Written By:
Anthony R0bins - Date published:
10:35 am, September 12th, 2017 - 18 comments
Categories: business, jacinda ardern, labour, leadership -
Tags: #ChangeTheGovt, election 2017, Emmerson, let's do this, mood of the boardroom
The Herald’s “mood of the boardroom” makes encouraging reading for Labour (Fran O’Sullivan):
A strong mood for change among business leaders
There is a strong mood for change among the 118 respondents to the Herald‘s Mood of the Boardroom Election Survey.
Some 88 per cent see Ardern as the lightning rod which could catapult Labour to power at the September 23 election. But their appetite for regime change is tempered by Labour’s failure to be upfront about its intentions on major polices affecting business, like capital gains.
With less than a fortnight to run before final polls close, chief executives remain divided on whether to “call time” on the third term National Government.
“I think the National Government has been a very credible and stable manager that deserves respect for its approach in managing the country,” said a tourism boss. “However, it is arguable that they have come late to issues such as water management, local infrastructure and transport investment with a piecemeal, below par approach.
“They need to get ahead of these issues and signal a strong intent as these are real issues that affect voters.”
…
There is a clear perception that the National Government – driven by its own fiscal focus – left it too late to make major investments in housing and infrastructure to underpin the massive uptick in immigration numbers in recent years.ICBC chairman and former Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash said the Government has failed to adopt policies designed to increase per capita growth, and many of the other problems (increasing wealth inequality, poverty and homelessness) are a direct result of the Government’s failure to deal with the unaffordability of housing.
…
“Labour’s got to seriously think about some of the policy that they are bringing to the table,” said Mainfreight group managing director Don Braid. “As long as that’s not thought up on the fly and has had some decent thought behind it before they release it, then she’s definitely got this current Government on the run in my view.“She’s got youth and she’s got energy, and she’s almost – without blaspheming – the John Key effect for the Labour Party, isn’t she? And perhaps that’s what the younger vote is looking for, perhaps that’s what the non-voter has been looking for; someone to hang their hat on.”
…
“The Key Government was negligent with the house price outcomes which is a very difficult, inter-generational issue now to resolve,” said an energy sector boss. “English was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance during that time so has to shoulder some of that blame, and therefore putting the party’s interest ahead of New Zealand.”
…
The Mood of the Boardroom CEOs Election Survey was in the field from Monday August 14 to Friday September 8, 2017.
Read the full piece for plenty more. Encouraging to see support for change and strong themes of social conscience emerging from “the boardroom”! No doubt a “mood of the WINZ queue” would be even more supportive.
91% of CEOs are prepared to pay the Living Wage in the near future according to Herald's "Mood of the Boardroom" report out today: pic.twitter.com/Mz9VQLH28Y
— Bryce Edwards (@bryce_edwards) September 11, 2017
CEOs increasingly see socio-economic wellbeing as an important indicator for the economy – from Herald "Mood of the Boardroom" report today: pic.twitter.com/0lx4nm31f6
— Bryce Edwards (@bryce_edwards) September 11, 2017
Hurricane Ardern … in today's @nzherald #vote17 #nzpol pic.twitter.com/9EdPGcLMqW
— Rod Emmerson (@rodemmerson) September 11, 2017
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Boardrooms know that ‘politics’ isn’t change, which makes these comments and articles, almost worthless…
Maybe they see that poorer people = less consumers for their junk. Also that strong economy but declining productivity is a red herring.
Pretty sure they just see business as usual.
Have to confess – stories like this are depressing and just bleed away my enthusiasm for a change of government.
I guess I want a fundamental re-ordering of society where ‘truth’ is not handed down from the high citadels of private power.
Support from wide sectors is how we get a change of government – like it or not. But I think if we can get the Greens across the line it is going to be the sort of government that you want AB.
The Boardroom liked Jacinda from the start…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11716868
“It is difficult to see this working cohesively given the cast of characters and that the unions effectively run Labour” was the comment in regards to Labour with Little at the helm.
I guess we can infer that the Boardroom sees Jacinda as being free of any unpalatable ‘Union stuff’.
And this election has been more about Water than Wages. I know Labour has policy for wages and conditions, but they are not exactly ‘The Issue’, which is something we may regret. You can build all the ‘affordable’ $500,000 one bedroom houses you want, but your average young couple working at Mega or The Warehouse will still be left behind.
“Business” is onside with NZ Labour because they understand full well that they represent a mere changing of the guard.
Their one concern, as revealed SkyCity chairman-elect Rob Campbell just yesterday was, well… “to the extent business was concerned about Labour, one heard issues around the Greens and Labour, and the Greens dealt with that problem themselves.”
Throw on top of that that Jacinda Ardern refused to even state that she’d like to see the Green Party represented in Cabinet (this morning on a RNZ interview). Then sit that alongside them triangulating every major damned Green Party policy, bar their one on poverty, and ripping the substance from the ones they have triangulated.
For good measure throw in their apparent efforts to starve the Greens of oxygen – a bullshit, but headline grabbing “First 100 Days presser on the same day that the Green Party release their Climate Policy!!?
Sure. The “boardrooms” are on side. And the single malt’s in the sideboard to boot.
Any NZ Labour supporter who considers themselves left or progressive has, I’d suggest, an obligation to party vote Green unless they can somehow square the circle of being a progressive who knowingly votes to prop up Liberalism.
+1000. When big-business start coming out with “we’re comfortable with a change of Government” type comments… it’s an indicator to me to be wary. I am very nervous about a Labour-led Government without the Greens.
+111
Yes Green Party Vote…..we need Veges with our meat and potatoes, right.
Millionaires fight to decide government in last-minute bidding war
Some of the ‘boardroom’ obviously don’t want change and stumping up the cash to try and prevent it.
DTB
Money alone doesn’t win elections – otherwise TOP would be much higher in the polls and the IMPs would have got a majority last election. It is a shortsighted business that only donates to one side in an election. No matter who forms the government. they still want to be in a position to call in favours.
But it is of major assistance:
My bold.
So, Trump necessarily lost the 2016 USAn election because he had the least money (according to the charts in that blog)? Donations of volunteer time and passion, plus unpaid media space seem to be more effective. I guess personality and message count for something too; but probably not as much as politicians like to think.
I was more trying to say that; money’s main point for the corporate donors is in securing favourable treatment for that donor. Who makes up the government that is obliged to return the favour is really a bit irrelevant from that perspective.
Last time I looked – he did lose. It was only the vagaries of the US political system that got him into power. We’ve had our own experience of the losers ending up in power after an election because of such poor political systems.
Which tells us that money needs to be removed from the political system. No one should have such heightened influence just because they’re rich.
“Hurricane Ardern”? It is a nice enough cartoon, but hurricanes are named with firstnames, not surnames (eg; Harvey, Irma, Jose). Gordon Campbell was more on point with his; “Hurricane Jacinda”, which comes from a good post that has some relevance to the OP:
http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/09/gordon-campbell-on-the-likely-path-of-hurricane-jacinda/
Yeah the Greens are the lefts only insurance policy.
Honestly, people – even with NZF as coalition partners (which is NOT the option I favour, if we have a choice) a Labour-led government will be a big improvement on what we’ve had for the last 9 years. Cheer up!
Those of you who are committed to party voting Green, good on you. I hope it’s a Labour-Green (and if necessary Māori Party) coalition after the 23rd. But my biggest hope is that we don’t get another 9 years of the slack, uncaring bastards we’ve had.