NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Business Reports / Project Auckland

Kim Campbell: Incentivise investors to back Auckland

By Kim Campbell
NZ Herald·
5 Nov, 2012 04:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Kim Campbell, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Kim Campbell, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Opinion

Turning Auckland into the world's most liveable city requires much more than good intentions; it requires Auckland Council to have a major attitude adjustment.

Mayor Len Brown says his vision will only be realised if the city is "underpinned by an internationally competitive, prosperous economy that all Aucklanders can benefit from and participate in".

That's totally laudable. Likewise when he said: "To grow at the rate Auckland needs to, (to become the most liveable city) it must add a much stronger export focus ... aim(ed) at developing and selling high value goods and services into high growth sectors."

The Auckland Economic Development Strategy sets out the targets. Average annual increases for the region have to reach:

* 6 per cent for exports

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

* GDP greater than 5 per cent

* Productivity growth greater than 2 per cent.

We need, the strategy says, to switch from being import-led to become export-driven.

Bravo! But it's not going to happen.

The many thousands of ratepayer dollars that went into the strategy is about to turn into so much hot air. Unless, that is, the Auckland Council itself undergoes a transformation in its attitudes to business success. To do that the council has to re-assess its practices and policies in the issuing of such things as resource consents, and realign its rates and charges with its strategy for attracting business development.

Discover more

Project Auckland

Rich dose of innovation will improve prosperity

05 Nov 04:30 PM
Project Auckland

Mayor: Auckland scorecard improving

05 Nov 04:30 PM
Business

Tenant trio to bank, bank, bank on

06 Nov 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Unified fare zone plan to get rethink

07 Nov 04:30 PM

Unless it does this, all of its strategies and plans will amount to politics and grandstanding. The reason is simple. If we are to achieve our economic goals set out in the strategy, Auckland needs to attract significant investment from offshore and locally in order to develop competitive businesses. No one will readily invest here if the hurdles for developing any project are set too high and in the absence of any incentives.

So far most investment has gone into existing retail, distribution and property assets; we don't need more of that. Auckland's Economic Development Strategy identifies the high value businesses where investment must be targeted: in sectors such as food and beverage, niche manufacturing, biotech, marine and IT.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The strategy is far less certain on why investors would develop businesses in these sectors. Why they would not invest is clear. Among the reasons are the cost, and the byzantine, time-consuming processes required for getting consents under the Resource Management Act, and council policies that require businesses to pay more in rates and charges than other users of council services. For example, consent is being held up on a project out west where $10 million has been spent on studies, tortuous consent processes and interference by government agencies.

The council's Economic Development Strategy has rightly pointed to food and beverage businesses as a prospective high-growth sector. Businesses in the sector typically use a lot of water yet the council-owned Watercare is charging businesses 1.6 times more for waste water than it charges other users. It seems the council expects businesses to subsidise the management of residential waste water. The message is at odds with the strategy.

Similarly the rates applying to all Auckland's businesses are 2.63 times higher than for other ratepayers for the same level of council services. Though we have the mayor's assurances this impost will move down over time, in the absence of incentives and lower costs elsewhere, the extra cost signals business is only welcome if it's prepared to pay more than others. It's a big turn-off. What can we do?

The mayor's present efforts to reduce rates increases below the rate of inflation are essential. We urge him to keep looking for efficiencies and unwarranted spending. But more is needed. To spark investor interest, Auckland should consider what it can offer multinationals to make their investment here more attractive.

Together with measures such as rates holidays, the council might consider setting aside an investor-ready industrial corridor where planning, resource consents and necessary infrastructure is already in place. Temporary tax or rates holidays may sound like a gravy train but they work in many other places. When the businesses that become established because of them eventually start paying their way they deliver revenue that was not going to be collected otherwise - new business and new revenue for the city.

Perhaps what would help most is a culture change at the council. Instead of preventing development our officials need to be empowered to assist. Instead of issuing notices saying what must be complied with, our officials need to be empowered to recommend ways whereby consents can be issued.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The council needs to become an enabler of business success, and this requires a change in attitude, not changes to the law. Our national agencies, such as those for Transport, Environment and Conservation need to do likewise.

To ensure the mayor's vision for Auckland to become the world's most liveable city, we call on the council to trigger a change to the administration's culture so our city's officials become facilitators of business success, not inhibitors of it. That would signal to Wellington we are open for business, and they should do the same.

Kim Campbell is chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Project Auckland

Project Auckland

‘Smart thinking’: How data-driven signs improved Auckland transit

02 Apr 02:27 AM
Premium
Business|business reports

$8m creative hub to boost Henderson’s creative industry

27 Mar 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Dawn Freshwater: How University of Auckland drives NZ’s innovation ecosystem

27 Mar 03:59 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Project Auckland

‘Smart thinking’: How data-driven signs improved Auckland transit

‘Smart thinking’: How data-driven signs improved Auckland transit

02 Apr 02:27 AM

63% of commuters changed travel habits due to smart city initiative.

Premium
$8m creative hub to boost Henderson’s creative industry

$8m creative hub to boost Henderson’s creative industry

27 Mar 05:00 PM
Premium
Dawn Freshwater: How University of Auckland drives NZ’s innovation ecosystem

Dawn Freshwater: How University of Auckland drives NZ’s innovation ecosystem

27 Mar 03:59 PM
Premium
‘I want to keep the pressure on’ - Wayne Brown says he has unfinished business

‘I want to keep the pressure on’ - Wayne Brown says he has unfinished business

27 Mar 05:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP