Leeann Watson, CEO of Business Canterbury, joined John MacDonald to give a quarterly update.
Are we seeing signs of recovery in Canterbury? What would a commuter train mean for the city business scene?
And will the Government’s new approach to WorkSafe make a difference for local businesses and how they operate?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So leam, what's some from business Cannabi's with us again
for a regular what quarterly catch up?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Absolutely, can I put a question to you. So someone
got in touch was Bears and you may not know
the answer to this, but they were interested to know
whether the likes of Fonterra's contribution to GENDP is measured
at a regional basis or just an overall basis, because
you know Fonterira has got a big operation here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah they do.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, Look, it's a great question. I don't know the
technical answer to that, but I imagine because they have a
big base here in Canterbury, some of the contribution will
be recognized at a local level, I imagine, but it's
probably a question for Fonterra. Bearz brilliant.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you Bears for getting in touch. Something else we've
been discussing this morning is the government making changes to
the way that works safe operates of interested to know
what you personally think about it, but what does this
mean for Canterbury businesses?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But we are really excited about the changes that are coming.
It's been an issue for many businesses and particularly for
small businesses for quite some time, and in fact, we
had a session with a minister I think it was
maybe late last year, and it's not often you get
a minister who sits at the front of a room
of fifty businesses and basically opens the floor and says,
tell me what's working, tell me what's not working, so
(01:28):
I can make some changes. And actually one of the
big issues that came out of that session was how
do we change this around so that the people that
work for Work Safe go into a business as an
advisor and we promote compliance through really good education Because
businesses don't get up in the morning and go how
can I harm my employees? You know, they want to
(01:49):
do the right thing, but often you know, the current
act is confusing, there is a bit of an overreach,
and you know, a small business that is a real
low risk, you know, the amount of compliance required has
been really painful. So the announcement today, particularly around looking
at making those changes so that these people are advisors
and they help educate businesses rather than just an enforcer,
(02:11):
I think it will be very welcomed.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
What about the fact, because this is my position is
I'm not excited by it because I'm looking at the
rate of workplace fatalities in New Zealand compared to other
parts of the world, and we compare pretty badly, and
it seems to me that taking the foot off the
pedal at this point might be a risk.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, looks a really valid point that you make, because
we do our rates of harm in workplaces as significantly higher,
as you said, than a lot of other developed countries,
which is not good enough. But I think what we
also need to recognize is those rates haven't moved. They
haven't come down with some of the changes that were
put in place a number of years ago. So you know,
(02:53):
clearly whatever we've done over the last few years in
terms of changes to that has not worked. So I
think the biggest issue for us is how do we
make sure that we educate and we advise people on
doing the right thing. And if we can play that role,
I think that's definitely worth, you know, working through with businesses,
and I think we do need to understand that for
a lot of small businesses that are really low risk,
(03:14):
some of the compliance has simply been an overburden and
it hasn't changed those rates of harm and so you
know that this is a good opportunity to readdress that
and do it through an education process.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So you talked about Fonterra just briefly.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Then.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
When the Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank made the
doing media interviews regarding the cash right decision the other day,
he was saying that there are signs of business recovery,
and I think some people thought, really, really, other than farmers, whereabouts,
where are the other areas? What's happening in Canterbury in
relation to that?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, well, we are definitely one of those regions that
are bucking all the trends. You know, all of our
measures are pointing in the right direction and have been
for the last two quarters actually, which is great. So
what we are seeing is there's definitely those green shoots
are coming through. You know, we're starting to see a
greater degree of confidence from businesses and not only their
own innions, but also the country as a whole. What
(04:13):
is not coming through as fast as what we would
like is we've still got you know, quite slow demand
from consumers and how that's playing out as businesses are
just a little bit hesitant to actually make those investment
decisions that they've got in the pipeline, but they're just
being really cautious about about that. Now we are starting
to see that change, and I'm sure you're going to
(04:33):
ask me a little bit about budget.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I asked you about the budget, but I'm curious to
know you're talking about confidence. There is it less consumer
confidence versus less business confidence?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I think it is less consumer confidence. Now, you know
what we've seen as we've seen interest rates, you know,
steadily sort of fallen and head in the right direction
again over the last two or three quarters. But for
a lot of people, you know, they've got fixed interest rates,
it takes a while for the impact of those interest
rates to come off. We're starting to head towards that
period of time where we are going to see those
(05:05):
interest rates drop. That will provide much more confidence and
it will generally give people more money in their back pocket.
I think that will be the game changer.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
SOE you count in generalize, But are you saying that
there are businesses almost looking at the out the windows saying,
why an't you guys coming and buying? You should be
all the confident things are on the up?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely, I think that is exactly what we're
seeing now. We obviously got other things that play as well.
We've got some geopolitical risks, you know that. You know,
the Trump tariffs, you know, came out a couple of
months ago. Everyone was sort of, you know, in the
weight and see mode, so you know, a degree of
I guess cautious optimism from the business community. But I
think we are starting to see that change.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Do you think it was a bit of over panicking
about the tariffs.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Look, I think the country went into a bit of
a tailspin. Well issually, sorry, the world went at little
bit of a tail spin. I actually think the way
that New Zealand played their cards I think was actually
very well done. I think we took a really measured,
balanced approach to that. I think the relationships that we
have with America have you served us well and it
was very much a considered and measured response as opposed
(06:10):
to a sort of a need reaction that we've seen
from some other markets, and we've seen how that's played out.
So I think, by and large, I think the way
that New Zealand has handled those conversations and that very
uncertain environment has actually been well done.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You mentioned the budget, what what did well, what did
Cannibi get out.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Of the budget.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, look, we certainly got a new prison or.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A new prison, some you know, some investment in obviously
the continuation of rebuilding some of our schools post earthquake,
which is really important and you know, it seems ridiculous
that we're still talking about that, but we are. I think,
you know, Canterbury as a whole. You know, there is
obviously some announcements that were made before the budget around
things like you know, second Bridge in nash Burton and
(06:52):
the wood and bypass and some of those much needed
investments into our infrastructure. I think the single biggest announcement,
certainly from our perspective, you know, given we represent the
business community as investment boost, and the fact that there
was a centerpiece of the of the government's budget and
it really drew attention to the fact that this, you know,
(07:12):
our economy will only grow when we support the business
community and so that investment boost is you know, quite
aptly named. It will be a boost for business. It
will take away some of those that some of that
cautious optimism that I talked about before. You know, we've
already heard from several businesses who have said, now that
I know that this investment boost is in place, effective immediately,
(07:33):
I'm actually going to make that investment decision. I'm going
to get that new machinery. I'm going to buy that,
you know, those those new tractors. I'm going to invest
in the new fleet of vehicles that I need and
that will significantly, you know, play a part and not
only actually supporting the local economy but also helping those
businesses drive better productivity and increased efficiency.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
In layperson's terms, what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You're gonna ask me that. Basically, what it means is
that for any and there's a there's a list of
things basically that businesses, you know that all the criteria
that is use, but any investments in new planted equipment, machinery,
new vehicles, new commercial buildings, they basically can take twenty
(08:15):
percent off the cost of those new assets, and it's
deducted from their taxable income effective immediately, so they don't
have to wait a year down the track to you know. Actually,
and that's on top of depreciation. So it's basically taking
a twenty percent of that asset and deducting it from
their taxable income.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So do you reckon that we're talking before about you
saying that the confidence we're seeing is more amongst businesses
as opposed to consumers. But with this it creates the
what's the word for license or certainty for them to
invest ahead of consumer confidence rising.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Absolutely. And you know, what we know is that for
a lot of industries, in particularly industries such as manufacturing
for example, you know, automation, robotics, you know, driving. You know,
we've got a productivity issue in this country. You know,
one of the ways to actually address some of those
productivity gaps is to actually put in good, streamlined you know,
(09:14):
processing machines, automation, robotics that costs money, in a significant
amount of money. And so not only will this investment
boost help, you know, address some of those issues, it
will actually create more jobs in the long run as well,
because we're you know, we are seeing growth across our
business community, but we need to make sure that we've
got the right infrastructure to support that at the same time.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And what do you make of the of ECAN putting
some money into a business case for a rail passenger
service between Roliston christ Church run you.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Order, Yeah, Look, it's an interesting argument that's been tossed
around over several years.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's how people start start saying they don't like something.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh look, I'm not necessarily saying I don't like it,
but I guess what I would like to understand is
is this a solution trying to find a problem, you know,
or is it the right solution? And I think we've
got to also be really careful that we're not going to,
you know, sort of throw out half a million dollars
on a business case before we really understand whether or not,
you know, there is demand for it and is there
(10:13):
other options for it. And I understand the balance of
you know, doing some work and it's going to come
at a cost, but you know, let's make sure that
we've actually done a little bit more work. And I'm sure,
I'm sure they have done some you know, beck of
the envelope calculations as to what it might look like.
But I guess i'd be quite keen to understand that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Do you think the fact that because what people put
up as an argument, it gets to there's only one
rail line and if he had two rail lines you
could be more feasible. Is that the sort of stuff
that you're thinking of?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Well, I think we've got to also think about, you know,
if we're talking about a rail line to move people around.
At the moment, obviously, I ral generally moves freight, and
as we continue to grow, we certainly need that. But
you know, if someone's going to catch a train from
let's say Roliston into christ Church, first of all, they've
got to get from wherever they live to the train
(11:00):
station in Roliston, and then they've got to you know,
get off the train station here and then work out
how they get from there into work. And so the
time you take all of that into account, is it
really going to work? And you know, I'm all for
looking at how we address our transportation needs across a
growing region. I think that's really really important. There's obviously
(11:20):
been several conversations about mess rapid transport as well as
another option, and I think we just need to have
an adult conversation and look at all of these options
and also think about, you know, what does the future
population look like for this region, where are those people
going to live, and what facilities do we need and
what infrastructure do we need? And I guess that's part
(11:40):
of this process. But I'd like to think that we're
going to have a joined up conversation as opposed to
sort of a silo conversation around you know, different transportation needs.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I've got about forty five seconds, which is a bit rough,
but where you're sitting right now. We had the Minister
of the South Island, James Meeker sitting last week. How
would you rate the effectiveness of not him, but but
the role.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Look, I think we've talked about the role before. I
think it's a great initiative that the government has put
a Minister of the South Island. I think it reinforces
the importance of the South Island. We've had the Minister
along with Minister Pink a couple of months ago and
he was pretty candid actually about you know what his role.
Cannon cannot do. He's obviously not in cabinet, so he's
(12:23):
not necessarily a decision maker, but he can certainly influence
some of those decisions and so we're working really closely
with the Minister to reinforce all the important things for
the South Island.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Really great to see you again, Great thanks John, Have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks it'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So leam, what's some from business Cannabi's with us again
for a regular what quarterly catch up?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Absolutely, can I put a question to you. So someone
got in touch was Bears and you may not know
the answer to this, but they were interested to know
whether the likes of Fonterra's contribution to GENDP is measured
at a regional basis or just an overall basis, because
you know Fonterira has got a big operation here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah they do.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, Look, it's a great question. I don't know the
technical answer to that, but I imagine because they have a
big base here in Canterbury, some of the contribution will
be recognized at a local level, I imagine, but it's
probably a question for Fonterra. Bearz brilliant.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you Bears for getting in touch. Something else we've
been discussing this morning is the government making changes to
the way that works safe operates of interested to know
what you personally think about it, but what does this
mean for Canterbury businesses?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But we are really excited about the changes that are coming.
It's been an issue for many businesses and particularly for
small businesses for quite some time, and in fact, we
had a session with a minister I think it was
maybe late last year, and it's not often you get
a minister who sits at the front of a room
of fifty businesses and basically opens the floor and says,
tell me what's working, tell me what's not working, so
(01:28):
I can make some changes. And actually one of the
big issues that came out of that session was how
do we change this around so that the people that
work for Work Safe go into a business as an
advisor and we promote compliance through really good education Because
businesses don't get up in the morning and go how
can I harm my employees? You know, they want to
(01:49):
do the right thing, but often you know, the current
act is confusing, there is a bit of an overreach,
and you know, a small business that is a real
low risk, you know, the amount of compliance required has
been really painful. So the announcement today, particularly around looking
at making those changes so that these people are advisors
and they help educate businesses rather than just an enforcer,
(02:11):
I think it will be very welcomed.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
What about the fact, because this is my position is
I'm not excited by it because I'm looking at the
rate of workplace fatalities in New Zealand compared to other
parts of the world, and we compare pretty badly, and
it seems to me that taking the foot off the
pedal at this point might be a risk.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, looks a really valid point that you make, because
we do our rates of harm in workplaces as significantly higher,
as you said, than a lot of other developed countries,
which is not good enough. But I think what we
also need to recognize is those rates haven't moved. They
haven't come down with some of the changes that were
put in place a number of years ago. So you know,
(02:53):
clearly whatever we've done over the last few years in
terms of changes to that has not worked. So I
think the biggest issue for us is how do we
make sure that we educate and we advise people on
doing the right thing. And if we can play that role,
I think that's definitely worth, you know, working through with businesses,
and I think we do need to understand that for
a lot of small businesses that are really low risk,
(03:14):
some of the compliance has simply been an overburden and
it hasn't changed those rates of harm and so you
know that this is a good opportunity to readdress that
and do it through an education process.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So you talked about Fonterra just briefly.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Then.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
When the Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank made the
doing media interviews regarding the cash right decision the other day,
he was saying that there are signs of business recovery,
and I think some people thought, really, really, other than farmers, whereabouts,
where are the other areas? What's happening in Canterbury in
relation to that?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, well, we are definitely one of those regions that
are bucking all the trends. You know, all of our
measures are pointing in the right direction and have been
for the last two quarters actually, which is great. So
what we are seeing is there's definitely those green shoots
are coming through. You know, we're starting to see a
greater degree of confidence from businesses and not only their
own innions, but also the country as a whole. What
(04:13):
is not coming through as fast as what we would
like is we've still got you know, quite slow demand
from consumers and how that's playing out as businesses are
just a little bit hesitant to actually make those investment
decisions that they've got in the pipeline, but they're just
being really cautious about about that. Now we are starting
to see that change, and I'm sure you're going to
(04:33):
ask me a little bit about budget.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I asked you about the budget, but I'm curious to
know you're talking about confidence. There is it less consumer
confidence versus less business confidence?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I think it is less consumer confidence. Now, you know
what we've seen as we've seen interest rates, you know,
steadily sort of fallen and head in the right direction
again over the last two or three quarters. But for
a lot of people, you know, they've got fixed interest rates,
it takes a while for the impact of those interest
rates to come off. We're starting to head towards that
period of time where we are going to see those
(05:05):
interest rates drop. That will provide much more confidence and
it will generally give people more money in their back pocket.
I think that will be the game changer.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
SOE you count in generalize, But are you saying that
there are businesses almost looking at the out the windows saying,
why an't you guys coming and buying? You should be
all the confident things are on the up?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely, I think that is exactly what we're
seeing now. We obviously got other things that play as well.
We've got some geopolitical risks, you know that. You know,
the Trump tariffs, you know, came out a couple of
months ago. Everyone was sort of, you know, in the
weight and see mode, so you know, a degree of
I guess cautious optimism from the business community. But I
think we are starting to see that change.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Do you think it was a bit of over panicking
about the tariffs.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Look, I think the country went into a bit of
a tailspin. Well issually, sorry, the world went at little
bit of a tail spin. I actually think the way
that New Zealand played their cards I think was actually
very well done. I think we took a really measured,
balanced approach to that. I think the relationships that we
have with America have you served us well and it
was very much a considered and measured response as opposed
(06:10):
to a sort of a need reaction that we've seen
from some other markets, and we've seen how that's played out.
So I think, by and large, I think the way
that New Zealand has handled those conversations and that very
uncertain environment has actually been well done.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You mentioned the budget, what what did well, what did
Cannibi get out.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Of the budget.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, look, we certainly got a new prison or.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A new prison, some you know, some investment in obviously
the continuation of rebuilding some of our schools post earthquake,
which is really important and you know, it seems ridiculous
that we're still talking about that, but we are. I think,
you know, Canterbury as a whole. You know, there is
obviously some announcements that were made before the budget around
things like you know, second Bridge in nash Burton and
(06:52):
the wood and bypass and some of those much needed
investments into our infrastructure. I think the single biggest announcement,
certainly from our perspective, you know, given we represent the
business community as investment boost, and the fact that there
was a centerpiece of the of the government's budget and
it really drew attention to the fact that this, you know,
(07:12):
our economy will only grow when we support the business
community and so that investment boost is you know, quite
aptly named. It will be a boost for business. It
will take away some of those that some of that
cautious optimism that I talked about before. You know, we've
already heard from several businesses who have said, now that
I know that this investment boost is in place, effective immediately,
(07:33):
I'm actually going to make that investment decision. I'm going
to get that new machinery. I'm going to buy that,
you know, those those new tractors. I'm going to invest
in the new fleet of vehicles that I need and
that will significantly, you know, play a part and not
only actually supporting the local economy but also helping those
businesses drive better productivity and increased efficiency.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
In layperson's terms, what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You're gonna ask me that. Basically, what it means is
that for any and there's a there's a list of
things basically that businesses, you know that all the criteria
that is use, but any investments in new planted equipment, machinery,
new vehicles, new commercial buildings, they basically can take twenty
(08:15):
percent off the cost of those new assets, and it's
deducted from their taxable income effective immediately, so they don't
have to wait a year down the track to you know. Actually,
and that's on top of depreciation. So it's basically taking
a twenty percent of that asset and deducting it from
their taxable income.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So do you reckon that we're talking before about you
saying that the confidence we're seeing is more amongst businesses
as opposed to consumers. But with this it creates the
what's the word for license or certainty for them to
invest ahead of consumer confidence rising.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Absolutely. And you know, what we know is that for
a lot of industries, in particularly industries such as manufacturing
for example, you know, automation, robotics, you know, driving. You know,
we've got a productivity issue in this country. You know,
one of the ways to actually address some of those
productivity gaps is to actually put in good, streamlined you know,
(09:14):
processing machines, automation, robotics that costs money, in a significant
amount of money. And so not only will this investment
boost help, you know, address some of those issues, it
will actually create more jobs in the long run as well,
because we're you know, we are seeing growth across our
business community, but we need to make sure that we've
got the right infrastructure to support that at the same time.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And what do you make of the of ECAN putting
some money into a business case for a rail passenger
service between Roliston christ Church run you.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Order, Yeah, Look, it's an interesting argument that's been tossed
around over several years.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's how people start start saying they don't like something.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh look, I'm not necessarily saying I don't like it,
but I guess what I would like to understand is
is this a solution trying to find a problem, you know,
or is it the right solution? And I think we've
got to also be really careful that we're not going to,
you know, sort of throw out half a million dollars
on a business case before we really understand whether or not,
you know, there is demand for it and is there
(10:13):
other options for it. And I understand the balance of
you know, doing some work and it's going to come
at a cost, but you know, let's make sure that
we've actually done a little bit more work. And I'm sure,
I'm sure they have done some you know, beck of
the envelope calculations as to what it might look like.
But I guess i'd be quite keen to understand that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Do you think the fact that because what people put
up as an argument, it gets to there's only one
rail line and if he had two rail lines you
could be more feasible. Is that the sort of stuff
that you're thinking of?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Well, I think we've got to also think about, you know,
if we're talking about a rail line to move people around.
At the moment, obviously, I ral generally moves freight, and
as we continue to grow, we certainly need that. But
you know, if someone's going to catch a train from
let's say Roliston into christ Church, first of all, they've
got to get from wherever they live to the train
(11:00):
station in Roliston, and then they've got to you know,
get off the train station here and then work out
how they get from there into work. And so the
time you take all of that into account, is it
really going to work? And you know, I'm all for
looking at how we address our transportation needs across a
growing region. I think that's really really important. There's obviously
(11:20):
been several conversations about mess rapid transport as well as
another option, and I think we just need to have
an adult conversation and look at all of these options
and also think about, you know, what does the future
population look like for this region, where are those people
going to live, and what facilities do we need and
what infrastructure do we need? And I guess that's part
(11:40):
of this process. But I'd like to think that we're
going to have a joined up conversation as opposed to
sort of a silo conversation around you know, different transportation needs.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I've got about forty five seconds, which is a bit rough,
but where you're sitting right now. We had the Minister
of the South Island, James Meeker sitting last week. How
would you rate the effectiveness of not him, but but
the role.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Look, I think we've talked about the role before. I
think it's a great initiative that the government has put
a Minister of the South Island. I think it reinforces
the importance of the South Island. We've had the Minister
along with Minister Pink a couple of months ago and
he was pretty candid actually about you know what his role.
Cannon cannot do. He's obviously not in cabinet, so he's
(12:23):
not necessarily a decision maker, but he can certainly influence
some of those decisions and so we're working really closely
with the Minister to reinforce all the important things for
the South Island.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Really great to see you again, Great thanks John, Have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks it'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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