Category Archives: Opinion

Wrong Thinking From Right

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This week it was reported that our Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister gave a speech to a select group of Australian and New Zealand business and governmental leaders. The tone of his presentation made me realise he’s finally thrown in the towel. The government’s astounding vision for New Zealand now apparently involves us becoming the Mexico of the South Pacific, by which our undervalued labour force and weak currency are to be re-branded as “competitive advantages”.

Mind you, I have to credit John English for using the current round of budget cuts as an excuse to quietly terminate Don Brash’s ridiculous 2025 Taskforce on “closing the gap” with Australia. The gap is already wide enough to comfortably sail a small fleet of supertankers through it, so the only sensible thing to do now is work closely with Australia to jointly develop high added value products and services for burgeoning Asian markets. Attempting to compete with or catch up to Australia is so completely the opposite of the approach we should be taking that I barely know where to begin.

Grappling with what is quite possibly the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes; standing amidst the quicksand of quake wreckage and floundering financial institutions, one could perhaps be forgiven for acts of desperation. But within the same spirit of collegiality shown by our cousins from the West Island, who mucked in and helped in Christchurch, now is precisely the time to talk more about regional associations and tighter cooperation and not how we can under-value ourselves in order to steal a few crumbs off our neighbours’ table.

Shaken and Stirred

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Politicians and dignitaries emerged in a sombre mood from the meeting house at Waitangi earlier this month, after a local kaumatua stood up and pronounced that a major city would soon be destroyed by an earthquake. This week New Zealand experienced its worst natural disaster of modern times when Christchurch, our second largest city, was badly damaged by a devastating quake. After a tough year in 2010, this event is likely to have severe repercussions for the entire nation both in economic terms and for morale in general.

It was bad enough that Christchurch took a hit in September, but this event is much worse. Officials are already talking about the possibility of a final death toll in the hundreds and over $6 billion in repairs being needed for the stricken city. Residents must be shocked at how their lives have been turned upside down. For the rest of us, the situation seems surreal and we feel powerless to assist. But this is the scenario we’ve been taught to prepare for all our lives. We just never expected it to happen in the garden city.

Seismic and volcanic upheavals are a fact of life in a country like ours; we sit astride two very active tectonic plates. The forces that built this land can also destroy it. In the short term, the remainder of the nation will need to step up to support our southern cousins. That could mean some form of additional taxation. It will almost certainly mean a dent in our fragile economic recovery. Apart from the pure financial cost, it is hard to focus on productive work when friends and family are suffering and horrifying images of destruction are being broadcast into our homes. If we are to help Christchurch rebuild, we must ensure economic growth continues throughout New Zealand.

* We’ve compiled a list of web-based resources on the iWantMyName NZ blog, for anyone who is worried about missing persons or is keen to help in some way.

100% Puree

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The recent media clamour criticising Tourism New Zealand’s new campaign threw up some intriguing responses from a seemingly random selection of  “marketing experts” who had been canvassed for their views, but who completely missed the real problem with the new approach.

With New Zealand already ranking as third strongest “country brand” for tourism last year, you would think that Tourism New Zealand might think twice about giving up on their successful twelve year old promotional style that focuses on New Zealand’s natural attributes such as landscapes, flora and fauna. 100% Pure New Zealand has evolved into 100% Pure You. I’m not sure if that is a reflection on our increasingly tenuous environmental credentials or the fact that the next generation of global travellers are more self-absorbed. Perhaps both.

The new campaign is obviously a response to the Aussie battle cry “where the bloody hell are you?”. All of the actors in the video clips are youthful, white, middle class, which not only belies the multicultural nature of Australian society to which it is targeted, but also politely ignores the fact that the fastest growing inbound tourist sources are in fact other places like China and India. The new campaign strengthens the message that New Zealand is all about hedonism and short term gratification – a message that resonates with young backpackers.

Unfortunately backpackers have the lowest per diem spend of any segment in the market. Shouldn’t we be focussing on attracting more of the upper end of the market? Don’t get me wrong. I’ve backpacked all over the world myself and it was character building and great fun at the time. I’m not for one minute suggesting we limit access on the basis of disposable income. I’m simply suggesting we revisit where our tax dollars might best be spent for greatest return.

Tourism is a huge part of the New Zealand economy, but it has a considerable environmental footprint and creates little ongoing value. It’s all about extracting short term gains from renting as many seats as possible. Jobs in the tourism service sector are generally amongst the least well paid. Perhaps we need fewer “freedom campers” pooping on our roadsides and more doctors and their families from Bangalore enjoying our sparsely populated geographic beauty. Dare I suggest it, but maybe we could also get them thinking about investing in New Zealand, whilst we have their undivided attention.

2010 Rocked Us, Roll On 2011

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To say that 2010 was a year full challenges and opportunities is somewhat of an understatement. For many people in business it was a case of  hanging in there as a recessionary economy misfired and struggled to get up off its knees. But much worse than this, New Zealand (and in particular the south) was stricken by the triple tragedies of a huge investment business failure, a destructive earthquake and a terrible mine disaster. Whilst these events provided a much-needed distraction for the government, they were devastating for the people directly affected and shocked all of us.

When national morale takes a hit, I’ve noticed the economy tends to suffer as well. Good spirits lead to more spending which in turn leads to more optimism. It’s a virtuous circle. On the plus side, we have been sheltered a little from the storm by high global dairy prices and the fact that our banks are stable and government debt not completely out of control like elsewhere. But there’s still lots more work to be done on diversifying the economy and I don’t think we should rely entirely on the Thugby World Cup to reignite our passions in 2011. We can’t afford to sleepwalk through another year.

The government needs to be looking at providing a more aspirational science and innovation framework that goes well beyond moving the deck chairs around with yet another departmental restructuring. In the lead up to the election, we also need to start thinking about reforming our entire legal system. When a senior judge thinks it’s ok to preside over a court case involving a business partner and peeping toms get longer prison sentences than drunk drivers who kill and maim, we know we’ve got a serious problem.

On a personal level I had the immense satisfaction of working with two great teams. The first was the crew at ideegeo from whom I learn something new every day. We headed into our third year of domain renewals this month at iWantMyName and grew revenue at over 200% during the year. We also addressed some growing pains by improving our platform technology as well as our management systems as we position for the next chapter. The most exciting aspect of going global with the technology was that we secured a core following of early adopters amongst the developer community worldwide that may open some interesting doors for us in 2011. Watch this space.

My other team are the good folks at the Unlimited Potential committee who help bring the coolest events to the ICT community here in Wellington. We had a very busy year with a strong focus on promoting technology entrepreneurship through a number of well supported events. We also completed our wonderful new website. All of this was achieved in a very tough funding environment. Because of UP activities, teams got built, tech businesses were started and people found jobs. Real life social networking is important. Thanks to the supporters who made it happen and let us know if you’d like to get involved as an event partner or committee member in 2011.

Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season and a prosperous 2011.

What’s Wong?

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Pansy Wong was New Zealand’s first member of parliament of Asian descent and our first Asian Cabinet Minister. By all accounts she has been an effective and hard-working representative. Her early departure from the halls of government is an unnecessary loss and points to why there is such a dearth of talent amongst our legislators.

Whilst Pansy Wong was deciding her future over the weekend, Labour Party President Andrew Little was denouncing Labour MP George Hawkins as a “lightweight” after the retiring MP scuttled a bid to install a pro-union candidate in his safe Manurewa seat. Little is quite right however, Hawkins has contributed very little to the business of government of late. But perhaps Little should have kept this view to himself. No matter. What Hawkins lacked in intellectual capacity he made up for in much needed Labour votes, which is why he was kept on well past his use by date.

Wong resigned over the media clamour about her husband doing some business on a tax-payer subsidised trip abroad. Now she wants to retire so she and her husband can get on with their entrepreneurial endeavours out of the public eye. Who can blame her? But shouldn’t we be encouraging our MPs and Ministers to go out and represent the country? If they pull in some more business for New Zealand, how is this a bad thing? 

With the departure of Wong, Parliament will become less diverse and an even more unwelcoming place for high calibre individuals. Meanwhile, plonkers like George Hawkins will sit quietly on their bottoms waiting to collect fat retirement pensions. Somehow this doesn’t seem right.

Journalistic Credibility Explodes As Social Media Bites

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“Qantas Jet Explodes Over Indonesia” blared the headline on the New Zealand Herald website yesterday. Once again the media went into panic mode as it scrambled to keep pace with a flurry of reports that were popping up through social media sites. Indonesian sourced Twitter content describing an explosion and aircraft debris raining from the skies were interpreted incorrectly as an aircraft having exploded in the air. Does this sorry episode and the recent media debacle over The Hobbit suggest that traditional forms of media are more frequently substituting sensationalism in the place of research and accuracy, as they struggle desperately to compete with the immediacy of new forms of digital media? The last remaining vestiges of New Zealand journalistic credibility also exploded yesterday.

Traditional media seem ever willing to cater for the public’s demand for reality based entertainment and hunger for death and destruction. What really happened in the sky yesterday was that an uncontained explosion in one of four engines of a Qantas A380 shortly after take-off from Singapore led to the aircraft entering the holding pattern and dumping fuel overhead Batam in preparation for landing. Some engine debris was recovered on the ground but due to the qualities of the Airbus aircraft, there was no loss of structural integrity and the crew followed correct procedures, returning to land safely.  A properly researched headline should have read “Flight Crew Performs Textbook Emergency Landing – 450 Safe”.

Wellington media maven, blogger and Fairfax journalist Greer McDonald will be speaking at Social Media Club on Monday evening about how traditional media treat information received via social media channels. This is sure to be an interesting and lively discussion given recent events and the fact that Greer has a foot firmly in both camps.

Kiss My Ring – Hobbit Debacle Raises Questions

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I was going to begin this article by pointing out that despite the astounding panic from a gullible media and nervous politicians, it was quite obvious from the outset that The Hobbit production was never going to move offshore. I was also going to outline the logical reasons why, including mentioning the fact that a certain movie director prefers working and living in New Zealand and also part owns the local special effects shop that will do the really high value work on the film, regardless of where it is shot.

I may have even mentioned that irrespective of our reputation as producer of incredible feature films, very few New Zealand based actors, set builders and film crews actually make a full-time living in the industry. I might even have been tempted to question why a single film project receives a $90 million plus taxpayer funded handout when our ICT industry that contributes $20 billion to GDP annually (including $2 billion in exports and thousands of real jobs) does not.

I’m not going to dwell on these things at all. That would be most uncharitable. In fact I’m going to give thanks that a large American corporation has pointed out to our government the error of its ways, thus facilitating fast track legislation that will assist said corporation to maximise its profits in the future. I’m so relieved the Hobbit crisis is resolved. It means we can return to focusing on other really important, game-changing economic reform projects like building cycleways and selling beer to rugby tourists.

Paul Henry Comments Out Of Step

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Paul Henry’s ill advised on air comments suggesting that New Zealand’s Governor General was not fit for office because he neither looked nor sounded like a New Zealander demonstrated how disconnected the “state broadcaster” and its talking heads are from the real world. Worse than that, I found highly offensive the implication that an idiot like Henry speaks for all of us.

Television New Zealand spokesperson Andi Brotherston leapt to Henry’s defence suggesting that he merely reflects what society is “quietly” thinking. Perhaps that is true on some issues, but it certainly was not in this case. The record number of complaints from the public on this matter suggest that Henry grossly misjudged the public appetite for such commentary. The public backlash was as much about disapproving of Henry’s racist tone as it was about defending the good name and dignity of the office of Governor General. Republicanism aside, the GG performs a valuable role as a representative of New Zealand and as an apolitical interlocutor essential to the functioning of a civil society. Henry’s gaffe threatens our nationhood and questions our self perception.

Even more embarrassing was that Prime Minister, John Key was engaged in a conversation with Henry at the time of the incident. However, I’m prepared to give Key the benefit of the doubt. His guard was down during (what he thought was) a moment of light-hearted banter. But one has to question the wisdom of even appearing next to Henry, given his track record. Popular technology commentator Ben Gracewood obviously asked himself that very question, because he resigned from the Breakfast show immediately the comments came to light.

TVNZ mouth-piece Andi Brotherston might be looking back fondly to less controversial days when she shared a provincial radio turntable with DJ turned Cabinet Minister Steven Joyce. Perhaps he could find a parliamentary spokesperson role for her; she might be needing it. Way back then, Joyce established a private radio station to challenge the entrenched state monopoly. Perhaps the accepted moral authority of another state broadcaster needs to be challenged once again.

If you want to lodge a complaint with Television New Zealand about Paul Henry’s racist and denigrating comments, you can do so using the online form at the Broadcasting Standards Authority website.

Does Shakedown Have Silver Lining?

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Christchurch based politician Jim Anderton will no doubt be regretting his comment last week that it would take a “seismic shift” for incumbent Christchurch mayor Bob Parker not to lose the local body election fight that they are both engaged in. At 4.35am last Saturday morning, New Zealand’s second largest city was struck by an earthquake of similar strength to that which destroyed Haiti. In fact Parker, ever the gentleman showman, has risen to the occasion and must be privately elated that he has a new public platform on which to perform. The timing is also perfect for other politicians who are ever mindful of the lessons from 9/11 and New Orleans.

When old Mr Hubbard went to the cupboard and found it bare recently, the subsequent receivership of poorly managed South Canterbury Finance (SCF) and its labyrinthine and multitudinous related entities also hit the Canterbury region like a shock wave. It was a painful reminder of why we cannot continue to prime our economic machine purely on the basis of milk exports and highly leveraged property assets. Investors in the failed firm received an immediate payment under a government guarantee scheme totalling $1.7 billion. Whilst some of this cash will no doubt be recovered, it’s appalling that SCF went unchecked for so long. Ordinary taxpayers and legitimate businesses have had to shoulder this burden.

Most of the SCF payout will likely disappear into holiday trips to Surfer’s Paradise and safe but low interest earning bank accounts of the grey brigade.Very little will actually be reinvested into the productive part of the New Zealand economy. Consequently, the earthquake is a “god-send” for central government too. Apart from the immediate distraction from existing economic problems, it will validate investing hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure repairs. Road builders, plasterers and brick layers from all over the country will be fully engaged for months, possibly years. That may be quite a good thing.

I don’t wish to minimise the effects on Christchurch residents as they were thrown from their beds on Saturday morning. It must have been a terrifying ordeal and the ongoing psychological trauma of aftershocks will continue to play on minds. But I partially agree with some commentators who suggest that New Zealand has a high level of preparedness and that we will come through this. Now that the dust has settled, we might even see some benefits arise from this event. If nothing else, there will be a lot of learnings that can be passed on to those of us that live in other parts of the country with a history of high seismicity.

A Very Uncivil Disunion

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Chris Carter’s clumsy and self-serving attempt to foment dissent amongst the ranks of the Labour caucus are remarkable but not without precedent. Carter’s brain explosion was never going to end happily for him. Ironically, his irrational behaviour has given the party a rallying point that might actually strengthen Goff’s position as leader – at least for the time being.

Chris Trotter’s commentary last week indicates that the Left have washed their hands of the rogue MP. Trotter’s analysis is right on the button. In the wake of losing power and with the departure of his ally Helen Clark it seems like Carter was left in the political wilderness. Too much time on his hands led to some outlandish excuses for publicly funded travel which was the beginning of his unravelling. Carter’s puerile attempt at payback after being sidelined by Goff earlier this year will not have won him any friends amongst the electorate faithful.

Carter may well have been right about Goff’s inability to front at the next election but that is a moot point. Goff may have more political nous than he is given credit for. With Shane Jones exposed (so to speak) and Carter shamed, there are very few from within the Labour caucus that would be in contention. In the long term, the leadership will be contested by someone who is not yet even an elected MP but who is being quietly groomed for greater things. In the short term Labour may be willing to sacrifice Goff to an election that might be unwinnable irrespective of the leadership. If the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup in October 2011 it will be worth 10 points in the polls to the incumbent government.