Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds has been heavily attacking the Finance Minister Nicola Willis over the Reserve bank fiasco and it matters.
Many whānau are just holding on by their fingernails right now so the arcane machinations of the Reserve Bank is very far away from the kitchen tables, sports fields and communities attempting to survive this deep cost of living crisis, but what happens at the very top of our economy matters and Barbara Edmonds is slowly dragging the truth out of the Finance Minister about the shock resignation of Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr.
Who runs the Reserve Bank and who is tasked with protecting the economy that ordinary Kiwis rely upon matters and to date the National Government have been more focused on covering up why Orr resigned suddenly than being honest.
Barbara has been on Nicola Willies all last week and what we found out only asks more questions than answers.
Treasury released papers that the Reserve Bank chairperson Neil Quigley wanted hidden, the Ombudsman intervened and forced the revelations that the Reserve Bank Governor didn’t just resign for personal reasons as stated at the time, but because he was pushed out after disagreeing vehemently about reducing his budget to undermine the guard rails he had set up for the economy.
Barbara Edmonds pointed out that the Finance Minister knew this all along despite Willis telling the media that she was satisfied with the original misinformation that Reserve Bank chairperson Neil Quigley had put out claiming Orr had resigned for personal reasons.
The Finance Minister knew that claim was false but supported it anyway and responded to even more scrutiny by then having Quigley resign as well.
The why Orr was forced to resign is still being hidden here. Critics argue the Government wanted Orr gone so that they could deregulate even further the rules supposed to protect NZ from spasms of boom crash capitalism.
While you struggle to pay the bills, buy butter and look for a job, the people responsible for all your economic pain are being held to account by Barbara Edmonds in Parliament, but thanks to a mainstream media more focused on the banal and inflammatory, that accountability is not being broadcast or understood.
