Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Getty Images
Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Getty Images
The Government wants to make it easier for people to retrain, upskill and fill jobs in sectors where workers are needed as the country tackles the economic impacts of Covid-19.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson outlined key points of the Government's strategy during a Tauranga Chamber of Commerce pre-Budget 2020 webinarthis morning.
He also highlighted the importance of people supporting local businesses and domestic tourism in the country's recovery.
"We want people to support their local businesses and I think people have been doing that in droves and I actually think it will be one of the legacies of this that people have got a much better understanding of who the local businesses in their community are.
"The same applies with our tourism industry, which won't be seeing visitors from overseas for an extended period of time, but we have all got the opportunity now to see the great bits of New Zealand."
Robertson said the Government was focused on supporting business cashflow to keep people employed and wanted to make it easier for Kiwis to re-train, upskill, and fill jobs. It was also working with the private sector to help finance large infrastructure projects.
Key areas in the recovery and rebuild phase included infrastructure and housing - an area he called "job-rich" - and skills and training.
"We are going to need people to train and retrain and we need to provide the support to make sure people keep apprentices on, take more apprentices on and that we offer more opportunities for people to retrain," he said.
"That will be critical to making sure we move people through if they do lose their jobs into work quickly."
"Skills and training is top of mind for us. We clearly want to make sure we get people working in the sectors where we need the workforce."
"We have said from the beginning we cannot save every job of every business, we are doing our best to cushion the blow. "
Robertson said establishing the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology meant the Government could move more swiftly to get those changes in place.
"We are going to be having workforce development councils, regional skills leadership groups alongside the development of that and that is a critical opportunity to make sure we match up the training and skill development with the need."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley. Photo / File
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the Government's work with the private sector to help finance large infrastructure projects was important for the Western Bay as councils had limits to their borrowing.
"The long-term legacy from Covid-19 will be the large infrastructure investment over the next five years, which will benefit future generations."
Cowley said the Government's focus on supporting business cashflow to keep people employed and making it easier for Kiwis to re-train, upskill, and fill jobs was important.
"This will build on the Western Bay's strengths in tertiary education as our local polytechs work well with the University of Waikato at their new CBD campus."
Cowley said the Government had taken the right approach to enable domestic tourism, which will help with cash move throughout the local economy.
"The tourism sector will be looking to improve and modernise itself. The long-term focus for tourism needs to be on preparing for the international tourism market and what their new expectations will be.
"After a stressful six-weeks of lockdown, I'd like to think that many Kiwis would be wanting to explore their own backyard in lieu of travelling overseas.
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell. Photo / File
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said making it easier for people to retrain, upskill and fill jobs was a practical response to the "crisis".
Powell encouraged people to continue to support local and to get behind Tourism Bay of Plenty's new campaign aimed at enticing Kiwis to visit or rediscover the coastal region.
"The more we spend locally, the better."
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said infrastructure, in the form of roads, water and housing, was the number one thing the Government could do to boost the economy quickly.
"That will directly help address rising unemployment."
Tutt said Priority One "wholeheartedly" supported investment in skills and training.
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt. Photo / File
"The coming months will see many people need to change role or industry, we need to do that quickly and in line with employers' needs."
Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne said the tourism industry would be relying on the strength of the domestic market.
"We know that we won't have the annual $250 million in international visitor and cruise passenger spend in the coastal Bay of Plenty's economy for some time.
"There are more than 6000 jobs directly employed by our local tourism industry which are at stake."
Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne. Photo / File
Dunne said collaboration across the industry was vital to rebuilding the tourism economy in which air connectivity was a "huge component".
But, she said, airlines were part of the tourism industry and they were facing the same struggles "so there is no easy solution".
