What can we do to salvage the New Zealand economy from the scythe of Covid-19?

At the moment, all we hear from Government is what we can‘t do. We are told this very firmly, every day, at 1pm. If we try and do anything we can‘t do, we are told there will be consequences – our curtain-twitching neighbours will dob us in and the police, or some other relevant enforcer, will come and stop us from doing anything.

This is disappointing. New Zealand is supposed to be a nation of creative thinkers, innovators, solutions-focused inventors and engineers, and people who will just get on and do it. We were that ‘can-do‘ nation at the bottom of the world that punched above its weight. Now we are being overwhelmed with a culture of fear and a barrage of ‘can‘t‘. Apparently, the world outside our home is not safe, so we should just not do anything at all. Above all, we should not question what is going on.

We are staring down the barrel of our worst unemployment rate in many generations. The economy is on its knees. Businesses that were the fabric of our society – small and locally owned – are bleeding and dying. A whole generation is having its education interrupted to the point that for some, there will be no recovery. If ever there was a time to dig deep and find that ‘number 8 wire can fix it‘ mentality, that time is now.

That means the Government moving the country to a level where businesses can effectively operate and businesses stepping out from the shadow of Government. The Government should focus on those who most need help – the young, unemployed, and unwell (a giant task ahead) – as well as boosting the economy with the things within their control at all times, not just Covid-19 times, such as big-ticket infrastructure.

Government should let businesses and the markets do what they do best – that is, respond to supply and demand, export and import, move things to where they need to be, and get on with rebuilding the economy. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Government intervention comes at a price – over-regulation and control ruin motivation, innovation and creativity.

Unfortunately, we are seeing the ugly head of anti-globalism rising in New Zealand and some parts of Government, wanting to control businesses, markets and prices – to push for a domestic market at the expense of where the country makes its money, exports. This is what President Donald Trump is doing in spades in the United States – protectionism and anti-globalism that threaten the very rules-based fabric of the modern trading world. We need to remember we don‘t have the scale of the US. New Zealand is made up of islands in the middle of nowhere, with hardly any people, and the only way we can survive is to trade – to be better, faster, more agile and cleverer than other nations.

Other parts of Government want to free the way for exports as fast as they can. They want to encourage new thinking, products and markets, while doing what they can to preserve the existing. They understand the only way out of this mess is exports. They are working hard to preserve trade rules and agreements and forge new ones. They are our ‘can-do‘ people. They want to open doors and clear the way, not wait till you are close to the door and then slam it in your face.

Our road freight transport industry is very much in the ‘can-do‘ camp. Truck drivers, dispatchers and road freight operators have been quietly working throughout New Zealand since the lockdown, and more so since the move to level 3. Like many businesses that have been operating through the Government interventions to manage Covid-19, they have mostly been running at a loss. Some businesses could not operate through the lockdown, and they need a hand up.

But a hand up is different to a long period of handouts. We all pay, one way or another, for heavy state intervention. Increased taxes are the obvious first measure, but there is also the long-term damage to that ‘go getter‘ psyche we were once so proud of.

For business to survive and thrive we need to get out of level 3. We need a clear view of the Government‘s plans for how businesses will operate under level 2 and level 1 and we need that now. We are more than six weeks in and we know there is a massive team of public servants and highly paid contractors working across the New Zealand Government on Covid-19 – they must have a clear plan of the way forward by now. And we believe we have the right to ask questions about that.

By Nick Leggett, CEO, Road Transport Forum