Call for overstayer amnesty

Improving immigration settings

Get Welly moving

Business Central says recent Wellington transport decisions will be tough on business, and risk grinding the city to a halt.  The decision to ban cars and carparks from Lambton Quay will affect hundreds of businesses along the Golden Mile, CEO Simon Arcus says.  And plans to slow down traffic to the airport and along Thorndon Quay and Hutt Road are also bad for business and should not be a priority for infrastructure work.  “We need to speed up the major infrastructure projects, rather than those that are slowing things down,” Simon Arcus says.

Resource Bill improvements

BusinessNZ’s submission on the draft Natural and Built Environments Bill (replacement for the Resource Management Act) notes that the draft Bill ranks environmental outcomes higher than economic outcomes.  “Both are important, and when they are not compatible, trade-offs should be allowed,” BusinessNZ economist John Pask said.  “The Bill also needs to provide for appeal rights and for compensation when property is affected by local government decisions.  Property rights need to be upheld in law to encourage business investment.”   

Uber contractors or employees?

Are Uber contractors really employees?  Court cases in the UK, France and Australia have delivered differing judgments.  Now NZ unions have taken the question to the NZ Employment Court.  BusinessNZ’s Paul Mackay says NZ law has different employment definitions from the UK and it’s not clear what the NZ judgment might be.  “Basically, Uber drivers pay a fee to use the Uber app to access business.  The Court will have to consider whether that means the drivers are employed by Uber or are using Uber’s tool to get work for themselves.”  

In 2018 under changes to employment law, reinstatement was made the primary remedy in unjustified dismissal cases.  BusinessNZ advocated against the move, because a proven unjustified dismissal case usually means the employment relationship is broken and reinstatement would cause difficulties.  In two recent cases involving employees in professional jobs, orders for interim reinstatement were made before the actual claims were heard.  BusinessNZ believes reinstatement should not be the automatic remedy in such cases.

The BusinessNZ Energy Council says research into the use of solar power in NZ business premises shows the great potential of solar power for commercial use.  The EECA survey indicates significant financial returns from the use of roof-top solar panels on larger business premises in sunny areas.  Augmenting other sources of power with solar could provide significant cost savings for such businesses, BEC’s Tina Schirr says.

Business owners and operators are invited to take part in a survey on business conditions in NZ.  The Mood of the Boardroom Survey, conducted annually by the BusinessNZ Network and NZ Herald, is seeking business views on e.g. tax rates, staff availability, Covid restrictions, energy costs, regulation and employment issues.  Survey results will be published by the BusinessNZ Network and the NZ Herald on 14 September.  Please complete the survey here