Why does Finance Minister Willis need "advice" on every single economics question? Why's she lost without it?

1. Finance Minister Willis was asked whether she wanted to change legislation to force the Reserve Bank of NZ to cut capital requirements that are currently being imposed on our Big Banks. She replied, “Whether or not I need to do that is something I’m taking advice on”.

2. Finance Minister Willis was asked yesterday about upping Kiwi Saver contributions. She replied, “I’m seeking advice and taking advice on where we take Kiwi Saver in the future.”

3. Finance Minister Willis was asked how she would increase competition to counter rip-off prices of the Supermarket Duopoly. She replied, "I want to seek advice on how we ensure that we get a third entrant into this (grocery) sector".

4. Finance Minister Willis, when asked about whether the Reserve Bank could cut spending without sacrificing its "core functions", said that she needed "advice" on the matter.

5. Finance Minister Willis was asked how she'd fund the tax changes in her 2024 budget so they wouldn't increase the budget deficit. She said she was "seeking advice from officials".

6. Finance Minister Willis was asked whether the NZ Super Fund's income should be made tax exempt. Willis replied that she was "asking officials for advice".

7. Finance Minister Willis told the country after cancelling the Cook Strait Ferry contract with Hyundai that she needed to take "independent advice" and so was establishing an "Advisory Group" to advise.

8. Finance Minister Willis said she needed to get "advice" on how to better capitalize Kiwibank so it might better compete with the large Australian-owned banks.

9. Finance Minister Willis, when asked about the taxpayers exposure to the collapse of Solar Zero, which the government-owned Green Investment Fund had lent $115 million, said she had to "seek urgent advice".

10. Finance Minister Willis, when asked about employee bonuses at Radio NZ for proficiency in Te Reo Māori said she was "seeking advice how to stop the bonuses being negotiated in future".

Want to go on and on? The way Finance Minster Willis answers every question about every aspect of her job is to say she is "seeking advice". Does she not know finance? Does she not know economics? Every one of these decisions depends entirely on your own pre-prepared economic plan and the aims you wish to achieve. Once you've worked out that plan (in Opposition) then you can already answer every one of the above questions. The only advice you then need is on implementation details. That is how economics works.

When former PM Ardern came to power, the Nats said she had no economic plan. She commissioned endless reviews to give her clues. Now it has become apparent that the National Party's own Finance Minister is also making it up as she goes along. That being said, National should be given another term, just because Labour were so awful last time.

But it's also obvious now that the Nats have come to power with few ideas. The problem with the "strategy" of forever seeking economic advice is that you can always find diametrically opposing views, with strong arguments either way. So you must develop your own deep thoughts about your aims and methods before obtaining power. Its clear Labour & National both haven't done their homework, other than on how to obtain & maintain power.

NZ Election 2026 will be a close call. Choosing between Labour's Proven Loser & National's Travelling Salesman.

What's Labour Leader Hipkins' record? Never-ending Auckland lock-downs that tore us apart; inflation; bureaucracy; suffocating red-tape. Education wrecker. Hipkins was PM when failed Reserve Bank Governor Orr was reappointed in 2023. He knows how to pick 'em. Never fear, Hipkins is making a come-back on the back of the talentless Labour's caucus. Its hard to find anyone to replace him. His cunning plan is to propose new (capital) taxes, probably sold as a "tax-neutral" redesign of our tax-system. Yet Hipkins said those same (capital) taxes were not the answer in his election campaign 18 months ago. His new plan will be the oldest in the book - use the politics of envy to drum up support for a raid on hard-working Kiwis who have built up savings & assets of their own. In the other corner, we have the current National Party PM. He rejected ACT's Treaty Principles Bill, but presented no alternative. The nation looked to him for a compromise deal that united us. There was none. He's now telling overseas investors NZ is the world's most politically stable nation, when no one can answer our most fundamental questions of nationhood - like do our rights & freedoms depend on ethnicity? Ask the PM for a "yes-no" answer to that question and you will get mumbo-jumbo. A large part of NZ's population believe our Parliament has no right to pass laws that apply to them. Elsewhere, the PM lost the Cook Islands to China. He's National Security & Intelligence Minister, but still has no clue what's going on there. Luxon is presiding over the deepest, longest period of economic stagnation experienced by NZ for thirty years (the Covid slump was briefer). He got back John Key's mate, Lester Levy, as Health Commissioner, and asked Key's other medical mate, Peter Gluckman, to provide answers for the health-care crisis. Both had none. Don't tell overseas investors - but NZ has never been more domestically politically unstable - with Kiwis living in a region of the world that has never been more geopolitically unstable. No wonder the polls are close.