The Government's role is crucial

TVNZ's Paul Holmes managed to grab a 30 minute session with Bill but our poor old Commerce Minister Paul Swain got a much shorter audience -- said to have been less than ten minutes (what does that tell us?).

Despite the brevity of his encounter, Mr Swain appeared to be thrilled to bits, considering it somewhat of a coup that "Bill Gates agreed that I could keep in touch with him as we roll out New Zealand's plans for the new economy."

Let's hope that Bill Gates should live so long!

Swain also gleefully told the media that "Bill Gates expressed interest and excitement in the developments here in New Zealand."

Oh please... get a grip, what else could he be expected to say?

If this is the kind of thing that drives Mr Swain into spasms of delight and satisfaction then I fear he's far too easily pleased and not the calibre of Minister we need to drive the kind of changes needed to push NZ into the 21st century.

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Swain admits that Gates told him that it is crucial for government to play a role in the fostering of a new economy and e-commerce by improving education and creating the right environment.

Well my goodness -- I hope Mr Swain managed to feign surprise at that dramatic revelation. It's not like the minister and his peers haven't already been repeatedly told the same thing by thousands of Kiwis en-route to the international airport and headed for countries that fully appreciate their worth and potential.

It's not my intention to single out Mr Swain for criticism here -- he is no better or worse than any of the other members of this, or the previous government who, despite openly acknowledging the cause of our problems, have steadfastly refused to take even the most elementary of steps that will help stem our brain drain and foster the emergence of a New Economy in NZ.

According to an 4  NZ Herald report, a warning was issued loud and clear at the forum that "failure to act now could shove countries such as New Zealand into a permanent backwater."

Another report carried this heads-up: "the economy's potential, the forum says, will be held back by the lack of business investment in research and development."

In the interview screened last night, Gates told Paul Holmes that "the Internet makes distance matter a lot less" -- and that's something that should give our politicians a clue as to exactly why the new economy poses the single largest opportunity for New Zealand's economy since the introduction of refrigerated shipping.

Okay -- so we have NZ's best and brightest telling the government to get its finger out and help kick-start this New Economy -- and their persistent yet unsuccessful prodding has now been backed up by the advice of one of the world's richest men -- who also happens to be a figurehead of the New Economy.

From this point forth, I don't want to hear any excuses or delaying tactics from Government. They know what they must do and they're not short on good, sensible suggestions on how to achieve it. Every day wasted from now on is nothing but a display of arrogant neglect of their responsibility to taxpayers.

Our young, our old, our unemployed, our poorest, our brightest -- in fact every NZ citizen deserves better than successive governments that place ideology ahead of sound commonsense policies focused on improving our competitiveness in world markets through the fostering of locally based New Economy industries.

Stop the rhetoric, it's time for action!

Our investment in R&D is way too low -- that was confirmed this week by some of the world's leading economic powers. In fact, it seems that the current punitive taxation regime on R&D has suppressed investment in this area to the point where we are now ranked alongside countries like Poland and Costa Rica in terms of R&D activity. And the government claims that the falling dollar and trade-deficit are solely do to "external influences???" -- yeah, sure!

If this country is to survive, let alone prosper in the 21st century, we must demand that the government honour its pre-election promise to abandon the R&D penalty tax. Forget this lunatic grants scheme because, as we've already seen, such options always run the risk of the government or one of its agents being duped by someone with a handful of magnets and a bunch of outrageous claims.

If you have any points, ideas, suggestions, or issues you'd like me to raise with Dr Cullen and the other relevant cabinet ministers next month then please send them to me. I'll print them out and deliver them by hand -- so the more the better.

Let's show them just how many smart people are being held back by the current situation and are willing to knuckle down to help pull this country out of the mire -- if only they're given the chance.

My Apologies
Sorry for once again writing of the continued incompetence of those entrusted with the management of this country -- but there's little else happening on the local scene today and let's face it, the last week has really provided a powerful and independent endorsement of what so many Kiwi manufacturers, entrepreneurs and New Economy workers have been saying for so long.

Perhaps we should follow the lead of the French, British and Europeans by turning off all our computers or clogging the nation's communications networks until the government comes to its senses?

For the French and Brits it's just a matter of petrol tax -- for us it's a matter of the economic welbeing of every NZer and the very future of this country in a world that is changing faster than ever before and rapidly demoting us to " 4 fourth world" status.

Never mind -- tomorrow we can "Lighten Up" again so send in any of those weird, funny or just downright "interesting" sites that you've encountered while surfing the Net.

As always, your feedback is welcomed.