Key jibs naysayers as he opens new Auckland business hub
Auckland's housing shortage and traffic congestion are 'quality problems' of success.
The 4100-member strong Auckland employers and manufacturers organisation (EMA) has a new headquarters and training centre.
The $18 million EMA business hub on Khyber Pass Rd has been opened by Prime Minister John Key, who says the facility will help businesses tackle the complexities of modern commerce.
The multi-level converted warehouse is part of a four-stage project that began with the construction of an adjoining car park.
Stage three is the refit of former EMA building, which has been sold to the Real Estate Institute as its Auckland base.
That leaves a vacant construction zone and the Red Cross building, which will be developed at a later stage in a form yet to be decided.
Mr Key used the occasion to ridicule reporters who think selling “free” bottled water overseas is a lucrative business that should be stopped.
He says the millions of dollars of profit forget the “millions of costs and the millions of variables” before the product can be sold.
“More water companies have gone broke in New Zealand than anything else and what it shows you is how difficult it is to make money,” he says.
He also raised the issues of rising housing prices and traffic congestion in Auckland as “quality problems” that come from success.
“They reflect that Auckland is doing well from migration from India and Australia as well as from around the country. Increasingly you see people from around the world taking their capital to New Zealand, establishing a business here and then putting it on the worldwide stage.
“If you look at cities doing badly, they may not have the housing [shortage] and traffic jams but what would you rather have?
“These challenges of growth are signs of a city and a country that is doing well.”
His audience included Labour MPs Clayton Cosgrove and Grant Robertson as well as Small Business Minister Craig Foss. Other VIPs were Dame Rosanne Meo, Sir Graeme Douglas and Auckland Cr George Wood.
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Nevil Gibson
Thu, 05 May 2016
Thu, 05 May 2016
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Key jibs naysayers as he opens new Auckland business hub
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