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While it was not a political debate, the leaders of the political parties did not miss the opportunity to accuse the Government of avoiding the enormous accumulated debt, of being distracted by “awakening themes” and of “mind-boggling stupidity” about COVID-19 rules.
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern
Ardern spoke about how his government strove to keep businesses afloat during the shutdown by implementing the wage subsidy, allowing small businesses to get government-backed loans, and making apprenticeships free.
“Our health response is based on elimination, which includes eradicating the virus when it reappears and using the lockdown as a last resort, while remaining clear that we can never leave our response until it is too late,” he said.
Ardern said that while there are no “gratuitous decisions”, thanks to the management of Finance Minister Grant Robertson, “we entered this with a solid fiscal position” with debt to GDP much lower than in other nations.
The Crown’s net central debt is expected to reach 53.6 percent of GDP in 2023 after falling comfortably below 20 percent before the crisis, and is forecast to be above 40 percent in the 2030s due to interest.
Ardern said that if the Labor Party is re-elected, his government will try to avoid another alert level 4 lockdown, but will implement restrictions where necessary.
He pointed to the recent ASB analysis titled ‘New Zealand’s Remarkable Resilience’, which highlighted how the “remarkable resilience of the New Zealand economy” came as a surprise and that business confidence “showed little reaction” to the news of the second Auckland lockdown.
Ardern said New Zealand’s best line of defense is the border and comes as Labor announced that it would allow a 10 percent quota for critical workers.
Ardern said the capacity for some 14,000 people a month to enter New Zealand could be expanded in the future as the number of kiwis returning home declines.
National Leader Judith Collins
Collins, by comparison, focused on the importance of infrastructure spending, as a result of National’s plan to spend more than $ 30 billion to improve infrastructure in the upper half of the North Island.
She spoke about National’s plan to create a new bank to provide financing and advice to central and local government on infrastructure projects, if elected.
“We think it is better that loans are monitored,” he said, adding that government departments do not always have the skills to “put a lens on projects” to make sure there is enough funding and that the contract works.
Collins promises to reform the Resource Management Act (RMA) if National forms a government, something on which all political parties seem to agree.
She said she wants the 90-day trials to be reinstated for businesses and so that people can use their KiwiSaver to start a business.
Collins also took aim at the government’s COVID-19 rules and restrictions.
She said it was “mind-bogglingly stupid” that dairies could be open during closing, but not butchers and greengrocers, and said construction should have been able to continue.
ACT leader David Seymour
Seymour also disagreed with the Government’s handling of COVID-19.
He said the government should “constantly seek to improve” with its response and “not just win laps and little dances,” a reference to when Ardern held in June when New Zealand failed to reach active cases.
ACT would allow arrivals to be isolated in alternative managed isolation facilities, with electronic monitoring and strict punishment for violators.
Seymour accused his ally National of “avoiding” the issue of public debt and how to manage the payment of the billions of dollars loaned to finance the economic recovery from the coronavirus.
ACT has proposed cutting benefit rates, reinstating 90-day testing for businesses, stopping minimum wage increases for three years, returning interest on student loans, eliminating KiwiSaver subsidies, and abolishing the winter energy payment. .
Seymour said the best way to get New Zealand out of the COVID-19 crisis is to increase productivity by removing regulations.
Research commissioned by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) in 2019 found that the cost of compliance for businesses in 2016 was $ 5 billion, or 2.9 percent of GDP.
Seymour said regulations on technology like genetic engineering, which he described as “medieval” and “superstitious,” have forced innovative kiwis to relocate.
New Zealand’s First Leader Winston Peters
Winston Peters’ speech to the business community was that NZ First would be the “moderating voice” in government.
“We know that this government has a bad habit of being distracted by awakening themes,” he said.
Peters criticized his Labor coalition partner for suggesting a Matariki public holiday, saying that while it may be attractive, it shouldn’t be a priority right now.
He said this “is not the time to experiment with ideological extremism” and warned that New Zealand and the rest of the world are entering a “completely new era.”
“My party does not underestimate the consequences of COVID-19 on the world economy,” Peters said, adding that future governments will have “an even bigger role to play” in the economy.
He touted NZ First as the “handbrake for dumb ideas,” such as light rail to Auckland Airport, a capital gains tax and seeking a law change to aid in commercial rental disputes.
“We cannot afford the luxury of a big, stupid, inexperienced government,” Peters said. “Don’t fill the country, that’s what this election is about.”
Green Co-leader James Shaw
Shaw said he envisions spending on infrastructure, ICT export and improving government finances as the key to helping New Zealand through COVID-19.
He said the government has been grappling with decades of under-spending on housing, hospitals and education, and that while there has been significant investment in energy, more will be needed to decarbonize.
“We have a responsibility to future generations to ensure that every dollar goes towards long-term challenges in the environment and infrastructure,” he said.
Shaw said New Zealand could also become a world leader in IT exports.
“We don’t have terribly good data on this sector and then we don’t treat it with the effort it needs, so we would like a digital export office to be established to work out how we can expand our exports,” he said.
Shaw said billions of dollars are spent on government data projects, but international players benefit from contracts that are made abroad and are only outsourced to local providers.
He wants New Zealand IT companies to become world class and reap the benefits.
Shaw also said he wants to “get rid of the false city vs. country narrative” when it comes to agriculture.
He said it is clear that “the strategy of value over volume matches very well with environmental sustainability” and overseas customers will pay a premium for organic and sustainable New Zealand products.
“We need to move further towards supporting farmers and producers to take advantage of that,” he said, adding that “strong regulation” is needed to make it work successfully.
The Greens have proposed a wealth tax on Kiwis on their net worth of more than $ 1 million, while other political parties say it is not possible to tax New Zealand with debt.
