Hamilton growing to be the city of the future

The lunch was a fireside chat - where Willis was interviewed by fellow National MP and the member for Hamilton East, Ryan Hamilton about her life story, how she got into politics and dealing with the pressures of being an MP.

She said Hamilton is growing - both in population and people wanting to move here.

There’s “lots of development happening” in the city and the wider Waikato region, whether it’s commercial buildings, the new Waikato Medical School and new roads like the Southern Links or the Cambridge to Piarere Expressway extension.

“There is a sense of momentum and future growth, which always great to be part of,” Willis said.

Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good said things were looking up.

“The prospects for the country as a whole are looking a lot brighter than they were a year ago.”

Good said the Waikato “is going to be the best place to be over the next three years”.

His claim appears to have some back up from the Reserve Bank.

It’s predicting a 0.4% rise economic activity in the current quarter, followed by 3% annual growth in both 2026 and 2027 before dipping to just under 2% growth in 2028.

Before going into the Q&A from the audience, Willis talked about how Hamilton pushed for the Waikato Medical School, until “it became almost overwhelming”.

“In fact, some days I wonder whether the reason we just said yes we’re going to go ahead with that project is because we wanted you to shut up,” Willis said, to laughs from the audience.

She said the medical school will be important “for the local health system” and makes it possible to train and retain more doctors and nurses.

In the wake of the 2.25% official cash rate announcement, banks had cut home loan rates.

But Willis wanted banks to pass on more of the effects of the cut to mortgage-holders.

“At every opportunity, I'm continuing to put pressure on the big four commercial banks to say, look, New Zealanders are doing it tough,” she told the business lunch.

She said banks are making “big profits” and should pass on the interest rate reductions to mortgage-holders.

Willis said the Government will keep pressuring banks to pass on the rate reductions to customers.

“But ultimately the solution to this is banks pass more on when they feel like they have to in order to get business.”

However, when pressed on whether central government had any levers to pull to compel banks, Willis demurred, saying it was important “banks make their own commercial decisions and are responsible for managing their own financial risk”.

“They all have a choice about how competitive their offerings to their customers are.”

Good said the farming base of the regional balance sheet had grown substantially, bouying the region.

“Farmers are being prudent with their wealth and that will, over time, flow through the rest of the Waikato economy," he said.

Willis said Waikato is the biggest dairy farming region in the country, with 23% of all dairy milk solids coming from the region.

“So when those Fonterra Farmers get their payout next year from the sale of the brand's businesses, you can expect to see some of them spending that right here in Hamilton and in the Waikato.”