Christopher Luxon: Prime Minister on investigating the banking sectors competitiveness and the difficulty of holding major events in New Zealand

Published: March 25, 2024, 7:14 p.m.

The Prime Minister says it's too hard to hold events like SailGP in New Zealand.\xa0

The two-day event in Lyttelton over the weekend was overshadowed by CEO Sir Russell Coutts' comments after a dolphin spotting cancelled the first day of racing.\xa0

He claimed there's too much red tape around the event.\xa0

Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that there's a lot of obstructions when events are held in the country.\xa0

He says the Government wants to see a lot more international events in New Zealand, but we make it too hard.\xa0

The Government is also interested in looking at the banking sector's competitiveness. \xa0

A draft Commerce Commission report last week found the big four lack competition, have price matching strategies, and focus on profit margins which stifles innovation. \xa0

Luxon says the Government will agree and disagree with different aspects of the report. \xa0

He told Hosking that once a final version of the report is released, the Government will make a decision on how to respond. \xa0

Luxon says that could involve something like a Select Committee where the banks are questioned around profits.\xa0

LISTEN ABOVE\xa0

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.