NEW ZEALAND ECONOMY LOOMING AS MAIN ELECTION ISSUE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 WELLINGTON 000163 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/ANP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON PGOV KDEM NZ SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND ECONOMY LOOMING AS MAIN ELECTION ISSUE ¶1. (SBU) Summary. With poor economic news for consumers likely to continue up to the New Zealand election later this year, the political party that can win voters' confidence that it can address Kiwis' mounting financial woes will likely emerge as the winner in 2008. PM Helen Clark, however, has tried to downplay the role of the economy in the election, offering that in uncertain times voters will stay with the party in power. Worried over rising costs to consumers, however, PM Clark rolled back elements of the government's planned Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to soften its immediate impact. Finance Minister Cullen will deliver the budget to Parliament on May 22, but is warning that the much-awaited and long debated tax cuts will be small due to lower revenue forecasts coupled with government expenditures for other programs designed to win votes. National leader John Key so far has chosen not to outline an economic policy to address New Zealanders' concerns over lower purchasing power, rocketing fuel prices, rising mortgage rates, and mounting personal credit debt to pay bills -- preferring instead to let Labour take the heat for the moment and wait until Cullen rolls out the budget message before enunciating a detailed National response. End Summary. It's the Economy in 2008 -------------- ¶2. (U) Political pundits have predicted since last year that tax cuts would emerge as the dominant issue in the 2008 elections, and there has been growing pressure within the Labour Party on Finance Minister Cullen to provide a tax cut that would ease the strain on household budgets and put money in voters' pockets in time for the election. Last month's Labour Party discussions on election strategy indicated that Labour needs to get the tax cut package right if Clark is to realize a fourth term as Prime Minister. Labour nearly was voted out in 2005 as a result of a popular backlash against the minuscule tax cuts that provided between 67 cents NZ and 10 dollars NZ per week. The recent announcement in Australia of PM Rudd's tax cuts package of an average of 25-50 dollars per week will put significant pressure on Cullen to come up with a similar proposal. ¶3. (U) Economic news in New Zealand continues to focus on the negative trends facing consumers and households, and will give Labour an even greater imperative to deliver relief to voters through tax cuts. The government has sought to allay fears by noting that New Zealand's economy is well-placed to sail through the negative overseas economic winds, and that the underlying economy remains sound, as Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard continues to stress. But the slowing economy, job losses, increased interest rates to curb inflation, and household debt averaging about double the annual disposable income all add up to a great deal of stress on New Zealanders, who had become accustomed to a significant stretch of good economic growth through much of the decade. The economic picture is growing even more gloomy. New Zealand farmers experienced drought conditions in the early part of 2008 that cost the industry an estimated NZ 1.2 billion and helped raise dairy prices. New Zealand's exporters are also continuing to hurt over the pressure from the high New Zealand dollar. The economy in 2008 is expected to grow by only 1-2 percent, with the risk of a minor recession in 2008 ever more likely. ¶4. (U) Prime Minister Helen Clark has sought to minimize the role that the economy may play in the election. At the Labour Congress's diplomatic reception in April, the PM spoke with the diplomatic corps about her recent trip to China to sign the historic Free Trade Agreement. Following her remarks, one diplomat turned the subject to the election and asked the PM if the economy would be a major factor in voters' minds, and if so, how was the government preparing to respond. Clark said that she did not believe the economy would be influential in determining the electoral outcome. She noted that the economic picture -- largely the result of international financial markets -- was unsettling, but added that in uncertain times, the voters would prefer to have a steady and tested hand (i.e., Labour) at the helm. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Too Costly -------------- ¶5. (U) In the midst of the gloomy financial news, economic forecasters have warned that the ETS could have a significant negative economic impact on New Zealand's economy: 22,000 jobs gone by 2012, wages down $2.30 per hour by 2025, and a cost to households of $600 per year by 2012, rising to $3000 - $5000 per year by 2025. In short, analysts concluded that the government's plan -- while laudable in terms of transforming New Zealand into one of the world's first WELLINGTON 00000163 002 OF 003 sustainable, carbon-neutral economies -- is overly ambitious and too costly to New Zealanders when New Zealand's overall greenhouse gas emissions are relatively minor. . ¶6. (U) The PM, cognizant that the growing body of negative economic news does not help her polling figures, announced on May 6 that the government would delay bringing transport fuels into the ETS from 2009 to 2011. She also rolled back the start date for the phasing out of free allocations for heavy-emitting industries from 2013 to 2018. The Green Party responded to the weakening of the ETS by threatening to end support for the ETS, arguing that the government is placing a higher premium on returning to office rather than tackling climate change. The Maori Party has also come out against the government's plan, meaning that Labour will once again need the support of the opposition National Party -- just as it needed National on the controversial anti-smacking legislation as well as the China FTA -- if the legislation is to pass Parliament. National, however, has indicated that the draft legislation will require a number of revisions if it is to be acceptable to National, and the ETS remains under discussion within the Parliament select committee. National's Plan for the Economy -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Despite regular media reports profiling working families and the enormous financial strains they are facing in their household budgets, National has offered few specifics on how its policies would help alleviate some of the economic pressures facing voters. Key only recently announced a broad outline of how National would manage the economy: personal tax cuts, lowering of interest rates, addressing bloated government bureaucracy and over-regulation, improving education, and infrastructure investments. One National MP has told us that John Key is waiting until Finance Minister Cullen's budget speech to Parliament on May 22 before responding in greater detail on the economy. At the moment, the bad economic news is Labour's to address, and National does not want to give any of its ideas away for fear the government might incorporate them into its own planning or re-focus attention away from the bad economic news to an attack on National policies. ¶8. (U) John Key has predicted that the economy will be the defining issue of the 2008 election. Polling data in late 2007 indicated that the pessimism felt among New Zealanders over the economy reached levels not seen since 1991. Thirty-three percent of voters in an April 2008 Fairfax Media poll trusted Labour to manage the economy while 46 percent had wanted to give the job to National. April polling also shows that the top two issues uppermost in voters' minds going into the election this year will be tax cuts and the economy. The economic situation plays well into National's oft-cited concern over the number of Kiwi workers heading to Australia, attracted in part by higher wages, lower taxes and perceived better living standard. April 2008 figures for departures over the past year to Australia hit 30,000 -- the highest since 2001. May 22 is the Budget Date -------------- ¶9. (U) The country's attention on May 22 will be focused on Parliament, where Finance Minister Cullen will make public his long-awaited budget, which all analysts agree must include some tax cut measures. Following years of government surpluses, Labour has been accused of overtaxing voters and behaving miserly with taxpayers' money. Cullen, long known to be opposed to tax cuts and a firm believer that the government is a better manager of the public's money than the public, has refused to offer much clarity to how large a tax cut package he is considering. As financial pressures on the public have grown during 2008, however, fear within Labour has grown that the government's prospects for a fourth term will hinge on a tax cut plan that will provide palpable relief to wage earners before the election. ¶10. (U) Cullen has ruled out a tax-free threshold for low-income earners, but said that his budget would show serious government management of "the harsh edges of economic pressure points," even if the government cannot compensate for them entirely. The Finance Minister has tried to lower expectations regarding the government's strategy, warning that he will not present "a big-bang budget." One tax analyst recently proposed a social dividend payment worth between $500 - $1,000 for eligible families, something Cullen has not ruled out. National has promised that its tax proposals would be more generous than those offered by WELLINGTON 00000163 003 OF 003 Labour; the government has agreed but warned that National would pay for its tax generosity through lowered social spending -- much as National did in the early 1990s when it slashed social benefits, says the government. ¶11. (SBU) Labour has 1.5 billion dollars set aside on the government books for tax cuts, which most people agree will not be enough for a noticeable impact on households so should be viewed as a minimal figure. Earlier in 2008 Cullen promised a three-year program of cuts, but the timing for the cuts remains a question mark. Most analysts agree that Labour must provide some tangible relief before an election. Cullen has also repeatedly stressed that tax cuts would need to meet several criteria, e.g., not contributing to inflation, not exacerbating social inequalities, not reducing government services, and no borrowing. In the current economic environment, it is difficult to see how the government will pay for the tax cuts without borrowing money -- not necessarily for the cuts themselves but to meet capital commitments for other projects previously funded by tax revenue. Comment -------------- ¶12. (SBU) As price rises for fuel and basic foodstuffs have continued to crimp middle-class budgets, internal government statistics show that even greater pressures are being placed on lower income wage earners, which constitute Labour's base. While Clark would like the election to hinge on leadership qualities (where she has an edge),even the Prime Minister can no longer ignore the economy as a major factor that will play into voters' minds come election time. One indication that the government is looking at this issue more carefully is the rollback on the ETS implementation. While analysts agree that Cullen will need to announce a tax cut plan of meaningful proportions, it is unclear from where the money will come. Helen Clark earlier in the year proposed a half-billion package of new social spending spread over five years; the rail system buyback announced last week will cost the taxpayers over a billion dollars, and FM Peters wants to increase MFAT's budget by $600 million over five years. Not yet mentioned, but it will be, the National Health Plan needs a significant cash infusion. Any tax break for voters must be factored into these commitments, and in a year that will likely see the economy slow to 1-2 percent growth. How the Finance Minister gets the numbers to add up will be closely watched on May 22. No one will watch more closely than Helen Clark. End Comment. MCCORMICK