely manner.
NZ like Britain is a nation that now runs what are known as “twin deficits” — that is, NZ imports more than it exports and our government borrows to keep our country functioning.
NZ’s currency has now fallen 20% against the USD since July 21. This drop in NZD shows an increasing lack of confidence in the NZ economy.
The Crown accounts for the year ending 30 Jun 22 showed a $9.7 billion deficit.
NZ’s current account deficit (Exports - Imports) of $27 billion for year ending 30 Jun 22 or $5k per person shows that NZ is living beyond its means. This deficit has to be funded from overseas cash inflows.
The Reserve Bank has forecasted 13 consecutive quarters of GDP growth between 0.0% & 0.6% which now seems way too optimistic given its forecast for NZD is way higher than its current value.
A hard landing is now a greater than 50% probability & stagflation (no GDP growth, high inflation) is the probable outcome in next 12 months.
So Grant if you think NZ is doing well economically you have a very low bar for success.
Robertson believes what Robertson says. It doesn’t matter what anybody else believes, because he is the Finance Minister and what he says goes. At the risk of flirting with Godwin’s law , it reminds of reading how leading Nazis complained to Hitler about his deputy Hermann Goering’s incessant lying. For which the response was something like - hell, what am I supposed to do, even Goering doesn’t know when Goering is lying.
Robertson is proud NZ is an overpriced hell-hole, with taxes increasing by stealth and with little to no oversight over the regulatory body supposed to oversee financial stability that may have set us on course for a horrific recession?
I mean there's setting the bar low and then there's just leaving it on the floor and hoping no one will notice.
Maybe if I was ten years younger. The missus and GV 27 jnr might be a bit upset if I decided to up sticks and go to Europe for a couple of years.
Sadly living overseas isn't an option, for medical and family reasons. But I despair for our country if the only way to get ahead is to not live in it, and that becomes the default expectation.
So Aussie have decided to build 1 million affordable homes, how many kiwis will leave to that future....... https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/chalmers-strikes-deal-to-use-super… unlike NZ Labour they will deliver. with kiwi builders and residents
You read any public forum currently and it is blatantly obvious that the vast majority of NZ’ers feel we are in a bad place currently and still heading in the wrong direction, just look around. The Govt continually blowing their own trumpet about what a great job they are doing is just going to hasten their demise from here on in. Keep blowing I say.
IDK there seems to be a group of people out there who have now decided the response to indexing inflation is that it's actually good the government hikes revenues by stealth and people get to keep less and less of their real wages because we can't be trusted or some such. I have a hard time keeping up with whatever playbook they're using to justify over more and more people struggling financially and getting closer to the breadline. Seems kind of immoral to me, but then again I tend to judge books by their content, not what colour the cover is.
Most don't realize they live in a communist state. A labour government left of the greens. WOW. And you all voted for it. Too many touchy touchy feely feely oh my gosh don't say hello to that person walking down the street they might crack under the pressure.
It's time this country woke up and hardened up. Grow some testicles NZ
Shambles, absolute bloody shambles. I don’t take myself to be a buddying economist or even politically astute for that matter, however, I can spot a shipwreck through my rose tinted binoculars when I see one. I am flabbergasted at the ineptitude of this five year failure of a government, it’s got the be one of the best examples of how not to govern.
Three waters and the ‘to be’ attempted thievery of the rate payers property. Lack of consultation and less than impressive communication with local councils, a true showcase of the most transparent government.
Extended Covid 19 controls strangling industries into submission and then tapping out with just one final breath left. Leaving them gasping for air as they navigate their way through extreme turbulence trying to recruit and retain staff through higher wages and added incentives and drive customers through their doors for them to thrown the overpriced beer in their face and refuse to pay the bill.
Grant Al Bundy Robertson’s approach to dishing out wads of cash to fire up the furnaces for it all to blow up in his face has been at the core of this problem, now we are seeing the highest level of inflation in 30 years. Business’s bucking as they try sidestep their way through this cost of living crisis, which by the way, denied until there could be no more denying.
The crime rate is excessive, ram raid your heart out and face little consequence and while your at it they will wipe the community service hours off these offenders. Fair enough I guess, they have been ridiculed enough through their Tik Tok video uploads.
Healthcare and everyday kiwi’s needs are hardly being met, A. Little bit more effort required here. How about relaxing the immigration threshold and allowing vetted skilled healthcare professionals though the doors to assist with the seismic pressure that is upon our healthcare system.
Don’t get me started on the pot holes.
Oh so you think he's wrong.
Tell me.... When YOU voted for labour did you read their election manifesto? Where did it state 3 waters? Where did it state co-governance?
Oh come on now.... Why don't you actually debunk each of his points? It's because either you can't or just can't.
Look at the facts the guy is right.
And you know what, the economic debacle of this labour government will be etched into living memory for a generation.
Labour will never get back into power because it has screwed the country more than anyone ever thought was possible. RIP LABOUR ⚰️
When YOU voted for labour did you read their election manifesto?
Of course. Do you not actually read what parties say they'll do and vote according to who you'd rather have a beer with or some other equally asinine method of picking who is best to run the country?
Where did it state 3 waters?
Well their manifesto is here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13uhcVrn8HUXEoWoPQgkJYjHX_d_Za-O0/view
So page 19.
Where did it state co-governance?
Page 15.
The issue of co-governance pre-cedes Labour's manifesto.
20 APRIL 2010
National Govt to support UN rights declaration
The statement in support of the declaration:
- acknowledges that Maori hold a special status as tangata whenua, the indigenous people of New Zealand and have an interest in all policy and legislative matters;
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-govt-support-un-rights-dec…
"Labour will reform New Zealand’s drinking water and waste water system and upgrade water infrastructure to create jobs across the country." Conveniently a very broad statement. You could drive a barge pole through it. Once the detail was known, that's when the furore started.
"Māori Manifesto sets out our commitment to continuing on the partnership path with Māori and looks to take bolder steps to create the change we need to finally realise the promise of Te Tiriti – Governance, Rangatiratanga and equality for all. "
Some semantics. partnership and co-governance. I don't see them as being the same. Partnerships can have different proportions and types Labours is 50/50. Co-governance can almost mean anything and in Labours case its 50/50 as well.
I didn't realise there was promise in the Treaty of Waitangi on governance. Must be Labours view of the Treaty.
The translation of Rangatiratanga is - the right of Maori people to rule themselves; self-determination.
That's in complete conflict with partnership and co-governance.
"
The honourable member for Wellington doesn't point out to that our trade deficit is at a record level of 13.2 bn NZD; our current account deficit is at a record level even worse with 27.2 bn NZD; his OBEGAL sits at a deficit of $9.6 bn NZD. And ... we all expect foreign funders to pay for it without a risk premium. There is a reason why our swap rates are higher than other developed countries with higher debts. But that he wisely does not mention!!
Peter, I need you to understand something.....
Grant doesn't know what a deficit is. He somehow thinks a wellbeing budget means his actions have no consequences.
That's why you never hear what the obegal is when the budget is presented.
What a disgrace...... But what do you expect, most kiwis don't know what obegal is either. But I do, and I totally get you. Shame isn't it. It's a travesty it really is
Why is it always the health system and governments ('someone elses') fault. Demand is the major spoken problem, w 30% of negative health outcomes lifestyle related ( refer any government report or meta study on morbidity and mortality). The public need to wake up and prioritize health.
What an absolute joke!
Struggling to think of any social, economical, cultural or fiscal matrix in which New Zealand isn't literally falling off the cliff!
And this nonsensical comparison "but everywhere is worse, look at Europe, fear tactics....." is C grade theatre!
I'm living in Spain where the education system isn't telling my daughters they are colonist pigs, where no one has ram raided a local shop in 3 months (take that Auckland!), where electricity and general cost of living is 30% lower than NZ and oh, the local job market is just fine, thank you very much!
I hear more about Putin from NZ's MSM than anyone here on the street!
Most of all, the defining difference, is the positivity! People just being civil and nice to one another! CIVILIZED SOCIETY......
That deluded GR and his band of morons are causing sabotage and he's "proud"!
Oh, dream weaver, I believe you can........(keep singing GR!)
What did they expect when they pushed fear to control and ousted key workers out of jobs through mandates under the guise of preventing the health system from crumbling. NZers have been bamboozled with so much COVID advertising, negative media coverage that judgementalism and mental health decline have been seeded into society deeper than ever. It is time to heal and come together, but who would have thought that the party who told us to band together as a team of 5 million would ultimately be the reason we all band back together to get them out of our lives so we can move on for the betterment of the country
That's because big firms aren't eating costs, they're lifting rates and maintaining their margins. Meanwhile non-listed businesses or businesses operating with a distributor set pricing model can't just keep hiking prices and milking their customers for their shareholders' benefit
This man is still not able to take any responsibility for his part in the huge cost of living crisis, the huge increase in house prices..and on it goes. I’m totally disillusioned with Grant Robinson. When Auckland businesses opened after 4 months of lockdowns he was nowhere to be seen.
He thinks throwing money at situations is the answer.
"Team of 5 million" is a communist rallying cry. That team has dropped from the Premier League and is now fighting for survival in the 2nd division. The team has two co-captains that have been appointed base on sex and race.
They've invested a $billions in the backroom staff, club culture and advertising, but the star players are all leaving for better money in the higher playing clubs and opportunity to play in a higher league.
The Manager talks a great talk but has lost the confidence of her supporters. She is looking to move on to another role in one of the big clubs too. And the supporters are starting to riot.
I can barely wait for the next election to vote these amateurs out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Robertson
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