New Zealand is not a hermit kingdom. But there is evidence that international business is being lost due to border difficulties.
Unlike New South Wales, which has posted a clear plan for reopening, New Zealand has yet to provide clarity.
This year's Mood of the Boardroom survey has a strong focus on what business wants as New Zealand prepares to come out of Covid.
This focus may seem counter-intuitive given the Delta outbreak had been wafting about Auckland for seven weeks when this report went to press.
But the Ardern Government is preparing for the time when it can ease back on its elimination strategy as vaccination numbers strengthen.
Many chief executives canvassed in the 2021 survey want more tools to keep their people safe from the virus:
• Mandates to require staff to be vaccinated;
• Antigen and saliva testing;
• Quarantine-free or self-isolation at home after business trips across the border.
A majority also want a clear vaccination target to be set for that to occur.
All this is happening elsewhere and there is widespread frustration at a "Wellington knows best" attitude which excludes some from making a useful contribution.
A coterie of chief executives has been privately assisting the Ardern Government with its response to the pandemic.
"To date on balance, the strategy has served us relatively well," says businessman Rob Fyfe. "But we now need a step-change in execution ability if we are not to slip behind the rest of the world heading in to 2022.
"We need to be flexing our border settings to reflect individual traveller risk. We need to be using isolation at home and we should have been introducing alternate testing regimes nine months ago — such as saliva!
"We are not evolving our system nearly quickly enough.
"We don't need a firm date on reopening our border. There are too many uncertainties around how the virus will continue to evolve and how the New Zealand population will step up to the vaccine challenge.
"The first quarter next year — which really means February/March is precise enough for us."
Fyfe has been business adviser on the Covid-19 recovery since July 2020.
The Herald survey, taken in association with BusinessNZ, attracted 151 respondents, primarily from the "big end of town".
Many of the NZX Top 50 listed companies were contributors, along with chief executives from virtually all major trading banks, key dairy sector players, a raft of professional advisory firms and several well-placed directors.
Crucially, last year's big dip in business confidence has reversed.
Most chief executives and their firms have proven resilient in the face of the pandemic, although, the current level 3 lockdown in Auckland will bite hard on some companies. Some face major transformative change, particularly with climate change. Chief executives are also concerned about social damage in New Zealand. Growing inequality, the housing affordability scandal and inadequate education. All this amidst an explosion in gang violence and crime.
They want both the Government and business to face up to some responsibility here.
As in each year's survey, the Herald takes the political temperature.
The centralisation of power under this Government is a contentious issue.
When it comes to the personalities, both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National's Judith Collins have been found wanting in some areas.
The business community want to play a role in driving our future. And an open-minded Government or Opposition should entertain that.
Said The Warehouse chair Joan Withers: "Will there be a truly post-Covid world? The residual effects of this pandemic will last a long time. People's attitudes have changed. If we manage our way forward well, we will be seen as a great place to live."
