Christopher Luxon

This was Horizon, right?

Correct.

They're in a COVID frame of mind where the cash bazooka was sprayed around, the credit card was maxed out, the rainy day fund is gone, and the banks are telling us, hey, listen, with credit rating watches, you need to be careful here.

And so we have to be careful here.

Well, I get people may not want to hear it, but I have to do the right thing for the long term for New Zealand.

Well, I'm writing the sequel to the Labour government.

It's a lovely movie, the first one, but I'm actually living the sequel.

And the sequel is that I don't have the flexibility to go spray the cash around anymore.

When you triple the debt...

and you write out a $10 billion interest bill only on all of that debt, that is $5 billion in hospitals we don't get to build.

That is a huge amount of investment in the country we don't get to have.

So we have to be financially responsible.

We're actually getting credit for that.

People internationally think we're doing it the right way.

I get it.

I get it.

But actually, I have to be a good steward of the finances, and I think we are trying to find the right balance through that.

And I think when you see other countries picking up some of our approach, it's a good sign.

No, but I get it.

Yeah, but Mike, people are tired, right?