A strong voice with a wake-up call for everyone

By JIM EAGLES

Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung almost shouts in her enthusiasm as she argues the need for New Zealand to start an economic growth crusade.

"I can't think of any topic more important for us to have a national conversation about," she says vehemently.

"If all of New Zealand could realise that the reason Australia spends more on health and education than New Zealand is because they've had a 1 per cent higher growth rate for 20 years, then maybe we'd have the right head-space for a consensus on what needs to happen.

"We have to get growth on the agenda, and get people to understand that we must get our growth rates up, and we have to do it consistently for a decade.

"Otherwise this is going to become the sort of place where people come and take photos of our cute children as holiday snaps and go away again."

The head of the country's largest listed company is positive that, with the right leadership and a message that brings home the implications of continued below-average growth, New Zealanders would respond.

"I certainly think that if business leaders thought the Government was really serious about growth they would get behind it.

"I think you'd quite quickly be able to get together a list of things which are on the political landscape - and reducing taxes is not one of them so we'll ignore that - which everyone could get behind."

Gattung is a little reluctant to come up with her own list because she believes one problem with the Government-business dialogue has been that businesses have been saying what would be good for them rather than for the country.

"For instance, the transtasman tax imputation - or tax triangulation - situation does nothing to encourage us to invest in each other's markets ... but I'm conscious that is very much a big company issue."

On reflection, she is prepared to come out strongly in support of a focus on educational excellence.

Gattung suspects schools have played their part in developing "what I guess you could almost call a cult of mediocrity".

"Kiwis are nice people, Kiwis are trusting, Kiwis think effort counts ... The rest of the world doesn't think effort counts, it knows that winning is what counts.

"Anything that's bred in people or instilled in schools that takes away from that need to win is a problem.

"If you're in a global business, which increasingly we all are, you're going to run into trouble if you don't have the winner's mentality.

"Intuitively I just don't like anything that takes away from a focus on excellence, and that's what we have to get in our schools."

To achieve that focus on excellence Gattung would "double what teachers get paid but make it payable strictly on performance" and she would funnel the money to schools through bulk funding.

She strongly supports the development of centres of excellence.

"This country's too small to have six universities specialising in - to give an extreme example - Latin."

But she is wary of reshaping the educational system to train people to work in particular industries.

"We've got to produce excellence in all areas, and I don't think we should force students into narrow specialties too soon."

Gattung backs the Government's approach in "picking sectors where we have a natural advantage - biotech, information technology and the creative industries - which is not the same as picking winners".

"I also think some of its ideas about moving away from the commodity end of the market and encouraging innovation and adding value are right."

But unlike most of her big business colleagues, she has mixed feelings about the headlong pursuit of foreign direct investment.

"I'm not trying to pour cold water on it, I'm just saying we mustn't start doing things to attract people to come here which prove disadvantageous to those who were here in the first place."

Instead she would prefer policies that create a more attractive business climate. "I don't think the Government wants to hear about reducing corporate tax, but what that does is benefit everyone - it attracts people to come here and it also benefits existing firms."

In the end, though, Gattung acknowledges that the whole idea of getting a national consensus for economic growth depends on leadership from the Government and she is unsure whether that will happen.

Like most business leaders she is reluctant to criticise the Labour Government, partly because she agrees with several of its initiatives and has worked quite closely with Prime Minister Helen Clark on some projects but also, no doubt, because of the need to keep on side with those in power.

Gattung concedes that in its first term Labour has done some things which are just the opposite of what is needed to stimulate growth.

"Putting up taxes for what is regarded as high income earners ... there is no way you can dress that up as anything other than going in the wrong direction."

But she believes she has detected a change of attitude in the Labour leadership.

"I think there has been a refocusing on the balance between social and economic outcomes.

"Because ultimately you can't achieve sustained good social outcomes without growth."

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