Nicola Willis: podcast appearances and interviews

Nicola Valentine Willis, born on 7 March 1981, is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the incoming Social Investment Minister for the New Zealand Government. She has previously held roles including Deputy Leader of the National Party since 2021, Minister of Finance, Minister for Social Investment, Minister for Economic Growth, and Minister for the Public Services in the Sixth National Government. Willis's background includes a privileged childhood, followed by education at Auckland's King's College. She earned a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington and completed a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury. Before entering Parliament, she worked as a political advisor and corporate lobbyist, and she entered the New Zealand House of Representatives on the National Party list in 2018. In 2021, Willis became her party's deputy leader, following Christopher Luxon’s election as party leader. Her tenure in government has included implementing significant spending cuts, which led to the loss of thousands of public sector jobs and a rise in national unemployment. By early 2025, GDP had decreased, prompting calls for her resignation, alongside concerns raised by prominent economists and the business community, who criticized her government's economic strategy as lacking coherence and long-term reform focus. Willis has publicly dismissed these criticisms.