Former Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett has praised two Labour MPs for their work with small businesses, surprising AM host Ryan Bridge.
Appearing on the show's regular panel on Thursday, Barnett was asked who would make his nice list this Christmas. Barnett prefaced his answer by saying, "I don't know how popular I'd be saying this, but I would pick a couple of politicians".
"They would be Stuart Nash and Grant Robertson," said Barnett.
"What?" Ryan Bridge exclaimed, surprised at the choices.
Barnett said he was choosing them because of "their recognition of the support that small businesses and employers needed over the last two years, especially around mental health."
"So, they're on my nice list and they deserve to be there."
"There might be a few small businesses who would beg to differ," replied fellow AM host Melissa Chan-Green.
In October, Small Business Minister Stuart Nash announced the rolling out of multiple mental health and well-being tools to small businesses across New Zealand.
The Government also extended its health and wellness support package, implemented in Auckland in 2021, to small businesses across New Zealand until June 2024.
There are an estimated 546,000 small businesses across the country that Labour hopes to help with these initiatives as they recover from the pandemic.
There were also a number of business boost initiatives from the Government in October 2021, targeted at transitioning to the COVID-19 framework - which has since been scrapped.
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