Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the new Business Investor Visa

Transcript

Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the new Business Investor Visa · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Another VISA move from America Stanford, this time targeting investors.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The New Business Investor visa fast tracks your residency for
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: anyone chucking two million dollars or more into a KEYWEK company.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: All applicants have to pass health check, character English language
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: tests before they're approved. Simon Bridges is Auckland's cheerleader Aukland
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Business cham for CEO with us this morning.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hey Simon, Hey get a Grian.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: What do you make of this one?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think, first, blush blush, it's excellent additional policy.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, if you think about it, we've
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: seen for quite some time in Smeland older business owners
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: they want to get out, they've built up a successful business,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: their son and daughter doesn't want to take it over.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: How do they provide for a successor and get a
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: payday before before they retire? And I think, of course, look,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: you know that the issues we've talked about around all prienthes.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: You know, more cash one and two million dollar lots
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: coming in. Some of them go on Carol and Steve
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: going on their overseas holiday, but look, a bunch of
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: it will be back into the local economy. I think
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: one questions around it just that the discrete cri curia.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: It's hard to tell in the age tract just how
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: permissive and enabling this is. You know, you've mentioned some
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: of them. Five you've got a five full time staff
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: English language requirement. It can't be convenience stores and so on.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: All of that sort of on its own makes sense.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: But if we add it all up, just just how
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: permissive is this policy? But I think overall an excellent addition.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Is two million dollars minimum enough for a fast track
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to residency?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think so. I think I think you
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: get a lot of businesses that have fall into that
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: sort of category. And you know, I think in the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: end it comes back to the point I want you.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: You've got to structure this right so that you are
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: getting investors coming in who want to work on the businesses.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Remember the other thing here that it's not particularly permissive.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: But you know, I can understand that the logic of
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: is the person who buys is going to have to
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: work in this business for a period of time, you know,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And that's well, that's work, that's hard work.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: How you have been quite successful and lobbying the government
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: on haalf of Business Chamber to get Auckland stuff done.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I reckon they're going to go with a bid tax
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to the election. What do you reckon?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Don't know about that? There's such sort of entrenched positions
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: around not having a tax. The reality is this so
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: that they don't need to do a tax. I mean,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: what they could just do is from the center, that is,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: from that the tax money we pay in provide a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: dollar of cash back for the kind of initiatives I think.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: You know, it's important to see better events funding and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: so on. I mean the figures that I have in
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: my mind. I don't inquie me the exact you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: ten thousand or anything, but you go back a decade
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: or so, there's about thirty million dollars going into major
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: events and the like from the crown and local government.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Now it's more like seven to ten million. You know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: if we want to do well versus kind of your
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: big AUSSI cities, we do need to invest more.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: What about because there are a couple of other things
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: you have mentioned yesterday, what are the other big things
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: leaders you think the government needs to pull for Auckland.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, I'm not a brains trust, but but
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: there's there's so many things they could do. I mean,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I may think another one that is in the Ericastatt
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Stanford kind of area is just ongoing liberalization of tourism
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: and international education visas. These are levers you can pull.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: There is a boom in Asian tourism going on at
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the moment in your Malaysias and your Vietnams and your Thailand.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Why isn't it in New Zealand. Yeah, we're a bit
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: more expensive, but I'll tell you what, we've made the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: visa set settings not easier, but tougher. Are we too
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: rich to not need that cash? You know? I think
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I think we need it right now in Auckland hotel
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: nights at the occupancy rates in Auckland hotels are as
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: a generalization abysmal, So I think that is something they
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: could pull. That would be quite a switch actually to
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: seeing more Asian tourists walking around our streets.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Interesting. Some appreciate your time this morning, Simon Bridges, Aukland
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Business Chamber of CEO.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:54
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• 3:57
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