New Zealand Executive Government Speech Archive

Graeme Douglas, Managing Director, Jeffrey Douglas, Commercial Director, Your Worship the Mayor Bob Harvey, Brian Neeson MP, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very pleased to be here this morning. What you have done here is a credit to you all. When I look around a complex like this, I see a great future for industry in New Zealand.

What you're doing here proves that New Zealanders are perfectly capable of building high-skill, high-value businesses. And you're proving that New Zealanders can cope in the open market economy. It's not easy, of course. You have to adapt and build on the opportunities, and you have to cope with the hurdles when you come to them.

But you have. You've diversified, you've formed international alliances, and you've geared up for export by building a new manufacturing plant that gives you five times your existing production capacity. That's a bold move and I commend the company for this display of confidence. So I want to congratulate you. I want to congratulate you on having the courage to invest 15 million dollars in the business.

I want to congratulate you on recognising the importance of working to the highest standards of good manufacturing practice. I want to congratulate you on finding the way through a changing environment by forming alliances with multinationals and winning at what you've done. And most of all I want to congratulate you for contributing as successfully as you have to the employment and the wealth of the country.

The successful New Zealand employer today looks a lot like you:

· They're export-oriented.
· hey're concerned with quality.
· They work to a high-value product base.
· They're innovative.
· And they work comfortably with the community and the environment.

What you're especially doing here at this complex is demonstrating the kind of work, and the kind of workplace that's common in a prosperous high-skill economy. These are the careers we want our children to move into. These are the businesses we want them to build into international successes. High-skill, and high-value businesses. The great appeal of a high-skill, high-value economy is that everyone can enjoy a higher standard of living.

In that kind of economy, you're rewarded for making a life-long career of learning and developing your skills. In that kind of economy, you can go as far as your talents will take you. That's what the policies of the last few years have been all about: opening our borders, facing up to competition and raising our performance to meet that competition. When you do that, everyone has the chance to make the most of their talents. When you do that, businesses just keep on improving themselves, as you have here.

You've looked at how the best people in the world do it, and you've met that standard. Of course, none of that comes easily. But you've done it, and in doing so, you're leading by example. Every time a company like yours tries a little harder, and wins another order, the whole country's prospects lift a little higher. And every time a company like yours makes investment decisions like this, the economy's prospects lift.

It raises a very interesting question about the whole role of investment in our economy, and what it can do for us. First and foremost, it creates jobs. And for that reason, this government welcomes all investment, whether it's local or international. There are people who say that we should rebuild the walls of protectionism and control.

But those policies would put at risk the jobs of the one in three employed New Zealanders which have been created - either directly or indirectly - by investment from overseas. A vote against foreign investment is a vote against jobs. Overseas or local, it's investment that will make the difference. If we were to restrict offshore investment and bring back the old system of state controls we would also bring back higher unemployment; higher interest rates; and less, not more competition.

These are the issues New Zealand voters have to reflect on over the next few weeks before the election. This is a stark choice election. Either we vote to continue going forward with more jobs and new opportunities or we vote to go backwards. No choice could be starker than that. I have confidence that New Zealand voters know that and will make a wise choice.

You have made a wise choice to expand your business and so gain benefit from New Zealand's much improved business climate. I'm looking forward to hearing the New Zealand people telling us that they agree. So congratulations on all you've done here, and good luck in making the most of the export potential you have in store. There's a world of opportunity out there, and we've never been in better shape to take advantage of it.

Thank you.