By Alex Tarrant
The exodus of Kiwis across the Tasman to Australia is never going to stop becuase the two countries are effectively one labour market, Finance Minister Bill English told media in Parliament this morning.
"If you are a young guy with a trade sitting in Invercargill you can go to Christchurch, you can go to Perth, you can go to Auckland. So it’s never going to stop," English said.
Meanwhile, English said the visit from Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard this week would reconfirm the strong relationship between Australia and New Zealand.
Talks would get "a good measure of how New Zealand and Australia can work together to take advantage of what is the best opportunity in a generation, with the high prices that the Asia-Pacific Region is paying for Australia and New Zealand products," English said.
New Zealand benefited from being nextdoor to Australia's strong, growing economy.
"It does set a high benchmark for performance, but we’ve got to stick to developing our strengths – we’re not going to be big, we’re not going to be a minerals-based economy," English said.
"We’re small, we’re primary production-based and we’re going to get good at it. We’re making some significant advances there – we’ve got a better tax system than Australia now. We’ve got a better regulatory environment, we’ve got greater political certainty, we’ve got a better framework for dealing with climate change," he said.
"Over the next few years we’re going to build up those advantages."
4 Comments
"We’re small, we’re primary production-based and we’re going to get good at it. We’re making some significant advances there – we’ve got a better tax system than Australia now. We’ve got a better regulatory environment, we’ve got greater political certainty, we’ve got a better framework for dealing with climate change," he said.
"Over the next few years we’re going to build up those advantages."
More cognitive dissonance. The list of the afflicted grows.
More cognitive dissonance. The list of the afflicted grows.
Yep never wanted a high-tech/high wage economy anyway, primary production is just soooo much better. This sclerotic way of thinking is now so prevalent I'm starting to think only some sort of systemic shock will get our oh so visionary politicians to consider deviating from the status quo. Credit rating downgrade maybe, tick tick tick.....
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.