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Speaker 1: So right now it's time to say for a regular

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Speaker 1: catch up. Good evening to Nicolai was finance mins. Hello, Hello,

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Speaker 1: So this afternoon you announced the tourists for free to

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Speaker 1: work remotely. They call them you know what do they

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Speaker 1: call them? They call them digital nomad.

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Speaker 2: Digital nomads, that's right, people who are wanting a bit

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Speaker 2: of a workation and they can do.

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Speaker 1: It for up to ninety days in New Zealand. How

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Speaker 1: big is this market?

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Speaker 2: Well, around the world there are several countries who have

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Speaker 2: actively said, look, you can come and visit our country

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Speaker 2: and keep working remotely while you're here, And apparently it's

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Speaker 2: a very large market already today, I've had people tell

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Speaker 2: me that their contacts in the US, particularly those in

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Speaker 2: LA have said, look, that could be really interesting for me.

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Speaker 2: Because I'm rebuilding my home and having somewhere to base

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Speaker 2: myself that's also beautiful and wonderful, and where I can

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Speaker 2: keep working in my digital business is very attractive indeed.

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Speaker 2: And for us Andrew, that means more money going through

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Speaker 2: the toils of our accommodation providers and all of that

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Speaker 2: good stuff, and more GST for the government books as well.

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Speaker 1: I've got a kid, I've got kid I used to

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Speaker 1: coach soccer who's currently digitally nomadding it's himself somewhere in Asia,

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Speaker 1: but he's working for a Wellington company. But the question

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Speaker 1: I ask you is how big is the market? Like?

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Speaker 1: How many people are we talking here?

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Speaker 2: Well, we are yet to see that. Officials find it

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Speaker 2: very difficult to estimate how many more visitor visas we

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Speaker 2: will get out of this. What we know is that

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Speaker 2: right now we're still fifteen percent below the tourism levels

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Speaker 2: we were in twenty nineteen, So we know we've got

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Speaker 2: big capacity for growth and we'll be tracking those numbers

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Speaker 2: very closely. What I can anticipate happening is that one

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Speaker 2: you'll get a new group of visitors who might not

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Speaker 2: otherwise have contemplated coming here. He'll be comfortable, they can

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Speaker 2: keep in touch with their job. The other thing will

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Speaker 2: get I think, is people staying longer, because you'll have

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Speaker 2: that person who comes over for a couple of weeks,

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Speaker 2: falls in love with the place, or falls in love

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Speaker 2: with the Kiwi and then says, well, I want to

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Speaker 2: extend my stay. How can I do that while staying

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Speaker 2: in touch with my workface And the answer is you can.

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Speaker 2: The visa allows you to do it, Please stay for

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Speaker 2: a bit longer, spend more money in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: Agreed. I understand the concept that again it's about just

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Speaker 1: how many people are out there, whether it's actually going

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Speaker 1: to make an impact on our economic growth.

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Speaker 2: Well, we think it will make an impact on economic

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Speaker 2: growth because every tourist that comes to New Zealand benefits

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Speaker 2: our bottom line. That's what supports people who are working

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Speaker 2: for tourism providers, who are working accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes.

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Speaker 2: The more people they have coming through their doors and spending,

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Speaker 2: the better that is for our economy as a whole.

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Speaker 2: It means more jobs can be supported, it means more

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Speaker 2: money can go into the tills of our local community,

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Speaker 2: and it's positive on the short term and in the

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Speaker 2: long term. Andrew, these are smart people. These are people

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Speaker 2: with really great skills. Otherwise their employers wouldn't let them

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Speaker 2: work on the other side of the world. And we

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Speaker 2: want connections.

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Speaker 1: So have you capt it ninety days so it stays

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Speaker 1: in line with the ninety days with it we have

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Speaker 1: in our employment laws, so people can actually figure out

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Speaker 1: whether they're worth it to stay here or not.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've actually said this can be for up to

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Speaker 2: nine months, and the cases of many people, they will

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Speaker 2: extend it for that long. And that's just simply a

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Speaker 2: reflection of our current visitor visa settings, which allow people

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Speaker 2: to visit New Zealand for up to nine months on

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Speaker 2: a tourism visa, and we're saying if you're on that

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Speaker 2: kind of visa, you're allowed to work remotely for it

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Speaker 2: for as long as you like within that nine month period.

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Speaker 1: Now, Bernard Hiccky this morning said that your economic growth

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Speaker 1: plan relies on tourists flooding into the country, but you

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Speaker 1: don't want to invest in tourism infrastructure and housing.

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Speaker 2: So is that a fair criticism, Well, I think he's

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Speaker 2: mischaracterizing our growth plan. It's not just about tourism. We're

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Speaker 2: also looking at what we can do across the economy

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Speaker 2: to facilitate stract legislation, driving productivity through other means.

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Speaker 1: He said, your short term economic growth.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we do need some quick ones. The economy

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Speaker 2: is suffering right now in too many New Zealanders and

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Speaker 2: businesses the consequences of that, and as we look to

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Speaker 2: the future, yes, we will have to invest, together with

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Speaker 2: communities in more infrastructure We're a government with a big

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Speaker 2: transport infrastructure plan, big investment plans down the pipe. But

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Speaker 2: as I said, right now, we're still fifteen percent below

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Speaker 2: the levels of tourism we were achieving five years ago.

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Speaker 2: So we know this capacity for more growth and it's

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Speaker 2: up to us to make it easier for people to

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Speaker 2: come here. Now.

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Speaker 1: Treasury has been reviewing the government assets. People are calling

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Speaker 1: you to do that asset recycling. Are you going to

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Speaker 1: be making a decision on that? And can I also

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Speaker 1: say the jungle drums are beating saying you might sell QV.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I want to see New Zealand manage its

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Speaker 2: existing assets a lot better. So I've been working with

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Speaker 2: Treasury looking at all of the assets we own. That's

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Speaker 2: everything from QV through to dozens of farms owned by

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Speaker 2: Land Corp. Many assets, and I've been asking Treasury to

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Speaker 2: tell me one are they being managed well to the

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Speaker 2: greatest benefit for New Zealanders And two is there a

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Speaker 2: good purpose for us owning them? And what can we

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Speaker 2: do to make sure we get more value out of

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Speaker 2: that investment in the future. So that's advice that the

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Speaker 2: Cabinet is yet to consider. But as we look to

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Speaker 2: the future, we've got to make the most of our assets.

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Speaker 2: We've got to invest wisely because we know for a

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Speaker 2: fact we need more hospitals, we need more schools, we

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Speaker 2: need more roads, we need more public transport infrastructure. So

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Speaker 2: that's where our priority lies. And making sure our dollars

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Speaker 2: are going where our priorities are well.

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Speaker 1: We're all itching to hear. We want to know when well.

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Speaker 2: Look, the Prime Minister has been clear that we're not

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Speaker 2: planning on selling any of our major state assets this term.

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Speaker 2: But what I intend to set out for the New

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Speaker 2: Zealand people is a much clearer picture of the broad

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Speaker 2: range of assets that the government currently owns and I

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Speaker 2: think New Zealanders would be surprised at some of the

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Speaker 2: things that we own. And then we need to go

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Speaker 2: to the question of do we think that that's the

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Speaker 2: best way for that money, which is ultimately tax pers

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Speaker 2: money to be used, and are there better options? The

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Speaker 2: bottom line for me, as we have to be able

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Speaker 2: to deliver at least has got to serve us preferably

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Speaker 2: better and deliver real value for the text pay not

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Speaker 2: just in the short term but the long term too.

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Speaker 1: Nicola willis for the Minister, I thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time.

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