A public meeting at Christchurch's Transitional Cathedral saw National’s Deputy Leader Nicola Willis and the party's Christchurch Central candidate Dale Stephens discussing the increasing cost of living in New Zealand.
During the gathering on March 23, 2023, Willis and Stephens spoke about the impacts of the rising cost of living on Kiwis and the urgent need to tackle inflation and improve the country’s economy.
The meeting was well-attended, with many Kiwis expressing concern about the rising cost of living and sharing hope for a better economic situation in the future.
According to recently released data from Stats NZ, the cost of living for an average household increased by 8.2 per cent in the 12 months to December 2022. This has put a significant burden on Kiwi families, who are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of basic necessities.
Willis commented the current government has not shown spending discipline and has failed to focus on basic economic priorities, instead choosing to pay large sums of money to consultants and advisers.
“New Zealand is now spending $1 billion more every week compared with before Labour came to office,” said Willis, adding, “But we’re not seeing $1 billion worth of benefit. We’re spending more but getting less in health and education. Spending hasn't gone into the right place.”
Willis also highlighted National's plan to improve immigration policies to address worker shortage and cut business costs in a bid to boost productivity in the country. In addition, the party has recently released an education policy advocating for an hour of daily reading and writing, and mathematics for primary school children.
When asked about global financial conditions and their impact on New Zealand's inflation, Willis told The Indian Weekender most of the inflation in the country was due to domestic factors.
“According to a recent set of statistics from the Reserve Bank, the domestic factors or the non-tradable inflation is a bigger portion of our inflation than the global factors. So if we do things right here at home we can take a huge amount of pressure off inflation,” she said.
Willis also spoke about immigration, commenting on the need to improve visa processing times and create pathways to residency for international workers. She emphasised the importance of attracting global talent to New Zealand and making the country an attractive destination for workers and businesses.
“We also need to expand the range of roles which are eligible for visas from offshore, as we still speak to a range of businesses and sectors who could recruit people from offshore but are restricted by the current setting,” she said.
Willis said all these reasons have made the country a less attractive destination, with countries like Australia and Canada moving in fast to attract global talent.
She said if voted to power in the election later this year, the National Party will campaign on a 100-day plan, which will focus on key policy commitments in areas like economy, education, health and infrastructure. Willis said she hopes the plan will instill confidence in the country and show that there is a new administration in charge.