CEOs want more than bling and window-dressing

Don Braid says New Zealand should be working like a small business. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Prime Minister John Key promised the high-profile Jobs Summit would be a "do-fest" not a "talk-fest".

But four months on, chief executives are questioning whether it provided value to New Zealand business and workers.

Many chief executives say they would rather the Government concentrated on getting a consistent policy platform together to spur economic growth rather that put on over-hyped events.

Just one in three respondents to the Herald's annual Mood of the Boardroom survey believe the February summit created real outcomes - among them Barfoot & Thompson's Peter Thompson who said it helped companies "think outside the square".

A tourism boss also said the value of aligning business and political leaders around a common sense of challenge and solutions was "invaluable in a country our size", though he added that follow-up actions from the summit had "not been pursued as boldly as I would like to see".

Just three big-ticket ideas were adopted during the Summit - the nine-day fortnight, a national cycleway and a joint Government-private equity bank scheme which has since been dropped.

Others are still being scoped.

Deloitte's Murray Jack said the summit was about setting the tone.

"While there are not (and would never be) any silver bullets it is clear that New Zealand businesses have behaved responsibly in trying to protect their labour force ... layoffs have been a last resort."

But two-thirds of chief executive respondents reckon the summit did not live up to its billing. Among the criticisms: "It was a talk-fest too dominated by the bling boys", "a great idea with no follow-through", and positive only in the sense that it "revealed no disagreement with the Government's general policy directions."

NZX boss Mark Weldon, who was appointed by Key as Summit chair, also drew flak for not doing enough to keep attendees actively in the loop after the February event.

South Pacific Pictures' John Barnett (an attendee) said ideas that completely challenged the pre-determined wisdoms weren't given any room. "Overall there was a lack of great paradigm shifting proposals. We all felt better on the day, but most of the actions adopted were more of the same rather than brand new."

"Eighty per cent of the country's GDP was represented and the best you can come up with is a cycleway," said another attendee. "It was all an exercise in window-dressing as the so-called ideas were all pre-done."

CEOs were not short of ideas when it came to telling the Government - through the Herald survey - what more it needs to do to provide a good platform for New Zealand businesses to prosper and grow.

Mainfreight's Don Braid produced his own mini-list. "Reduce company tax to 10 per cent, promote what New Zealand has available: agriculture, tourism, health and education. Combine tourism and health for a product that can compete with the rest of the world. Stop acting like we are an America or an Australia, act like a small business, as we are when compared to the rest of the world. Introduce capital gains taxes on second dwellings sold within say 10 years.

"Provide free education for skills we need if the individual fulfils employment in New Zealand criteria. Appoint people to boards of SOEs - not the political appointees of late. Stop local bodies owning large stakes in our strategic infrastructure assets like ports and airports."

Ports of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns pointed out that New Zealand has $3.5 billion of assets ($2.2 billion in Local Government ownership) that seem to fly beneath the radar screen. "The total NZ port sector has been generating negative cash flows since 2006. Given that 99 per cent of NZ's trade flows through a port node, we cannot afford any inefficiency in this sector if we are to trade our way to an export-led recovery."

A major agriculture exporter also produced a list: "Implement a regulatory reform agenda. Exert strong fiscal discipline to maintain/improve NZ's credit rating to minimise the cost of capital. Legislate for a Government expenditure cap over the long term to enable lower personal and corporate tax rates. Restructure the tax system to raise more revenue from GST and other inelastic sources and less from labour and company income tax. Maintain a strong focus on trade liberalisation and defer/delay carbon trading."

Whybin TBWA's David Walden suggested the Government should tackle the personal and company tax issues that have "understandably" been put on the back burner.

"We need to see a plan to get us back on a track to maintain our competitiveness with Australia."

"Just hold the course and focus on avoiding being distracted by political fluff," said Matthew Cockram of Cooper and Company.