Labour deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni (left) and her National counterpart Nicola Willis. Photo:
Labour's deputy leader has criticised the Prime Minister for claiming more credit than he's due for Auckland Amazon's data centre announcement.
On Tuesday, Amazon held a launch event for its Auckland data centres, claiming it would create 1000 jobs.
The Prime Minister was at the launch, celebrating a promised $7.5b investment.
The tech giant originally announced the plans in 2021, leading Labour to accuse the government of taking credit for something started under its watch.
Christopher Luxon has denied that's the case, saying he was simply drawing attention to the significant investment.
National and Labour's deputy leaders - Nicola Willis and Carmel Sepuloni - joined Morning Report for their weekly political panel on Wednesday.
Sepuloni said Christopher Luxon took more credit than he was due.
"It certainly felt like he was over speaking, you know, like pumping it up too much and claiming credit for something that really isn't a place for him to claim credit."
While Willis told Morning Report she didn't see the Prime Minister claiming any credit.
"When you are [Prime Minister] one of your jobs is to welcome firms that are creating jobs, bringing in investments that are doing you construction. And your job shouldn't be to say 'while politically, this party is responsible or that party is responsible for this investment', actually it's a reflection on New Zealand as a whole."
She said both parties should be celebrating a boost in jobs and investment.
Newsroom revealed on Tuesday that Amazon had not built any of three data centres it first promised, but appears to be renting out spaces in Auckland.
While on Friday, Willis accepted Reserve Bank chair Neil Quigley's resignation, adding if he had not done so she would have asked for it.
The chair had come under increased scrutiny for his handling of the Adrian Orr resignation saga.
Orr quit suddenly in March for what Quigley described at the time as a personal decision. It was later revealed it was over concerns with the bank's funding.
Labour, meanwhile, is accusing Willis of doing nothing until the Ombudsman forced the Reserve Bank to release the information about the circumstances or Orr's departure.
Earlier this week, the government announced its plan to allow 'golden visa' holders to purchase luxury property in New Zealand.
Active Investor Plus residence visa holders currently have to contribute $5 million over three years, or $10m over five, to get residence.
Now the government will let them buy or build one home, with a minimum value of $5m.
It has already been welcomed by real estate agents, who say foreigners will be far more likely to invest in New Zealand if they can put down roots here.
New Zealand First, which tanked National's plan to let foreign buyers purchase homes over $2m, but tax them 15 percent, is onboard with the new plan.
It introduced the foreign buyers ban with Labour in 2018.
Labour opposes the new plan, saying New Zealand homes should be for New Zealanders.
But it has acknowledged re-instating a full ban could be a breach of New Zealand's international obligations.
Meanwhile, ACT has joined New Zealand First in floating New Zealand should pull out of the Paris Agreement unless major changes are made.
David Seymour said the targets did little for the environment while punishing businesses, farmers and households. New Zealand First has also called for a re-evaluation of the deal.
The two coalition partners are unlikely to find favour with National, which originally signed New Zealand up to the agreement in 2016.
On Tuesday, Christopher Luxon said leaving Paris would only punish and hurt farmers, as countries would look to New Zealand's competitors for suppliers instead.
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