Advocacy

Like the rest of the country, Canterbury faces challenges in accessing the right talent. Employers tell us that recent immigration settings have not positioned us well, and the lack of clarity and certainty on pathways to residency leave us as a country well down the list in comparison to markets such as Canada or even Australia,  making it harder for businesses to attract much needed talent. 

We are advocating for Government to:

• Create immigration settings that are open, simple and predictable.
• Develop a talent attraction strategy to reinforce New Zealand is open for business.
• Depoliticise minimum wage rates and ensure they are stable and predictable. 

Canterbury is home to several world class universities and educational institutions, which contribute to a skilled and talented workforce. However, employers are concerned about the diminished skills and soft skills that high school and university graduates are entering the workforce with.

We are advocating for Government to:

• Ensure the education system focusses on essential skills like reading, writing and maths, and provides a strong foundation for work-readiness skills like time management, communication, and critical thinking.
• Collaborate with employers to better inform career pathways in emerging industries and technical careers like advanced manufacturing and continue to support the uptake of apprenticeships.
• Invest in a vocational education system that is agile in responding to workforce needs, by putting employers and the people they want to employ at the core.
• Support employers’ to navigate disruption and transition through upskilling their workforce for the future

New Zealand has long been seen as a good place to do business because of our predictable, stable and evidence-based regulatory environment. However, businesses tell us that they now see increasing regulatory uncertainty and risk as increasing the cost of doing business and negatively impacting business confidence and therefore their appetite to invest.  

We are advocating for Government to:

• Review compliance cost drivers for business and ensure an 'all of Government' understanding of the impacts of regulatory compliance, and put in place a programme to reduce compliance where it does not add value.
• Prioritise robust regulatory process to ensure Government is not placing counterproductive compliance costs on business.
• Genuinely partner with business on amendments to the regulatory systems that impact them. 

Infrastructure investment and resilience matter deeply for business competitiveness as well as community prosperity. We have seen our infrastructure deficit increase and the building of new infrastructure has become incredibly costly and time consuming compared with international best practice. 

We are advocating for Government to:

• Develop both a short- and long-term plan for key infrastructure in the region, to provide investment certainty, which considers the role of central and local government, alongside the business community.
• Ensure when we are investing in core infrastructure that we are building for future growth, not just what we need today and engaging with the business community to understand what that future growth looks like. 

Canterbury has an innovative entrepreneurial culture and a supportive business community. This makes us an attractive home for startups and established businesses alike, but to remain competitive we need to prioritise stronger links between Government, scientists, researchers and business to enable the rapid uptake of new knowledge and innovation.   

We are advocating for Government to:

• Build stronger links between science and business to support the development and uptake of innovative technologies.
• Introduce accelerated depreciation on research and development.
• Properly fund the activation of industry transformation plans. 
• Engage with business to provide clear and easy to understand guidance and support to plan and execute their decarbonisation journey.
• Prioritise investment in New Zealand’s freight and supply chain resilience and introduce more transparency around Government support for exporters.
• Continue to pursue high quality, comprehensive free trade agreements, in order to assist in building new markets for New Zealand businesses and to provide improved resilience and choice around market access. 

SMEs play a foundational role in New Zealand’s economy, with 97% of businesses in New Zealand employing fewer than 20 staff. These businesses are particularly vulnerable to the state of the economy, disruption events, and global uncertainty. All these challenges impact their confidence and the increasing cost of doing business. 

We are advocating for Government to:

• Make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to access capital.
• Extend collaboration with existing networks to enhance the support provided to small and new exporters.
• Implement a small business lens over compliance activity to genuinely understand the impact on small business. 

Ram raids have taken most of the Government’s attention with respect to rising crime and violence. While a prevalent form of crime recently, businesses across our city, region, and country continue to have major issues with other antisocial and criminal activity including, for example, the theft of livestock in rural New Zealand, and ongoing theft in general which has not received much attention or assistance. This has come at a significant cost to business through losses caused by theft, but also in increased costs incurred through investment in additional security and prevention measures. Businesses would like to see the Government addressing rising crime and violence in general. 

We are advocating for Government to:

• Commit to increased authority and resource to expedite and sufficiently deal with crime and antisocial behaviour. 

There needs to be a greater recognition by Government on the role that Canterbury plays in the national economy and that Canterbury is the economic hub of the South Island. Too often we see Government announcements and policy changes that are focused on Auckland and Wellington alone, neglecting Canterbury and the wider South Island.   

We are advocating for Government to:

• Actively recognise the critical role Canterbury plays in the national economy and engage more with our local community to understand the opportunities it can provide for New Zealand.