Broadband the key to making place in world

What kind of jobs should we be creating? As much as new roads will be a great thing for the economy, who will build them? Who will want to? Are we going to send teams of unemployed real estate agents, brand management consultants and investment bankers out to dig the Waterview tunnel?

Building things as a solution to the economic downturn is good news for builders and construction companies but for the bulk of the desk-bound workforce it offers little short-term relief.

And while roads, schools and hospitals all add value to the economy in their own way they will do little to drive new streams of foreign currency revenue.

New Zealand - as are about to see again - is dangerously reliant on agricultural exports and the import of foreign tourists.

We need a third stream of revenue if the nation is ever to address its $15.5 billion current account deficit and actually develop some wealth.

We could (and should) reduce our spending but as important as cost-cutting is in times like these it is not a long-term path to wealth creation - and it is no fun.

So for these reasons when he sits down to discuss which infrastructure projects to bring forward to stimulate growth, John Key and his team should still have the broadband network at the top of the list.

Hopefully they plan to stick to their pre-election commitment to invest $1.5 billion in a world class 21st century fibre optic network.

It is easy to be sceptical about the virtues of the net. Critics have been quick to make the point that - given its most popular uses right now - the spending would have the immediate benefit of boosting the quality of pornography downloads and speeding up the work of music pirates.

But that kind of thinking is lacking in vision.

The internet is still a new technology and it is only just beginning to change the world. The capacity for real time video communication and the ability to run the same office networks in far flung parts of the globe presents New Zealand with the chance to shake off the tyranny of distance and export something we have in abundance: talent.

In this country we have a world class pool of workers in professional service industries such as accounting, law, advertising, web design, music, film and television.

We have a workforce that is educated and literate - not just in English but in the pop cultural nuances of the Brits, the Americans and increasingly the Chinese.

As our economy slows it is likely we will have a surplus of these professional, creative people. We are likely to see more of them returning home as economies in Australia and the UK turn down.

Cutting edge internet could allow every New Zealand business to become an exporter.

We should sell the idea of this nation as the place to go for outsourced professional services.

China is the world's outsourcing capital for manufacturing and India has similar reputation for call centres.

But New Zealand should by-pass low value services and aim for the high end - as we have done in the wine industry.

We should compete only in areas we are either better than the competition or cheaper.

Whether it is financial services, computer animation or the jingle for a toothpaste commercial - wherever a company wants a job done a New Zealand firm should be pitching its services.

For the next few years at least we will be cheaper than most other similar economies - enough time to build a reputation and national brand as we have done in the film industry.

It is good news that NZX boss Mark Weldon will be chairing the jobs summit. Both he and Key have done their time working offshore and have chosen to come back.

Both should have a deep understanding of the kind of jobs the country needs to keep its young people here. Let's play to our strengths and let's get on with it.

- Liam Dann is editor of the Business Herald.