Labour’s Barbara Edmonds speaks to On the Tiles about finance, taxation and challenging the Government

Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Labour’s new voice on finance wants to have a national discussion about tax before determining the party’s 2026 manifesto.

Barbara Edmonds has replaced former Finance Minister Grant Robertson as the party’s finance spokesperson, with Robertson set to retire from Parliament in the coming weeks.

Edmonds has a history as a tax lawyer, working in the private and public sectors, and entered Parliament in 2020.

Speaking to deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan on On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast, Edmonds said she is not looking to replicate Robertson’s style while debating in Parliament.

“I don’t have a history in debating. My background is very much in the private and public sector world. The kind of Westminster adversarial style that you have kind of in Parliament is not something that I was exposed to much, I wasn’t in debating club at university or at school. But again, it’s something that you just kind of have to learn and you work through it.

“I probably have a very different style from Grant. He’s been around for a long time in politics. I still feel like I’m kind of getting my political legs, but for me, just play the game as opposed to the player. So I’m looking at facts and evidence and whatever is publicly available.”

Top of that approach for Edmonds will be working through Labour’s next tax policy. The party has previously campaigned on things like a capital gains tax (CGT) and not succeeded in elections, and last year ruled out any new taxes but instead on a cut to GST (goods and services tax) on fruits and vegetables.

Edmonds said she is not looking to announce a wealth tax or CGT any time soon, but reckons both taxes have pros and cons in terms of raising revenue for a Government.

She does want to have a discussion as a country about the coming economic challenges and what sort of society people want.

“As we step through this sort of party process to get to our manifesto in 2026, we’re going to have to bring the public along wherever we go. So I think actually having that wider public debate [is due], because we didn’t really get to have it when the tax working group report came out in 2019.”

That report, after years of consultation, recommended a CGT, but that was ruled out by then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“Labour didn’t say ‘okay, New Zealand, do you want to have one?” Edmond said. “And in the sense, because Labour was considering the working group’s recommendations, I think that created the space then for those who are anti-CGT to basically fill that void.

“And so we didn’t really have sound debate, and we didn’t really sell a CGT or those recommendations, but that’s because we were working through the recommendations ourselves.”

Listen to the full episode of the On the Tiles podcast for more from Barbara Edmonds on her new portfolio.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays. The podcast is hosted by NZ Herald deputy politics editor Thomas Coughlan.