Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 18 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5276. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
9. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What discussions if any has he had with the Reserve Bank regarding the exchange rate in the past six months? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Associate Minister of Finance) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Finance: The Minister meets with the Reserve Bank on a regular basis and the exchange rate is frequently discussed as part of these conversations. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Were options for addressing the overvalued dollar included in these discussions like the use of alternative monetary policy tools such as a soft cap on the New Zealand dollar or measures to limit the extent of short-term cyclical capital inflows; if not why not? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: There are a range of issues that are discussed at those meetings but in response to the member’s question if you look at the policy targets agreement in section 4(b) there is the capacity for the Governor of the Reserve Bank to take a range of issues into account as well as inflation. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! A point of order has been called. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I asked the Minister— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think I can save time. The member indeed asked whether those particular issues had been discussed—issues to do with a soft cap on the value of the dollar; there was a further issue as well. It was a pretty straight question. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: On behalf of the Minister of Finance I obviously have not been present personally at a lot of those discussions but a full range of responses is discussed between the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Reserve Bank. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I invite you to have a look at that answer. The Minister got up and said: “On behalf of the Minister of Finance I have not been at a lot of those meetings.” Well clearly the Minister of Finance has been at all of those meetings. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I do not think the Minister was trying to be unhelpful. I think he was acknowledging that he is answering on behalf of the Minister; he was pointing out in doing that that he had not actually attended the meetings. I accept the language was less than perfect but I do not think there was any attempt to be unhelpful. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: When the Prime Minister said in April as the dollar approached US82c that “we’re considering what we can do to resist a rising exchange rate” what did the Government have in mind? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: I think the Government has been pretty clear that the key here is actually increasing the competitiveness of New Zealand firms. It is not interfering directly in the exchange rate. So that is what our whole programme is focused on: increasing the competitiveness of the economy. Actually getting in and interfering with the exchange rate is not the recipe for economic success. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Are we to take from that answer that he asserts that the New Zealand Government has absolutely no way of influencing the New Zealand dollar down and now? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Yes.