Update on the Mother of All Debates: Minister suggests Cabinet Colleague, Rt Hon Winston Peters to act as moderator.

The Taxpayers’ Union has been informed by the Minister of Finance’s Office that her preference for the debate is for an event in the Legislative Council Chamber moderated by the Rt Hon Winston Peters.

We thought that our idea of a roundtable for an hour chaired by economist Cameron Bagrie was a good idea, but it seems the Minister wants more of a showtime circus.

Certainly, the debate on whether New Zealand is on a realistic path to surplus, is needed, but the Minister’s proposal is farcical.

Bagrie was the Chief Economist at ANZ for more than 11 years, and has previously advised the National Party on public finance matters. Meanwhile, Winston Peters is bound by Cabinet Collective Responsibility – for both his support of Ruth Richardson’s and Nicola Willis’s respective budgets. How that would be navigated is anyone’s guess.

Last week the Minister turned down the offers by NZME/Newstalk ZB to host the debate in studio in Auckland.  The Taxpayers’ Union then suggested any of the radio or television studios in Wellington willing to make the audio/video feed freely available to all other media who may wish to report on it. Again, that’s been turned down.

The Minister talked big with a challenge – but her refusals and now this proposal to have her colleague chair the debate speaks for itself.