The Aussies can teach us about positive thinking

Russell Bell PHOTO/FILE

This week's article comes to you from Australia, the "lucky" country.

That term "lucky" is interesting when you consider how Australia developed.

Little did the British know when they began exporting convicts in their thousands to this South Pacific paradise that 200 years later it would be the poster child of economic prosperity amid the "great recession" from which we have emerged.

However, Australia is taking some hard medicine these days, as the new government has to make economic corrections after less than astute leadership by its previous Labor government.

In spite of this, Melbourne, where I have spent the past week, is showing no signs of economic malaise. Cranes can be seen throughout the skyline and the malls and department stores are packed with tills ringing.

My concern for New Zealand is that, in the short time that I have been over here, I have been struck by a nation that is getting on with it after a tough recent budget. Despite the tightening of belts, the rhetoric is about how things should be achieved rather than why they shouldn't, which is a vocal mode of thinking back home.

Mining is a clear example. Over here, there are numerous advertisements promoting the value of mining to the Australian economy and extolling the virtues for young people of a career in the industry.

One advert features a young German woman who has been trained to lead a team of specialists ensuring an uninterrupted supply chain across a network of mines. An industry attracting skilled migrants and enhancing the country's economic health - a good thing, don't you think?

Yet in New Zealand, the mere whiff of potential mining - in spite of the positive economic spinoffs - sparks marches in the streets. We have an economy which is beginning to deliver results and it would be disastrous to have that put at risk by putting the brakes on industries that would generate jobs and positive economic returns. Those who promote carbon taxes are big on "setting an example" but are very quiet on how such a move would materially increase the cost of living for everyone.

Finally, Australia is a big market and if you are prepared to get up early you can be in downtown Melbourne by the time Dave at Ceramic is serving up lunches.

If you have products or services which have universal appeal, why not look at opening up Sydney or Melbourne as a new market? Believe me, the resources and economy here could become an important revenue stream for a motivated business. If we want a growing economy, more jobs and economic prosperity, we may need to change our thinking about our nearest neighbour.

Russell Bell's Zenith Strategic Solutions is a specialist Wanganui business advice and consultancy practice, ph 021 244 2421.