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Speaker 1: With us.

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Speaker 2: Now we have Nikola Willis the Finance Minister. High Nicola

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Speaker 2: Hi either this is a all the quake regulations out today?

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Speaker 2: Do you know, Chris Penk didn't know. Do you know

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Speaker 2: whether it saves the chateau?

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Speaker 1: I can't tell you the answer to that. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: What about reading, I don't know. Do you know of

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Speaker 2: any buildings in your city that it might save?

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Speaker 1: Well I know that overall four hundred and seventy buildings

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Speaker 1: are removed from the Wellington Register as a result of

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Speaker 1: the changes where an ounce today. So that's a long list.

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Speaker 1: In some cases the individual engineers will look at it

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Speaker 1: to see if it meets the criteria. But the rough

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Speaker 1: assessment from the consultants we engaged is around four hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy buildings in Wellington.

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Speaker 2: How quickly do you think before how long is it

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Speaker 2: going to take in order to get these buildings open again?

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Speaker 2: Because this has been devastating for Wellington.

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Speaker 1: Well Obviously individual owners of those buildings will make decisions,

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Speaker 1: but I think this will be a huge breath of

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Speaker 1: fresh year for Wellington because buildings that are been sitting derelict,

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Speaker 1: waiting either for demolition or remediation that no one could afford.

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Speaker 1: Will now be able to do a reassessment and say, well,

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Speaker 1: actually we can reopen this building. We can put it

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Speaker 1: to good use. It'll breathe some energy into the city.

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Speaker 2: Isn't it a bummer that this happened to Wellington and

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Speaker 2: completely unnecessarily.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, I think it's one of those things that

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Speaker 1: you look back and it was full of good intentions

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Speaker 1: and people were trying to do the right thing. But

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Speaker 1: the impact has been massive and pretty devastating to Wellington

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Speaker 1: in particular, but actually building owners across the country who

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Speaker 1: were pulled into the regime, and some of our small

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Speaker 1: towns you've just had building after building along the main

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Speaker 1: drag not able to be used. So it ultimately didn't

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Speaker 1: make sense. Of course, we should be working to preserve life,

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Speaker 1: but the changes went far further than that. In effect.

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Speaker 2: Now, listen the heat that you guys are coppying for

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Speaker 2: the decision not to recognize Palestine as a state at

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Speaker 2: the weekend. Were you expecting that?

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Speaker 1: Yes? And I actually think whichever way we'd gone, there

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Speaker 1: would have been heat on both sides. And so we

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Speaker 1: as a cabinet decided to do what we believed was

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Speaker 1: an independent New Zealand based decision based very much on

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Speaker 1: the facts in front of us and what we thought

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Speaker 1: was the best thing. Ultimately, we still want to see

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Speaker 1: a two state solution. We want to see Palestine and

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Speaker 1: Israel able to coexist and we want peace in that

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Speaker 1: region as soon as possible.

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Speaker 2: What if now is not the right time to recognize

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Speaker 2: the state winners.

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Speaker 1: When there's legitimate people running the state as opposed to

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Speaker 1: himas when you've actually got the hostages released, and when

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Speaker 1: you've actually got the ability for there to be enough

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Speaker 1: peace that there can be two states in place.

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Speaker 2: So does it work like this? If Trump's peace plan works,

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Speaker 2: then that sets us up for the basically setup setting

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Speaker 2: up the framework for us to be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we're looking for real actions towards the full

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Speaker 1: viability and legitimacy of the Palestinian state rather than just

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Speaker 1: simply pressure reck in that direction. So actual tangible steps

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Speaker 1: which mean that there is an authority that can be

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Speaker 1: recognized with borders that can be recognized.

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Speaker 2: Okay, does that come about as a result of Trump's

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Speaker 2: peace plan?

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Speaker 1: Well, we yet to see exactly how that transpires and

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Speaker 1: what but we have a.

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Speaker 2: Fair idea of what's involved, right.

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Speaker 1: Well, an important part will be Israel stopping and reversing

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Speaker 1: the actions that it has taken aimed at destroying the

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Speaker 1: two state solution, and we yet to see what will pass.

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Speaker 2: So if it plays out in the best possible way,

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Speaker 2: which is the hostages are released, he mus leaves Gaza,

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Speaker 2: Israel stops, stops, and eventually retreats, Tony Blair takes over

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Speaker 2: runs the administration. When that is all played out, is

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Speaker 2: that the point at which we do it?

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Speaker 1: Well, I think at that point we would have reason

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Speaker 1: to reassess.

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Speaker 2: Okay, now, how rough was last week with the mood

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Speaker 2: of the boardroom?

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Speaker 1: Oh well, it was battering in the sense that I

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Speaker 1: take feedback from business leaders serias. Their views matter to me.

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Speaker 1: But equally, I'm also of the view that we are

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Speaker 1: doing the right things as a government. In fact, most

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Speaker 1: of the business leaders in that room agree that we are.

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Speaker 1: In many cases they want us to go harder and faster.

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Speaker 1: That's good encouragement. None of them were really calling for

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Speaker 1: a wholesale shift in direction. So the point I think

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Speaker 1: for government, yes i am, because I read the Mood

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Speaker 1: of the boardroom excerpt literally from cover to cover with

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Speaker 1: my highlighter pen in hand. And the sorts of things

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Speaker 1: that business leaders were calling for was they were saying,

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Speaker 1: you need to keep this a competitive place to do business.

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Speaker 1: You need to keep up the deregulation in a big way.

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Speaker 1: You need to be delivering infrastructure faster, overhauling the resource

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Speaker 1: management system.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean what about this. What has Nicola will

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Speaker 2: has done to create growth in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: Well, yes, that was a comment from someone. As I

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Speaker 1: said right at the begin, Heather, I was quite better

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Speaker 1: to hear that because I would point to them and say, well, look,

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Speaker 1: we've done the investment, those tax policy to encourage investment.

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Speaker 1: We've been completely overhauling the Resource Management Act. We've already

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Speaker 1: got fast track projects that are starting as a result

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Speaker 1: of the legislation that we've put in place. We've been

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Speaker 1: having to fix up very difficult books, and so i'd

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Speaker 1: point to a number of things.

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Speaker 2: Have you read Damien, Have you to read Damien Grant's piece?

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Speaker 1: I haven't read that page.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So Damian Grant has written a piece yesterday which

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Speaker 2: has the headline Corporate New Zealand has written off this

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Speaker 2: administration and says Luxeon and Willis have done nothing to

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Speaker 2: indicate that they are willing to take the unpopular but

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Speaker 2: necessary reforms to prevent our accelerating economic decline. That's the problem,

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Speaker 2: isn't it. It's that I get the feeling that everybody

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Speaker 2: is getting frustrated by not enough big stuff being done.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that possibly what's upsetting people?

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Speaker 1: Well, I just argue that we have done some big things.

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Speaker 1: Twenty three billion dollars worth of savings in our first

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Speaker 1: budget and in our second budget. The changes to the

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Speaker 1: pay equity regime, we're pretty big. They were pretty bold,

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't say that anyone did them in order

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Speaker 1: to win a popularity.

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Speaker 2: Is that a structural change?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 2: None of that is actually reversing the situation. It is only,

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Speaker 2: perhaps slowly in the situation we find ourselves.

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Speaker 1: Well. Structural change for me is making sure that we

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Speaker 1: can actually use the natural land and resources in this

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Speaker 1: country without being completely fettered by a resource management system

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Speaker 1: that has got on the way for three decades. We

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Speaker 1: are doing that reform. Structural change for me is making

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Speaker 1: sure instead of having a housing system where we put

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Speaker 1: one neighbor against another, we say it, actually, let's have

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Speaker 1: a modern approach to funding infrastructure. Including with tolls, including

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Speaker 1: with value capture so that we can go for housing growth.

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Speaker 1: I mean, structural change is fundamentally changing the tax system,

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Speaker 1: even in the midst of a fiscal consolidation, in order

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Speaker 1: to encourage businesses to invest in their own capital and equipment.

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Speaker 1: Structural change is making sure the school system actually equips

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Speaker 1: kids with literacy and numerosy skips or something that's sort

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Speaker 1: of been forgotten over the last decade. So those are

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Speaker 1: big changes. They don't happen overnight, but they are important

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Speaker 1: and we are progressing them.

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Speaker 2: Are we going to get structural change with the electricity

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Speaker 2: announcement this week?

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Speaker 1: Well, you'll hear the details of that announcement when we

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Speaker 1: make it. We've taken this very seriously as a cabinet

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Speaker 1: because we recognize that ensuring that New Zealand has affordable,

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Speaker 1: secure energy supply will be critical to our economic growth.

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Speaker 1: And we've recognized that there are problems with the current system,

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Speaker 1: but we need to make thoughtful, careful reform and that's

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Speaker 1: what you'll see when we make the announcement.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, brilliant off, Okay, listen, thank you. Nicholas has always

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Speaker 2: appreciated Nichola Willi's finance Minister. For more from Heather duplessy

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Speaker 2: Ellen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be from

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