Point of Order: Robertson counts down to the FIFA Women’s World Cup (after kicking in $29m)....

.....but will his govt be red-carded in October?

We don’t remember a press statement from Grant Robertson – as Minister of Finance – to advise us there are just 100 days to go to Budget Day. But today – as Minister of Sport – he has released a statement to tell us there are just 100 days to go to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Or rather, 100 days to go to July 20, when the cup gets under way and New Zealand plays Norway at Eden Park.

We should not necessarily regard this as a measure of his enthusiasm for watching 32 teams of women kicking soccer balls compared with delivering the Budget speech which will inform us who has scored how much from the Government’s largesse in the 2023/24 financial year.

But the Budget documents will contain data showing how much taxpayers will be penalised – and the sum that lenders must kick in – to balance his books.

The statement about the world cup today contained only spending news – the Government has committed $29 million to support projects related to the football tournament and upgrade sporting facilities.

Robertson issued another statement today. This tells us of his latest overseas jaunt, to meet money moguls and fellow finance ministers in the USA.

His colleagues apparently have nothing fresh to tell us, because Robertson’s two statements are the only ones on the Beehive website:

Finance Minister to attend World Bank and IMF meetings in US

Grant Robertson departs this evening for Washington DC to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

100 days until the FIFA Women’s World Cup

The largest women’s sporting event in the world is now only 100 days from hitting New Zealand shores.

The annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank will be attended by finance ministers, central bankers and private and public sector representatives from around the world

“. … to discuss the global economy, development, concerns and opportunities”.

Robertson will meet with Finance Ministers and Treasurers from Singapore, UK, Canada, Australia and the United States, along with the Managing Director of the World Bank.

“These meetings are a great opportunity to engage with ministerial counterparts on matters of mutual interest – in particular with respect to New Zealand’s economic security, trade and recovery post-COVID,” Grant Robertson said.

“Given the uncertain global environment with higher the normal inflation and slower growth, I am keen to discuss approaches taken by other countries and share New Zealand’s insights.”

He will return to New Zealand on Monday April 17

Someone in his office presumably has been counting down to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 which New Zealand is co-hosting with Australia from 20 July to 20 August 2023.

We can only conjecture on whether they have also done their sums to work out how much tax revenue is likely to be generated by the tournament – but they are aware of the possibilities:

“Co-hosting an event of this magnitude will generate huge social and economic benefits for New Zealand and leave a lasting legacy for football and women’s sport in this country,”

Tourism Minister Peeni Henare contributed to the statement:

“We are expecting thousands of international fans to come to New Zealand for the tournament. It is a great opportunity for us to showcase our unique culture and landscape,” Peeni Henare said.

“We also have an opportunity to raise Aotearoa’s profile through international broadcasting of the games. The FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 saw a combined 1.1 billion viewers tune into official coverage across all platforms.”

The Hipkins Government has recognized the opportunity for its social engineers to become involved, too.

The press statement says

Thousands of young women across the country will be given the opportunity to develop their confidence, resilience and leadership skills thanks to a collaboration between GirlBoss New Zealand and the Ministry of Education.

The GirlBoss programme uses sport as a platform to encourage young women to explore career pathways in psychology, sports science, advanced medicine, surgery and other related fields. The young women will also receive one-on-one mentoring sessions from a community of over 100 health and wellbeing professionals.

Something called The GirlBoss Make Your Move initiative is the first project to be announced as part of the Government’s FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 leverage and legacy programme.

And yes – the Government has also grabbed the chance to communicate in the language it favours, a cumbersome combination of te reo and English.

The Government has set aside $10 million to support projects that will help achieve outcomes in four key focus areas: Mana Wāhine (raising the profile of women and girls in sport and wider society), Te Tanagata (thriving communities), Te Ao (enhancing our international relationships), and Ōhanga (economic growth). This is in addition to the more than $19 million announced last year to support upgrades at 30 sporting facilities across the country.

For the record, there are just 37 days to Budget Day, when will will learn how much revenue the Government will be collecting in 2023/24 and how they will be spending it, besides football tournaments.

Oh – and there are 186 days until election day and 258 shopping days to Christmas.

Depending on the election result, of course, Christmas will come early for one bunch of supporters or another.

Robertson could also have advised us there are 100 days to Space Exploration Day – also known as National Moon Day – which Americans celebrate once a year on July 20.

And there are 100 days to International Chess Day.

How much money is the Government investing in that splendid game?

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton