E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā mātā waka o ngā hau e whā, Te Whānau Reipa – tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Aute Faatalofa atu ma le fa’aloalo, malo le soifua maua ma le lagi e mama.

I feel so honoured to be in this position as Labour’s first female and first Pacific finance spokesperson. I want to thank you all for having the trust in me to do this job.

It is with all of your blessing that I head out every day to represent Labour and I do it proudly.

Labour values are my values. Your values are my values.

It was the policy of Labour Governments that ensured that when I was a child, that I did not fall through the cracks.

That a child like me who was brought up on social welfare by a widowed solo dad could become a tax lawyer, and now the finance spokesperson for our party.

That is why I am so proud to be here on stage today and have the job of helping steer our party on the economy and finance and everything that comes with that.

Some of you will already know my story. My parents came from Samoa to New Zealand in the mid-70s, to the land of “milk and honey” an immigrant story that many New Zealanders now share.

I grew up in Auckland and my family and I live in Porirua. I am the proud MP for Mana!

My first career was in the insurance industry before I completed my university degrees. After I graduated I trained as a tax lawyer and worked at Inland Revenue. I worked in the Beehive for both National and Labour Ministers, before becoming a Labour Minister myself.

I’ve spoken before about the different tables where I honed my skills. The kitchen table, the boardroom table and the Cabinet table.

What I didn’t mention, is that it is at the dining room table where my eight children never fail to keep me grounded. First of all, because we all can’t fit around the table – who would have thought I’d have such tall kids?! But also because they remind me why I got into this job in the first place… so that children who don’t have a safe, warm, dry home or food on the table can be taken care of.

When I take the Treasury benches I promise you I will never forget where I come from and how I got here.

I’ll admit that I was nervous following in the footsteps of Grant Robertson and Michael Cullen when I took on the finance role. Those are big shoes to fill.

But nine months in this job I have a clear idea about how I will do the job of Finance Minister and the choices I would make with the Government’s finances.

The Government’s choices

And I can tell you right now I would not be making the choices that Nicola Willis is making.

Slashing public sector jobs, axing ferry contracts and grinding the construction industry to a halt.

Choosing tax breaks for tobacco companies over hiring enough nurses and quality spending on health.

Choosing tax breaks for landlords over helping first home buyers.

And forging on with unaffordable tax cuts just to keep her job.

That is selfish economic vandalism.

It’s about choices.

As Finance Minister I would make choices that support all Kiwis to thrive. Returning to a Budget surplus is a moot point, if you are not providing Kiwis with the healthcare they need.

It’s like making extra repayments on your mortgage when your kids are sick and hungry, and your house is falling apart all around you.

This government is governing the country as if they are managers of a company. But that misses the whole point of government, which is to make sure all people are looked after.

Choices that ensure everyone has access to good quality healthcare, infrastructure and an education system we can be proud of.

Fiscal Challenges

There is no doubt that New Zealand faces serious economic and fiscal challenges.

Addressing these challenges will require careful decisions that tackle the system we all work in.

By 2060, 10 percent of our GDP will be spent on health care, and 7 percent on Superannuation. That is a hefty burden on our economy and we need to start making choices now that prepare us for that challenge.

We need a government that is future focused with a positive vision and informed solutions. The question is simple, it is the question asked of every generation: what is the society and country we want to leave our next generation?

Productivity

Productivity is a word that has been bandied around a lot in the last year. “Removing the red tape” are this government’s buzzwords and only solution. But if not done carefully, that will come at a cost and the cost will be the degradation of our environment and the safety of children, people and workers.

We need a plan that will grow the economy, so that we can leave the next generation, our children, a better New Zealand.

Potential for further growth and security of our world leading renewable energy sources that attracts climate responsible investment to our shores and creates jobs, is one area that has repeatedly come up in my conversations over the last nine months.

Together with greater support for research and development, innovation, helping small business to take up technology and preparing for the jobs of the future is where I am focused to help our country grow.

When I was the Minister of Economic Development I spent some time here in Canterbury understanding the thriving local aerospace industry. I saw a clear pathway of what “productivity” looked like and how a government can support a sector to grow:

An education system that encouraged the take up of STEM subjects, a world-class engineering school at the local university, graduate interns taking up roles in aerospace start-ups sought out from across the world for their innovative technology.

What the industry was missing and asking for, was a runway closer to home, rather than 4 hours away where launch windows could have changed by the time they arrived. The industry was at risk of losing talent and jobs if they could not scale up to meet the demand. They wanted us, the Government, to support mana whenua who had the solution ready to go in their rohe.

I’m no rocket scientist but it seemed to me like a no brainer.

This is what productivity can look like in New Zealand, and it’s an area I will be actively looking for opportunities in.

The path we are on of austerity and cuts does not make us a richer country. We need to be ready to invest in our people. That is what will make our country grow and become more productive. That will ensure we can all live better and more prosperous lives.

Labour Party Legacy Policies

My challenge to us as a party is to consider policies that align with our values to help keep the economy moving and growing so that people stay in work and are paid fairly. How will we prepare for the disruption through AI? What does the Future of Work Part 2 look like?

Labour has always been the party that has made brave decisions for the future – and brave decisions are what we do best. We will not bury our heads in the sand and wait aimlessly for action.

We are the party which ensured Kiwis could retire with dignity, when we introduced KiwiSaver and the NZ Super Fund.

KiwiSaver now has $111 billion dollars of assets under managements, NZ Super Fund has nearly $80 billion.

These two institutions continue to grow every day. They have made the country wealthier and helped Kiwis into their first homes.

Don’t ever forget that National voted against establishing the SuperFund in 2001 and again they voted against KiwiSaver in 2006.

We are the party that introduced Working for Families. This policy ensures working families can get by and are incentivised to stay in work through tax credits.

I know firsthand the importance of what Helen Clark’s Working for Families means for whanau. It took my family off the breadline and meant that the sweat of waiting to see if your car would pass its warrant of fitness was a little less so.

Labour is the party of workers, we are about making people feel safe and secure in their jobs, are able to contribute to their workplace and help build good and successful businesses.

It’s about ensuring people can do good work and feel fulfilled, and not be worried about being called a loser, or other names that are muttered under one’s breath.

It’s about ensuring that work pays, so people can support their families and enjoy their lives.

A happy society is a healthy society.

But this Coalition Government is stripping the rights of workers away. The reinstatement of 90-day trials, removal of fair pay agreements, not increasing the minimum wage to keep up with inflation, and it’s clear they have no commitment to pay equity - if they did why did they disband the Pay Equity Taskforce?

Actions speak louder than words, and these core employment rights, are the rights that Labour will continue to fight for.

Labour built more homes than any government since the 1950s, and despite their promises, National isn’t building any more through Kainga Ora beyond what we had already paid for.

My commitment

I want to assure you that as the future Minister of Finance, I will be a pragmatic steward of the public purse. You learn a bit about sacrifices and money management when you’ve been the sole income earner for a family of ten for the last 16 years.

But this will not mean austerity, job losses in the public that flow through to the private sector, starving frontline social services, a hiring pause on nurses and doctors, cancelling school building projects, or rail-enabled Interislander ferries... or breaking promises made to New Zealanders about their hospitals.

I will make the tough decisions that are needed to ensure we can live better and more prosperous lives.

Because right now we aren’t seeing decisions made that will lead to better lives for New Zealanders. It appears only a handful are entitled to entitlements… and it’s not those who need it the most.

Closing

Labour has a lot of work to do to develop our policies, and make sure that the manifesto we do put forward at the next election is realistic, achievable, and I wouldn’t be the finance spokesperson if I didn’t say affordable.

Now is the time to set the pathway and create the building blocks for what Labour will provide not only in 2026, but in 2060 when the next generation retires.

New Zealand is a country with so much potential. Where a child like me, can be supported to come from poverty and aspire to be whatever they want to be.

Together our party, the Labour party, led by Chris Hipkins will bring that vision and leadership. Together we can make New Zealand better for everyone, not just a few.

Because he aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa

Ia manuia le soifua