2nd New Zealand Metals Industry Conference

Thursday 11 November 2004

Good morning. I'm delighted to note that after having your first conference up North you have so quickly come to the right decision about where to have this conference.

As a city, on the conference front Christchurch is a lot like the old Avis rental car ad. You know, the "we're number two, we try harder" ad. Nationally we run second to Auckland when it comes to conferences and conventions. It dovetails with our emerging status as the second largest city in New Zealand.

Your conference theme of "developing strategies for growth'' fits in nicely with the issues and problems we are facing here as a city. Having noted that you get a dose of Cabinet Minister later on I won't trample too hard on those ministerial toes. Hell hath no fury like a politician who hears most of their key points given out in a speech before them.

So, bearing that in mind I will just make the point that this conference takes place against a backdrop of bullish economic activity that is almost unique in our history.

Not only have we rarely had it so good, it is also a very long time since good economic tidings have been so prolonged.

Christchurch, like much of New Zealand at the moment is up against what to many economies must look like luxury problems. The problem is no longer how to get growth going, it is instead how to work out where we want to go with it, and what we are willing to give up along the way.

As our city limits start to show signs of heading off across the Canterbury Plains we are having to ask ourselves just how big and generously shaped we want to be. It's a similar problem that many sectors of our economy are up against.

I noted with the quiet approval that only a retired accountant like myself gets from good numbers that the main reason you are here is because so many of the innovative and progressive engineering companies in New Zealand are based here. Indeed they are. They are key players in our economy.

Christchurch and Canterbury are extroverts amongst the New Zealand economic landscape. Extrovert in that we are outward facing exporters who are very much involved in trade. Christchurch is a trading city.

As a player in the global economy we are often the first to feel the effects of major changes in the world economy. We are also forced to stay well on track with meeting the real demands of the real world. Behind our present prosperity we are all too aware that this boom time now is also a unique window for us all as nation to make our game smarter and more creative.

The new economic powerhouses of the global economy like China and India have along with their healthy hunger for our resources an edge in labour and economy of scale that we are never going to be able to compete against directly.

We don't just need to look at intelligently transformed materials in manufacturing, we need to look at being able to intelligently transform our entire economy.

To do that we need groups like yours that can listen, advocate and communicate within an entire industry cluster. Part of our transformation as an economy and society will require us all to be prepared to work across the traditional barriers of industry, government and sector silos.

I believe our potential as an innovative nation is as huge as our scale is tiny. It is worth bearing in mind that the numbers that just swung the American election are not that many million less than our entire population. I believe then that one of the most crucial ways of developing viable strategies for growth is to do just what you are doing.

Getting together to work out a way ahead for an entire industry. It's a great start. I'm glad you chose a great city to do it in.

Have a great conference.