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Speaker 1: And with US. Now is Nicolaulus the Finance Minister High

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Speaker 1: Nikola Hi, So officially does New Zealand support the air strikes?

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Speaker 2: Well, the US and Israel have to make the case

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Speaker 2: for the legality of their strikes. They've invoked self defense

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Speaker 2: under the UN Charter, and New Zealand simply isn't privy

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Speaker 2: to the information they have used to make that claim,

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Speaker 2: So we're not in a position right now to make

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Speaker 2: that accessible.

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Speaker 1: So if it was, if it was a legal air

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Speaker 1: strike as opposed to an illegal one, we would support it.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, that's a hypothetical question when we're actually what

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Speaker 2: we're looking at is action that is underway. And our

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Speaker 2: position has been for a long time that Iran obtaining

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Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon is not something we want to happen.

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Speaker 2: We do not want to see them threatening international peace

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Speaker 2: and security, backing terrorists in the Middle East. Those are

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Speaker 2: all things that we have condemned. We've condemned the regime

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Speaker 2: that oppresses its own people. So whether or not the

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Speaker 2: strike is legal or not will be determined in due course,

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Speaker 2: and we're not in a position to determine that right.

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Speaker 1: Look, I mean, in the scheme of things, this is

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Speaker 1: probably going to be inconsequential, and probably already as inconsequential.

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Speaker 1: But I wouldn't mind understanding what's going on here, because

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Speaker 1: this morning the Prime Minister basically said we support the

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Speaker 1: strikes because our position is the same as Australia's, which

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Speaker 1: support the strikes, and then about five hours later David

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Speaker 1: Seymour says we don't take a position. So what happened, Well, if.

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Speaker 2: You read the Australian statement, it's actually quite carefully worded.

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Speaker 2: What they've talked about is supporting actions that aimed at

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Speaker 2: the legitimacy of the Iranian regime and that that's been

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Speaker 2: their long standing position. They haven't actually commented on this

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Speaker 2: specific action and the legality of it in some sense, Heather,

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Speaker 2: I think there's a little moment of reflection I've had,

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Speaker 2: which is, does anyone really think that New Zealand's position

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Speaker 2: on the legality of the strikes right now is going

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Speaker 2: to change anything happening in the Middle East? No?

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Speaker 1: Thank god you said it, because I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: Does this make us, you know, have to rethink the

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Speaker 1: Marsden and Port oil refinery.

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Speaker 2: No, of course, the Marsden Point oil refinery had to

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Speaker 2: import the oil to begin with to refine, and actually

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Speaker 2: last year the government made changes to regulations which mean

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Speaker 2: that fuel supplies and New Zealand have to keep twenty

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Speaker 2: eight days worth of fuel on supply, so we do

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Speaker 2: have resilience there.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Now on the Key we Save a change is

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Speaker 1: how many farmers and diplomats and soldiers and cludeymen do

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Speaker 1: you think will benefit from this?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's difficult to estimate, but hundreds, if not thousands.

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Speaker 2: We know that there are around forty thousand farms in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand. Many of them have a worker or two

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Speaker 2: who are required to live on farm to do their job.

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Speaker 2: And we also know that across government, across the health system,

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Speaker 2: teaches the defense force, we have hundreds of rural workers

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Speaker 2: who have to live in a home near to where

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Speaker 2: they're doing their job. So many of those people have

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Speaker 2: said to us, look, it's not really fair that I

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Speaker 2: can't use key we savor to get on the property latter,

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Speaker 2: I'm locked out of this skill. If you fix it,

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Speaker 2: then I'll be more likely to take part in Key

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Speaker 2: we Savor.

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Speaker 1: The only question that I really have about this is

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Speaker 1: if Todd McClay, which he did, he committed to doing

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Speaker 1: this before the last election, and if it's an easy

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Speaker 1: fix and a no brainer, why has it taken so long.

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Speaker 2: Well, we looked at the proposal, we took it through

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Speaker 2: its paces. We've been a pretty busy government. We've been

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Speaker 2: doing lots of stuff and we're ticking through the list

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Speaker 2: and this is i think number three on the list

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Speaker 2: of things that the Federated Pharmacy were really important for

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Speaker 2: rural communities. So I'm glad we're making progress on it.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about power companies putting up their

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Speaker 1: prices at the same time as making bumper profits.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think I feel that the way all New

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Speaker 2: Zealanders do, which is we want to see more affordable electricity.

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Speaker 2: I think it's also the case that you do see

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Speaker 2: power companies profits rise and fall a little bit depending

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Speaker 2: on weather and other conditions. You know, you saw Meridian,

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Speaker 2: for example, made a significant loss last year, although they're

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Speaker 2: at four to make profits this year, so it does vary.

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Speaker 2: And what we do want to see is those energy

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Speaker 2: companies investing in more electricity generation because that's what will

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Speaker 2: lead to more affordability and safety in the future. And

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Speaker 2: when they are running well, they are able to make

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Speaker 2: those big investments in those assets, and we're seeing that

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Speaker 2: from Energy camp.

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Speaker 1: There's an argument though, that you could ask them to

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Speaker 1: reduce the dividends they pay, which are quite high, in

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Speaker 1: order for them to pump some of that back into

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Speaker 1: reducing power prices.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard that point. Let's just be really clear though,

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Speaker 2: those hundreds of millions of dollars that we get in

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Speaker 2: a dividend that's New Zealand tax payers who own a

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Speaker 2: share of these energy companies. Those dollars go straight into

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Speaker 2: our budget for the health system, for the education system,

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Speaker 2: for the police, and so if we were to take

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Speaker 2: the money away from there, we'd have to find it

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Speaker 2: somewhere else. So you know, the money that we use

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Speaker 2: to put into schools in hospitals isn't just funded by

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Speaker 2: your personal income tax. It's also funded by other sources

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Speaker 2: of government revenue.

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Speaker 1: What do you make of the Reserve Bank with the

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Speaker 1: there some changes that they want to make for retail

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Speaker 1: banks to set up all these ATMs and cash services

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Speaker 1: around the country.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I think keeping cash in the economy is

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Speaker 2: really important. We needed after emergencies. We saw that after cyclone.

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Speaker 2: Gabrielle and I think many New Zealanders have a fair

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Speaker 2: expectation that they'll be able to use cash, but how

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Speaker 2: we ensure it's available that's a question. The Reserve Bank

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Speaker 2: is now consulting with banks on it. Of course, I

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Speaker 2: want to see it being done in a way that's

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Speaker 2: practical and it's affordable, and I've asked the Reserve Bank

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Speaker 2: and the banks to keep the discussions going, to have

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Speaker 2: a proper consultation and come up with something practical.

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Speaker 1: Isn't the problem here though, It seems to be the

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Speaker 1: reason that people that there aren't these cash services in

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Speaker 1: various communities is because not enough people are using it

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Speaker 1: right So if they are forced to reopen those cash services,

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Speaker 1: the rest of us are going to be subsidizing like

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Speaker 1: a couple of people to be able to get their

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Speaker 1: hands on cash. Is that a good idea?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, when you look across the country, there are

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Speaker 2: some places where there can be real gaps. If you're

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Speaker 2: living in a community where you have to travel a

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Speaker 2: long way to be able to access cash, that could

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Speaker 2: be a problem. But that doesn't mean we need to

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Speaker 2: have an ATM on every driveway. It's about having good

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Speaker 2: regional coverage. And I guess the other side of it is.

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Speaker 2: You know, when there is a cyclone or a big

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Speaker 2: weather event, people often want to be able to use

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Speaker 2: cash and we need to have the facility so that

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Speaker 2: they can. So it's about our resilience. It's about our

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Speaker 2: ability to cope with different things that can happen.

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Speaker 1: Right, what are you going to do about any in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I share the Prime Minister's view and he's

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Speaker 2: obviously more experienced and running airlines than I am, which

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Speaker 2: is we want to see their performance improof. You know,

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Speaker 2: we don't like seeing them making a loss when other

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Speaker 2: airlines around the world seem to be making a profit.

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Speaker 2: We want to see them running on time. We want

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Speaker 2: to see them pricing the affairs while having good schedules.

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Speaker 2: And so you know, I welcome the chair and the

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Speaker 2: chief executive saying that they're having a strategic reset. That

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Speaker 2: seems the right thing to be doing.

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Speaker 1: Does it need a little board shake up because it

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Speaker 1: seems the board is the only consistent thing here.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think the boarder very focused on turning around

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Speaker 2: their performance and so that's what we monitor them on.

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Speaker 2: Are you asking for more? What are you doing to

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Speaker 2: achieve that? And of course we'll keep watching that closely

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Speaker 2: because they govern that board again on behalf of the

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Speaker 2: many New Zealand taxpayers who own half of that company.

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Speaker 1: Niicola thank you has always appreciated this. Nicola will is

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Speaker 1: the Finance Minister.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive.

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

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