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We're told that this investment in first-class air travel, expensive hotel suites and five star food for our politicians and their entourages is all a part of creating an environment here in NZ which will attract huge amounts of overseas investment.

But where are the results?

Every time some multi-billion-dollar hi-tech company starts sniffing around we get all excited and ponder the benefits to our economy that this could represent.

Then, almost inevitably, we find that they've opted for some other country in which to build their R&D, software development, or other operation.

Motorola, Microsoft and now Oracle seem to have given up on New Zealand as a viable location in which to base any significant part of their hi-tech operations -- so what are we doing wrong?

Readers Say (updated irregularly) Oversea tech success... - Tony o'seas investment... - Alan Have Your Say

It would seem that New Zealand has everything a hi-tech company could want when looking for a place to expand their R&D doesn't it?

It's cheap -- a US dollar buys an awful lot of NZ goods and services.

It's a first-world nation with a good educational system that produces a growing number of science and technology graduates

It's well connected to the rest of the world by Internet and other communications services.

So why have all those tax-dollars we've given our MPs to support their jet-setting lifestyles resulted in an almost total absence of results?

Is the answer is as simple as the fact that our elected representatives seem to have learned bugger all on their visits to Ireland, Israel and Finland?

Or are we deluding ourselves that, even in these days of instant global communications, it makes any sense for a company to base any part of its key R&D operations 16,000 Kms from home-base?

And right now there are some additional issues appearing that might further reduce NZ's attractiveness to the likes of Oracle, Microsoft, Motorola and others...

By not falling into line behind Australia and the UK over the proposed US war against Iraq, NZ has quite likely further harmed its chances of being viewed in a favourable light by the big tech companies. I make no judgement as to whether we should allow our desire to foster hi-tech industry conflict with our moral stance in respect to Iraq -- but we should all be aware that there will be a definite linkage between the two.

And, when you stop and think about it one must ask: do we really want large US or European companies setting up shop here anyway?

It strikes me that this could result in a major hike in IT salaries. After all, what currently US-based workers would be prepared to take the 50% cut in pay that a move to NZ and a dollar-for-dollar pay-rate would produce. If those US workers relocated to NZ are going to be earning twice what the average native Kiwi IT worker earns, don't you think this would create problems?

We might just end up finding that an inflow of large overseas IT companies would actually see many of our smaller technology employers forced out of business, unable to afford competitive pay rates.

When it comes to good ideas, our MPs seem to be an empty well -- do you have any brilliant suggestions?

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