So often we see the headlines with significant job layoffs such as those a few weeks ago in Waipukurau at the Ovation Meat Plant. What we don’t hear about so readily is the gradual increase in jobs created by existing businesses as the economy starts to get back on its feet.

I think it is great to see nearly 800 fewer people on Unemployment Benefits since May particularly given that 94% of that reduction are young people.

It’s the first time that the Unemployment Benefit has decreased in the month of June for four years.

There are now 56,264 people on an Unemployment Benefit, that’s down from a high of 68,369 in January last year.

Predictions had Unemployment Benefits rising to about 100,000 post-recession (about 12%), but we never reached those levels and in fact it has decreased by more than 9,000 in the last nine months.

Nearly half of the decrease in Unemployment Benefits over the last year has been made up of young people aged 18-24.

Last month 7,800 people went off welfare, into work and it’s particularly positive that more than 2,700 young people cancelled benefits for jobs.

There were 327,817 people on all benefits in June.

There are currently 6,342 people on Unemployment Benefits in Canterbury which is 962 more than the week before the earthquake.  Still up but not nearly as bad as some pundits predicted.

Chris Tremain

We must now look to grow our economy based on sound economic principles. Jobs must be created in the primary and secondary industries, we must earn more than we spend as a nation, and we must save so that we reduce our reliance on foreign borrowing and investment.

To do this the Government has been focusing on an economic plan to encourage business start-ups and growth. That’s why we’ve been so focused on getting the tax system competitive against Australia. We’ve done that. That’s why we’ve invested and will continue to invest so heavily in infrastructure such as the roll-out of broadband and new roading projects. Here in the Bay the Government has invested heavily in roading with projects such as Dillons Hill, the Matahorua Gorge, and the Southern Expressway extension. That’s why we’re investing so heavily in education with the likes of the ‘Service Academy’ at Wairoa College, a new school at Napier Intermediate, National Standards across our primary schools, and a Trades Academy at EIT in 2012. It’s why we’re so focused on controlling Government spending so that the private sector grows not the government sector.

And this week it’s why our Prime Minister is in India looking to secure a Free Trade Agreement. The opening of non-tariff trade with economies such as India is a key to job growth in the export sector.

As you can see we’re getting on with the job of building a much stronger economy to provide genuine opportunities for our children and grandchildren.

Chris Tremain

The team at Community Link are to be congratulated for the outstanding work they have done in recent months; supporting Wairoa Affco workers through the contract negotiations and Wairoa farmers through the recent floods with Taskforce Green workers. Having all these services under one roof should provide clients with a seamless service.

One of the things that I discussed with Mayor Les Probert, at the Community Link opening, was the series of meetings currently being held regarding Economic Development for Wairoa. I’m supportive of the Mayors drive here 110%. The reality is that we need more jobs in Wairoa. We need real jobs from real businesses. Sure the Government can provide short term employment schemes but that’s only tinkering. What Wairoa needs is more businesses providing long term sustainable jobs.

The Government has been focusing on ensuring communities such as Wairoa have the economic framework to encourage business start-ups and growth. That’s why we’ve been so focused on getting the tax system competitive against Australia. We’ve done that. That’s why we’ve invested and will continue to invest so heavily in infrastructure such as the roll-out of broadband and new roading (Matahorua Gorge). That’s why we’re so focused on trade, as evidenced by the PM’s current trip to India this week working towards a further Free Trade Agreement. That’s why we’re investing so heavily in education with the likes of the ‘Service Academy’ at Wairoa College.

It’s why we’re so focused on controlling Government spending so that the private sector grows not the government sector. We need new jobs in the export sector (paid for by businesses), not the Government (paid for by you the taxpayer).
And it’s also one of the key reasons we’re looking to sell up to 49% of five State Owned Assets. We need new capital to invest in our nation’s future and by selling some of our assets, while still maintaining majority control over them, gives us the capital necessary to invest in new opportunities such as water irrigation on the Heretaunga plains. Sure we could borrow to do it, but we think we’ve borrowed enough just recently and need to find other means to finance new opportunities.
Tourism, added-value primary processing facilities, and additional timber processing are genuine export possibilities which should be pursued for Wairoa.

Speaking of tourism opportunities I visited the Morere Hot Springs following the opening of the Wairoa Community Link. I had been asked up there to view the ‘Hot Springs’ by both locals and DOC staff. We walked up the track and clambered over the colossal land-slip which has temporarily put the top “Hot Spring” out of action. DOC staff are working hard to remedy this as quickly as possible, but it’s a tough job in cramped conditions. It’s been a long time since I’d been to the Springs so I’d forgotten just how beautiful and accessible the bush and birdlife is. The current DOC consent comes up for review in about a year. I think there is a wonderful opportunity for an Eco-Hotel and Spa to be considered providing excellent employment opportunities for locals.

It’s opportunities like this which will genuinely put Wairoa on the map and springboard other business opportunities into the area. I for one will be working hard with both the local council and iwi to investigate these opportunities over coming months and years.

Chris Tremain

The early signs are encouraging…
The Government has been focused on an export led recovery. The last thing we wanted was another private debt fuelled housing bubble with a recovery driven by consumer spending. This drove the growth over the first decade of this century and resulted in New Zealand’s worst recession since the 1930’s. So it was fantastic news to hear that exports exceeded imports by a record $1.1 billion last month, boosted by high commodity prices. With only 76c paid out for imports for every $1 of exports, it was the largest monthly trade surplus in percentage terms for 18 years. The monthly surplus was nearly twice the $600 million that market economists had expected.

And last week it was announced that the number of people receiving a government benefit has fallen for the fourth month in a row. While overall improvements are coming in small steps the number of people on the Unemployment Benefit is 57,058, which is down by 3000 over the past year. Policy changes designed to encourage more people to return to work and increasing business confidence have made a real difference.

Lastly the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Allan Bollard released the bank’s quarterly Monetary Policy Statement last week. This statement guides the setting of the Official Cash Rate which is a strong indicator of interest rates in this country. Bollard kept the OCR at 2.5%. The bank is projecting stronger growth than the budget, with possible interest rate rises around Christmas. The Reserve Bank indicated that Government Policy, especially the focus on cost control in the state sector, would help to keep interest rates lower for longer.

Once again this will help our recovery, will be good for further job growth, and is a huge help to Napier people paying a mortgage. Interest rates are close to half what they were just a few short years ago saving households $1000’s per year.

Chris Tremain

This is still not good enough, but is back from the height of unemployment at 7.2% and well back from initial recession forecasts of 12%.

There’s no doubt it’s been a long haul getting through the recession, but it’s my opinion that many New Zealanders are now feeling more optimistic about the future. We’re seeing a number of our primary industries picking up with strong commodity prices in lamb, beef, wool, timber, and light manufacturing into Australia. Employment levels tend to lag behind changes in the economy. We saw employment rates drop after we had entered the recession, now we’re seeing them rise but following a return to growth, not ahead of it. As a result improved growth forecasts are gradually delivering more jobs and more people in work.

Amongst this youth unemployment has been a real concern. So it was great to see an early budget announcement last week that $55.2 million will be invested over the next four years to get young people into jobs.

The new package will deliver subsidies for employers who agree to train a young person and give them a permanent job.

The Youth Employment package, has three components: Skills for Growth, Job Ops with Training, and the Limited Service Volunteer programme.

Employers will get a $5000 subsidy for both the Skills for Growth and Job Ops with Training package. The original version of Job Ops has helped more than 10,000 young people get work.

An extra $25m over four years will allow 1500 people a year to have a Limited Service Volunteers (LSV) experience. The six-week residential LSV confidence building programme for 18-24 year-olds is targeted at those on a benefit for longer than six months.

The Government is backing young people to gain skills and the confidence that gets them real jobs in our economy.

Chris Tremain

CCA spoke in detail about a new brand they have launched in the US called “Just Shorn – New Zealand Wool”. The brand represents a range of New Zealand wool carpets and rugs. Right now the brand is in 100 flooring retail businesses across the States. Their goal is 1000 stores.

They are selling the natural and sustainable story of New Zealand wool. The things that we all take for granted, our farms, our woolsheds, our farm dogs, and our guardianship of the land, have all been packaged up into an in-store and on-line story. It’s exciting and I think it’s going to be huge. There is a strong drive around the world to more sustainable and environmentally friendly products and wool ticks all the right boxes against it’s petroleum based competitors.

Log-on to www.justshorn.com to check out the website. It’s full of video clips so you’ll need a high speed connection to appreciate the depth of the site.
To put the opportunity into perspective we were told that wool carpets represent just 2% of the US flooring market. They also said that if it rose to 4% that this would take the entire current New Zealand wool clip. Not sure how true this was but it sounded pretty impressive.

Wool commodity prices have lifted, more than doubling over the last two years. This has been excellent news meaning that many farmers are once again making a dollar from their wool clip. One of the drivers of increased wool prices has been increased oil prices as most of wools main competitors are petroleum based products. As a result of this it is critical that consumer based brands are developed such as “Just Shorn” which continue to demand a premium price in the market regardless of competitors.

On another tack I have had a number of Wairoa people express concern at the encroachment of forestry into the district. They have lobbied for land-use restrictions, concerned that trees will drive people from Wairoa. National are not a party interested in limiting current property rights. In saying this initiatives such as “Just Shorn” will do more for the economics of wool farming than any limitation on land use. My recommendation would be to support these kinds of initiatives helping to ensure the long term profitability of wool farming and therefore a strong rationale to stay in sheep as opposed to trees. I think that a business opportunity like “Just Shorn” – is just in time!

Chris Tremain

“On Monday evening I attended the Napier Kindergarten Association AGM where it was disclosed that despite a change in Government funding the Association would deliver more services for less money,” says Chris Tremain.

“This is an outstanding result and goes to the heart of the Government’s drive to get more value for taxpayer dollars.

“The Association have achieved this result without reducing the 100% teacher qualified rates, without increasing costs to parents and without any loss of jobs, while at the same time increasing access to more kids. In addition their sound management ensures that more kids in disadvantaged communities around the country will get more access to ECE. This is an outstanding effort and the Board and senior management are to be congratulated.

“The Napier Kindergarten Association are a highly professional group of people absolutely devoted to the education of our children. They were concerned about the Budget 2010 decision that they would only be funded to 80% Teacher Qualified from February, 2011.

“But the Annual Report shows that the Association has risen to the challenge by introducing Friday afternoon sessions, opening for 5 more days, diversifying Marewa and Taradale to 5 day licenses, and shaving some non-essential expenses. This has resulted in more ECE places in Napier/Wairoa for less money, an outstanding result.

“The 2010 accounts presented at the AGM showed that the Association budgeted for a $139,000 loss, but actually made a surplus of $328,000. On top of this their balance sheet shows investments of $1.85 million and equity of $1.4 million. Despite the funding changes, it was reported that the forecast for 2011 shows a deficit of just $70,000, which is significantly smaller than the budgeted deficit in 2010.”

Funding to the wider Early Childhood Sector increased by $207 million in Budget 2011. Education, including ECE, was one of only three portfolios to get significant funding increases. This was in response to the Government’s objective of increasing participation in ECE to improve educational outcomes for all young New Zealanders. Despite ECE funding trebling over the last five years to $1.4 billion the proportion of children who start school with some form of ECE has risen by only 1%. In some areas of New Zealand 4 in 10 children arrive at Primary school having had no ECE. The increased budget and the change to fund at an 80% Teacher Qualified level will deliver an additional 3500 places in ECE.

Chris Tremain

The “Wine Country” brand did straight jacket us into one silo of tourism offering, that being food and wine. The fact is that Hawkes Bay has a diverse range of tourism products and these all need the opportunity to independently promote themselves, but always, in my opinion, within the context of the wider “Hawkes Bay” brand.

The bi-line “Get me to Hawkes Bay” allows the use of the “Hawkes Bay” brand across a range of different media and products. So whether it’s Art Deco Napier, Gannet Safaris, Wine Country or Farmers Markets, we’re promoting the individual product but under the wider brand “Hawkes Bay”.
We need to keep reminding ourselves that while we are the 5th largest population grouping in the country with 200,000 plus people in our province, we are just a dinghy on the ocean when it comes to marketing ourselves on an international basis. In a world proliferated by marketing brands people have a limited ability to absorb new information. As a result we need one brand under which we market with a range of tourism product offerings sitting under that brand. The fact is that even with modern viral internet marketing, if we are to build any grunt into a good campaign that drives tourists to our awesome province, it really does require us all working together and not in our own silos.

One of the more innovative recent campaigns was the use of the Prime Minister in a “You Tube” clip where he was interviewed by Shaun Wayne (aka Shane Warne) during the latest Art Deco Festival. It was a great idea. All I ask is that these campaigns are done within the umbrella of brand Hawkes Bay. That will maximise our collective success.

And while I was sitting in Parliament this week watching the rain fall outside my window all I could think of was “Get me to Hawkes Bay”.

Chris Tremain

We all remember with pride the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It created jobs, laid the foundation for our film industry, and gave millions of people worldwide a glimpse of our amazing scenery. It also encouraged tens of thousands of tourists to visit New Zealand. Many of these people will have visited Hawkes Bay.

Sir Peter Jackson’s latest project – The Hobbit – was set to continue that trend. The two Hobbit films would bring in $670 million alone. However, unions threatened the production, prompting movie giant Warner Bros to seriously consider making the two Hobbit films elsewhere. We were looking at the loss of thousands of creative jobs and millions of dollars.

The Government is focused on growing the economy and helping businesses to create jobs. So it was great to see the Prime Minister step in to ensure The Hobbit movies will be made in New Zealand, bringing long-term benefits for our country.

Last week we passed legislation clarifying the distinction between independent contractors and employees, as it relates to the film production industry. This has given the industry the confidence to produce the Hobbit and other movies here.

To improve New Zealand’s competitiveness as a film destination for large-budget films such as The Hobbit, the movie companies will get an additional rebate of up to US$7.5 million per picture, subject to the success of the movies.

The deal will also see the winning combination of Sir Peter, movie companies, and the Government working to promote New Zealand as a film production and tourism destination. New Zealand will host one of the world premieres of the Hobbit movies which will be huge.

The opportunity that the Hobbit presents will highlight New Zealand as a great place to visit and do business. The marketing opportunities alone will be worth tens of millions of dollars. This deal helps protect the film industry and the livelihoods of thousands of creative Kiwis.

 Chris Tremain

The Defence Service Medal recognises the commitment of kiwis to our country in military training and non -operational service. It’s great to be able to officially honour our service people, and for them to have recognition of their service to our country.
 
The medal recognises non-operational military service in the Defence Force by New Zealanders who have served for more than three years since World War Two, and for those who did compulsory military training or national military service.

About 160,000 people will be eligible for the medal, which delivers on a campaign commitment that National made to recognise the New Zealanders who have stood ready to put their lives on the line for our country.   The RSA has proposed a defence service medal for many years, and National has supported this idea.

Many of our Military Servicemen and women will also be pleased to see the implementation of the first round of youth offenders attending a Military Activity Camp (MAC).  

Many Kiwis believe that the Military is the place to help provide wayward youth with a new direction. I agree. So it’s great to see the first intake of young offenders learning self-responsibility, discipline and doing some serious physical activity.
 
The eight-week MAC camps, concept tested over the last year, are now operational following the implementation of legislation on 1 October 2010.

At camp young people rise at 6.30 each morning, presenting themselves clean and in uniform, ready for a day of structured activity including school classes, drills, chores, fitness activity, life skills and individual work.Programmes will also help young people address the causes of offending with mentoring, literacy and numeracy skills and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

We’re holding serious and repeat young offenders to account with tougher sentences and we’re working more intensively to address the causes of their offending to keep them out of jail. I think this is great news.

Chris Tremain