The Government needs to listen and hear the concerns of the business community, says National Party leader Simon Bridges, after the latest business confidence survey from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce suggests business confidence is down.
"I don't take any pleasure in it," Mr Bridges said on TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning. "I think what the Government needs to do is make really clear, and it's not at the moment, that it's listening, it hears those concerns and it could have a reset... Otherwise this business confidence will keep falling."
"The reality is you can't muck around with industrial relations, have a really unclear immigration policy, overseas investment changes, slice off the oil and gas sector, talk down farming. I think a lot of people are wondering what sector is next."
The Finance Minister responds to a gloomy business confidence survey. (Source: Other)
On TVNZ1's Q+A yesterday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson defended the strength of the New Zealand economy in the face of the underwhelming business confidence survey - insisting the report reflects perception, not reality.
"I think what we're dealing with here is an issue around perception, and, sure, we can improve the ways we communicate, and we need to always work on that," he said.
Mr Robertson also told host Corin Dann, there is precedent for these kinds of business confidence reactions to Labour governments.
However, Mr Bridges said if confidence surveys begin to drop, "then it's a lead indicator of what's coming, it's is concerning".
"This is not some kind of airy-fairy thing, it has a real effect on the economy and jobs over time."
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