Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Catherine Beard: Business NZ Advocacy Director on the establishment of Invest New Zealand

Transcript

Catherine Beard: Business NZ Advocacy Director on the establishment of Invest New Zealand · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today we'll officially have a new regulatory body for overseas investment.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Invest in Z is an agency set up to help
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: attract and retain large investment from overseas buyers. Responsible Minister
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Tom McLay hopes us will create jobs and boost productivity.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Catherine Beds, the Business in ZED advocacy director, with us
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: this morning. Catherine, good morning, Good morning. So this is
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: obviously going to be an expensive exercise. I think forty
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: five million dollars over the next few years. Are we
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: sure eighty five million dollars over four years to establish
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it and it's as itself as an autonomous Crown entity.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Is it going to be worth it? Do we think?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, we definitely had to do something, Ryan.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: We are one of the hardest places to invest in
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: the OECD and as everybody knows, investment is the lifeblood
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: of economic success, so we definitely needed to make it
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: easier and I think this is a really good start.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: It will be much much more of a bespoke consuer
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: sort of approach. I think they've looked at Ireland and
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: other countries that do it far better.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Than we do, and my understanding is it's going to be.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Quite a small lean and mean agency as well, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: they're taking some of that work away from MZTE, so
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: hopefully it's not going to be too expensive.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Right, And do you what sort of people do you
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: think that they'll be hiring.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Look, I've heard that it'll be people with really good
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: rolodecks of international investors in connections, so they should be
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: well connected to investors around the world, and you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: they should be also looking at where the opportunities are
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: here and where our gaps are and where.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: We actually need investment. So well connected people.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Not a lot of them my understanding, but well connected
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: all right.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So we will live and across our fingers and hope
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and pray that this works. We need to, of course,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: have attractive investments here to begin with. Is this is
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: our problem just cosmetic we're not advertising ourselves well enough
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: or are there a lack of viable attractive deals.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Look, I think there'll be a lot to invest in
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: in New Zealand. You know, as you know, we have
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: a big infrastructure deficit. There's a lot of spending that
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: needs to be done. And yeah, and you know, look,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I think we've got a lot of opportunities in the
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: future if we get into some more long term thinking
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: and you know business is Zealand we're advocating thirty years.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: You know, have a thirty year horizon.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: What will we need, what could we be great at
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: and let's have a plan.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: And get on with it.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Catherine, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for coming on.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Catherine Beard. Business Ends Advocacy Directed.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: For more from Early edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Listen live to news Talks.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: on iHeartRadio.