Mood of the Boardroom: Barbara Edmonds – We’re still waiting for a tax plan (NZ Herald)
The boardroom’s message to Labour’s Barbara Edmonds is clear: her openness and willingness to listen have earned respect, but there is growing impatience for detail.
The 2025 Mood of the Boardroom survey shows a slim majority of New Zealand’s top business leaders — 53% — see Edmonds as a credible future Minister of Finance. But with 26% unconvinced and 21% undecided, that credibility remains contingent on the policies she puts forward.
One senior leader sums up the sentiment of the boardroom: “Yes, she presents as credible, but Labour’s bench strength and policy depth remain the real question.”
Edmonds’ personal appeal is consistently noted. Many respondents highlight her composure and pragmatism, describing her as respectful, considered and measured.
“The most credible of all the shadow ministers,” says Deloitte chairman Thomas Pippos.
Chairman of Scales Corporation, Mike Petersen, is more cautious: “She’s not yet ready for the role, but she clearly has potential.”
Edmonds has had a rapid rise in politics. Born to Samoan parents and the first in her family to attend university, Edmonds became a tax lawyer at Inland Revenue, was seconded to advise National ministers Michael Woodhouse and Judith Collins, and later joined then-Labour minister Stuart Nash’s office.
She entered Parliament in 2020, winning the Mana electorate with a commanding margin, and went on to chair the Finance and Expenditure Committee, earning praise even from then-Opposition leader Christopher Luxon.
Under Chris Hipkins’ prime ministership, she held the revenue, economic development and Pacific peoples portfolios, with associate roles that included finance and housing.
She is Labour’s first Pasifika finance spokesperson and, with eight children, often stresses her ability to juggle pressure. At last year’s Mood of the Boardroom breakfast debate — her first — she leaned heavily on authenticity:
“I came here today thinking I’m going to embrace it and have fun. It’s an extreme privilege to be in a room with the business leaders of this country,” she told CEOs. “I won’t stand here and make political promises that I don’t intend to work my ass off to keep. I will always take a meeting or a call, and I will always listen.”
She went further, stressing that collaboration must be real, not rhetorical:
“I’ve been incredibly grateful for those that I have met with, you have been gracious in your time and your free and frankness. We may not agree on everything, but I’m going to tell you why we don’t agree. I think that’s how we can make New Zealand a better place: when business, government and opposition work better, together.”
A real estate boss recalls: “Barbara was very good at last year’s Mood of the Boardroom debate, keeping Nicola Willis on her toes.”
During the debate, she also showed flashes of ambition and grit. When asked if she had the “killer instinct” to succeed as Finance Minister, Edmonds asserted that she does.
“Absolutely. You don’t have eight children and you don’t go through a tax degree and a law degree without struggles and challenges,” she told the audience.
“You can be nice, smart, intelligent, considered — and do the hard mahi.”
That blend of humility and quiet steel left an impression, though many CEOs note they are still waiting for that resolve to translate into clear economic strategy.
“She has good personal appeal, but I have not seen any evidence of her technical capability and strategic thinking. Much is made of the fact that she was a tax lawyer, but this is a far cry from running the economy — we need to see some policies first,” says EMA chief executive John Fraser-Mackenzie.
There has been some criticism that Edmonds has been slow to land blows in Parliament and, for CEOs, Nicola Willis remains the reference point by which she is measured.
“I really like Barbara, but she needs to exude much greater confidence,” says the head of a major law firm. “She pales in terms of credibility against a very strong Nicola Willis.”
But that has begun to shift when Edmonds took Nicola Willis to task earlier this month in question time over the timeline of Adrian Orr’s resignation from the Reserve Bank.
Edmonds challenged the Finance Minister on withheld texts and delayed disclosures. It was a rare moment where Edmonds moved beyond her usual measured tone to apply real political heat — and business leaders say they want to see more of that edge.
Respondents acknowledge Edmonds has put real effort into building connections, with business leaders noting her weekly presence in Auckland and her willingness to engage. But they also stress that listening must now be matched by delivery — a growth story, fiscal constraint, and tax clarity.
“Barbara is impressive,” says the head of an investment firm. “I’d encourage her to spend more time with business leaders so that she can present a bold and confident economic growth plan.”
Her collaborative instinct was also on display in her former role as Labour’s infrastructure spokesperson. At the Infrastructure Investment Summit earlier this year, she was instrumental in building bipartisan support, backing the use of public-private partnerships while setting clear non-negotiables around hospitals, schools, prisons and critical infrastructure.
“These are the essential public services, and people expect their government to safeguard them,” she told investors.
Several argue Labour’s six years in government stacked costs on business through higher wages, expanded leave, added holidays, and mounting compliance.
One respondent is blunt: “Decisions were in the hands of Labourites just like Barbara Edmonds, an academic who has never run a business.”
That view is not universal, but it underscores the gulf that Edmonds — and Labour — must bridge before next year’s election.
The capital gains test
That will be tested soon when Labour unveils its long-awaited tax package — its first major policy offering of the campaign. A capital gains tax (CGT) is widely expected to sit at the centre of it.
The idea is hardly new. Labour has explored versions of CGT for decades — from David Lange’s tentative steps in the 1980s, to Phil Goff’s ill-fated 2011 campaign, to Jacinda Ardern’s decision to rule it out despite Sir Michael Cullen’s 2019 tax working group urging reform. Each time, political backlash forced retreat. Chris Hipkins also ruled it out in the lead-up to the 2023 election campaign.
This year’s Mood of the Boardroom survey highlights just how divisive the issue remains: 34% of CEOs support a CGT in principle, 47% oppose it outright, and 19% remain undecided.
Support today hinges on scope and safeguards. “A carefully scoped CGT, with safeguards, could make the system fairer and more efficient without discouraging productive investment,” says the CEO of a manufacturer.
Institute of Directors CEO Kirsten (KP) Patterson frames it as generational fairness: “At some point, New Zealand will need to lean into a capital gains tax … it’s not sustainable to leave it until after the grey-bubble generation has had their financial reward and the burden falls yet again on a younger generation already struggling with home ownership.”
Auckland Business Chamber CEO Simon Bridges adds a note of caution:
“A form of capital gains tax, if accompanied by corporate tax relief, is — with great care and skill — saleable to middle New Zealand and business.”
As Auckland Airport CEO Carrie Hurihanganui puts it: “The devil is in the detail as not all capital gains tax policies are the same.”
The common red lines for respondents include applying it only to realised gains, excluding the family home and small businesses, and offsetting it with relief for low earners.
Opponents are equally emphatic. “Does not work as implied, and will stifle investment,” says one.
Craig Stobo, chairman of the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency, points back to 2019: “Sir Michael Cullen’s tax working group said it all … it all sounds good until the operational details are revealed.”
Others argue for fiscal restraint instead of new taxes: “If the Government just focused on spending wisely, that would not be required. Any new tax will be wasted.”
The emotional edge is sharp. One leader warns CGT could drive a “mass exodus” to Australia. Another says bluntly: “I would consider leaving the country.”
Yet there is also a pragmatic middle, ready to support a narrowly drawn, transparent regime if it is paired with credible growth measures and income tax offsets.
For Edmonds, how she handles this will be seen as a test not just of her policy chops but of her ability to sell Labour’s economic direction and ultimately win the electorate’s backing as Labour’s next Minister of Finance.