The Government’s announcements concerning economic transformation contain a lot of nice words but the work programme underneath them is hardly transformational, says Business NZ CEO Phil O’Reilly.
“The Government’s five themes of economic transformation are sensible enough but the detailed work programmes are mainly existing Government initiatives tagged on to the themes and somehow labelled transformational as a result.
“There are some things Government is currently doing that could be transformational if successfully carried out as part of a wider reform agenda. These include increased infrastructure investment, tertiary education reform and better links between business and the science community. But the Government is failing to bolster these commendable initiatives with other transformational objectives such as reducing growth in Government expenditure as a proportion of GDP, reforming development-unfriendly legislation like the RMA and treating business tax as a key tool for economic competitiveness.
“A transformational agenda can only succeed if Government truly engages with business in setting the agenda and then works in partnership with business to deliver on it. Business is willing and waiting to engage.”
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