Willis NicolaHon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance): Madam Chair I'm going to take this opportunity to spell out once again—and repetition that I hope the House will indulge me in—the answers to the repeated questions that clearly the former member for Wellington Central has failed to grasp the answers to. So he has asked about when might price stability in employment objectives be in conflict and have they been in conflict and as I've said in my contributions to the House previously often the objectives of price stability and maximum sustainable employment will align. However the objectives could move in opposite directions and one of the challenges that we have—Hon Grant Robertson: Not the question I asked.NICOLA WILLIS: —and if the member would listen he'll understand the answer—having a dual mandate can present challenges to decision makers where objectives are in tension. In turn this makes it—and listen carefully here Mr Robertson—difficult to assess monetary policy committee performance monetary policy committee performance and to ensure accountability for decision making. Which is to say it is challenging to understand the decision-making processes that have been undertaken where we have—this is as I have been clear about providing clarity to everyone involved in the monetary policy regime those assessing the decision-making processes of the monetary policy committee the general public and the members of that committee. And a single mandate makes clear what the objective of the monetary policy committee is which is price stability—putting a lid on inflation. It also makes clear that other matters such as supporting New Zealanders with the cost of unemployment—that is the purview of fiscal policy not monetary policy because we don't think it makes sense to ask the Reserve Bank to try to solve a problem which is actually the presiding role of the Government and its policy.There's also the issue that there are real challenges to including maximum sustainable employment that arise from measurement issues because it is more or less impossible to measure maximum sustainable employment. And I'd note that some market participants like Business New Zealand have noted that with so many balls in the year the bank can no longer concentrate on monetary policy's prime purpose of ensuring relatively stable price levels over time. And that unfortunately could reduce New Zealanders' confidence in the independence and predictability of the bank's monetary policy settings.I'd also note and Minister Robertson—the former Minister Robertson may remember this that when he introduced the maximum sustainable employment objective it was recognised that at that time that if the bank put more weight on employment stabilisation at certain points in the cycle that could lead to higher volatility in inflation. And I think everyone in this House knows that recent years have demonstrated the high costs of inflation and the impact that has had on New Zealanders. Hon Dr Megan Woods: But have they? That's the question you're not answering. Why don't you answer the question—have they?NICOLA WILLIS: So reducing the possibility of volatility—Mrs Woods—in future rates of inflation is actually a priority for this Government.I just want to move second to the question of the content of the remit and the charter. I want to assure the member Chlöe Swarbrick that we will retain the flexible inflation targeting regime under which the response of the Reserve Bank to inflation is tempered by considering the impact on other factors in the real economy. I will publish an updated remit and charter upon passage of this Act.Finally I want to note that there are a number of amendments that have been tabled and suggested by the member Hon Grant Robertson who can't seem to make up his mind what the purpose of the Reserve Bank Act has been because I can count several different ideas he has which is rather symptomatic of the member—that he couldn't just land on one thing. Well on this side of the House we can land on one thing which is: we're going to beat inflation and this Act is going to help us do it.