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Speaker 1: For a person who loves will like me. We've got

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Speaker 1: the very best of news this morning. The government has

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Speaker 1: a new supply agreement for woolen carpet in state housing.

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Speaker 1: Now this is good because Bremworth recently, if you followed this,

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Speaker 1: backtracked on their wool only policy, which I was sad about. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: the Ministry of Economic Growth and financi Nicola Willis's with us.

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Speaker 1: Very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning. It's a good news Thursday, isn't it, mach.

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Speaker 1: It's a very good news Thursday. Is Bremworth specifically involved

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Speaker 1: in this or is this just anyone who makes wool

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Speaker 1: carpet is in.

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Speaker 2: Well, there were a number of people who tended for

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Speaker 2: this contract. Apparently they all showed up very well. Kaying Aura,

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Speaker 2: who are operationally in charge of this, have told me

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Speaker 2: that I'm not to talk about which supplier has won

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Speaker 2: the tender at the stage, but we'll look forward to

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Speaker 2: in telling you that at another date.

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Speaker 1: Okay, numbers wise though it stacks up, clearly.

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Speaker 2: It really does. So what happened here was that kayeing Aura,

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Speaker 2: like I think lots of organizations see well, let's tender

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Speaker 2: for some carpet will make it nylon only tender, and

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Speaker 2: of course that gcluted Will from the table. They then

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Speaker 2: restarted the tender after they got a backlash to that,

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Speaker 2: as they rightly should have. And when Will was given

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Speaker 2: the chance to show up, it showed up really well.

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Speaker 2: And I'm advised that actually it's cost neutral, so there's

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Speaker 2: no extra cost, and of course it performs so well

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Speaker 2: across a number of other dimensions. So when they were

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Speaker 2: given a chance to play at the table, they won.

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Speaker 1: See. I don't know, I don't want to point fingers here.

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Speaker 1: Was it the wool industry's fault that they didn't sell

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Speaker 1: themselves better? Was it a previous government's fault that they

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Speaker 1: excluded wool, Was it cying Aora's fault for not saying

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Speaker 1: let's see what we can do patriotically speaking? Or should

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Speaker 1: everyone take a slice of the blame.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think over many years, many people have got

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Speaker 2: into the habit of thinking will, oh, that's more expensive,

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Speaker 2: and so there's been a prejudice towards nylon and artificial

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Speaker 2: fibers and a range of areas. And what we're doing

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Speaker 2: with our new policy, as we're saying to every government agency,

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Speaker 2: wipe your minds clear, of those old prejudices, and every

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Speaker 2: government tender where WILL could be used, we want you

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Speaker 2: to consider its use and give it a chance to compete,

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Speaker 2: because actually, when you give it that chance, it competes

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Speaker 2: very well across a range of dimensions. It's very durable,

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Speaker 2: it's very healthy, it's very sustainable. This is a product

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Speaker 2: that is very good for New Zealand because these are

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Speaker 2: our sheep farmers. So it stacks up in terms of

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Speaker 2: a value proposition. So from now on, every government agency

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Speaker 2: when it does attender, we have to consider WILL. And

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Speaker 2: I think that wall's going to show up really well.

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Speaker 1: And if they don't, for whatever reason, go with wool,

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Speaker 1: is there a question asked of them overtly why not?

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Speaker 1: And they all need to come up with something specific,

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Speaker 1: like it was twenty percent too expensive or whatever.

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Speaker 2: That's right exactly. So they are now required to use

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Speaker 2: WILL wherever it is practical and appropriate. If for any

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Speaker 2: reason they exclude WILL, they have to set out the

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Speaker 2: reasons why, and we've put out quite a detailed procurement

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Speaker 2: guideline that takes them through how they need to do that.

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Speaker 2: And my expectation is this is going to create major

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Speaker 2: opportunities for the wool industry, because of course, wool isn't

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Speaker 2: just about carpet, it's about insulation, it's about acoustic panels.

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Speaker 2: It's been used in all sorts of ways. And you've

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Speaker 2: got these big government contracts for multi billion dollar fit

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Speaker 2: outs in buildings. Then that's a massive opportunity for the

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Speaker 2: wool industry to show up with a new innovative product

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Speaker 2: and say let's do it here. They do that at

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Speaker 2: scale in New Zealand, they prove it, then they can

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Speaker 2: export something similar offshore. So let's do what's good for

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Speaker 2: our economy, what's good for the taxpayer, and what's good

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Speaker 2: for our farmers good.

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Speaker 1: What's it worth in total? I mean when you say billions,

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Speaker 1: is it literally billions of dollars worth of.

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Speaker 2: Cover millions, millions of tens of kying or again I'm

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Speaker 2: being told to be careful about all.

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Speaker 1: We give us a round number. Is it teens or

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Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars? I mean it's a massive mess.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be tens over time. And of course

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Speaker 2: the point here is this is for the new state

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Speaker 2: houses that are being fitted out, but wherever they need

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Speaker 2: to put brand new carpet into an existing home. They're

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Speaker 2: also going to use wool, so this will build on itself.

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Speaker 2: And what I hope is that private sector landlords and

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Speaker 2: others who are thinking about carpeting are listening to this

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Speaker 2: and think, well, actually, we've always just defaulted to nylon.

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Speaker 2: Maybe we should consider war too.

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Speaker 1: Good. Quick question about Adrian and or what's the point

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Speaker 1: of having rules around the Official Information Act if someone

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Speaker 1: like the Reserve Bank doesn't play by them.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's my expectation that every government agency should abide

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Speaker 2: by its statutory obligations, but they don'ting those under the

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Speaker 2: Official Information Act. Well, I have made clear that I

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Speaker 2: think this information could have been released earlier that that

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Speaker 2: would have been appropriate, and I have also made that

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Speaker 2: clear to the Chairman of the Reserve Bank Board, Neil Quickly.

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Speaker 1: The package or got You're not going to tell us obviously,

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Speaker 1: but do you know what it is? And why did

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Speaker 1: he get paid to leave when he packed a sad.

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Speaker 2: No? I don't. I have intentionally stood aside from the

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Speaker 2: employment discussions that occurred between the Reserve Bank Board and

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Speaker 2: the Governor. And it's again my expectation that any agency

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Speaker 2: conducting those sorts of discussions meet its public obligations and

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Speaker 2: its legal obligations, and I've been assured that is the case.

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Speaker 1: Your summation as an observer given what we learned yesterday

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Speaker 1: as to the conduct of the Reserve Bank and adrien

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Speaker 1: Or through this whole process is what.

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Speaker 2: Well, It's pretty simple for me. The Reserve Bank is

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Speaker 2: no different from any other government agency in the sense

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Speaker 2: that it needs to provide value for taxpayers money, and

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Speaker 2: any idea that it somehow doesn't need to abide by

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Speaker 2: the same funding constraints that we're asking other government agencies

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Speaker 2: to is wrong. So when I entered the funding negotiation

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Speaker 2: with the Reserve Bank Board, I made that clear and

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Speaker 2: I am glad that we got to an outcome where

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Speaker 2: we've got a reasonable level of funding, which I'm assured

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Speaker 2: is sufficient for the Reserve Bank to do all of

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Speaker 2: its statutory jobs, but doesn't allow them to live in

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Speaker 2: a gilded palace with luxury levels of funding that would

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Speaker 2: not be appropriate. And I think the Reserve Bank understand that,

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Speaker 2: and we're going forward together constructively.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. Nichol appreciate time. Nikola wellis Finance Minister, Minister

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Speaker 1: for Economic Growth.

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