Where there is a will, there is a way

Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association
Media Release.
5 April 2007

Where there is a will, there is a way

The Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association says that the reticence shown by Government in dealing with the problems facing manufacturing and exporting firms will mean further loss of jobs and capability in the economy as the innovation system hollows out. Click-Clack and GL Bowron are only the tip of the iceberg.

“I was asked yesterday – what is the one thing that can be done to fix this problem?” says Chief Executive John Walley. “I spoke about building a balanced economy, about the RBNZ using its regulatory power; about the need for adequate taxation on property speculation, and targeted taxation that supports research and development, productive investment, the development of people and new enterprise. However, when I was pressed for one thing, I kept coming back to the point that above all else, things change only after there is a will to change them. To say that change is ‘too hard’ simply does not cut it”.

“Interest rate spreads and discounted exchange rate risks chased by the carry trade pushes up the kiwi dollar, decimate returns from export markets and drives down returns from the domestic market. This is a vicious cycle for the productive sector. Competition in the face of low cost labour is pretty hard; competition in the face of all the factors stacking up against New Zealand’s manufacturers makes effective competition all but impossible.”

“The headlines of job losses, relocations and returns from export markets is making a farce of Export Year – pretty soon the only exports left will be based on primary commodities, and even those will become a price based struggle.”

ends

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