11 May 2022. The Prime Minister joked that it didn't feel like she was missing Question Time in Parliament while at the Business NZ gathering. Video / Michael Craig
John Key's son Max has tackled Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about Government debt and asked at a business gathering if she is concerned about future generations paying it back.
Ardern, who is self-isolating and joined the gathering via Zoom, joked this could be making up for missing Question Time in the House today.
In answer to Key Junior's question, she said New Zealand's debt to GDP was relatively lower than comparable countries.
In the UK and US it sat closer to 100 per cent, whereas in New Zealand it was closer to 20 to 30 per cent. It was now similar to the aftermath of GFC "when Key was in the role".
The experience through Covid had been worse, she said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke to the Business NZ gathering via Zoom. Photo / Michael Craig
Longer term, Ardern said the focus would be on maintaining 0 to 2 per cent surplus levels while staying within a debt ceiling and meeting long-term infrastructure needs.
This involved looking past three-year political cycles of underinvestment, which "Auckland and New Zealand are paying for".
Max Key runs MTK Capital, a property development firm, after stints as a DJ and a junior role at a stock broking and investment banking firm.
Key in February announced his largest scheme yet: an eight-home townhouse project in Auckland's Massey.
He is also a director of Stonewood Key Capital, a partnership between MTK and the Chow brothers' Stonewood Group.
Stonewood Key Capital hopes to raise $100 million for housing projects over the next 18 months. John and Michael Chow were also at today's BusinessNZ lunch.
Ardern told today's audience the final part of the staged border reopening would open the country to all visa categories - including tourists, workers, families and students.
She also announced a raft of immigration changes including pathways to residency for highly skilled workers in global demand.
The new settings also include long-signalled changes to the international education sector, also fully reopening by July 31 but with measures to stop it being used as a "backdoor route to residency".
Max Key at today's Business NZ gathering, where he had a question for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Michael Craig
Ardern said the changes would help address immediate skill shortages and speed up the economic recovery from Covid-19.
The July timeframe also brings it in line with travellers under the Accredited Employer Work Visa, while allowing time for Immigration NZ to prepare to process the visas as resources are already stretched, potentially affecting the processing of one-off residency applications.
"New Zealand is in demand and now fully open for business," Ardern said.
"This will be welcome news for families, businesses and our migrant communities. It also provides certainty and good preparation time for airlines and cruise ship companies planning a return to New Zealand in the peak spring and summer seasons."
