Stand on the shoulders of science identifies opportunities to lift New Zealand’s economic prosperity through improving performance of the innovation ecosystem. Innovation is the key driver of prosperity of advanced economies. Read more
In a speech about New Zealand’s accident compensation scheme in 1996 I said, “The country was sold a pup which has turned into a pitbull terrier that mauls everyone it comes in contact with – accident victims, employers and politicians alike.” ACC minister Dr Nick Smith is just the last of a long line of ministers to inherit a scheme in financial crisis. There have been endless reviews of ACC since its inception. Read more
A national interest perspective in the context of the Law Commissions’ inquiry means giving primacy to the interests of consumers. In respect of alcohol, it does not, as in the days of pervasive controls on competition in the liquor industry, mean favouring producer interests. Read more
The Business Roundtable appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the thinking of your Taskforce. We strongly support the government’s goal of bridging the income gap with Australia by 2025. Read more
In our view the general context in which policy related to the Telecommunications Services Obligation (TSO) should be set is the government’s goal of closing the per capita income gap with Australia by 2025. Achieving that goal will require a sustained commitment to the adoption of institutions and policies of the highest order. Read more
Business Roundtable executive director, the late Roger Kerr (1945-2011) spoke about the people and thinkers who influenced his ideas with Chris Laidlaw in 2009. The list is a mixture of the predictable and the surprising: Enlightenment economist Adam Smith, Roger's brother Alan (a surgeon who regularly spends time in Gaza volunteering his services), the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, former Telecom boss Rod Deane, Shakespeare, economist Bryce Wilkinson and prominent American legal scholar Richard Epstein. Read more
Preparations for the 2010 budget will be underway in government circles. The 2010 Budget Policy Statement, which sets out the broad parameters, is due in December. Read more
The Business Roundtable believes that policy development on climate change entered a more constructive phase in 2009. We were critical of the previous government’s ‘carbon neutrality’ ambitions because of their enormous potential adverse economic impact; the lack of an adequate regulatory impact analysis as a basis for policy; many design features of its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS); and the rushed process. Read more
Recently there have been renewed calls to tax capital gains on housing. Opposition leader Phil Goff has indicated Labour would be open to talks. Read more
The idea of progress – human flourishing in all its dimensions – has permeated Western thinking since ancient times. It has been defined as the belief that material, political, social, intellectual and moral conditions have continually improved throughout human history and that such an improvement will continue in the foreseeable future. Read more
A potentially important announcement by the government last month has not been widely reported. It took the form of a Government Statement on Regulation, which was released with an accompanying Cabinet paper. Read more
Holidays legislation has been a nightmare for many businesses since the Labour government amended the Holidays Act in 2003. A large-scale survey of 1500 enterprises by Business New Zealand in 2005 found that it had increased costs for 74% of respondents. Read more
The New Zealand Business Roundtable welcomes the review of the Holidays Act 2003 which is one of the most problematic areas of New Zealand employment law. We believe it needs to be substantially reformed on a first-principles basis. Read more
At an Easter hat parade at Bellfield Primary School in Melbourne, a child’s mother got into a punch-up with another mother and head-butted her unconscious in front of 250 children. Did anyone bat an eyelid? Read more
Writing in the Dominion Post in 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable chairman Rob McLeod (Ngati Porou) reminded us that when the general unemployment rate had been over 8 percent there was widespread anxiety, yet Maori unemployment was still that high and was attracting little comment. 1 At that time, 88,500 or 29 percent of working-age Maori (18-64 years) were receiving a benefit. Read more