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Advocacy for business by the BusinessNZ Network | |
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Message from CEO Katherine Rich |
I am delighted to begin working with the team at BusinessNZ to advocate for the best operating environment for businesses in NZ. You only need to see the graph below and read the underlying paper by BusinessNZ economist Mark Cox on foreign direct investment to see how far NZ has to go! I am going to get out and meet as many members as possible to hear what more BusinessNZ can do to be an even stronger voice for smart effective business policy. I have appreciated the many invitations to visit already and look forward to engaging with you in future. In the meantime, never hesitate to reach out to me directly. Kind regards, Katherine Rich | | | |
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NZ’s foreign investment rules are currently the most restrictive of all OECD countries and changes are needed to stop NZ missing out on vital investment, a new BusinessNZ advocacy paper says. The Overseas Investment Act should be amended to send the message that foreign investment is welcome, and the Overseas Investment Office should become a stand-alone agency charged with promoting NZ as a place to invest, while NZ’s tax rules should also be changed to encourage more wealthy investors to come here, BusinessNZ says. | | | |
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Business perceptions of the trading environment are consistent with this week’s GDP figures showing that the economy contracted 0.2% in the last quarter and that demand is flat. Monthly PMI and PSI surveys also show contraction, a low level of new orders, and lack of demand. The services sector has now been in contraction for 6 months, and the manufacturing sector for 18 months, however the rate of contraction in both sectors is slowing. | | | |
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Contractor test sorely needed |
Decisive action by the Govt to provide a legal test distinguishing contractors from employees will enable more certain working relationships and reduce expensive litigation, BusinessNZ says. A simpler test was sorely needed given the uncertainty caused by differing Court judgments internationally about platform workers and frequent litigation with differing outcomes in NZ. The new 4-part test will give welcome guidance for businesses and support the legal standing of both contractors and employees. | | | |
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Vocational education reform |
Proposals for reforming vocational education should be more focused on the skills businesses need, BusinessNZ says. Businesses should be able to choose between training providers and receive consistent training quality and graduate outcomes across the country, and the process of setting standards for the content of industry training should be led by industries themselves. The success of the vocational education system should be judged by employment outcomes, and a well skilled workforce lifting productivity in the long term, BusinessNZ says. | | | |
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R&D spurs economic growth by creating new intellectual property, and NZ could gain more IP and grow faster by improving its R&D system, a BusinessNZ advocacy paper says. R&D tax rebates are worth 15% of a firm’s R&D expenditure in NZ, compared with e.g. 30% in Ireland, over 38% in Australia, and 100% in Singapore. A higher rebate and a simpler system to allow smaller firms to gain R&D support would boost R&D spending by NZ businesses and improve NZ’s growth prospects, BusinessNZ says. | | | |
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AdvocacyUpdate is an update on recent activity & advocacy by the BusinessNZ Network | |
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