The infrastructure projects that NAT cancelled could have lessened the impact of global shocks

[00:00:00]So, there's an obvious question for those of us on this side of the conversation, not those of you who are in the house, which is I'm going to get to as well, external pressures and how she and National never gave the previous government any grace for external pressures and now they're completely blaming external pressures.

[00:00:18]But like what would be fair to do is what I asked National MPs when you guys were in power and inflation was going up, I asked them what would be an okay number today? Like we all acknowledge there are some external factors, correct? That they have no control over, correct? Um but also some of the decisions they've made over the last 2 years have added pressure to that to put us to 4.1.

[00:00:39]Being realistic and looking at this maybe more of as a a a a commentator on the economy, what should we be at? What could we be at?

[00:00:49]What would have Labour done differently in these last 2 years to not have us at 4.1% today?

[00:00:55]>> Well, ultimately it comes down to choices, right? And so for example, infrastructure projects, when I say infrastructure, I'm talking about hospitals, social housing, you know, the things the government directly funds, right? And infrastructure builds. They paused and cancelled and reviewed most of them in the last 2 and 1/2 years, including ferries, which they cancelled 2 weeks into their term. And so well, we're still waiting for them.

[00:01:17]You know, they could have been here by now, been customized for next for use next year. You know, those huge decisions like that have huge flow-on impacts into the economy. So, you can imagine a hospital being built requires X amount of workers, X amount of engineers, X amount of electricians.

[00:01:34]That all filters into the economy. We've lost 20,000 construction sector roles in the last 2 years. That's appalling. And guess where they've gone? Because our migration statistics have shown a lot of them have gone to Australia. That's skilled workforce that is leaving. So, huge impacts on the rest of the economy.

[00:01:52]And if you compare the books to when we left them in the pre-election fiscal update, we would have had inflation in the bank, and even if, you know, you have economic shocks, this has been my issue with the government.

[00:02:04]First of all, they promised to make it better, but then second of all, you know that economic shocks are going to be a normal thing. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of economists are saying all around the world. Politics is the world is uncertain at the moment. The rule of law is just in question in some parts of the world, even more so than they should be normally. So, we know that shocks are going to happen, but what have you done to help with New Zealand's underlying productivity issues, which has meant we've got low productivity, so that we can buffer against these shocks? Cuz at the moment, it seemed like their plan when they came into government was, "Well, let's just bring interest rates down. People will feel richer. They'll spend more money." But that has not been the case, and now inflation is at a 2-year high, and it looks like interest rates are going to be going up two more times, possibly, before the election.

[00:02:52]How's that going to go?

[00:02:53]>> Yeah, we also we look at this how I mean, we the public kind of go, "How does it feel? How do we feel in our bank accounts? How do we feel in our pay packets?" That's how we sort of judge a government. And I think the I think the National-led government understands that because um fuel is down below $3 a liter, and they promised to have that $50, you know, help until fuel went down to $3 a liter or below, and they've said they're not going to take it away, which actually I'm I'm okay with, but that's not what they said. It seems to be another uh another policy that National has put out there, and now maybe they're realizing if they take that away, people are going to be grumpy with them again about the economy, which they have to own cuz they've been in charge for 2 years. Um and somehow they'll probably blame you guys for taking that $50 away if they can.

[00:03:43]>> Oh, they're just going to blame everyone, including us, most of the time, right? You watch Christian time, every single response by the government points a finger at Labour. Doesn't matter what it is, whether it's RMA, whether it's consumer reform, whether it's the finance economy reports, they all point a finger and blame Labour.

[00:04:00]But, you know what? New Zealanders, when I'm on the doors, and I've been on a lot of doors quite recently, they're sick of the blaming. They just To them, the number one issue is cost of living. And if the election is, as David Seymour says, if the election is an exam, and people sit the exam question, the exam question is, "What are you going to do to help me with the cost of living?"

[00:04:19]Everything else is really difficult to engage with and support.

[00:04:22]>> Yeah. It was It was pretty hilarious on One News to hear Nicola Willis talking about Christopher Hipkins saying, "He should just keep his eye on, you know, trying to get support for his party, as Labour ranks more highly in the polls than National does." But, that was the advice from Nicola Willis to Christopher Hipkins to focus on his party vote.

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