Put own people first - mayor

By Jan Corbett

Politicians should be banned from going overseas, according to Dunedin mayor Sukhi Turner, because they come back wanting New Zealand to have what everybody else has.

"It's small man's syndrome," she said. "They feel insecure about being leaders of wee New Zealand."

The idea was greeted with approving laughter from the small audience gathered at Auckland University yesterday for the Reclaiming Apec conference, organised by environmental protection groups.

Their message is that Apec has forgotten that the only purpose of economic activity is to satisfy the basic needs of people.

Calling Apec a scam, Sukhi Turner challenged the notion that bigger was always better, arguing that local economies were special and local government should invest in them.

She said the cut-throat competitive ethos of Apec lowered wages and removed regulatory barriers, making it more viable for bigger companies to produce cheaper goods.

"But are we going to pay a little more to get better meat at the butcher, or go to the supermarket? Do you want the butcher to survive?"

The New Zealand experience, she told the audience, was an indictment of free-market policies.

"Where is the miracle?" she asked, advocating that we opt for self-sufficiency by supporting local manufacturers as shamelessly as we support the All Blacks.

Earlier, former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves told the conference that economic development was of little value if it did not produce community development.

The conference runs until tomorrow.