Business leaders have given their verdict on the Government in the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey and it’s not pretty for Labour.
But while they saw National leader Christopher Luxon as having the edge so far in the election campaign, there was considerable scepticism over the proposed funding of National’s $14.6 billion tax cuts package.
“I do see light at the end of the tunnel for the New Zealand economy,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said this morning at the Mood of the Boardroom debate with National’s finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis.
“You’ve given the National Party a pretty soft pass,” he told business leaders in the audience, saying National’s tax cut plans were delusional.
He said a Labour-led government would invest further in skills and infrastructure.
“We meet in what are very challenging times for our economy,” Willis said. “Our economic trajectory is of next to no growth on a per capita basis.”
She criticised Labour’s spending record, adding: “We have seen a set of books that have been vandalised”.
Willis said a National-led government would make chief executives want to invest in New Zealand and create better-paying jobs.
Robertson defended working with NZ Steel and with Fonterra to embrace decarbonisation.
He said the market could not tackle the climate crisis alone.
“It does need the support and the assistance from the Government. This to me is the central economic issue of our time.”
He said Labour would help exporters achieve the environmental goals consumers and retailers overseas increasingly demanded.
More than 100 chief executives and directors were asked to rank government ministers and opposition MPs in the survey, out today.
After six months as prime minister, Chris Hipkins scored an average of 2.9/5 on a scale running from one, “not impressive”, to five “very impressive”.
Just 5 per cent of respondents marked Hipkins as very impressive, although 28 per cent scored him at four out of five.
Executive chairman of Devon Funds Paul Glass says: “He’s been handed a hospital pass and doesn’t have the skill set to get us out of this mess.”
Rob Campbell, who chairs the NZ Rural Land Co and renewable energy centre Ara Ake, has a different perspective: “I think he is a caretaker and avoider of the real issues.”
Asked to rank Luxon’s leadership in the last parliamentary term on a scale of one to five where one is “not impressive” and five is “very impressive”. The weighted average of responses was 3.3/5, which can be read as “impressive but not overly so”.
Deloitte chairman Thomas Pippos said Luxon is “very much still a work in progress from a political leadership perspective”.
There are more critical views. Jarden managing director Silvana Schenone points out Luxon is “not strong with the women’s vote”.
An industrial chief executive notes he is: “Too corporate, no real connection.”
Anne Gaze, founder and chief executive of Campus Link Foundation says: “He has his 100 days. Labour has tanked so much of New Zealand. National will secure votes not deserved but from those disillusioned by Labour’s appalling outcomes.”
READ MORE: Click here to read the full report
The survey was conducted while the opposition party had still not released its fiscal plan and full working calculations for the package.
Chief executives rated the proposal at an average of 3.17/5 on a scale where one equals “not credible” and five equals “very credible”.
“Failing to disclose the details behind their calculations of the package increases the risk that this is just more political rhetoric,” said Mainfreight chief executive Don Braid. “Fix the fundamental issues around the economic malaise rather than trying to be cute with tax breaks.”
Meanwhile, in a Cabinet criticised by business for its inability to execute some flagship Labour policies, Damien O’Connor stood out for “getting stuff done”.
Successful stitching up of international trade deals saw the Minister for Trade and Export Growth catapulted to the top of the 2023 rankings in Chris Hipkins’ administration, scoring 3.2 out of five.
His rise resulted in Minister for Climate Change and Greens co-leader James Shaw dropping to second place from his top ranking in 2022.
The big surprise was the swift elevation of Kieran McAnulty from 13th in last year’s rankings to third with a rating of 2.85/5.
Broadcasting and Media Minister Willie Jackson was bottom-ranked with 55 per cent finding his ministerial performance “unimpressive”.
Chief executives continue to back Grant Robertson as a credible Minister of Finance. Some 58 per cent say he has been credible in the position, acknowledging his adeptness and confidence in handling economic matters.
But 35 per cent of respondents say otherwise, and 7 per cent are unsure, and his credibility score is a distinct shift from the high levels he received during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In that election year, chief executives awarded him an impressive credibility score of 91 per cent.
Chief executives are impressed with National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis.
Significantly, 83 per cent of respondents believe she has effectively portrayed herself as a credible future finance minister, should she have the opportunity following the election.
Catch the live stream of a Q&A with Grant Robertson and Nicola Willis from 7.30am on nzherald.co.nz