The Front Page: Mood of the Boardroom ranks NZ's politicians

NZ Herald

22 Sep, 2022 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Business leaders have given their verdict on the performance of the Government. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's CEOs have had their say in the annual Mood of the Boardroom survey.

This time the annual survey has not delivered good news for the Government.

Mood of the Boardroom editorial director Fran O'Sullivan tells the Front Page podcast that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern came out poorly in the latest edition of the business executive survey, which has been running since 2002.

"For the first time, she has dropped out of the top ten in the Cabinet rankings," says O'Sullivan.

"Business leaders ranked her as 12th on how she performs on her own KPIs, her portfolios and her performance as Prime Minister."

The Prime Minister did, however, rank well when it came to her standing in international politics and her ability to sell the New Zealand brand to the world.

O'Sullivan says that the Government ran into problems in the sense of not delivering on promises made in the local market.

"Labour regards itself as a party of change. They come into power to reform. But unfortunately they came in slap-bang against Covid, and the ability to deliver on their promise while the bureaucracy was busy meant things haven't got done as well as they could have."

Business leaders also gave their verdict on Opposition politicians again. Last year, former National leader Judith Collins came in for a pasting on account of losing sight of the issues that really matter.

So how has her successor Christopher Luxon fared?

"They've given him a reasonable ranking, but he's benefited in coming into a period when National has been through quite calamitous change. He's perceived as having unified the warring factions within the caucus. He's perceived as starting to carve out a brand for National, but he still has a long way to go."

Luxon didn't get through the survey unscathed.

"Luxon makes fluffs and gaffes, which annoy business people because they want to see more discipline there. [One quote from the survey] says he's perhaps not as intuitive as John Key was, but he's a good planner. He's methodical."

The challenge now will be convincing the public that this is worth voting for.

Once again, the survey was particularly kind to Act leader David Seymour who was again given the number one ranking among all politicians included in the rundown.

"He brings clarity and he also has a laundry list of policies, many of which the business community agrees with," says O'Sullivan.

She says some business leaders would even like to see David Seymour potentially take the Finance Minister position in the event that National and Act successfully form a coalition next year.

Critics might argue that this points to an intrinsic bias when it comes to asking members of the business community what they like to see in politicians in that they're inclined to be kinder to candidates who have policies that suit their preferences.

O'Sullivan does, however, point out that the business community doesn't give anyone a free ride.

"They are not always kind to Labour, but they aren't always kind to National either," she says.

"We've seen in the past that the business community was quite upset with how National was being run. You would've seen in last year's survey that they really hammered Judith Collins. She was seen as not unifying and not focusing on what matters."

O'Sullivan says that what business leaders often want to see is certainty.

"There are one or two CEOs who came out calling for a change of Government, but that's not common... What they really want is to be able to get on with things and have some policy certainty... They want to be able to plan. They want to get back up on their own feet and get moving again."