Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges lays out the policies he and business leaders want scrapped by new PM Chris Hipkins. Video / NZ Herald
Small businesses across Aotearoa aren’t confident the new Prime Minister will address their issues in time to win them over before the general election.
Ahead of Chris Hipkins talking shop with business leaders in Tāmaki Makaurau today, small businesses spokento by RNZ say he’s got a lengthy to-do list to tick off if he’s to secure their vote on 14 October.
Owner of Nelson-based food and catering business Kiwi Kai, Reni Gargiulo, won last year’s Supreme Māori Businesswoman award, but is struggling to stay afloat.
She said Hipkins had a lot of cobwebs to sweep out - including labour and immigration issues.
In Queenstown he said, they couldn’t get enough staff, and the staff already there were burnt out.
Air Milford father and son aviation duo, Hank and Antony Sproull. Photo / Supplied, File
“We’ve been screaming out to get more immigrants in here, and it’s taking such a long time for the wheels to turn to get people to come back to New Zealand.”
He said the Prime Minister needed to listen to what small businesses are telling the Government.
Meanwhile, Christchurch pharmacy owner Annabel Turley said she wanted to see pharmacists added to the skills shortage list.
She said currently there was a real lack of pharmacists in New Zealand.
He stopped selling cigarettes to deter would-be thieves.
Unimpressed with Jacinda Ardern, Amin said he would support Hipkins if he adopted National leader Christopher Luxon’s policy of introducing bootcamps to pull thieving and ram-raiding youth into line.
In Auckland, Grownup Donuts owner Daniel Black said he wanted to see Hipkins live up to his promise to prioritise bread and butter issues of inflation and cost of living.
“We’ve got a rising interest rate which is going to get every Kiwi with a mortgage, and we’ve got rising cost of foods going through the roof.
“Let’s see some policies that help take some of the pain off.”
Ashburton dairy farmer Nick Giera said he was happy to see a fresh face at the top, but he didn’t think Hipkins would make any difference.
Giera said the Prime Minister would need to enact radical change to get his vote - like repealing Three Waters and dialling back the onus on farmers to slash emissions.
Nick Giera feeding beef calves at Ruapuna Farms, near Mayfield. Photo / Tim Cronshaw, File
“There hasn’t been too many governments that have stood in the way of small business like the recent Labour government.
“So yeah, I can’t see how he would do enough really to get farmers’ confidence.”
