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Speaker 1: And with us right now is Nichola Willis the Finance minister.

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Speaker 1: Heinikeler Hi, Heather, what are we going to do about

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Speaker 1: all of the landlords who are not meeting the Healthy

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Speaker 1: Homes standards by tomorrow?

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Speaker 2: Well, they're expected to be meeting the standards, and if

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Speaker 2: they're not, their tenants have the ability to make a

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Speaker 2: complaint about that and can expect them to meet those standards.

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Speaker 2: They've had years to get around to it. Heither, And

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Speaker 2: in fact, from twenty twenty two they've already been required

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Speaker 2: to comply with the standards whenever they have a new

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Speaker 2: or renewed tenancy. So the change now is simply that

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Speaker 2: all homes, even where tenancies haven't changed, are now required

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Speaker 2: to comply. And this has had, as I say, many

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Speaker 2: years of leading. So we've got complying got landloords already

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Speaker 2: so that there can be both investigations by the Tenancy

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Speaker 2: Tribunal and individual tenants can ask for inspections should they

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Speaker 2: wish to.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and we do have people going around do we

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Speaker 1: just checking randomly?

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm not sure that that is the I think

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Speaker 2: that this is more a case of tenants are informed

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Speaker 2: about their rights and if they think their landlord isn't

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Speaker 2: meeting the standards, they can take action.

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Speaker 1: Okay, how many houses do you because what by my

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Speaker 1: calculations at a conservative levels, about one hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: thousand houses that don't meet the standards? You reckon, that's

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Speaker 1: about right.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what the answer to that is,

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Speaker 2: because actually all landlords are expected that they should be

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Speaker 2: meeting the standards now, and tenants have a right to

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Speaker 2: expect that if they're renting rental property and New Zealand

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Speaker 2: those standards are being met.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I just reckon that a lot of them are

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Speaker 1: going to try it on, don't you think.

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Speaker 2: Well, the attendants should feel empowered that those are the

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Speaker 2: rules and they have a right to have them enforced. Now.

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Speaker 1: Aproposal letters that you sent to the supermarkets last week,

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Speaker 1: how many supermarkets do you, reckon don't have those electronic

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Speaker 1: price tags.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's why I've written the letters to find out

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Speaker 2: actually what is the state of the systems across the country.

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Speaker 2: Of course, part of what prompted me doing it was

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Speaker 2: that a couple of big packenslaves in Auckland pled guilty

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Speaker 2: to charges of misleading pricing in response to a Commerce

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Speaker 2: Commission prosecution. There are other persecutions progressing, There are investigations underway.

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Speaker 2: My concern is a simple one. It shouldn't be that

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Speaker 2: there has to be a complaint and a prosecution for

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Speaker 2: the stuff to be got right. And secondly, if one

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Speaker 2: mistake is made for one customer, I think that the

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Speaker 2: correction should then occur immediately for all customers, not just

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Speaker 2: the one who was smart enough to see the discrepancy

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Speaker 2: on the receipt and make the complaint. So that's what

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Speaker 2: that system.

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Speaker 1: How would you possibly.

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Speaker 2: Well, if you've got a modern electronic system, if I

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Speaker 2: come and say, hey, look the pizza was meant to

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Speaker 2: be seven dollars and actually you charge me nine, they

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Speaker 2: should instantly be able to use an electronic system to

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Speaker 2: correct that across all tills in the supermarket, so no

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Speaker 2: one else is impacted.

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Speaker 1: You mean reasonable? If you and I both bought a

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Speaker 1: punnet of tomatoes, let's say, and you got overcharge pointed

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Speaker 1: it out, and I'd been over charged and not realized,

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Speaker 1: they need to track me down and and then refund me.

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Speaker 1: You're not meaning that, what.

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Speaker 2: No, But what you could do is have a really

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Speaker 2: clear refund policy that says upfront everywhere, for every customer

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Speaker 2: to know if you are charged more than we said,

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Speaker 2: not only will we refund you the money, but you

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Speaker 2: can keep the product. That's the standard that we hold

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Speaker 2: ourselves to. I think that would be reasonable.

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Speaker 1: Do they not all have a clear refund policy or

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Speaker 1: they don't have that refund policy?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is why we bring sunlight to these things either.

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Speaker 2: Because with Sunlight, I'm advised that the major supermarkets are

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Speaker 2: now intending to bring out these refund policies and make

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Speaker 2: them clearer to their.

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Speaker 1: Con They already doing that.

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Speaker 2: In some cases, but in other cases, no, they were not.

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Speaker 1: I'm waiting for your big I mean, like, I appreciate

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Speaker 1: that you're doing this stuff and you know whatever, but

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Speaker 1: this is not the big supermarket action. That's what I'm

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Speaker 1: waiting for. When's that coming?

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Speaker 2: Ah, Well, I will have more to say about that

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Speaker 2: in the future. As you'reiate, it is not simple to

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Speaker 2: get someone to open up additional supermarkets in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: From a computeritor, that's my ultimate destination, but I'm very

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Speaker 2: realistic that on the way through, while we are looking

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Speaker 2: at the various things we can do and make it

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Speaker 2: easier for people to expand in New Zealand on the

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Speaker 2: way through, people have to put up with the existing structure,

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Speaker 2: are you so I will deal with restoring attention to.

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Speaker 1: Well doing structural stuff by the end of this year.

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Speaker 2: Well. As I've said, the first thing is making sure

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Speaker 2: that if there are legal or regulatory barriers that are

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Speaker 2: making it difficult for a grocery sector that would challenge

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Speaker 2: the existing incumbents to expand or to set up, I'm

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Speaker 2: very willing to deal with those barriers and I have

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Speaker 2: had detailed feedback by the end of the number of submitters. Yes,

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Speaker 2: there will be.

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Speaker 1: Changes, Okay by the end of this year, and by.

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Speaker 2: The end of this year you will be hearing more

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Speaker 2: from me on what our next steps are to remove.

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Speaker 1: The reason I'm asking you that is because we talk

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Speaker 1: about supermarkets a lot and I'm not getting anyatisfaction here right.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of talk and there's not a lot

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Speaker 1: of actual action that's happening.

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Speaker 2: You can appreciate that, well, I think that the supermarkets

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Speaker 2: themselves have obligations to change things in real time too.

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Speaker 2: And you know, Mike Costking has taken issue with me

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Speaker 2: pointing out that butter is half the price at Costco. Well,

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Speaker 2: my point there is this costco. Yes, they're making a

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Speaker 2: decision to do some lost leading potentially to get people

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Speaker 2: in the door, But actually any supermarket at any time

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Speaker 2: could make that choice to make some everyday staples a

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Speaker 2: bit cheaper for New Zealanders. And I think that they

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Speaker 2: have that choice this week.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but the way they probably do to be fair,

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Speaker 1: I mean, they just choose to lost lead on the

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Speaker 1: spaghetti when you want them to lost lead on the butter.

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Speaker 2: Well, no, it's not so much that I want them

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Speaker 2: to lost lead on a particular product. It's that the

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Speaker 2: evidence internationally is that we still have some of the

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Speaker 2: most expensive groceries in the world. And if you were

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Speaker 2: to ask most New Zealand shoppers, have you noticed a

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Speaker 2: big fallen prices any of the products that you regularly

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Speaker 2: need to go for? I don't think you find many

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Speaker 2: people who so they have. And so my point is

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Speaker 2: the supermarkets have a choice every day about the way

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Speaker 2: that they price and offer groceries to New Zealanders, and

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to be ashamed about continuing to ask

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Speaker 2: them to put their best foot forward.

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Speaker 1: Okay, now, have you got any changes to announce on

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Speaker 1: the Family Boost?

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Speaker 2: Yes? I do. Cabinet made decisions on that. Today we

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Speaker 2: will be making changes to the settings that will allow

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Speaker 2: people from one October when they make their claims to

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Speaker 2: claim a bit more, and that will apply for fees

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Speaker 2: incurred from one July tomorrow, and the changes are twofold.

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Speaker 2: The first is to increase the amount of rebate, which

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Speaker 2: will have the effect that people on lower middle incomes

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Speaker 2: with lower rates of fees will be able to get

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Speaker 2: a bigger rebate. And the second will be to reduce

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Speaker 2: what's known as the abatement rate. Essentially, at the moment,

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Speaker 2: families earning more than one hundred and fourty few thousand

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Speaker 2: have a dramatic drop off and how much they're able

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Speaker 2: to claim, and we're going to adjust that a bit

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Speaker 2: so they can claim a bit more. But I'll be

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Speaker 2: making a detailed announcement about it imminently. How eminently, oh well,

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you precise timing. We will

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Speaker 2: have something to say in more detail. But I want

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Speaker 2: everyone listening to know that if you've got children in

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Speaker 2: early childhood education, chances are if you're already eligible for

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Speaker 2: family boosts, the amount of your rebate could be increasing.

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Speaker 2: And if you are just on the cusp of eligibility,

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Speaker 2: you may now be eligible. So from one July, keep

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Speaker 2: those receipts.

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Speaker 1: How many people do you think will get the full amount?

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Speaker 2: Well, I ida, now as you can imagine a lot

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Speaker 2: more cautious about those estimates. And they point out that

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Speaker 2: the best that they can do is really guess because

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Speaker 2: it depends on whose plans.

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Speaker 1: At the moment, it's only two hundred and fifty people

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Speaker 1: are which is pitiful.

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Speaker 2: Well, as I say, we're going to increase the amount

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Speaker 2: of rebate that people are eligible for, So that means

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Speaker 2: that the overall number of people who can get that

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Speaker 2: maximum seventy five dollars will increase.

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Speaker 1: To two hundred and fifty one. Will it be?

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Speaker 2: It will be, It will be more, it will be more. Heather.

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Speaker 2: The changes that we've made, we've been advised, will result

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Speaker 2: in thousands more people getting family boost payments and thousands

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Speaker 2: of people getting hundreds of dollars.

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Speaker 1: Nikola, it's coming at yeast payments. What's the price per

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Speaker 1: square meter of the wall carpet?

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I knew you'd ask, And do you

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Speaker 2: know my team said, should we try and wheedle it

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Speaker 2: out of caying or so you can tell here that,

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Speaker 2: and I said, no, this is now a point of

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Speaker 2: principle when Crown entities sign commercial contracts and they do

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Speaker 2: not disclose those facts to ministers, Ministers don't then go

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Speaker 2: behind the bike. You can say, please, can you tell

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Speaker 2: me so I can tell here that.

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Speaker 1: So old mate who was just saying we need all

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Speaker 1: the sunlight is now on a point of principle not

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Speaker 1: wanting any sunlight on this.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's just that it's not appropriate for me to

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Speaker 2: be going into the ins and outs of commercially see

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Speaker 2: set of contracts. But you are right to put sunlight

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Speaker 2: on this, which is they have confirmed for me that

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Speaker 2: it is no more than the price that they were

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Speaker 2: otherwise going to be paying for nylon carpets to be installed.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that a glorious winds logging this? Nicolas point better

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Speaker 2: prodding this?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, thank you, I appreciate it. Nichola Willis, Finance Minister.

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