Businesses speak out

Media release 25 March 2004

Businesses speak out

It's good to see individual businesses stand up and be counted over important issues revealed in the NZ Herald-Business NZ Mood of the Boardroom survey, says Business NZ's Simon Carlaw.

The survey of the country's 120 largest companies and nearly 200 small and medium sized businesses, released today, shows the depth of feeling by CEOs about key business issues including tax, the RMA, compliance costs and the Kyoto Protocol.

90% considered the Government's employment relations legislation bad for business; 74% said the same about the new holidays legislation, while 72% held the same opinion about the Resource Management Act. Key issues like roading and energy supply were viewed as being hobbled by Kyoto and RMA policies. 94% considered that New Zealand does not have a growth strategy to sustain business success.

"The strong message coming through from the research is that business leaders continue to find it unacceptable for the Government to rule that areas like tax, employment law or Kyoto policy are 'off limits' for debate," Mr Carlaw said.

"The Mood of the Boardroom survey is consistent with other recent research including a Grant Thornton survey showing New Zealand businesses have more concerns than businesses elsewhere in the world about Government regulation and red tape.

"Because there are large areas of business concern that are not being addressed, there is little credibility for New Zealand's growth objectives," Mr Carlaw said.

Detailed results of the survey of small and medium sized businesses and not-for-profit organisations will be released at a NZ Herald-Business NZ function in Wellington tomorrow.

ENDS

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