Finance Minister Nicola Willis has labelled the conduct of Labour MPs “unbecoming” after a fiery Scrutiny Week appearance which saw accusations of name-calling and conspiracy-thinking.
Under questioning in the meeting, Willis also confirmed the government had no intention of buying offshore carbon credits to meet the 2030 Paris agreement as part of a “performative awards ceremony” even if that meant it would breach its commitment.
Christmas cheer?
From the meeting’s outset, the exchanges were heated. Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds asked Willis to explain why she claimed infrastructure spending was increasing despite that not being the case in the most recent financial statements.
In response, Willis said the coalition had budgeted a record amount for public infrastructure over the next four years and finished with a dig at Labour.
“The last government was good at doing press releases, but not so good at getting shovels in the ground.”
Both Labour’s Deborah Russell and Megan Woods immediately objected: “Oh, that’s fine? It’s fine to take shots at the opposition? Anything’s on is it?”
The two sides also had a back-and-forth over a table in the Crown accounts which Willis claimed the Labour MPs had misinterpreted.
Again, it prompted a chorus of overlapping questions from the opposition: “Which table? Which table? What’s the table number? Which table, please? Which table?”
Labour MPs also openly laughed as Willis took credit for the more-than-7000 new built social homes since the election. Russell pushed Willis to confirm that those houses were funded under Labour’s previous Budgets.
“This is outrageous,” Woods said. “They cut the funding for housing and she’s claiming credit.”
Willis: “Everyone’s very excited today, Mr Chair. It’s the Christmas cheer, I suppose.”
The government and opposition side sparred over their respective fiscal strategies and records. Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick accused the coalition of “reckless cuts” and “a doom loop”.
Willis, meanwhile, took aim at Labour’s “disgraceful” increase in debt while in power.
“It was wrong for your government to increase spending dramatically right when the Reserve Bank was begging you to put on the brakes.”
Russell fired back: “That increased spending was, of course, backed by the National Party… [which] called for even more spending.”
Russell also asked Willis whether the government had changed the way the Emissions Trading Scheme operated in order to make its books look better.
“When you’re a conspiracy theorist, you see conspiracy everywhere,” Willis responded.
“Oh, for goodness sake. That’s a ridiculous thing to say,” Russell said. “When you can’t answer the question, you resort to insults.”
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Willis said she accepted the committees could be robust, but thought some of allegations levelled at her were “unbecoming”.
“They’re all a bit tired, a bit ratty,” Willis said. “In general, they behave better than that, but everyone has an off day.”
Climate change commitments
Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick also pressed Willis over whether the government remained committed to its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris agreement.
Willis said that remained a priority but the government was not prepared to “spend billions of dollars sending money offshore to meet that NDC”.
Swarbrick requested that Willis take into account the potential fiscal impact of that NDC in its books for the “sake of financial responsibility” and “transparency” to which Willis simply responded: “No.”
Afterwards, Willis described the call as “a lot of fluff and noise” and noted that the previous government never recognised those obligations as liabilities either.
She said the government would make “best efforts” to uphold its 2030 Paris commitments, but would not buy offshore carbon credits even if that was required to achieve it.
“We do not think it’s in New Zealand’s best interest to send cheques for billions of dollars offshore,” she said.
“New Zealanders who are struggling to put food on the table are not going to thank us for having a performative awards ceremony.”
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