Survey confirms concerns on economic policy

National Party Leader Don Brash says a survey out this morning confirms the deep concern shared by small and medium sized businesses about the impact of this Government on their future.

The CEO survey of small-medium sized businesses, published in this morning's New Zealand Herald, has identified a number of policies that National has been questioning for quite some time.

"Most worrying is that nearly 90% of businesses expect the employment relations legislation to have a negative impact on economic growth. That flies in the face of assurances from the Government about support from the business community.

"Eighty-four per cent of survey participants say the holidays legislation will have a negative impact, 80% believe the Treaty of Waitangi will have a negative impact and 60% believe the Health and Safety in Employment legislation will cause us trouble.

"A staggering 94% of those surveyed say New Zealand does not have a growth strategy to sustain business success.

"Stronger economic growth is absolutely critical to raising the living standards for all of us.

"The sad reality is that the present Government's policies will most likely see the $175 per week gap in living standards grow wider between the average Kiwi and the average Aussie.

"To catch up to Australia's average standard of living within 10 years, New Zealand's GDP per capita would need to grow at an average rate of near 5%. Treasury's latest projections show GDP per capita growth deteriorating to 1½% in 2014.

"These findings should be a real wake-up call for a Government that's been strangling businesses with compliance costs and suffocating them in new taxes and consultation requirements," says Dr Brash.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>