Hi John, 

You may have seen the news this week that my good mate and colleague Grant Robertson announced his retirement from politics.

Grant has made a huge contribution to New Zealand and will go down in history as an exemplary Minister of Finance. He helped to lead us through the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic – keeping people in jobs, businesses afloat and our economy moving.

He made some bold and necessary decisions around infrastructure investment, helped to rebuild our public services, and leaves New Zealand with low levels of debt compared to the rest of the world.

I know he will continue fighting for a better, fairer New Zealand no matter what job he holds.

This week I also had the pleasure of announcing that Barbara Edmonds will take over the Finance portfolio. She is Labour’s first woman and Pacific finance spokesperson.

Barb has a background as a specialist tax lawyer and extensive ministerial experience, so there’s no doubt she knows numbers. But more than that, she’s deeply rooted in her communities. These qualities will make her outstanding in the finance role, because at the end of the day, our economy is about people.

As a team, we’re energised and ready to go. It’s clear that the new Coalition Government is scratching around for someone to blame as reality sets in that the promises they made during the campaign aren’t deliverable.

We’ll continue holding them to account on behalf of people like you.

Thanks,
Chris