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Advocacy for business by the BusinessNZ Network | |
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Budget 2024 shows a responsible approach to spending in areas that can improve NZ’s economic growth, BusinessNZ CEO Kirk Hope says. "Businesses will welcome the focus on infrastructure and education investment, along with tax cuts aimed at stimulating the economy - we believe tax cuts need not be inflationary when managed carefully and in combination with restrained Government spending. We also welcome the increase in funding for the Ministry for Regulation, aimed at ensuring businesses can develop and grow without the burden of unnecessary compliance costs." | | | |
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Data sharing for customer choice is on the way. From today, some of NZ’s major banks will have in place technology to connect to third-party businesses so customers can access new financial products and services requiring their data, with approved security. The Customer and Product Data Bill introduced to Parliament this month will set up a framework under which customers can control access to and use of their data. BusinessNZ says this will be needed to instil consumer confidence in data sharing, to allow its commercial and innovation opportunities to be realised. | | | |
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Fintech is now the largest technology sector in NZ, ahead of health tech and appliances, according to a new report. NZ companies using information technology to deliver financial services and products earned $2.6B revenue last year, mostly from exports. The sector is expected to grow further in the short term - the upcoming data sharing legislation will help create digital trust based on digital security, building consumer confidence and allowing more businesses to innovate and monetise new data flows, the report says. | | | |
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Relevant to Fonterra’s recent decision to transform into a business-to-business dairy ingredients provider by selling off its consumer brands and concentrating on producing dairy ingredients only - the latest stats show milk powder remains NZ’s largest commodity export, earning $9.7B last year from sales to over 100 countries. Last year 80% of milk solids Fonterra produced were sold via its ingredients business, deepening its position as a world-leading provider of high-value, innovative dairy ingredients, Fonterra said. | | | |
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A new RMA Amendment Bill would help clarify blurred regulation of resource use in NZ, BusinessNZ says. The Bill proposes changes to freshwater management, coal mining consenting, farming regulations, and significant natural areas. Coal mining consenting would be aligned with consenting for other minerals, and the Bill would also remove the requirement to treat economic development as a low priority for freshwater use. These would help reduce uncertainty around consenting and help businesses make better trade-offs between competing resource objectives, BusinessNZ says. | | | |
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A recruitment survey indicates tension between employer and employee views on working from home: employers want more employee presence in the workplace, but 90% of white-collar employees said they’d look for another job if required to be in the office more often. Meanwhile, employers and employees are invited to take part in a new survey by Victoria University School of Health on the health and wellbeing aspects of remote working during Covid - AdvocacyUpdate readers can take part in the survey here. | | | |
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AdvocacyUpdate is an update on recent activity & advocacy by the BusinessNZ Network | |
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