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Issued March 2001
Hi, I hope you enjoy reading the first edition of "The Burton Bulletin". Each month I'll be keeping you up to date with what I've be doing as the Member of Parliament for Taupo, and as a Minister of the Crown.
Tourism: A New Zealand Success Story Recently I have been able to bring Members of Parliament up to date with the crucial contribution Tourism is making to the economy. During Parliamentary Question Time I highlighted the findings of Tourism New Zealand's latest International Visitor Survey. They show that the record 1.8 million international visitors who came to New Zealand last year spent a record $4.7 billion dollars, a 22 percent increase in expenditure. The New Zealand economy benefited last year by an additional $873 million. There are many individual highlights contained in the survey. Spending by German visitors is up by over 50 percent. Visitors from the United States contributed $756 million to our economy last year, a 49 percent increase. Australia continues to be our largest market, with visitor spend up by 9 percent to $857 million. There has also been spectacular improvement in other Asian markets. Total visitor spend from South Korea is up by a staggering 72 percent. This tourism growth benefits every region of New Zealand. And this month I was delighted to host Regional Tourism Organisations, including Destination Taupo and Tourism Waikato, at Parliament. They put on a wonderful display and succeeded in showing the large number of MPs who attended the importance of tourism to every region of the country. This Government came into office determined to implement a tourism strategy, building on the work already done on behalf of the industry by the Tourism Industry Association. I am due to receive a draft of this strategy at the end of March. The overall strategy will be focused on the sustainable development of the tourism industry - not just economically but environmentally, culturally and socially. We all benefit from Tourism growth, if it is carefully managed.
Building a New Nation in East Timor In early February I made my second visit as Minister of Defence to East Timor. It gave me an opportunity to assess first hand progress over the last twelve months. It is amazing how much has been achieved - but daunting how much more remains to be done. What is clear is the outstanding contribution that the young men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force are making to that work. Following meetings in Dili with leading United Nations and East Timorese figures, we flew to Suai to join the personnel of NZ Battalion3. Here I was asked to unveil a Roll of Honour board, remembering those soldiers who have lost their lives in East Timor. This was an event of great poignancy, as the names of Billy White, Leonard Manning, Tony Walser and the Nepalese soldier Devi Ram Jasi were each read out in turn. Sadly, we have since lost another young soldier in East Timor, Boyd Atkins, as well as John McNutt in Kuwait and Murray Neilson in Australia. They have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country, and our thoughts are with their families and NZDF colleagues.
In the village of Lolotoe I met Private Glenn Mackey from Tokoroa. Glen and his fellow soldiers have earned the trust, respect and gratitude of a people traumatised by extreme violence and destruction.
In February I called a meeting of the Chairpersons of State Owned Enterprises. A very useful forum was held, and I was able to outline a number of expectations that shareholding Ministers have of SOEs. State Owned Enterprises were set up under legislation that is now 15 years old. Overall, the SOE Act has been highly successful in transforming the Crown's substantial commercial activities into successful businesses. SOEs are now making a solid contribution to the Crown's finances, to the economy and to the social structure of New Zealand. The SOE model has improved services and lower prices to consumers. And the dividends and taxes that come from SOEs provide an important source of funding for the Government's social priorities such as education, health, housing, and benefits. The previous government had a policy of selling-off SOEs. In contrast, the current government has declared a general no asset sale policy and wants to enhance the value of SOEs. We expect SOEs to maximise their long-term value to shareholders and have business plans that demonstrate how this will be achieved. As well as financial imperatives, they are also required to develop non-financial performance measures. This is not a radical departure from the past. It is simply in line with the requirement in the SOE Act that an SOE exhibit "a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates". In other words, we expect SOEs to be good corporate citizens.
The New Zealand Defence Force has received an advance delivery of new tactical mobile radios. In August last year, as part of its commitment to rebuild the capability of the New Zealand Defence Force, the Government approved the purchase of more than 1800 radios for the New Zealand Army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The first batch of 70 hand-held radios and 14 multi-band radios arrived in late February. The balance of 585 hand-held radios is scheduled for delivery later in the year. The radios include encryption and frequency hopping to avoid detection. The tactical mobile radios are a key component of the Government's determination to provide New Zealand forces with the equipment they need to work effectively. The new Light Armoured Vehicles which the government has now signed a contract to buy, and proposed new Light Operation Vehicles will be fitted with variances of the new radios. The combination of radios will provide medium and long-range communications including satellite communications for specialised uses by both the Army and the Air Force.
In January I hosted a Singaporean delegation during a visit to Taupo. The delegation was led by Singapore's Minister of State for Defence, David Lim. David Lim and his party had attended Exercise Thunder Warrior 01, at the Waiouru Army Training Ground. This is an exercise involving 600 Singaporean troops, and demonstrates the strong defence ties between our two countries. After observing the exercise, I escorted our Singaporean visitors to Taupo, and Carol and I showed them some of our top tourist attractions. The day was capped off with a lake cruise - and Minister Lim hooked a lovely rainbow trout. This was a great opportunity to show off Taupo and its attractions to important opinion leaders from one of our growing tourist markets. As well, at the conclusion of Operation Thunder Warrior, the Singaporean troops spent some of their free time in our region.
Ministerial fishing success continued in February. A dinner on Lake Taupo, hosted by Tuwharetoa paramount chief, Tumu Te HeuHeu, was an ideal opportunity for several Ministers to reflect on the issues raised at an important education hui held that day. It was also a chance for Education Minister Trevor Mallard to share in the most special experience for visitors to our region - catching a rainbow trout. It was a healthy enough specimen when he landed it, but I suspect that by the time that the telling got to Wellington, it had grown substantially!
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