Latest / Best of Business / Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the Mood of the Boardroom weeks out from the election

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Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the Mood of the Boardroom weeks out from the election · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Sharp rebound in business confidence in the Herald's mood of
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  Speaker 2: the boardroom this morning. More than half are more optimistic
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: now than they were a year ago, including 10% much more, 22%
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: less so. The election, fuel, global conflict, all big areas
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  Speaker 2: of worry for our CEO, Simon Bridges, Auckland Business Chamber CEO.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Hi, morning, Ryan.
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  Speaker 2: How are those business leaders feeling?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's intriguing if you read the full
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  Speaker 3: 40-something pages, which, you know, I've done for my sin.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, there's definitely what you say, which is that
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  Speaker 3: optimism there in the local business environment, at least. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it's kind of the sense, and I pick it up
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  Speaker 3: as well in my travels, that whatever the politicians and
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  Speaker 3: the world does, you know, we're going to get on
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  Speaker 3: with it. I would say, though, there's also, you know, subtly,
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  Speaker 3: and it's variable, but across this slither of business, which
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  Speaker 3: is the top end of town, There's also dissatisfaction. They're
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  Speaker 3: wanting to see, and this is across the board, across
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  Speaker 3: the political class, when they're looking at them, they want
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  Speaker 3: to see more investment in infrastructure. They want to see reform.
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  Speaker 3: They want to see leadership. They want to see more
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  Speaker 3: talk about productivity, and they're not necessarily seeing that. So
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  Speaker 3: I would sort of, if you think about it politically,
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  Speaker 3: I would kind of say, because you'd expect, and they
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  Speaker 3: are in their numbers, the Nats is a centre-right incumbent
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  Speaker 3: government to be higher up. I would sort of call
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  Speaker 3: it a tactical draw between the Nats and Labour when
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  Speaker 3: you look at this closely.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting. What about the idea of the smaller parties having
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  Speaker 2: more say and, you know, smaller parties of very different
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  Speaker 2: persuasions in the case of the coalition having more say
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  Speaker 2: in the next government?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, my read of Moody the Boardroom is
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  Speaker 3: they don't like that, right? And to be clear, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: if you look at it, the minor parties, the exception
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  Speaker 3: perhaps of ACT, so if you look at the You know,
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  Speaker 3: the ministers that score well, and you really don't have
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  Speaker 3: anything to say first there in the top 10. You
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  Speaker 3: do have David Seymour and Brook van Velden, though, right? Actually,
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  Speaker 3: higher than the Prime Minister, who doesn't even make the
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  Speaker 3: top 10, although he gets some good remarks. Yeah, he
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  Speaker 3: gets some good remarks there, right? And so, yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: think there's definitely an unease about the tail wagging the dog.
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  Speaker 3: The reality is that's our MMP system. And I would say,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Ryan, if you think about it this way,
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  Speaker 3: this is a very small slither of business. It's the
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  Speaker 3: top end of town, let alone being the electorate. So,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they've got a very clear view about what
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  Speaker 3: they like. They tend to like stability, certainty and incumbent
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  Speaker 3: government over kind of change that might be messy and uncertain.
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  Speaker 2: In about 10 minutes, we're going to talk about the
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  Speaker 2: chances of opportunity getting across the 5% threshold. What do
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  Speaker 2: you reckon?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, I think, you know, when I sort of,
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  Speaker 3: with my amateur hat on, look at the election, there's
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  Speaker 3: two things there. That on election night are going to mean,
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  Speaker 3: you know, kind of anything could happen. And they are opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: Do they get there or not? I mean, I think
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  Speaker 3: my sense is, if you look at the polls, they're
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  Speaker 3: consistently above five. You know, I don't think you need
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  Speaker 3: to be wrong to say that means more likely than not.
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  Speaker 3: That said, nothing would surprise me. And then that overhang issue,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I think that's very, critical to this. Does
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  Speaker 3: National end up with lots of electorate MPs and not
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  Speaker 3: so many, if any, list MPs? Same with Te Pāti Māori.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, three or four or five Te
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  Speaker 3: Pāti Māori MPs without the list votes, you know, that
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  Speaker 3: could be an election cliffhanger.
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  Speaker 2: To get 5% on the day, you sort of need
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  Speaker 2: to be polling seven consistently at least, don't you, in
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  Speaker 2: the lead up to, you know what I mean?
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's what clever people say. So, I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 3: there's all that too. I kind of come back to it,
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  Speaker 3: you know, can you remember an election where it was
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  Speaker 3: kind of the sunset and we kind of nothing would
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  Speaker 3: surprise you? Nothing would surprise me. A hung parliament would
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  Speaker 3: not surprise me. A centre-right government would not surprise me.
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  Speaker 3: A left of centre government with three, four parties would
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  Speaker 3: not surprise me.
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  Speaker 2: It's anyone's guess. Simon Bridges, Auckland Business Chamber CEO.
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