Business NZ Conference Part V

September 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm by David Farrar

Business NZ CEO Phil O’Reilly reported on the results of their survey of members. Over 2,000 members responded – mainly small business:

Skills Shortage biggest issue – can not get skilled staff despite rising unemployment
Firms want to innovate but don’t feel well positioned to do so
Concerns about “environment” for business – Holidays Act, ERA, ACC

Skills

72% say education system not meeting skills gap
94% say more work needed on apprenticeships and industry training. Need action not rhetoric
91% say all school leavers should achieve NCEA Level 1 for literacy and numeracy
Not just student loans driving people overseas
The underlying problem is competitiveness
NZ economy not growing enough high-paying jobs so skilled Kiwis being sucked overseas

Innovation

89% say R&D tax credits will nit lift R&D spend. Pointed out many small business who responded do no R&D
54% say policies needed to improve access to venture capital
54% say government assistance should be through a contestable fund

Environment for Business

71% say the dismissals provision in ERA is below average
54% say ERA collective approach is wrong way – less than in past
89% do not want laws for work-life balance
61% want ACC opened up for competition

Open ACC to Competition (Bus 61% yes)

ACT – yes
Labour, NZF, Greens, UFNZ – No
National, Maori – will consider it

Flatter Taxes

National, ACT, UFNZ – Yes
Labour, Greens, Maori – No
NZF – no clear policy

Local Government stick to core business (Bus 64% yes)

ACT – yes
Labour, Greens, Maori – no
National, NZF, UFNZ – no clear answer

Support FTA with China (Bus 55% yes)

Labour, National, NZF, ACT – yes
NZF, Greens, Maori – no

Should NZ be international leader on climate change? (Bus 73% No)

Labour – yes
ACT, UF – No
National, NZF, Greens – unclear answer

Tags: Business NZ, Phil O'Reilly

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm and is filed under NZ Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

7 Responses to “Business NZ Conference Part V”

grumpyoldhori (2,350) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Why on earth are employers whining, NZ universities are churning out thousands with useful degrees in political science, media studies, the arts etc,
What more could they want ?
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Kimble (3,710) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
“89% do not want laws for work-life balance”

And before some capitalism-hating unionist starts, this does not mean employers dont want a work-life balance. They just dont want the government determining what that balance should be.
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stephen (4,063) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Support FTA with China (Bus 55% yes)

Is anyone else surprised by that? Do we still have that many businesses (albeit ones that responded to the survey) that are vulnerable to being out-competed by Chinese businesses and so are against the FTA?
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stephen (4,063) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
grumpyoldhori, you’ll love this from today then:

Sir Robert Jones bestowed his eponymous Philosophy Awards with all the humour and style that have come to characterise the colourful businessman and benefactor.

This year, former Prime Minister Michael Moore and the Rt Honourable Jonathan Hunt joined Sir Robert for the evening celebration in Old Government House.

The awards, which were established in 2004, are given annually to five undergraduate students who have completed their first semester of Stage 1 Philosophy and who are majoring in Philosophy. The three-year scholarships are each worth $2000 per year. Sir Robert gives similar awards to humanities students at several New Zealand universities.

Noting that he is approaching 70, Sir Robert said he has long been praised for finding the right people to work in, and run, his business interests.

“I am always asked, ‘Where do you find these people?’ I tell them, ‘Go to the Humanities!’ And to anyone who thinks that studying philosophy is wet I say, ‘It’s not wet. You are all too young to know what you are going to do yet, so this is how you start to figure it out.

http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/about/news/articles/2008/08/jones.cfm
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baxter (893) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I am also surprised at the narrow majority in favour of the China FTA considering the overwhelmingly positive hype about it following the signing. I side with the large minority, a year or so out we should start to see who benefits most.
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Viking2 (9,612) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Hey grumpyoldhori, ya forgot the ones who have all their quals in flax basket making, language of the past era’s, and full training in how to sign up treaty claims.
Oh yeh and how to grow horticulture of the greenies kind.
There are lots of opportunities in the Public Service for these ones.
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stephen (4,063) Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
language of the past era’s

Maybe you’d do better at one of them?
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