{"id":311557,"date":"2026-03-03T21:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/311557\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:54:08","slug":"nicola-willis-and-david-seymour-attack-alarming-barbara-edmonds-reserve-bank-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/311557\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola Willis and David Seymour attack \u2018alarming\u2019 Barbara Edmonds Reserve Bank remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The attack referred to Edmonds\u2019 remarks<\/a>, which suggested returning the Reserve Bank to a dual mandate, which tasked the bank with fighting inflation and achieving maximum sustainable employment. <\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s Reserve Bank has tended to have a single mandate, focused on fighting inflation, but Labour introduced a dual mandate in 2018. The coalition repealed it in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edmonds did not confirm Labour would campaign on that policy, but her remarks suggested that it would be very likely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am seriously considering about whether we should bring that back,\u201d she said, when asked about the dual mandate. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was there for a reason,\u201d Edmonds said.<\/p>\n

\"Labour'sLabour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds. Photo \/ Marty Melville<\/p>\n

Seymour attacked the same remarks as \u201cd\u00e9j\u00e0 vu economics\u201d.<\/p>\n

Edmonds, on her way into Labour\u2019s caucus meeting a little later, defended the dual mandate.<\/p>\n

Asked what she made of the attack that Labour would tolerate slightly higher inflation in the interest of getting unemployment down, Edmonds said: \u201cWell, if they want to tolerate higher unemployment when there was a chance for the Reserve Bank to hypothetically drop interest rates faster [under a dual mandate], then I think they\u2019ve got the wrong end of the stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, the unemployment rate being at the rate it is with 165,000 people wanting to work, that is not a situation that we want for Kiwis who are struggling to find work,\u201d Edmonds said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the dual mandate might see lower interest rates but higher inflation, Edmonds said, \u201cwe\u2019re already above the [inflation target] band right now … all of that needs to be taken into consideration\u201d. <\/p>\n

Pay equity <\/p>\n

Willis and Seymour also attacked Edmonds\u2019 remarks on pay equity, with Willis saying Edmonds \u201cseemed to suggest that she\u2019s got a plan to find a forest of magical money trees\u201d. <\/p>\n

Labour has committed to restoring the scheme to the settings it had before reforms last year<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Treasury\u2019s costings from the Budget said the changes would save the Government $12.8 billion over four years. <\/p>\n

Edmonds did not articulate how she would meet this bill when speaking to the Herald.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really big bill,\u201d Edmonds admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut everything is a big bill, right \u2013 you have to make choices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Willis said Edmonds\u2019 remarks were \u201cnot credible\u201d. <\/p>\n

Seymour\u2019s remarks warned that if Labour were required to borrow to fund the pay equity promise, debt servicing costs would rise for the Government and households. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Edmonds] may be able to fool herself, but she won\u2019t fool the debt markets, and one way or another New Zealanders will pay. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just left to wonder whether it will be through higher interest rates, higher taxes, cuts to services, or a combination of all those.\u201c<\/p>\n

Interest deductions and investment boost<\/p>\n

Edmonds would not say whether Labour would reinstate a ban on allowing landlords to deduct interest costs from their tax bills, a move which would have the effect of increasing landlords\u2019 tax bills. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll make our decisions and announce them,\u201d Edmonds said, when asked about Labour\u2019s plans. <\/p>\n

Remarks from Labour leader Chris Hipkins suggested that if the old regime were brought back some interest costs could still be deducted, making it less onerous than the regime Labour legislated when last in office.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ActAct leader David Seymour weighed in on the interview. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

The policy was controversial at the time it was introduced in 2021, with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development both opposing it, warning of its effects on the tax system and a potential disincentive to building homes. <\/p>\n

Treasury supported the measure, saying it might bring down house prices and \u201cin the absence of a comprehensive capital gains tax\u201d the rule acted \u201cas a means of taxing more economic income from residential property investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unlike in 2021, Labour is now saying it will introduce a capital gains tax, which may weaken Treasury\u2019s enthusiasm. <\/p>\n

The coalition reversed that policy, which has had the effect of lowering landlords\u2019 tax bills. <\/p>\n

Willis and Seymour have defended the move, saying that by some measures, rents have reduced as a result of increased rental competition<\/a> forcing landlords to pass their lower costs on to renters. <\/p>\n

Willis said Edmonds\u2019 remarks showed \u201cLabour wishes to impose additional taxes on homes, again, an experiment under the last Labour Government that led to a period of record rent hikes, which have now stabilised with the return of interest deductibility\u201d. <\/p>\n

Seymour said Edmonds wanted to \u201crecommence the war on landlords by banning interest deductibility again\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cLabour\u2019s policy is a tax on rentals that will be paid by renters. Restricting interest deductibility will squeeze household budgets, leaving less for food on the table,\u201d Seymour said. <\/p>\n

Edmonds would not be drawn on her plans for the Government\u2019s $6.6b Investment Boost tax incentive, which allows firms to accelerate depreciation on their capital investments. <\/p>\n

She said \u201cno decision\u201d had been made on whether to retain or scrap the scheme. <\/p>\n

Treasury is broadly supportive of the scheme, saying it will slightly increase economic growth and boost wages and employment over 20 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe analysis is very clear that the Investment Boost policy is bringing forward investment decisions, which are supporting productivity,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The attack referred to Edmonds\u2019 remarks, which suggested returning the Reserve Bank to a dual mandate, which tasked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28436,95,89,1643,13485,6284,1359,13486,246,305,10938,5620,27699,13489,6722,71084,111,43,139,20484,69,1523,3227,16134,10665,16797,50216,165,30727,6923,792],"class_list":{"0":"post-311557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-alarming","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-attack","11":"tag-bank","12":"tag-barbara","13":"tag-david","14":"tag-described","15":"tag-edmonds","16":"tag-finance","17":"tag-have","18":"tag-herald","19":"tag-interview","20":"tag-labours","21":"tag-leader","22":"tag-minister","23":"tag-nationals","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nicola","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-over","30":"tag-published","31":"tag-remarks","32":"tag-reserve","33":"tag-seymour","34":"tag-sights","35":"tag-their","36":"tag-trained","37":"tag-what","38":"tag-willis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}