All I want for Christmas Prime Minister is ...
Dear John
Before I forget all the best for Christmas. I hope you and your family have a great break.
I am feeling pretty excited about the next 12 months. Dairy prices are recovering, tourism numbers are back up to record numbers (great to be that minister!) and more people are wanting to live here than leave. On top of this business confidence is up and we have had a few good discoveries under the ground (gas find, gold and some oil), perhaps New Zealand actually is the lucky country. To top it all off we have the soccer world cup to look forward to, followed by the rugby world cup – oops am I allowed to use those words? I must read the major events legislation sometime.
All I want for Christmas is the following:
For you to implement the recommendations of the Brash report – it is on the money in so many ways.
Reduce tax rates and offset them by reduced government spending. Letting those that earn money keep it is a better incentive than taking it from those who earn it and giving it to those who don’t.
Yep – we need to sell off state-owned entities that compete with the private sector. There is no greater disincentivefor private enterprise than having to compete with a government-owned businesses. We still have plenty that compete with the private sector that include those in the tourism sector, export promotion sector, airline, data transmission, insurance, banking, transport & freight, education etc. The government should reduce its role further to being the watch dog to ensure that fair competition takes place.
Reduce the amount of legislation, both from central and local government. It’s gone crazy out there over the last 10 years. I cannot list all the examples but have you ever tried to read the FBT rules, looked at your own employment contract and tried to work out your entitlements (a few ministers seem to struggle) let alone the Resource Management Act, the Building Act and of course the OSH rules for business. My company recently purchased a café and were investigating signage rules – did you know that there are 17 pages of local bylaws regarding having signage on your own building – it’s out of control in my view.
So once again to you and your family – have a great rest and come back with the strength to make those bold decisions that will allow New Zealand to attract more visitors, more investors and more people wanting to do business here.