Kerre Woodham: The Government has a lot of work to do

I have to say that the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom survey pretty much sums up my mood too. Yes, there are some excellent and capable ministers doing great work within their portfolios, and let's not forget how rare and wonderful that is, given the past administration. Come in Erica Stanford, Winston Peters, Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown – all good performers, all doing well, all delivering.  

But when it comes to the economy, one of the main platforms upon which National campaigned, the performance is less than impressive. CEOs have sent a clear message to Finance Minister Nicola Willis in the survey. She has to hold the pro-growth line, sharpen delivery, and set out a long-term vision that brings investors back on side. The Government's going for growth agenda has five key pillars: developing talent, competitive business settings, global trade and investment, innovation, technology and science, and infrastructure, which form the backbone of Willis's economic strategy.  

In the beginning, New Zealand's business leaders gave Willis the benefit of the doubt. In 2024, the CEOs credited her with a strong start. Not anymore. She failed to make the top 10 top performers in the survey. As did Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He came in for some criticism. Business leaders said he needs to listen more. He's got a mantra that's started to grate, and he knows that. They say he rates very highly when it comes to ensuring his cabinet ministers are focused and delivering. True. He actually rates reasonably well on keeping a coalition together. But the report found Luxon did not score well for building business confidence, his own political performance, and on transforming the economy. So, on those areas, he's got a lot of work to do, as Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith told Mike Hosking this morning.   

“There are reasons to be optimistic, but hoping is not a strategy. And the business community is looking for stronger leadership from the Prime Minister and Finance Minister around some of these core long-term issues and the structural deficits of New Zealand.” 

They are mainly concerned, the business leaders, with boosting productivity. They want a step change that includes a boost in skill, innovation, and technology, not tinkering around the edges. They say they need to see a programme for retraining and reorienting the workforce, especially those at the lower end of the wage spectrum. They say that tax and regulatory settings need to be reformed. We need to accelerate research and development and grow high-value sectors. Infrastructure, well we talked about that yesterday. There's a need for delivery of infrastructure, not just more announcements. They want shovel-worthy projects ready as financing costs ease. Immigration and education settings came through strongly. We've lost a lot of highly skilled people out of the construction industry in the last 18 months. 

Now with the taps about to turn on, how do we ramp up to ensure there's capacity in the market? They also called for a compelling vision that stretches beyond a three-year election cycle. Again, what we were discussing yesterday. So there's a lot to work on. And Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis would do well to heed the advice, the criticism, and the positive remarks made by the business leaders. All of these things we know, and all of these things we've said.  

And while it is true that Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori aren't inspiring confidence amongst business leaders to put it mildly. As a country, we need more, we should want more than the least rubbish of two coalition governments. Waiting for the economic cycle to finish its rotation is not the vision New Zealanders were promised when a centre-right government was elected.  

They said there would be growth, there would be productivity, that good times were coming. Yes, it was a mess. They said they had the answer. They promised that. This coalition government, the National Party in particular, has to do better. Not just for the sake of their own political futures, but for the sake of the country. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talks head Be.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I have to say that the Herald's mood of the
board room survey pretty much sums up my mood too. Yes,
there are some excellent and capable ministers doing great work
within their portfolios, and let's not forget how rare and
wonderful that is given the past administration. Come and Erica Stanford,

(00:33):
Winston Peters, Chris Bishop Simeon Brown. All good performers, all
doing well, all delivering. But when it comes to the economy,
one of the main platforms upon which National campaigned, the
performance is less than impressive. CEOs have sent a clear
message to Finance Minister Nicholas Willis in the survey she

(00:57):
has to hold the pro growth line, sharpened delivery and
set out a long term vision that brings investors back
on side. The government's Going for Growth agenda has five
key pillars developing talent, competitive business settings, global trade and investment, innovation,

(01:19):
technology and science and infrastructure, which formed the backbone of
Willis's economic strategy. In the beginning, New Zealand's business leaders
gave Willis the benefit of the doubt. In twenty twenty four.
The CEOs credited her with a strong start, not anymore.
She failed to make the top ten top performers in

(01:42):
the survey, as did Prime Minister Christopher Luxen. He came
in for some criticism. Business leaders said he needs to
listen more. He's got a mantra that started to great
and he knows that. They say he rates very highly
when it comes to ensuring his cabinet ministers are focused

(02:02):
and delivering. True, he actually rates reasonably well on keeping
a coalition together, but the report found Luxon did not
score well for building business confidence, his own political performance
and on transforming the economy. So on those areas he's
got a lot of work to do, as Forsyth Bar

(02:23):
Managing director Neil Parver Smith told Mike Cosking this.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Morning, for there are reasons to be optimistic, but hoping
is not a strategy, and the business community looking for
stronger leadership from the Prime Minister and financements around some
of those core long term issues and the structural depths
of the New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
They are mainly concerned the business leaders on boosting productivity.
They want a step change that includes a boost in skill,
innovation and technology, not tinkering around the edges. They say
they need to see a program for retraining and re
orienting the workforce, especially those at the lower end of

(03:06):
the wage spectrum. They say that tax and regulatory settings
need to be reformed. We need to accelerate R and
D research and development and grow high value sectors. Infrastructure
where we talked about that yesterday. There's a need for
delivery of infrastructure, not just more announcements. They want shovel

(03:30):
worthy projects ready as financing costs ease, Immigration and education
settings came through strongly. We've lost a lot of highly
skilled people out of the construction industry in the last
eighteen months. Now with the taps about to turn on,
how do we ramp up to ensure there's capacity in
the market. They also called for a compelling vision that

(03:54):
stretches beyond a three year election cycle. Again what we
were discussing yesterday. So there's a lot to work on.
Christopher Luxe and Nikola Willis would do well to heed
the advice, the criticism and the positive remarks made by

(04:16):
the business leaders. All of these things we know, and
all of these things we've said. And while it is
true that labor the Greens and Tapatimori aren't inspiring confidence
amongst business leaders. To put it mildly, as a country,
we need more. We should want more than the least

(04:36):
rubbish of two coalition governments waiting for the economic cycle
to finish. His rotation is not the vision New Zealanders
were promised when a center right government was elected. They
said there would be growth, there would be productivity, that
good times were coming. Yes, it was a mess. They

(04:57):
said they had the answer. They promised that this coalition government,
the National Party in particular, has to do better, not
just for the sake of their own political futures, but
for the sake of the country.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
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