Clive Bibby: Responding to a changing economy

Having just relocated to the Naki from our beloved East Coast, I am able to view the Government’s handling of a changing economy from a different regional perspective.

And while there appear to be similar debilitating pressures on the family budget, no matter which part of the country you regard as home, there are also distinct differences based both on how citizens are handling the hard times but also the remedies they are using in trying to accommodate them.

For example, most livestock farming regions have taken advantage of the record export market red meat prices by spending windfall money on much needed deferred maintenance, replacing worn out machinery and reducing debt but few will be wasting the opportunity on frivolous spending. That is the nature of most Kiwi farmers, who regard those tactics as the right thing to do - because they have been here before and once burned - twice shy.

However there have been opportunities for managers of regional industries not so dependent on the international farmers market to take advantage of the entrepreneurial skills they possess - enabling them to develop niche markets where they are competing against the best in the world or are adapting to the fluctuating supply of home-grown resources (oil and or gas) that would otherwise have to be imported at great cost.

Recently, I enjoyed a meal with new-found, extended family friends, one of which had been working at the (soon to be closed) Taranaki Ethanol plant, south of New Plymouth. Presuming that this pending closure would result in layoffs that would add to the dole queues, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he and others were travelling to Wairakei (north of Taupo) on a weekly basis to work as contractors at the expanding geo-thermal plant owned by local iwi Incorporations.

While that example is only one of many that reflect an ability to adapt to economic situations not previously envisaged, it does represent a growing determination amongst the managerial staff and the workforce that our future is in our own hands and we are up to the task of filling the gaps when traditional workplace opportunities no longer exist or have become a shadow of their former self.

Similarly our economy has benefitted from entrepreneurial industries that have developed new products for sale on new overseas markets which are prepared to pay a premium for items they would normally have sourced from counties that have become (sometimes through no fault of their own) unreliable suppliers.

There is no question that the Middle East oil crisis has turned the supply routes on its head and the world economies are being forced to do business with people they traditionally couldn’t and wouldn’t trust.

And this is where a government that refuses to take sides in a conflict not of their own making or be closely aligned with either one of the main players will benefit as an honest broker who can, during trade negotiations, deliver on promises made when dealing with both.

International relationships that last are usually based on the representatives of both parties being able to sign up to deals that are based on mutual trust.

With an election coming up, my guess is that the outcome will be determined by the numbers of punters who base their vote on who they can trust to deliver on promises made during the campaign, let alone any trade talks that follow.

While this might always have been the case for a majority of my vintage, under our MMP system the consequences of electing people of no experience in governing the country in these current, volatile economic conditions is something that should concern us all.

Let’s not be persuaded that our future can be entrusted to a bunch of novices in an alliance with political has-beens and separatists - history shows that option rarely works.

We are better than that.

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who now lives in Taranaki.