Todd McClay: Trade Minister on the Government's new agency designed to bring in overseas funding

The Trade Minister says he wants deals through the door this year - with a Government goal of tempting overseas funding.

A new agency called Invest New Zealand will roll out the red carpet out to foreigners with money to put into infrastructure and key sectors.

Todd McClay says he doesn't want reports, he wants deals with investors.

"They certainly don't invest in a country when Government agencies tell them not to - and I think that's very much been the case in New Zealand, it's harder to invest here than it should be."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the Prime Minister has laid out his vision to
grow the economy, because today was the day he presented
his State of the Nation speech. He did it this
afternoon at one o'clock. In the speech, he said a
culture of saying no is holding us back. And he
also announced that they're going to create a new government
agency to attract foreign investment. So the Trade and Investment

(00:22):
Minister is Tom McLean and McLay sorry and he joins us.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Now hall it todd, Hey, good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
So the Taxpayer's Union said people don't invest in the
country because a government agency tells them to.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
So what do you say to that, Well, they're right,
but they certainly don't invest in a country when government
agencies tell them not to. And I think that's very
much been the case in New Zealand. It's harder to
invest here than it should be. And if we take
Singapore as an example, they had thirty one proof percent
increase in their foreign direct investment last year. We had

(00:54):
about five percent. So they Ireland also doing something well
that we're not. That the agents that we have in
New Zealanders models on there is, but it's going to
be very, very different because the taxpayer.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Union is right.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
If I was an investor, I wouldn't come and ask
a government department to run my company for me. I
would find the experts and know what they're doing. And
part of the job chrys Luction's given me is to
find those New Zealanders here and overseas that are already
active in investment and in doing deals, and to attract
their talent so that we can get our fair share
of foreigners money in New Zealand to grow the economy.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Now, you are right, Ireland and Singapore have government backed
investment to agencies. But the thing about those sovereignties is
that they also have tax breaks for foreign corporates. So
do we need to look at corporate tax rates to
become more attractive.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well, we certainly need to make sure that our tax
system is competitive, particularly to Australia, but that's not the
only reason that they have investment in those parts of
the world.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
They often make it a lot easier than we do.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
I remember many years ago meeting somebody from Malaysia that
was looking to invest in a hotel in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
They chose Australia.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
In the end, it was a very big investment because
when they turned up here and talking to a bit
of the government, they were sent off to the Auckland
Council to talk to some guy whose job it is
to work through consents and they decided to take their
capital elsewhere. So what we will be doing is finding
some of the best people in New Zealand, some will
be in government, many will not be, to join us,
and to put the welcome mat out to go and

(02:21):
meet these people around the world and to put those
deals together for them with New Zealand companies, to bring
the investment here for new companies in infrastructure and so on.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
But I think the example of Ireland and Singapore is
a very good one for us to model ourselves on
and emulate because anything they've done on taxis side, they
are much better than we are, and they are wealthy,
wealthier countries for that.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
So that's a note to corporate taxt breaks.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, it's not one of the competences that invest New
Zealand has.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Our job will be to get people to come in
and invest here.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
I was in the UA with the Prime Minister last
week and we met with one of the solimal wealth
funds and they said to us, we haven't invested in
New Zealand because we thought maybe you wouldn't want us to.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
You might look at other parts of the world.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Look, they're investing pretty significantly with their one point seven
trillion dollars in renewable energy and bio energy, and we've
got big opportunities there. They asked me if we issue
new banking licenses here because they have gone in and
set up domestic banks and other parts of the world,
so that they were not sure that we, you know,
would welcome their investment, or we thought we were too

(03:28):
small in itself tells we were missing big opportunities. But
you should we should judge the success of this new
agency not on the number of reports that have done.
I don't want reports on the number of deals that
are done and the money that comes into New Zealand
distract jobs and growsy economy.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
So will you be going out into the employment workforce
and shoulder tapping people who actually have the skills to
go out and sell New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, we will be having a look in New Zealand
and New Zealanders around the world. I with CHROs sucks
and when we're overseas meet many of them. They got
really really good ideas. You know, it will be a mix.
I think from New Zealand Trade Enterprise. We have a
group there that does investment advice already they are good
at what they do, but we want a single focus
and we want the expertise and the experience of people

(04:13):
who have put deals together. So we will be looking
in New Zealand and around the world for the talent
that we need. We have thirty eight percent a foreign
director investment are compared to GDP. The OECD average is
fifty percent. We should aim for that and actually try
and exceed it. It's going to take some time to
work out the best ways to do this, but we're
not going to take forever.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
We want the first deals rolling through the door this year.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Good luck to you and I thank you. That is
Tomic Clay, Trade Minister.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
For more from Hither duplessy Ellen Drive, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.