The only liar there is Nicola Willis': Barbara Edmonds hits back over Labour’s election plan

Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds has hit back at National’s criticism of the party’s election fiscal plan, calling Nicola Willis a liar as the parties clash over how much Labour’s promises will cost.

“The only liar there is Nicola Willis,” Edmonds told William Terite on Pacific Mornings, when asked about criticism from National’s finance spokesperson.

“People have to judge her on her economic track record, which by every economic indicator is worse than when we left government. So it's all a distraction and spin,” Edmonds says.

Willis has rejected Labour’s defence. In a statement on Sunday, she called the fiscal plan “the least credible fiscal plan released by a major party in living memory” and said Labour had failed to account for the estimated $11 billion cost of fully restoring the previous pay equity scheme.

National says Labour has allocated $2.5 billion towards the scheme, leaving an $8.5 billion gap.

Labour says its plan pays for every promise, including $2.5 billion for an immediate $4 an hour pay rise for 65,000 care and support workers. It has not put a specific cost on fully restoring pay equity legislation.

Watch Barbara Edmonds' full interview below.

Edmonds says the final cost of pay equity will depend on negotiations. “Governments, and also oppositions, really shouldn't put a figure on it because it's a bargaining envelope,” she says, adding that the pay equity cost will come from Labour’s $10.5 billion of unallocated funding.

The debate comes as Pacific voters are also looking at what election promises mean for their everyday lives. As the PMN-Horizon Research Pacific Issues Election Survey found nine in 10 Pacific respondents said the cost of living would influence how they vote in the November election. Jobs and wages followed at 75 per cent, while health and housing were also major concerns at 66 and 65 per cent respectively.

At a Public Symposium in Porirua on Saturday, Dr Luatupu Ioane-Cleverley, a Wellington specialist physician, told PMN News that chronic illness acts as a "hidden tax" on Pacific families. "We don't want promises, we want policy."

Dr Luatupu Ioane-Cleverley speaking at the Public Symposium on Voting in Porirua. Photo/Facebook/Henrietta Hunkin Tagaloa.

She says that includes affordable GP visits and housing that works for intergenerational families.

Economist Filipo Katavake-McGrath says some Pacific voters who supported a party in 2023 may now be reconsidering that choice.

"There are a lot of our Pacific voters in 2026 who voted in 2023 and may be starting to either feel a bit of regret, a bit of shame or a bit of dissatisfaction at their previous vote in 2023," he told William Terite on Pacific Mornings.

Katavake-McGrath supports the proposed pay rise for care and support workers, saying many are Pacific women.

"The worst paid people in New Zealand, and the majority of them are Pacific women, so it's transformational news, and arguably some would say not enough."

Watch Filipo Katavake-McGrath's full interview below.

Edmonds says the $4 an hour pay rise would be $160 a week before tax. She says about 7600 non-regulated health support workers are Pasifika.

“We're not going to make these huge promises that are going to lift people's hopes and then bring them crashing down because we can't deliver,” she says. Ioane-Cleverley says the election is ultimately about whether voters use their power to shape the services their families rely on.

"By having your vote to decide who you want in government, you can help provide good hospitals, easily affordable GPs and good housing that, in itself, keeps you healthy.

"And who does that? The Government. And who makes the Government? You."

Youth participants at the symposium, from left, Jireh Tonise and far right, Katrina Tonise. Looking on are other participants. Photo/PMN News/Thomas Tarurongo Wynne

At the same Pacific Symposium in Porirua on Saturday, Manumea Tracy Sa, a former public servant, urged people to vote while university student Katrina Tonise said "every vote matters, every voice counts."

Local student Jireh Tonise also urged people to turn out: "If you want to see the changes on our streets that we come across every single day, then make sure you go out and vote."

Parliament was dissolved on Thursday 1 October and the election writ was issued on Sunday, 4 October. Advance voting opens on 26 October with election day on 7 November.