Govt needs to listen to business

It’s clear to me the Prime Minister is in complete denial and is ignoring the issues surrounding low business confidence in New Zealand.

For weeks her Economic Development Minister David Parker has been dismissing business confidence surveys as “junk”, now she is saying these surveys are just perception and are down to things outside of the Government’s control. 

None of this stacks up to any scrutiny. The declining business confidence is as a direct result of this Government’s anti-growth, anti-business policies. 

The list of these anti-growth policies is long. Whether it’s banning oil and gas exploration, banning mining on all conservation land, their barmy industrial law reforms that will take us back to the 1970s, incoherent immigration and overseas investment policies, or whether it's more taxes they don't need to put on - all of these things, from the businesses I talk to every single week, are having a very real affect. 

It also doesn’t stack up when you consider the world economy is growing by 4 per cent a year, while New Zealand economic forecasts are down to an average of 2.5 per cent over the next few years, far below the 3-4 per cent achieved under National. Each 1 per cent drop lowers tax revenue by $800 million. That matters because it means the Government has less to invest in the core public services like health and education which New Zealanders need.

Business confidence in New Zealand is now at a 10-year low, while Australian business confidence is at a 30-year high. In less than a year, we’ve tumbled from top to bottom of the OECD business confidence rankings.

Ms Ardern says she is only interested in the reality of what our economy is doing and how it is performing.

Well here’s the reality. Job creation has plummeted. We’ve gone from 10,000 new jobs being created a month under National to 4,000 jobs a month under this Labour Government. That’s a 60 per cent drop.

In the last quarter unemployment went up by 4,000 people. ANZ Job Ads are stalling, and firms’ hiring intentions are at the lowest level since the Global Financial Crisis.

The final point I would make is what is also abundantly clear is not only is the Prime Minister in denial, she has no plan. We saw that this week. Effectively she’s come back and said she hasn’t listened and nothing’s going to change. She has a catchy new slogan though - “trade for all” though it's entirely meaningless, does nothing for business, and has no action behind it. 

Ms Ardern and her Finance Minister Grant Robertson need to get out there and listen to business and on the back of that come up with some real action which will turn this around. 

This is serious. It isn’t a game and it has a real effect on Kiwis and their livelihood and the future of this country. 

National understands the importance of a strong economy. It is only through a strong economy that we can deliver better public services, like health and education, provide more support for our most vulnerable and build the critical infrastructure New Zealand needs.

#WATCH more in my video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFHwwJN_G7Y