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Speaker 1: With us now as Nichola willis the finance mister Hannikeler, Hi,

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Speaker 1: you eather. Now, when you guys made the decision that

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Speaker 1: you would tell those mayors and counselors last week you'd

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Speaker 1: only give them money if they rained in their spending,

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Speaker 1: were you expecting the reaction you got?

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Speaker 2: I didn't think that they would be so out of

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Speaker 2: touch with their rate payers. It really made me think,

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Speaker 2: have you not been listening to people? Because every second

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Speaker 2: person I come across in Wellington certainly is saying to me,

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Speaker 2: oh my gosh, have you got your rights bill yet?

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Speaker 2: It's frightening and so for mayors and counselors in some

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Speaker 2: cases to be so out of touch with that, and

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Speaker 2: a real worry.

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Speaker 1: Do do you spend much time talking to mayors and

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Speaker 1: counselors a little bit?

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Speaker 2: Because there are issues which are local issues and actually

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Speaker 2: we pass information between each other. Just the weekend I

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Speaker 2: had a counselor who came across someone who needs the

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Speaker 2: citizenship application, so he forwards that to me.

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Speaker 1: Do you ever get talking about this? Because I always wont?

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Speaker 1: I also wondered when I saw this reaction with well,

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Speaker 1: how do you not know that this is how we feel.

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Speaker 1: What's the vibe you're getting from.

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Speaker 2: The Well, it depends, doesn't it. They have different political

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Speaker 2: persuasions around a council table, and I think some of

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Speaker 2: us is a little bit of the center left center right.

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Speaker 2: Things that have people who as a general position, think

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Speaker 2: that you should be very careful with ratepayers or taxpayers money,

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Speaker 2: and you also have people who view that they've got

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Speaker 2: such magnificent ideas for how to spend it that we

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Speaker 2: should all listen up.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys seriously mean to set a cap on

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Speaker 1: how much rates could go up by or is that

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Speaker 1: just a threat?

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Speaker 2: Well, we are pretty serious. There's a few things that

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Speaker 2: we're doing. The first is that we're going to remove

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Speaker 2: the well being measures from the acts, which at the

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Speaker 2: moment is how they justify some of their spending. We

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Speaker 2: are looking into doing performance benchmarks so ratepayers have clear

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Speaker 2: information about how the local government entity is performing. And

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Speaker 2: then yes, we are exploring options to limit what councils

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Speaker 2: can spend their money on in the performance accountable things

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Speaker 2: like how much money they're spending the head of population

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Speaker 2: on basic services, how much money they're spending on various functions.

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Speaker 2: And then people can measure it up and say, oh,

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Speaker 2: why is my counsel putting so much money on that?

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Speaker 2: Or why have they got so many staff compared to

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Speaker 2: other councils, that sort of thing.

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Speaker 1: SEEZ, that sounds like a big piece of work. How

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Speaker 1: long is that going to take?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's something that Sam and Brown, our Minister for

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Speaker 2: Local Government, has said that he's going to go away

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Speaker 2: and explore where the Cabinet has said yes, please do so,

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Speaker 2: and he'll come back to us and you, of course fantastic.

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Speaker 1: Now listen, have you had any word from the Reserve

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Speaker 1: Bank on the recommendations that affect them out of that

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Speaker 1: Commu's Commission Banking study last week?

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Speaker 2: No, not yet, but I expect that I will engage

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Speaker 2: with them. I've got two pieces of work underway. One

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Speaker 2: is a rewrite of the Financial Policy Remits, which sets

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Speaker 2: the government's direction on how the Reserve Bank conducts its

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Speaker 2: functions there and I will work on that in consultation

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Speaker 2: what's the Reserve Bank? And then the second thing is

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Speaker 2: I'll be updating the expectations that I set to the

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Speaker 2: Reserve Bank. And one of the expectations are set as

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Speaker 2: I'll to hear how they intend to respond to the

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Speaker 2: recommendations from the comments.

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Speaker 1: If they're not obliged to, are they.

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Speaker 2: What they are obliged to do is make sure that

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Speaker 2: they meet the conditions of the policy remit we set.

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Speaker 1: That's right, They're not obliged to listen to the ComCom.

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Speaker 1: But you are choosing to listen to the ComCom and

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Speaker 1: you can force the Reserve Bank's hand.

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Speaker 2: Correct, We can make sure that they take it into account.

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Speaker 2: But also I can have a discussion with them here

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Speaker 2: if it becomes clear that they believe that the law

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Speaker 2: is precluding them from taking any particular actions, then we

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Speaker 2: can have a discussion about what amendments may be required.

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Speaker 2: But that may not be necessary.

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Speaker 1: And are you planning to force their or are you

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Speaker 1: planning to have them implement everything that the Commons Commission

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Speaker 1: has suggested in those recommendations.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'd like to at the very least here so

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Speaker 2: what their response is to each of those recommendations, because

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Speaker 2: I've read that report from cover to cover, and it

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Speaker 2: is very well argued, very coherent, and I think that

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Speaker 2: the issues that the Commics Commission have put forward deserve answers.

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Speaker 1: Because I mean, if everything is followed here, we could

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Speaker 1: end up with them allowing more entities to become a bank,

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Speaker 1: and we could have more banks in this country as

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Speaker 1: a result.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And the point that the Commics Commission make is why

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Speaker 2: can't someone call themselves a bank if they're providing banking services.

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Speaker 2: We need to be all precious about that word.

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Speaker 1: No fair enough? Hey, how much more? I see you

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Speaker 1: guys have had to sign up a new contract for

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Speaker 1: the gas that schools and hospitals use for October this year.

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Speaker 1: How much more is that costing you?

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Speaker 2: Well, that hasn't been finalized yet, but you're right, it'll

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Speaker 2: cost a lot more. It's now just under fifteen million

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Speaker 2: dollars across government and you'd expect it to be more.

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Speaker 2: It's then borne by individual agencies, so Healthy New Zealand

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Speaker 2: docks that defend thoughts and others, and you'd expect them.

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Speaker 2: They have to face that from within their existing budgets,

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Speaker 2: so they'll have to be trading off other things in

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Speaker 2: order to pay that more expensive price, just like every

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Speaker 2: household dealing with a high electricity.

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Speaker 1: Do you know how much more expensive?

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Speaker 2: Not yet? Oh?

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Speaker 1: Are we talking double triple? You know? Just half on top.

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to hazard again, but I think it

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Speaker 2: will be considerably.

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Speaker 1: More and are we using method x gas again.

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Speaker 2: I understand that that is the negotiation that is occurring.

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Speaker 1: Okay, when do we find out about this? When is

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Speaker 1: this going to be signed?

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Speaker 2: I understand that we will be finding out pretty shortly

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Speaker 2: as soon as it's signed, and we intend to be

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Speaker 2: transparent about it.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about the super Fund and ACC

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Speaker 1: investing in airbnbnbooking dot Com.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a really important principle for me here, which

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Speaker 2: is the super Fund, by law, makes their own investment decisions.

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Speaker 2: It has to do that consistent with a responsible investment framework.

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Speaker 2: But it's not for me as the minister to direct

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Speaker 2: them on individual investment decisions. They've themselves responded to this

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Speaker 2: issue and said, look, we don't think that this trigger

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Speaker 2: is an issue at this point. We've got really thorough

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Speaker 2: policies and processes here. And actually, when it comes to

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Speaker 2: companies like Airbnb, which is what this is about, they're

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Speaker 2: part of passive funds, we don't think it triggers the

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Speaker 2: need to put them on an exclusion list.

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Speaker 1: No, And it sounds like so it sounds like the

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Speaker 1: un list that has been published here is really really

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Speaker 1: tough it really does go quite hard on businesses like this.

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Speaker 1: Why are we listening to these guys at the UN?

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Speaker 1: Do we need to stop?

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Speaker 2: Well, in this case, I don't think that the super

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Speaker 2: fund is using the UN as their investment guide a nautable.

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Speaker 2: They they need to consider a range of things and

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Speaker 2: I'm satisfied that they do that.

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Speaker 1: Nicola, are you up for selling land Corp?

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Speaker 2: Well, as you know there is we've discussed on your

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Speaker 2: show before. The Prime Minister has committed we won't be

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Speaker 2: selling state owned enterprises term. However, we are looking at

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Speaker 2: the purpose behind every entity that we own and asking

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Speaker 2: ourselves is that achieving its purpose? Is it the best

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Speaker 2: use of taxpayer funds? And I can quite understand and

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Speaker 2: off the back of a big loss which that PAMU

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Speaker 2: Land Corps have posted, why some people will be asking

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Speaker 2: that question.

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Speaker 1: And so if you're considering it, maybe for next term,

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Speaker 1: will Landcorp be on that list?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we are not going to get ahead of

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Speaker 2: ourselves at the moment. We're looking at why do we

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Speaker 2: own them? Are they living up to their purpose? Are

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Speaker 2: they performing well? And those are all questions which are

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Speaker 2: very relevant for Land Corp. Of course, I would note

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Speaker 2: some of those farms farms that might in future be

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Speaker 2: used in a treaty settlement. That's historically been one of

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Speaker 2: the reasons why the government has chosen to retain that portfolio.

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Speaker 2: But these are all questions that we're going through on

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Speaker 2: us calm rational.

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Speaker 1: And how long before those treaty settlements are settled.

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Speaker 2: Well, of course Minister Goldsmith is working to get them

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Speaker 2: all done as soon as possible.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well we need him to hurry up, Nicola, thank

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Speaker 1: you appreciate it. Nichola willis our Finance ministy here. So

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Speaker 1: ACT is called ACT loves a little asset sale. And

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Speaker 1: you know what, so do I. I love an asset

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Speaker 1: sale if it's justified. I don't just love it for

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Speaker 1: the sake of it. If it's justified, and I suspect

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Speaker 1: that this may be a case if we should at

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Speaker 1: least consider it. ACT is calling for the sale of

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Speaker 1: Land Corp because it's reported a net loss after tax

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Speaker 1: of twenty six million dollars for the year ending thirty June.

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Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, it can't run a farm, so why

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Speaker 1: is it running farms? An independent review and found in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one found the organization failed to meet financial forecasts,

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Speaker 1: had high corporate costs, and invested in unprofitable or farm ventures.

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Speaker 1: Get rid of them. For more from Heather Duplasy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,

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