By VERNON SMALL
The Prime Minister has floated the prospect of a centralised plan for developing roads and other infrastructure after a top-level forum yesterday.
Speaking after the close of the low-key Business Leaders-Government Forum, Helen Clark said one of the key workshops looked at infrastructure.
"One of the key points ... was that we do not have as a country a national infrastructure strategy. We tend to deal with things as they come along.
"Maybe it's something the Ministry of Economic Development should be charged with - producing some sort of overall infrastructure strategy."
She said the days of the Ministry of Works planning and building major projects had passed.
"But whose role is it now to say: 'Well here's where the infrastructure gaps seem to be, now how do we fill them? What's the Government's role, what's the private sector's? Where are the joint ventures between the two?'."
She pointed to the planned transport strategy, which would allow private-public partnerships "in those areas of land transport where the public purse is not going to reach".
The all-day, closed-door forum brought together nine senior Cabinet ministers, Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard, top Treasury and Government officials, economists and key union and business leaders including Fonterra chief executive Craig Norgate, Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung and Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall.
Helen Clark said the forum's workshops looked at capital markets, research and development, skills and education, infrastructure and global connectedness.
They identified the need to lift the educational achievement of the bottom third and look at a new pre-startup step between the existing Venture Investment Fund and business innovators.
There was a call to "promote, prioritise and popularise" research and science.
That could include a change of the culture to make it more accepting of change.
She said there was no formal discussion of a social compact between Government, unions and business, mooted last month by Finance Minister Michael Cullen.
But presentations by Dr Bollard, Mr Norgate and union economist Peter Conway focused on productivity.
Documents obtained by the Herald show that Mr Norgate called for unions, business and the Government to agree that increasing growth was the single biggest issue.
That would include changing mindsets from "where else is life this good?" to "the wealth gap is significant and we must act now".
He advocated an aggressive global competitiveness strategy, the restoration of world-class infrastructure, research and development as a national priority, a productivity drive, and the alignment of education with national priorities.
In a presentation comparing New Zealand's economy ("the Warriors") with Australia ("the Roosters"), Dr Bollard said New Zealand needed to raise physical capital, global connectedness and innovation. There was also room to improve the levels of labour market participation, human and financial capital.
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