The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out Adrian Orr’s resignation as nothing more than a sulk over funding disagreements, despite a significant increase in funding over and above the previous five-year agreement.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman James Ross said:

“Orr resigned because he didn’t quite get all of the massive funding increase he was pushing for, but how much bloat would be enough? Even a small amount of financial self-control was too much to handle for the Governor.”

“The Reserve Bank’s funding agreement was still 21% higher than the last five-year deal, and 139% higher than the one before that. With staff numbers blowing out by 2.5x since 2018, is anyone surprised RBNZ always seems to be running out of taxpayers’ cash?”

“If the Governor - or any other departmental head - can’t control costs, they need to resign. Hopefully the next Reserve Bank Governor can show more respect for taxpayers.”

Responding to the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman James Ross said:

“As expected, the Reserve Bank has cut interest rates. But it’s clear the Government is relying on these cuts to do the heavy lifting.”

“With no credible path back to surplus and a so-called ‘Growth Budget’ offering just one pro-growth policy, Nicola Willis seems content to try and outsource economic recovery to the Reserve Bank.”

“Growth is anaemic, yet the Government’s strategy amounts to crossing its fingers and hoping falling interest rates will do the job for them. That’s not leadership - it’s abdication.”

“Nicola Willis missed a golden opportunity to cut spending, boost growth, and chart a course back into the black. Kiwis can’t afford another five years of government-by-wishful-thinking.”

Responding to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to freeze the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Times are tough for Kiwi families, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. With the Reserve Bank still failing to hold inflation to anything close to its target range, interest rates are expected to remain punishingly high until August 2024 or beyond.

“More needs to be done and faster to tackle New Zealand’s unshakable inflation problem, which has been fuelled by runaway Government spending for far too long. If the incoming Government is as serious about helping struggling Kiwis as their election adverts had you believe, then they can't just pay lip service to stamping out the waste in Wellington.

“Labour’s RBNZ experiments have failed, and a return to a reserve bank focussed solely on tackling inflation cannot come soon enough. But there must also be a return to accountability at the top.

“A Governor who has failed to hit the target range for 29 months in a row cannot be allowed to hide behind his lackeys anymore; the Monetary Policy Committee must be next on the chopping block."