Latest / Best of Business / Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the Auckland café pushing back against street flag ban

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Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the Auckland café pushing back against street flag ban · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News talk Ed b
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Council's Hindery NOI Helping city Business is a great person
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  Speaker 2: to discuss this with a Simon Bridges. He's the CEO
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  Speaker 2: of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and joins us on
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  Speaker 2: the line. Now, Simon, get out of.
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  Speaker 3: You, gentlemen. First time call a longtime listener. It's very
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  Speaker 3: exciting to be on your show where it's my wife
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  Speaker 3: will be listening. She's always listening. I haven't even told
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  Speaker 3: her because I'm confidence she is listening and getting wound
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  Speaker 3: up by whatever it is you ared. Well, I know
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  Speaker 3: what you're talking about. But what you've been talking about.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, that's great to hear. We've got that. We've got
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  Speaker 4: well a lot of the Bridges family online. This is
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  Speaker 4: fantastic for us.
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  Speaker 3: So we're just getting the children at school aren't listening.
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  Speaker 3: But you never know, I mean very education probably learned
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  Speaker 3: as much from this show as being an all congrammar
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  Speaker 3: and drew its other anyway.
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  Speaker 4: Love it. So do you think because we're really talking
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  Speaker 4: about the attitude of counsels and the fools under your remit,
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  Speaker 4: not the particular council we're talking about, But do you
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  Speaker 4: think counsels are business minded? Do you think they go
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  Speaker 4: into interactions with businesses saying how can we facilitate what
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  Speaker 4: will help you do business? Or do you think that
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  Speaker 4: they go into these interactions and say, well, there's a
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  Speaker 4: by law, let's shut this down.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's complicated in this way. I think the
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  Speaker 3: mayor and the council is you know, by and large
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  Speaker 3: there will be an exception. I think they get it right.
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  Speaker 3: I think if you're talking to them, they say, you
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  Speaker 3: know what, we want to find a solution for you.
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  Speaker 3: We're outcome folks, we want to try and do this.
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  Speaker 3: I think what happens in a lot of councils, and
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  Speaker 3: bearing mind, it's not all their fault, right, I've got
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  Speaker 3: some sympathy for counsels. They've had more and more obligations
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  Speaker 3: placed on them by central government. Basically they can't do
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  Speaker 3: anything right. They're being asked to be all things from
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  Speaker 3: all people, and it's a somewhat broken system. I think
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  Speaker 3: for lots of reasons I could give you, but what
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  Speaker 3: happens is I believe and I'm not trying to offend
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  Speaker 3: anyone who's listening. There is who's from middle management and
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  Speaker 3: council who shouldn't be listening, by the way, they should
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  Speaker 3: be doing some work. But but but at middle management
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  Speaker 3: you've got a level of sort of actually quite powerful,
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  Speaker 3: unaccountable officials, not the guys and girls at the top,
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  Speaker 3: either either on the on the elected council or the
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  Speaker 3: councilor and they want to be enabling, but I think
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  Speaker 3: underneath that, and and they will often be you know,
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  Speaker 3: experts in their their little fife team, right, and and
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  Speaker 3: you know they just I just don't know that they
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  Speaker 3: are service oriented enough that they have enough empathy sympathy
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  Speaker 3: for for business people, which by which we're not necessarily
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  Speaker 3: talking fon terror or spark, right, we're talking about semes.
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  Speaker 3: It's ninety seven percent of our businesses, and for which
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  Speaker 3: it's really hard, right because time and cost for them
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  Speaker 3: aren't free. They're they're they're they're they're very significant things.
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  Speaker 3: And anything that dealing with counsel when it takes a
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  Speaker 3: long time, when it's uncertain, when it's a bit officious,
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  Speaker 3: that that's a real impost on SMEs.
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  Speaker 4: You know, in a company, you might have your core
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  Speaker 4: values or the principles of your company. Do you think
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  Speaker 4: they've got those right A councils? Do you think they're
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  Speaker 4: telling these middle management people? You know, your job is
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  Speaker 4: to find a way for businesses on an individual interaction level,
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  Speaker 4: find a way for businesses to succeed. So if you
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  Speaker 4: come across a business, they've got a flag on a street.
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  Speaker 4: And this might seem not not the biggest issue in
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  Speaker 4: the world, but I think it goes slightly deep in
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  Speaker 4: that you see a flag on the street, the pavements
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  Speaker 4: two and a half meters wide, You go and you
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  Speaker 4: talk to the guy, and he says, well, that's how
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  Speaker 4: you know this is really helping us survive. Then your
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  Speaker 4: core principle would be instead of I'm taking the flag
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  Speaker 4: away and not even buying a coffee, your core principle
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  Speaker 4: here is how can we make this work for you?
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  Speaker 4: What can we do? Can I spend some time to
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  Speaker 4: maybe secure the flag so it doesn't cause problems for people,
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  Speaker 4: or you know, you know kind of know what I'm
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  Speaker 4: saying something.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think seriously, it's it's brilliant not
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  Speaker 3: being in politics, right because I actually haven't read this
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  Speaker 3: story yet, but I'm going to comment on anyway we do.
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  Speaker 3: But my vibe, but my vibe of it right, and
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  Speaker 3: it is a vibe. And remember I was a lawyer
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  Speaker 3: a long time ago. Oxford. Just want to put that
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  Speaker 3: in there.
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  Speaker 4: Team.
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  Speaker 3: I'm surprised by I would have thought, strictly speaking, legally
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  Speaker 3: they can have a by law, but it would be
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  Speaker 3: highly challengeable under the Bill of Rights or something. I
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  Speaker 3: just think, you know, in the end, people have freedoms
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  Speaker 3: in this country. We're not. We're liberal democracy, and I'm
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  Speaker 3: sort of surprised by what I understand the case or
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  Speaker 3: the facts of that to be. And I would have
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  Speaker 3: looked counsel, you know, it needs to be a bit
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  Speaker 3: careful in this this kind of area. Look to answer
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  Speaker 3: your question, No, I don't think in terms of their
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  Speaker 3: values and purposes, counsels are sufficiently service outcome oriented or
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  Speaker 3: business like in the way they approach things. I will
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  Speaker 3: come back to it, though, because lest I get sort
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  Speaker 3: of you know, I'm with the wind Wilson actually the
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  Speaker 3: Sea of Auckland Ouncil later. This is today, and he's
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  Speaker 3: a really good guy. But unless that you know, he's
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  Speaker 3: here listening to this and criticizing me. I mean, what
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  Speaker 3: it would say is just remember councils that they are
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  Speaker 3: trying to do so many things, and the problem with
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  Speaker 3: that is, and I said before, it's a bit of
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  Speaker 3: a broken system that I think they end up not
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  Speaker 3: being able to do a lot that well. And that's
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  Speaker 3: I think the government's actually right to try and get
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  Speaker 3: it back to a more streamlined list where we're actually then,
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  Speaker 3: as they said from the top, you know what, you're
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  Speaker 3: going to do this in a business like, service oriented,
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  Speaker 3: outcomes focused way. They could do that, but when they're
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  Speaker 3: trying to do rubbish, water consents and then seventy nine
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  Speaker 3: thousand other things, that that's pretty hopeless.
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  Speaker 4: Well, just to give you the facts in the case
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  Speaker 4: Summon Bridges, they've come through on nine two nine two
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  Speaker 4: on the new news storksb text line, which is the
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  Speaker 4: absolute pulpit of truth.
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  Speaker 2: Yea better than Google.
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  Speaker 4: Hi guys, I live in Nelson and I go to
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  Speaker 4: this cafe regularly. Wide footpath flag they have outside does
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  Speaker 4: not impede or obstruct anyone. Excellent stuff with great service
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  Speaker 4: and food. Council needs to back off and get a life.
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  Speaker 4: And that's from Wars and I trust was one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 3: That's important to know. One look I haven't got the
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  Speaker 3: sect entirely, and I no, no, no, this is very important.
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  Speaker 3: What's on the flag are we talking about? We're talking.
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  Speaker 4: The reason why we've come to use silent because because
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  Speaker 4: it's it says coffee, it says this is where you get.
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  Speaker 4: It just advertises a stall.
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  Speaker 3: That clearly should be illegal. I mean they're clearly. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: good grief, what would they What were they thinking? I
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  Speaker 3: mean it's and you just think about the time and
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  Speaker 3: the cost of the first official going out and then
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  Speaker 3: the second, and you just got a sort of wonder
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  Speaker 3: as I say, I I the mind boggles and all
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  Speaker 3: of this. I just said, really don't.
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  Speaker 4: And so just if you had complete dictorial power and
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  Speaker 4: you could you could tell counsels what they could do
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  Speaker 4: to help businesses, what would you what would be the
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  Speaker 4: main things you would want businesses to do? How many
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  Speaker 4: councils to do for businesses like this?
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  Speaker 3: Firstly, I would I would have a bye law coffee
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  Speaker 3: flags everywhere, right, they would just be everywhere, exclusively right.
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  Speaker 3: But secondly, and actually you know, I'm being a bit glib.
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  Speaker 3: I mean all seriousness and this is a bit glib
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  Speaker 3: as well, But you know, I think the main thing
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  Speaker 3: is where they can get out of the way. You know, yes, rates,
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  Speaker 3: it's good to have pressure down on that because they
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  Speaker 3: are significant costs for businesses, as much or more than
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  Speaker 3: households actually. And then it's just, you know, when we
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  Speaker 3: are thinking of in all seriousness, I mean this one
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  Speaker 3: and the by law that will be in place here
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  Speaker 3: around the flags and the footpath or whatever, it is,
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  Speaker 3: just when they're thinking about their rules, their rags, their
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  Speaker 3: red tape, the green tape, all manner of things they do.
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  Speaker 3: Just you know, yet, what's what's the outcome of this?
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  Speaker 3: What are we trying to achieve? Are we doing more
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  Speaker 3: than we need to? Is it going to have unintended consequences?
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  Speaker 3: What's the cost? The time impact on business? I mean,
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  Speaker 3: these are the sort of things that we'd like to see.
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  Speaker 3: And then and then I think, you know, you made
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  Speaker 3: a good point around the purposes and values. Just if
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  Speaker 3: we can somehow top down, bottom up, have have have
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  Speaker 3: counsels that are very more empathy, more service soos, more
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  Speaker 3: understanding of business and the time and the cost pressures
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  Speaker 3: that are on them, that it go a long way.
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  Speaker 3: I could give you examples, I won't because it's slightly unprofessional. Right,
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  Speaker 3: I haven't got permission from the people I'm talking about,
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  Speaker 3: but of probably this year, dozens of cases and instances
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  Speaker 3: that come to me from business people, small and medium
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  Speaker 3: sized business people in Auckland where you know, it's not
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  Speaker 3: that the Council has done anything absolutely terrible, but it's
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  Speaker 3: just it's just slow who middle management can be a
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  Speaker 3: bit arrogant, it's not solutions oriented, and these things can
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  Speaker 3: literally put out of business.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Simon, really good to chat with you. All the
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  Speaker 2: best for the council meeting this afternoon. That's going to
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  Speaker 2: be interesting for you.
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  Speaker 3: Brilliant, brilliant. No, look, I'll pass on your regards and
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  Speaker 3: I might just now draft that coffee flags everywhere by law, all.
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  Speaker 4: Right, smart, smart, See Simon and see you Natalie and
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  Speaker 4: the kids.
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  Speaker 2: That is Simon Bridges, the CEO of the Auckland Chamber
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  Speaker 2: of Commerce.
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