Ardern to lead Aussie visit in July
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will lead a trade and promotional delegation to Australia in July, but has warned that while New Zealand’s vaccine rollout is incomplete, the number of countries New Zealand can safely open up to is limited.
In a pre-budget speech at an event put on by business advocacy group Businessnz and Fujitsu yesterday, Ardern said it would be New Zealand’s first overseas delegation visit since the emergence of Covid-19.
When New Zealand’s key trading partners looked to reopen their borders, and greater movement of people was allowed between countries, she would look to lead delegations into Europe, the United States, China and the wider Asia-pacific, she said.
She said she intended to pursue an enhanced trade relationship with the US over the coming term now there was a change of administration, and a deepening relationship with President Joe Biden across a range of issues.
Ardern is speaking a week out from Grant Robertson delivering Budget 2021, his fourth Budget as finance minister. On Monday Robertson told a business audience in Auckland that there would be more money both for day-to-day spending and capital investment than he’d signalled in February. There would also be lower debt levels in the 2021 Budget than expected.
Once an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic had been secured the Government would look towards faster debt reduction, he said.
Treasury’s most recent forecasts show net core Crown debt rising as a percentage of gross domestic product to 52.6 per cent in 2023, before falling to 46.9 in 2025.
The Government has promised to spend $2.625 billion on new day-to-day initiatives this budget, and $7.8b on capital investment over the next four years. Stats NZ figures released not long before Ardern was due to speak showed total paid jobs increased by 8350 or 0.37 per cent over the past week. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.7 per cent in the March quarter, continuing to fall from its recent peak of 5.2 per cent in the September 2020 quarter.
Also out yesterday morning was a report published by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet showing there has been no measurable improvement in housing conditions, preventable hospitalisations, or food security for children living in New Zealand’s poorest households.
And in more bad news for the
Government, the Serious Fraud Office has charged six people in relation to election donations made to the Labour Party in 2017. None of those involved were sitting MPS, or current or former officials of the Labour Party.
Businessnz also recently criticised the Government’s planned Fair Pay Agreements, saying there were significant problems which had not been addressed, and the plan to implement them should be terminated. The Council of Trade Unions and Businessnz have been offered financial support from the Government to co-ordinate compulsory, nationwide pay agreements to be introduced in 2022.