Finance Minister Out of Touch

Finance Minister Nicola Willis needs to stop claiming the Waikato-Tainui/Brookfields agreement as a government initiative says Waikato-Tainui Tainui executive Chair Tukoroirangi Morgan.

During an interview with Radio New Zealand last week Ms Willis stated, “iwi were present alongside big international investors and out of that came a partnership with Brookfields, a big Canadian entity, and Waikato-Tainui.”

Tuku says the Minister’s claim follows several previous statements of a similar nature made by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

He says, “the tribe’s commercial entity, Tainui Group Holdings (TGH) started searching for an investment partner in June 2024. Brookfield was identified as the preferred partner in November 2024 and deal negotiations began then, four months ahead of the Prime Minister’s Economic Summit.”

“The message obviously has not filtered down to his Finance Minister who has been taking credit in the media for the initiative as being part of the government’s infrastructure investment summit in Auckland. Continual attempts to claim credit for something it had no part in, is unhelpful and a behaviour that requires a response,” he says.

Chair of Tainui Group Holdings, Hinerangi Raumati says, “All of the credit belonged to the Tainui Group Holdings team and their brilliant execution of a strategy developed in 2024. We also acknowledge the Brookfield team and their desire to go into partnership with Waikato Tainui through Tainui Group Holdings”.

Meanwhile Tuku says “we are not averse to working with the government but this needs to be manufactured in a way that represents reality rather than fantasy.”

Contact
Jason Ake
027 2010061