Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Question No. 3—Prime Minister
3. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government’s statements and actions?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister): on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes, in the context in which they were made and undertaken.
Nicola Willis: Will Government employees and employers be required to pay the income insurance levy, and, if so, how much will the jobs tax cost the Crown?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: In answer to the first part of the question, details of the scheme are still being finalised. In answer to the second part of the question, there is no such thing.
Nicola Willis: Can he confirm that the jobs tax—that is, the levies for the income insurance scheme—will be subject to GST, and, if so, how much extra money does the Government estimate it will collect in GST as a result?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister, there is no such thing as what the member alleges in her supplementary question.
Nicola Willis: Would the Minister care to explain to New Zealanders who are set to say goodbye, on average, to $834 of their pay packet how that’s not a tax?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Because just as the member has never stood up in the House and said that an ACC levy is a tax, this is a levy to run a scheme which will then pay out to somebody, for instance, who is paying $834 in annual contribution, which equates to $16 per week—that would pay to that person $780 per week, if they were in receipt of the scheme.
Nicola Willis: Will the Minister consider stopping any low-priority Government spending in response to growing inflation pressure and global financial instability, and, if not, why not?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Government constantly reviews its programmes and will do so leading into Budget 2023. The assurance I can absolutely give the member is that we would never go for a low-priority policy like tax cuts for the highest-earning New Zealanders.
Nicola Willis: Does she agree with the Minister of broadcasting that a merger of TVNZ and RNZ is needed because “We have no longer a trust in national media”, and, if so, what evidence does the Prime Minister have that spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a megamerger will enhance public trust in media?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister, in answer to the first part of the question, there have been regular surveys across New Zealanders about their view of all media and a loss of trust in that. More to the point, it is important that New Zealanders have access to content where they can see themselves and hear themselves and that that content is produced in such a way that is futureproofed for New Zealand. It is one of many things that the Government can do to ensure that New Zealanders’ wellbeing and their living standards rise in the future.
Nicola Willis: Does she remain committed to the operating allowance the finance Minister has promised for next year’s Budget, or does she intend to break that spending cap, as has been the case for the past five Budgets, in order to fund boondoggles like a TVNZ-RNZ merger?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance has not advised me of any change that is planned to the operating allowance. The Minister of Finance has, in the past, made clear that the reason we have an operating allowance is to ensure that we reach the bigger targets that the Government has, such as around debt or surplus. And the Government has been able to reach those, having one of the lowest levels of debt in the OECD and a prediction of return to surplus a year before the National Government would have after the global financial crisis. I thank the member for the question.
