As an example of poor quality public policy analysis, the Law Commission’s report on alcohol regulation will be a landmark for years to come. A 514-page doorstop, it ranks with the 1988 report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy which was dead on arrival. Read more
In our view issues relating to Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act need to be seen in the context of the government’s overriding goal of lifting average New Zealand incomes to Australian levels by 2025. As the minister of labour notes in the foreword to the Discussion Document, “The Government aims to put employment relations on sound and solid footings so that New Zealand can focus on building more productive businesses and higher wages.” To achieve that goal, major improvements in labour productivity growth are required, given the slump in productivity growth resulting in large part from ill-conceived policies of the previous government. Read more
In our view issues relating to Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act need to be seen in the context of the government’s overriding goal of lifting average New Zealand incomes to Australian levels by 2025. As the minister of labour notes in the foreword to the Discussion Document, “The Government aims to put employment relations on sound and solid footings so that New Zealand can focus on building more productive businesses and higher wages.” To achieve that goal, major improvements in labour productivity growth are required, given the slump in productivity growth resulting in large part from ill-conceived policies of the previous government. Read more
Compulsory students’ association membership (CSM), as opposed to voluntary students’ association membership (VSM), is an anachronism. Students’ associations are incorporated societies formed by members with common interests and are akin to the Automobile Association, the Consumers' Institute, staff associations and sporting clubs. Read more
This submission on the Ministry of Economic Development discussion document Cartel Criminalisation is made by the New Zealand Business Roundtable, an organisation comprising primarily chief executives of major business firms. The purpose of the organisation is to contribute to the development of sound public policies that reflect overall national interests. Read more
In our view, issues relating to Part 9 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 need to be seen in the context of the government’s overriding goal of lifting average New Zealand incomes to Australian levels by 2025. To achieve that goal, major improvements in labour productivity growth are required, given the staggering decline in recent productivity growth rates with the ill-conceived policies of the previous government. Read more
While improved governance arrangements for Auckland are a commendable first step, the Forum believes that much work remains if local government is to contribute fully to lifting overall economic performance. Broader reform of local government, which the government is progressing separately, can assist. Read more
Recent events show that the international climate change context is less certain than previously anticipated. We think that the current emissions trading scheme is too rigid and may in fact frustrate the delivery of the outcomes sought from it. Read more
Landowners have traditionally been required to bear the capital cost of works that are undertaken within subdivisions and developments and are necessary to enable council provided services to be used. Landowners have also been required to compensate local authorities for certain costs that councils incur in connecting council provided services for land that is subdivided or developed. Read more
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