Labour's acting finance spokesperson Megan Woods. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Acting Prime Minister says New Zealand is still "digesting" a Covid-19 pandemic "hangover", but Labour says that's not what he had to say when he was in opposition.
David Seymour made the comments on Wednesday after responding to the Reserve Bank's decision to keep the official cash rate steady, saying "these are tough times".
"We've beaten the inflation, but the prices are still high and the interest rates are still to come down.
"I would say that we're moving in the right direction, but that doesn't alleviate the pain that people are still feeling, so we own and acknowledge that."
It was pointed out to Seymour it had been five years since the global pandemic, and was asked when he expected the country to be over the hangover.
Seymour replied it had only been "just over three years since all the restrictions were lifted".
"We still had a border closed at the start of 2022 and we still had restrictions in place almost to mid-2022 so it's only three years since life's been back to normal in the formal sense.
"However, we've still had enormous challenges with inflation."
But he pointed out inflation had dropped in the time the current government had been in power.
"When this government was elected at the end of 2024 that was five and a half percent. Now it's two and a half.
"When we were elected, we'd had an official cash rate at five and a quarter. Now it's three and a quarter."
He said the country was still "on the transition away from Covid-era to more normal times when growth can resume".
"That's kind of the transmission of that hangover."
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
He referenced the Covid inquiry hearing where Northland's local business association said the impacts of being cut off from the rest of the country during the third lockdown were still being felt.
"Northland perhaps had it harder than anyone through that period, and they themselves are saying, we still have a hangover."
In response, Labour's acting finance spokesperson Megan Woods said she did not hear Seymour or Nicola Willis acknowledging Covid had an impact on the economy when they were in opposition.
In a general debate speech in May 2023, Seymour - then in opposition - criticised the Labour goverment's spending choices on health and education. He argued there had been an increase in spending with a lack of results to show for it.
"I predict if this Labour government is re-elected with its Māori Party and Green Party crutches - heaven forbid - they'll be blaming Covid through to the next decade.
"But the truth is that the pandemic's over."
Woods said it was "somewhat surprising to hear them now claiming that that is the cause of the economy that they are presiding over".
She said the government could be doing "so much more".
"At the very time that we're seeing people struggle to find work, we're seeing a government that has scaled back on its own building program, for example, and it's no surprise we're seeing construction jobs disappear and those workers leave New Zealand."
She said the whole government needed to "front up" and "do the job they were elected to do".
"That is making sure there are good jobs for Kiwis, providing that cost of living relief for Kiwi families, and we're just not seeing that."
On the OCR announcement, Woods said it was not "particularly surprising" there was no change and that it was clear the Reserve Bank was expecting inflation to increase, particularly around food prices.
"It's absolutely the case there is uncertainty out there, but what we're seeing is the Reserve Bank doing the job that the government isn't doing to provide support for families. There is more the government could be doing that they're not ... we're seeing jobs like construction jobs disappear."
She said the Family Boost policy had been an "utter failure" and the changes to the scheme would not be reaching New Zealanders' pockets until October.
"Two years into this government, this is something that was promised as an election promise, we're seeing that it has failed in its first iteration so if that is all the government can point to as its success story, I think we can see what a dismal job the government is doing to help Kiwi families with cost of living."
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