Veteran Labour politician and Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his final speech in Parliament Wednesday evening before leaving politics for a new job at Otago University.
He has been in Parliament for 15 years, first winning Wellington Central in 2008, but his career stretches back to the fifth Labour Government as an advisor to Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Robertson twice put his hand up to lead the party while in opposition but was rejected both times. When a third opportunity arose in 2023, he no longer wanted it.
By that time he had been Finance Minister for almost six years and Deputy Prime Minister from 2020, including during the most tumultuous economic and social crisis in decades.
The fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic has overshadowed many of his other achievements, and may ultimately be the issue that defines his legacy.
While many praise Robertson for taking decisive action to stave off what looked likely to be a new Great Depression, others believe he spent too much and wracked up too much debt.
His big achievements outside of the Covid response included promoting a wellbeing approach to Government budgets and modernizing the Reserve Bank.
But other work, such as reforming the tax system, solving the housing crisis, and boosting productivity, remains unfinished.
Robertson’s colleagues have described him as being among NZ’s greatest finance ministers, while his opponents say he will go down in history as one of the worst.
His valedictory speech is an opportunity to define his legacy for himself. Watch below:
27 Comments
My god, if you are worried about virtue signalling have you taken a look at the lot who are currently in charge of the country?
Christopher Luxon 'this government is absolutely committed the countries carbon neutral 2050 targets. now excuse me I need to go and pass some laws under urgency to stop our emissions going down.
Simeon Brown. 'safety on the transport system is an absolute priority for me, now excucse me please i need to go and pass some laws under urgency to increase speed limits and cut funding for road safety'
While many praise Robertson for taking decisive action to stave off what looked likely to be a new Great Depression, others believe he spent too much and wracked up too much debt.
His big achievements outside of the Covid response included promoting a wellbeing approach to Government budgets and modernizing the Reserve Bank.
Lol "stave off what looked likely to be a new Great Depression"... "modernizing the Reserve Bank".. sounds like something Tova O'Brien would utter... just keep it simple... got his RBNZ appointee Orr to monetize all the wasteful crap spending with nothing to show for it, screwing all future/unborn NZers... reappointing Orr for 5 more years on an election year was the last middle finger to the country
I hope the doorknob hits him and his govt perks he takes with him on the way out. He leaves a legacy of plundering an emergency fund for virtue signalling projects for the govt of the day and persistently ignoring real data in the face of the public and blaming everything external to the failings of the economy. If there was a shred of humility at least we could have a shred of respect.
Here's what Paul Sheard said about that evil Govt debt that Grant increased:
It's not really debt. It's not something that has to be repaid. It's not something that's a burden on our grandchildren...
Paul was Vice Chairman and former Chief Economist at Standard & Poor's Global and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. His book 'The Power of Money' is a must read.
Grant's mistake (imho) was not that he increased private sector wealth in NZ (aka increased NZ Govt debt), but that he didn't then take that cash back from where it gathered. The Labour Govt gave hundreds of thousands of people billions of brand new Govt dollars, but this money was quickly gathered up by the rentiers who own wage-sucking assets like rental properties, supermarkets, and wholesalers. The money was then saved by the wealthiest few in term deposits or spent on imported Teslas, shares, jetskis, holidays, and techy toys. If you want to know where 'the money' is now, take a look at overseas savings (held in Govt bonds), which have more than doubled over the last few years to a record $87bn.
With the right tax settings, Govt could have quickly gathered in (cancelled out) that COVID rescue spending and prevented the current account blow out. Then Grant could have said, 'well that worked folks, now let's do that again for infrastructure... we'll spend $50bn and get loads of stuff built, and tax it back from the people that end up gathering all the cash up from the extra spending. Spend $50bn, tax $50bn back - no change to debt, no change to private sector wealth.
Thanks - I thought Grant was largely ineffective by the way - although he made the right call to spend in 2020. A good mind and orator wasted thereafter sadly. His advisors in the Labour Party, Treasury (and RBNZ) are to blame in large part. Remember - senior Treasury officials are still in Ministers' ears arguing for fiscal tightness - as we plummet into recession. Crazy.
What I saw when working inside the government machinery was the opposite - ministers dictating the narrative to officials, their ‘useful idiots’; so not the way you portray it. But perhaps it *is* like that in terms of Treasury + Minister of Finance (which wasn’t the space I was working in)
The money supply is expanded primarily through credit creation of private banks. That is called broad money. As debt is paid off, the money supply contracts. Incremental demand for debt keeps the money supply expanding.
The ability of firms, h'holds and individuals to borrow is constrained by their financial resources. Taxing back from the private sector (extinguishing the money supply) means less ability to borrow, therefore deflation.
Not wanting to speak for him too much, I believe Jfoe is talking about the tendency for govt spending and stimulus to filter it's way through to a very small group of high net worth individuals.
This money usually gets converted into assets as stored wealth, arguably not benefitting the broader society/economy. So taxing this group is viewed as a way to retain (or increase) the fortunes of the wider economy - because the money being taxed, potentially isn't really part of the money supply.
Never met the guy and I'm sure he is a nice enough person but my god, the egotistical self importance of these people is absolutely disgusting. He presided over one of the most horrific periods of financial miss management in NZ history, yet prances around like he should be showered with praise and accolades.
A perfect example of why the average NZ'er can in no way relate to our politicians, they live in an absoulte fantasy world removed from all reality and consequence.
Thanks for your service to NZ
Looking back I can see how being minister of sport, deputy PM, MP for Wellington, focusing on various rights meant he was sidetracked from the most important job being minister of Finance. Jacinda couldn't see that or lacked the talent pool to draw from but it took a jolt and demotion from Chris H to put some reality to the situation. Labour ranks decimated now with most key leaders including former PM and 2 deputies leaving
Hopefully each one of us reading this - and MPs from all parties can contribute to making NZ a thriving place to live in again, for current and future generations
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