Latest / The SME Stream / Dame Joan Withers: Warehouse Group Chairperson on the Mood of the Boardroom survey, education being a priority

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Dame Joan Withers: Warehouse Group Chairperson on the Mood of the Boardroom survey, education being a priority · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Herald's annual Mood of the Boardroom is out. CEOs
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and directors say they like the Prime Minister, they like
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the Finance Minister, they like the Education Minister, Erica Stanford especially,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: but they don't like Adrian All, the Reserve Bank governor.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And the thing that they're most worried about in this
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: country right now is energy prices. The Warehouse Group chairperson
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Dame John Withers took part in a warning.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Joan Morning, Heather.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by your top three issues because I agree
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: wholeheartedly with your education and truancy, but why did you
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: put that in there.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I think living in South Auckland, you know, for my
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: entire married life, and just seeing what's happening and operating
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a bit more in Central City in terms of my
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: business and corporate activities, I just see the disconnect and
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I think we've got major issues if we don't address this.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I think the government are matted with some really good moves,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: but I think it's got to be an imperative because
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: it really underpins the future of New Zealand, not only
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: in terms of the caliber of what we do and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: how we grow as an economy, but I think by
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: making sure we don't leave people behind as far as
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: education is concerned, we are doing something to mitigate the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: risk of social disruption and disconnect such as we've seen
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: in other jurisdictions around the world.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: There seems to be a general consensus as well, just
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: on other cabinet ministers, that Chris Luxon and Nichola Willis
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: are both doing well but sort of still need to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: prove themselves. Would you agree with that.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I think they've done incredibly well. I think they have
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: addressed the key issues up front or tried to do
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: as much as they can, which is stabilizing the economy,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: trying to get gross back, getting inflation down. But I think,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: you know, having just had the chance to glance through
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: the article in this morning's Herald, certain consensus from business
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: people is right now we need to pivot. We need
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to get on with things. We need to start thinking
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: about our future and get on with maximizing the New
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Zealand's opportunity both to messiple but also obviously in terms
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: of our place in the world.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Yes, so are you looking for a little bit of
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: that big picture stuff about where they take us?
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I think that would be good. I totally understand that
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: the hierarchy of priorities and you know, the economy is
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: still doing it really tough, and it's interesting reading that.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: You know, people are probably more positive about the future,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: but a lot of companies are seeing the hero and
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: now is pretty grim. So the government really had to
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: address that. But yeah, I think we all want to
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: put our chins up and say, where's New Zealand's place
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: in the world going forward? Yeah?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Would you agree with the sentiment which comes through really
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: strongly that Adrian or has completely overcooked us in both directions.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: I'm not prepared to comment on Adrian's performance as governor
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: of the Reserved in income a director of ain Z.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I can understand how difficult it is, and I think
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: even now, if you read some of the articles, I
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: think people are saying, yes, maybe for the cycle, we're
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: on top of we're on top of inflation. But you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I can understand that that is essential that he got
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: that under control. It's just now about how quickly people
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: respond to an ocr cup. We've seen one, what happens next,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: and you're just making sure that we go all the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: momentum now going forward?
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: What are you looking for? Joan Rique? Are you putting
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: your money on twenty five or fifty next week?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm praying for fifty. Yeah, aren't we all?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Joan, thank you. I really appreciated. Dame Joan with Is
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the Warehouse Group chairperson.