Act leader David Seymour rises to the challenge

Act leader David Seymour rises to the challenge

David Seymour is impressing NZ’s top business leaders, with over 50 per cent of those surveyed scoring him 5/5 for political performance.

When respondents to the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey were asked to rate Seymour’s performance since the October 2020 election on a scale where 1= not impressive and 5= very impressive, he received a score of 4.36/5 — the highest rating of all political party leaders.

This is also the highest score he has received in the Herald’s annual survey. Seymour, who has been in Parliament and leader of Act since 2014, has seen increasing scores over the past three years — 2018: 2.24/5; 2019: 2.37/5; 2020: 4.03/5.

Says Federated Farmers CEO Terry Copeland: “David Seymour is the only minor party leader making any traction in serious debating the major issues.”

“David Seymour has been a standout performer with clear communication and pragmatic suggestions,” says Beca group CEO Greg Lowe. “There is room for more multi-party collaboration on solving some of the big challenges facing New Zealand.”

“Seymour is articulate, challenging, and shows common sense,” says an education provider.

A banking chair adds: “David Seymour is faster off the mark than National, and also comes up with more specific positive suggestions.”

Judith Collins has 'lost sight' of issues

Judith Collins has ‘lost sight’ of issues

New Zealand’s top chief executives say National’s Judith Collins is failing to hit the mark as Opposition leader.

Their support for Collins has waned, with concerns she has lost sight of the issues that matter to New Zealand, and that her negativity is not appealing to the wider electorate.

In this year’s Mood of the Boardroom survey, New Zealand’s top business leaders were asked to rate Collins’ performance as Opposition leader — holding the Government to account on critical national issues — on a scale where 1 = not impressive and 5 = very impressive. She received a score of 2.06/5.

This compares to 3.52/5 in last year’s survey, held one month prior to the 2020 election.

Over one-third of respondents — some 35 per cent — scored Collins 1/5 for her performance.

Former National leader Simon Bridges received a score of 2.50/5 in his last Mood of the Boardroom survey as leader in 2019.

Collins has an impressive political track record, having served as Minister of Corrections, Police, Justice and for ACC in the Sir John Key and Bill English-led governments.

There's a new mountain to climb

There’s a new mountain to climb

Andrew Bayly has scaled Antarctica’s highest mountain and is one of only an estimated 150 people who have trekked to both the North and South Poles.

But scaling political heights and making purchase with CEOs is a tough ask against a respected Finance Minister.

NZ business leaders were asked in the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey whether Bayly, who was awarded the role of National’s shadow treasurer following the 2020 election, presents himself as a credible future treasurer.

Nearly half of the survey respondents — 47 per cent — are unsure. Of the remainder, 35 per cent said no and just 18 per cent responded yes.

“To date he hasn’t been able to make the inroads I suspect he would have liked with the public at large,” says Deloitte chair Thomas Pippos.

That said, he’s been described as a “clear thinker” by a logistics chief and “very impressive” by Anthem’s Jane Sweeney.

Bayly has been seen in the media a good deal more lately, which is helping to raise his profile and ideas among the public and business community. This includes a recent interview with Liam Dann for the Herald’s Economy Hub.

How effective is the Covid-19 Recovery Fund?

How effective is the Covid-19 Recovery Fund?

Two-thirds of New Zealand business leaders say they are concerned that the $62 billion Covid response and recovery funds are being used wider than initially understood.

The Government’s latest financial update showed there was just $5.1b left unallocated for any future health and economic response needed in case of a further Covid-19 resurgence.

Criticism has been lobbed at the Government for tapping the response and recovery fund for increasingly tangential “Covid recovery” spending.

“The fund itself was a great initiative,” says Cameron Bagrie managing director of Bagrie Economics.

“The deployment to where needs questioning. A major issue is how much of that fund is now permanent spending as opposed to temporary use of fiscal policy.”

“A lot of it is very low-quality spending,” says Datacom chair Tony Carter.

Many of those who responded to the Herald’s CEOs survey expressed specific concerns that the spending is not on high-quality projects.

Workplace vaccination, the carrot or the stick?

Workplace vaccination, the carrot or the stick?

In the United States, many workplaces now require their employees to be vaccinated.

In an aggressive effort to get the pandemic under control, US President Joe Biden has directed businesses with 100 or more employees to prepare to request proof of vaccination or test employees weekly for Covid-19. By the end of October, all US government employees must be vaccinated.

A significant 74 per cent of New Zealand CEOs say they can envisage a situation where most employers will require their staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to protect the safety of the wider workforce.

Just 12 per cent say they can’t see this happening, and 14 per cent are unsure.

Fletcher Building chair Bruce Hassall says that “increasingly we will see New Zealand businesses rolling out vaccination policies that start with ‘we strongly encourage their people to get vaccinated’, then ‘we expect people to get vaccinated’, followed by ‘we will require their people to get vaccinated — our customers will expect nothing less!”

Says Fulton Hogan group CEO Cos Bruyn: “It cannot impinge on freedom of choice requirements, however most employers will react to customer requirements.”

Beca CEO Greg Lowe says vaccination will be required for certain activities, with travel being the first.

Vaccine incentives spurring workers to get shots

To encourage vaccine uptake, 33 per cent of respondents to the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey say they either have incentives or plan to implement incentives for their staff to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Many of those say they are giving leave for employees that get vaccinated or some other allocation of additional holiday pay. Others are providing an additional carrot with extra cash payments or vouchers for vaccination, and even a lottery for the month based on the number of vaccinations done.

Westpac is providing two half-days of leave to get shots and has also given an additional day of Covid leave for staff to use before the end of the year to help support families to get vaccinated. The Warehouse Group is offering a one-off payment of $100 to all fully vaccinated employees across its businesses.

Spark CEO Jolie Hodson says her immediate priority is to encourage all staff to get vaccinated, by making it as easy as possible for them to do so. “We will look to host vaccinations on site, as we do for the standard flu shot, and will consider if we need to do anything further than this in time.”

Z Energy chief executive Mike Bennetts says, “We will ensure that staff are able to prioritise this ahead of their work responsibilities.”

Beca’s Lowe says all staff are being encouraged to get vaccinated, and Beca is working to provide on-site vaccination as well as the use of community clinics. “Our people understand the need to get protected,” he says.

A director says one of her organisation is providing minibuses and other transport logistics to help get staff to vaccine centres during work hours.

But there is still a significant number of executives — some 59 per cent — that say they have no plans to offer incentives to staff to get vaccinated, and the rest (8 per cent) are unsure.

“They know they will be the first to be laid off if another lockdown puts strain on staff numbers,” says an education provider. “We should not be incentivising, we should be waving the stick to those who place workplace and nation at risk — drop the ‘kindness’.”

Says one investment director: “Our staff are intelligent people who are used to managing their lives without a ‘big brother’ approach.”

From a food producer: “Surely the need is compelling enough.”

Business confidence on the rebound

Business confidence on the rebound

Confidence has rebounded in the 2021 Mood of the Boardroom after record low levels in last year’s election survey.

Cumulatively, respondents to the Herald survey rated their optimism in the New Zealand economy at 2.70/5 — up significantly from last year’s score of 1.36/5.

A professional director notes that 12 months ago, the forecasts of unemployment, debt and GDP were completely at odds with what has since unfolded: “The outlook is substantially more positive, and this will continue, assuming we complete our vaccine rollout by year end and start relaxing border restrictions in the first quarter of next year.”

But Cathy Quinn, a director of Fletcher Building and Fonterra, says she is less optimistic about the New Zealand economy, as she cannot yet see the game plan for New Zealand to open up to the world again.

“The rest of the world is already opening up borders again — albeit with conditions as to which countries. Evidence of Covid-19 vaccination, pre-departure and arrival tests etc.,” she says. “I fear if New Zealand does not do so similarly in 2022, our economy will suffer as well as the wellbeing of Kiwis.”

Auckland Business Chamber CEO Michael Barnett says prior to Covid-19 there were some sectors that were driving the New Zealand economy. “If we are smart, we will relaunch our economy on those sectors that were doing well and be creative about reinventing those sectors that were not.

“Internationally, we need to be wary of small economies protecting themselves and introducing non-tariff barriers to do so.”

Newshub Nation panel discussion (video)

It was nice to be back on the Newshub Nation panel this weekend with Ella Henry and Dileepa Fonseka, talking about opening the border, climate change, and a few laughs about the Winston Churchill painting controversy!
As New Zealand starts its journey to open to the rest of the world world, it was interesting to reflect on technologies being implemented globally that could play a part in NZ’s response:
🎤 The increased use of micro-influencers, particularly in the United States, to reach out to small pockets of communities that are vaccine-hesitant and allay concerns.
📌Wristbands (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong) and geotagged facial recognition (Western Australia) for ensuring home quarantine.
📱 Linking the Covid tracer app to vaccine status so that entry requirements can be varied based on risk and are validated when you scan into a venue (such as in Singapore, which requires double vaccination to enter restaurants, but a lesser requirement for office spaces).

 

New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern interview (video)

Interview with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021 conference, ‘Standing in the Future: New Zealand and the Indo-Pacific region’ with co-hosts Tim McCready and Ziena Jalil.

 

New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021: Kurt Campbell interview (video)

Address and interview with Kurt Campbell, White House Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021 conference, ‘Standing in the Future: New Zealand and the Indo-Pacific region’ with co-hosts Tim McCready and Ziena Jalil.

 

New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021 conference opening (video)

Opening of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs 2021 conference, ‘Standing in the Future: New Zealand and the Indo-Pacific region’. Co-hosts Tim McCready and Ziena Jalil.