Latest / Best of Business / Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on signs of recovery in the region, WorkSafe changes

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Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on signs of recovery in the region, WorkSafe changes · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed Be
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  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: So Liam, what's some business cannabis with us again? For
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  Speaker 2: a regular what quarterly catch up?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, can I put a question to you. So someone
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  Speaker 2: got in touch was Bears and you may not know
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  Speaker 2: the answer to this, but they were interested to know
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  Speaker 2: whether the likes of Fonterra's contribution to GENDP is measured
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  Speaker 2: at a regional basis or just an overall basis, because
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  Speaker 2: you know Fontira has got a big operation here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah they do.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, it's a great question. I don't know the
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  Speaker 3: technical answer to that, but I imagine because they have a
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  Speaker 3: big base here in Canterbury, some of the contribution will
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  Speaker 3: be recognized at a local level, I imagine, but it's
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  Speaker 3: probably a question for Fontira.
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  Speaker 2: Bears brilliant. Thank you Bears for getting in touch. Something
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  Speaker 2: else we've been discussing this morning is the government making
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  Speaker 2: changes to the way that works safe operates of interested
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  Speaker 2: to know what you personally think about it, but what
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  Speaker 2: does this mean for cannoby businesses.
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  Speaker 3: That we are really excited about the changes that are coming.
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  Speaker 3: It's been an issue for many businesses and particularly for
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  Speaker 3: small businesses for quite some time, and in fact, we
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  Speaker 3: had a session with a minister I think it was
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  Speaker 3: maybe late last year, and it's not often you get
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  Speaker 3: a minister who sits at the front of a room
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  Speaker 3: of fifty businesses and basically opens the floor and says,
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  Speaker 3: tell me what's working, tell me what's not working, so
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  Speaker 3: I can make some changes. And actually one of the
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  Speaker 3: big issues that came out of that session was how
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  Speaker 3: do we change this around so that the people that
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  Speaker 3: work for Work Safe go into a business as an
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  Speaker 3: advisor and we promote compliance through really good education because
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  Speaker 3: businesses don't get up in the morning and go how
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  Speaker 3: can I harm my employees? You know, they want to
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  Speaker 3: do the right thing, but often you know, the current
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  Speaker 3: act is confusing, there is a bit of an overreach,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, a small business that is a real
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  Speaker 3: low risk, you know, the amount of compliance required has
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  Speaker 3: been really painful. So the announcement today, particularly around and
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  Speaker 3: making those changes so that these people are advisers and
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  Speaker 3: they help educate businesses rather than just an enforcer, I
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  Speaker 3: think it will be very welcomed.
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  Speaker 2: What about the fact, because this is my position is
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  Speaker 2: I'm not excited by it because I'm looking at the
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  Speaker 2: rate of workplace fatalities in New Zealand compared to other
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  Speaker 2: parts of the world, and we compare pretty badly, and
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  Speaker 2: it seems to me that taking the foot off the
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  Speaker 2: pedal at this point might be a risk.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, looks a really valid point that you make, because
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  Speaker 3: we do our rates of harm in workplaces as significantly higher,
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  Speaker 3: as you said, than a lot of other developed countries,
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  Speaker 3: which is not good enough. But I think what we
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  Speaker 3: also need to recognize is those rates haven't moved. They
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  Speaker 3: haven't come down with some of the changes that were
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  Speaker 3: put in place a number of years ago. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: clearly whatever we've done over the last few years in
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  Speaker 3: terms of changes to that has not worked. So I
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  Speaker 3: think the biggest issue for us is how do we
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  Speaker 3: make sure that we educate and we advise people on
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  Speaker 3: doing the right thing. If we can play that role,
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  Speaker 3: I think that's definitely worth, you know, working through with businesses,
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  Speaker 3: and I think we do need to understand that for
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  Speaker 3: a lot of small businesses that are really low risk,
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  Speaker 3: some of the compliance has simply been an overburden and
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  Speaker 3: it hasn't changed those rates of harm. And so you
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  Speaker 3: know that this is a good opportunity to readdress that
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  Speaker 3: and do it through an education process.
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  Speaker 2: So you talked about Fonterra just briefly. Then. When the
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  Speaker 2: Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank made the doing media
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  Speaker 2: interviews regarding the cash right decision the other day, he
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  Speaker 2: was saying that there are signs of business recovery, and
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  Speaker 2: I think some people thought, really, really, other than farmers, whereabouts,
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  Speaker 2: where are the other areas? What's happening in Canterbury in
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  Speaker 2: relation to that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we are definitely one of those regions that
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  Speaker 3: are bucking all the trends. You know, all of our
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  Speaker 3: measures are pointing in the right direction and have been
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  Speaker 3: for the last two quarters actually, which is great. So
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  Speaker 3: what we are seeing is there's definitely those green shoots
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  Speaker 3: coming through. You know, we're starting to see a greater
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  Speaker 3: degree of confidence from businesses and not only their own innions,
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  Speaker 3: but also the country as a whole. What is not
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  Speaker 3: coming through as fast as what we would like is
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  Speaker 3: we've still got you know, quite slow demand from consumers
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  Speaker 3: and how that's playing out as businesses are just a
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  Speaker 3: little bit hesitant to actually make those investment decisions that
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  Speaker 3: they've got in the pipeline, but they're just being really
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  Speaker 3: cautious about about that. Now we are starting to see
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  Speaker 3: that change. And I'm sure you're gonna ask me a
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  Speaker 3: little bit about budget.
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  Speaker 2: I asked you about the budget, but I'm curious to
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  Speaker 2: know you're talking about confidence. There is it less consumer
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  Speaker 2: confidence versus less business confidence?
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  Speaker 3: I think it is less consumer confidence. Now, you know
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  Speaker 3: what we've seen as we've seen interest rates, you know,
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  Speaker 3: steadily sort of fallen and head in the right direction
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  Speaker 3: again over the last two or three quarters. But for
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people, you know, they've got fixed interest rates,
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  Speaker 3: it takes a while for the impact of those interest
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  Speaker 3: rates to come off. We're starting to head towards that
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  Speaker 3: period of time where we are going to see those
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  Speaker 3: interest rates drop. That will provide much more confidence and
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  Speaker 3: it will generally give people more money in their back pocket.
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  Speaker 3: I think that will be the game changer.
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  Speaker 2: SOE you count in generalize, But are you saying that
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  Speaker 2: there are businesses almost looking at the out the windows saying,
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  Speaker 2: why an't you guys coming and buy? You should be
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  Speaker 2: all the confident things are on the up?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely absolutely, I think that is exactly what we're
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  Speaker 3: seeing now. We obviously got other things that play as well.
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  Speaker 3: We've got some geopolitical risks, you know that. You know,
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  Speaker 3: the Trump tariffs, you know, came out a couple of
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  Speaker 3: months ago. Everyone was sort of, you know, in the
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  Speaker 3: weight and see mode, so you know, a degree of
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  Speaker 3: I guess, cautious optimism from the business community. But I
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  Speaker 3: think we are starting to see that change.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think it was a bit of over panicking
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  Speaker 2: about the tariffs?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think the country went into a bit of
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  Speaker 3: a tailspin. Well, actually, sorry, the world went a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of a tail spin. I actually think the way
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  Speaker 3: that New Zealand played their cards I think was actually
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  Speaker 3: very well done. I think we took a really measured,
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  Speaker 3: balanced approach to that. I think the relationships that we
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  Speaker 3: have with America have served us well, and it was
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  Speaker 3: very much a considered and measured response as opposed to
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  Speaker 3: a sort of a need reaction that we've seen from
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  Speaker 3: some other markets. And we've seen how that's played out.
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  Speaker 3: So I think, by and large, I think the way
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  Speaker 3: that New Zealand has handled those conversations and that very
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  Speaker 3: uncertain environment has actually been well done.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned the budget, What what did well? What did
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  Speaker 2: Cannibi get out of the budget. Well, look, we certainly
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  Speaker 2: got a new prison or.
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  Speaker 3: A new prison, some you know, some investment in obviously
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  Speaker 3: the continuation of rebuilding some of our schools post earthquake,
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  Speaker 3: which is really important and you know, it seems ridiculous
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  Speaker 3: that we're still talking about that, but we are. I think,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Canterbury as a whole. You know, there is
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  Speaker 3: obviously some announcements that were made before the budget around
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  Speaker 3: things like you know, second Bridge in nash Burton and
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  Speaker 3: the wood and bypass and some of those much needed
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  Speaker 3: investments into our infrastructure. I think the single biggest announcement,
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  Speaker 3: certainly from our perspective, you know, given we represent the
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  Speaker 3: business community as investment Boost and the fact that was
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  Speaker 3: a centerpiece of the of the government's budget, and it
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  Speaker 3: really drew attention to the fact that this, you know,
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  Speaker 3: our economy will only grow when we support the business
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  Speaker 3: community and so that investment Boost is you know, quite
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  Speaker 3: aptly named. It will be a boost for business. It
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  Speaker 3: will take away some of those that some of that
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  Speaker 3: cautious optimism that I talked about before. You know, we've
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  Speaker 3: already heard from several businesses who have said, now that
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  Speaker 3: I know that this investment boost is in place, effective immediately.
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  Speaker 3: I'm actually going to make that investment decision. I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to get that new machinery. I'm going to buy that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, those those new tractors. I'm going to invest
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  Speaker 3: in the new fleet of vehicles that I need and
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  Speaker 3: that will significantly, you know, play a part and not
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  Speaker 3: only actually supporting the local economy but also helping those
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  Speaker 3: businesses drive better productivity and increased efficiency.
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  Speaker 2: In layperson's terms, what does that mean?
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  Speaker 3: You're gonna ask me that. Basically, what it means is
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  Speaker 3: that for any and there's a there's a list of
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  Speaker 3: things basically that businesses, you know that the criteria that
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  Speaker 3: is used, but any investments in new planted equipment, machinery,
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  Speaker 3: new vehicles, new commercial buildings, they basically can take twenty
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  Speaker 3: percent off the cost of those new assets and it's
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  Speaker 3: deducted from their taxable income effective immediately, so they don't
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  Speaker 3: have to wait a year down the track to you know. Actually,
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  Speaker 3: and that's on top of depreciation. So it's basically taking
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  Speaker 3: a twenty percent of that asset and deducting it from
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  Speaker 3: their taxable income.
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  Speaker 2: So do you reckon that we're talking before about you
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  Speaker 2: saying that the confidence we're seeing is more amongst businesses
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to consumers. But with this it creates the
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  Speaker 2: what's the word for license or certainty for them to
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  Speaker 2: invest ahead of consumer confidence rising.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And you know, what we know is that for
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  Speaker 3: a lot of industries, and particularly industries such as manufacturing
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  Speaker 3: for example, you know, automation, robotics, you know, driving. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we know we've got a productivity issue in this country.
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  Speaker 3: You know, one of the ways to actually address some
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  Speaker 3: of those productivity gaps is to actually put in good,
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  Speaker 3: streamlined you know, processing machines, automation, robotics that costs money,
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  Speaker 3: in a significant amount of money. And so not only
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  Speaker 3: will this investment boost help, you know, address some of
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  Speaker 3: those issues, it will actually create more jobs in the
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  Speaker 3: long run as well, because we're you know, we are
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  Speaker 3: seeing growth across our business community, but we need to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that we've got the right infrastructure to support
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  Speaker 3: that at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: And what do you make of the of ECN putting
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  Speaker 2: some money into a business case for a rail passenger
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  Speaker 2: service between Roliston christ Church run.
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  Speaker 3: You order, Yeah, Look, it's an interesting argument that's been
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  Speaker 3: tossed around over several years.
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  Speaker 2: That's how people start start saying they don't like something.
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  Speaker 3: Oh look, I'm not necessarily saying I don't like it,
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  Speaker 3: but I guess what I would like to understand is
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  Speaker 3: is this a solution trying to find a problem, you know,
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  Speaker 3: or is it the right solution? And I think we've
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  Speaker 3: got to also be really careful. We're not going to
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  Speaker 3: you know, sort of throw out half a million dollars
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  Speaker 3: on a business case before we really understand whether or not,
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  Speaker 3: you know, there is demand for it and is there
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  Speaker 3: other options for it? And I understand the balance of
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  Speaker 3: you know, doing some work and it's going to come
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  Speaker 3: at a cost, but you know, let's make sure that
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  Speaker 3: we've actually done a little bit more work. And I'm sure,
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure they have done some you know, beck of
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  Speaker 3: the envelope calculations as to what it might look like,
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  Speaker 3: but I guess i'd be quite keen to understand that.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think the fact that because what people put
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  Speaker 2: up as an argument, it gets to there's only one
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  Speaker 2: rail line and if he had two rail lines you
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  Speaker 2: could be more feasible. Is that the sort of stuff
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  Speaker 2: that you're thinking of.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think we've got to also think about you know,
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  Speaker 3: if we're talking about a rail line to move people
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  Speaker 3: around at the moment, obviously, I ral generally moves freight,
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  Speaker 3: and as we continue to grow, we certainly need that.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, if someone's going to catch a train
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  Speaker 3: from let's say Roliston and to christ Church, first of all,
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  Speaker 3: they've got to get from wherever they live to the
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  Speaker 3: train station in Roliston, and then they've got to you know,
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  Speaker 3: get off the train, stay here and then work out
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  Speaker 3: how they get from there into work. And so the
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  Speaker 3: time you take all of that into account, is it
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  Speaker 3: really going to work? And you know, I'm all for
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  Speaker 3: looking at how we address our transportation needs across a
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  Speaker 3: growing region. I think that's really really important. There's obviously
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  Speaker 3: been several conversations about mess rapid transport as well as
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  Speaker 3: another option, and I think we just need to have
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  Speaker 3: an adult conversation and look at all of these options
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  Speaker 3: and also think about, you know, what does the future
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  Speaker 3: population look like for this region, where are those people
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  Speaker 3: going to live? And what facilities do we need and
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  Speaker 3: what infrastructure do we need? And I guess that's part
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  Speaker 3: of this process. But I'd like to think that we're
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  Speaker 3: going to have a joined up conversation as opposed to
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  Speaker 3: sort of a silo conversation around different transportation needs.
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  Speaker 2: I've got about forty five seconds, which is a bit rough,
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  Speaker 2: but where you're sitting right now. We had the Minister
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  Speaker 2: of the South Island, James Meeker sitting last week. How
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  Speaker 2: would you rate the effectiveness of not him, but but
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  Speaker 2: the role.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think we've talked about the role before. I
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  Speaker 3: think it's a a great initiative that the government has
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  Speaker 3: put a Minister of the South Island. I think it
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  Speaker 3: reinforces the importance of the South Island. We've had the
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  Speaker 3: Minister along with Minister Pink a couple of months ago
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  Speaker 3: and he was pretty candid actually about you know what
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  Speaker 3: his role. Cannon cannot do. He's obviously not in cabinet,
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  Speaker 3: so he's not necessarily a decision maker, but he can
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  Speaker 3: certainly influence some of those decisions, and so we're working
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  Speaker 3: really closely with the Minister to reinforce all the important
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  Speaker 3: things for the South Island.
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  Speaker 2: Really great to see you again, Great thanks John, Have
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  Speaker 2: a good day.
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