The good, the bad and the ugly – NBR's plays of the week

Tech exports nearly $5 billion
Agriculture, we’re constantly told, is the backbone of our economy.

That may be the case but the success of the companies on the Technology Investment Network (TIN) 100 suggests that the high-tech sector may be the New Zealand economy’s pituitary gland.

For those of you not fully versed in anatomy, the pituitary gland is the bit at the back of your head that signals your body to grow.

And if New Zealand is to improve its mediocre economic performance and reverse its slide down the OECD rankings it needs the tech sector to be that growth catalyst.

The TIN 100 suggests it may be closer to achieving that than many people realise- tech sector exports in the year ending June 2010 were $4.9 billion.

This isn’t far behind the $8 billion of dairy exports and is well ahead of the $3.7 billion in forestry exports in that time.

Growth potential
It goes without saying that New Zealand is very good at making milk and cutting down trees but there are only so many trees and cows we can fit on our relatively small islands.

This is why, although these sectors will always be important to the New Zealand economy, there is only so much money we can actually make out of them unless we add more value to the products.

High-tech companies, on the other hand, are largely based on ideas and require little in the way of raw resources or, in many cases, a lot of start-up capital.

Datacom, which was number two on the list with revenue of $667 million, is a classic example of a low-profile high-tech company going about its business and making a lot of money without much fanfare or media attention.

But these sorts of companies bring wealth to New Zealand without even needing to pour effluent into rivers.

Act’s loose cannon explodes
The Act party’s decision to handpick David Garrett in a high list spot to win over a few “tough on crime unless it’s committed by white middle-aged men” sensible sentencing types has finally come back to haunt it.

The revelation that Mr Garrett has an assault conviction in Tonga was completely overshadowed by his admission that he had stolen the identity of a dead baby to falsely obtain a passport.

This was bizarre enough but even stranger was his explanation for his actions, that his “prank” had been inspired by a book he read, called Day of the Jackal.

Mr Garrett has a history as an MP of rather odd behaviour (including comparing homosexuality to paedophilia during a current affairs discussion on TV)but this is the first time it has hit the headlines in such a way that virtually everyone in the country now thinks he’s a bit of a nutter.

He can hardly claim his “prank” was youthful silliness because he was in his late 20s when it happened.

The final nail
After a slew of recent controversies the revelations over Mr Garrett’s past may be the final nail in the coffin for the Act party.

It’s well known that the party has been dysfunctional for many years.

Ever since Richard Prebble departed as leader, the party as been more newsworthy for its constant infighting, coup attempts and general self-immolation than it has been for any policy achievements.

Here’s an exercise: name one positive difference the Act party has made in its first term as part of a coalition government.

No, I couldn’t think of anything either.

Where Act made mileage during its glory days in the mid-1990s, when it was polling at about 7%, was by targeting wealthy urban liberals who wanted lower taxes and a free market but were also socially liberal.

But Act’s positive economic message has been completely overshadowed by its pandering to the ultra conservative hang-em-high mob.

As well as being hypocrites (not raising a peep when a white middle-aged white man stabbed a teenage Maori boy to death) many of these tough-on-crime advocates are, as Mr Garret has shown, a little bit … weird.

Absolute power …
If power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then New Zealand may be in a spot of bother.

In the wake of the Christchurch earthquake Parliament this week unanimously passed a law to allow the government to ignore and override other laws.

While it is obviously targeted at speeding up the rebuilding process in Christchurch the law applies to the whole country and gives the government power that is more than a little frightening.

The Green party muttered under its breath for a moment then voted for it, while Labour’s unthinking support of the move has led to a bit of a grass-roots backlash from its supporters.

Doesn’t fix the problems
Instead of making Gerry Brownlee dictator of New Zealand for 18 months, what the government should really be doing is finding the problem areas of legislation that would slow down the rebuilding process and take an axe to them.

After all, if Christchurch can be speedily rebuilt without interference from the Resource Management Act or the Building Act or any of the other growth-retarding laws, why can’t we have this freedom all the time, across the whole country?

Imagine what could be achieved if we didn’t have NIMBYs (not in my backyard), BANANAs (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything) or self-important central planners constantly stopping people building stuff.

It would be even better if we removed urban limits that force people to build on unsuitable land prone to liquefaction and got rid of “heritage” laws that force us to keep dangerous buildings in place because a handful of people like looking at them.

If the Christchurch earthquake leads to the cutting of red and green tape that is strangling New Zealand’s economy then there would be at least one positive to come from the disaster.