Under a National Government and with the current Kiwirail mindset it appears that the rail engineering business in NZ has a doubtful future.
Yesterday’s announcement by Kiwirail to choose China CNR Corporation (CNR) as its preferred tenderer to supply 300 wagons to bolster its ageing fleet is a huge and possibly terminal slap in the face for the Hillside Workshops in Dunedin and Woburn Workshops in Lower Hutt.
NZ could never have competed with China on labour costs. CNR may be a cheap and efficient supplier, but that doesn’t take into account the wider economic benefits and spin-offs for New Zealand of using KiwiRail’s own staff at the Hillside Workshops in Dunedin (and in Woburn) to do the work.
Does this government intend to invest in NZ industry and Kiwi jobs? If so, tell me how, where and when?
Presumably we want real jobs based on productive activity competing in the global economy? Otherwise we could just develop “make work” jobs by running huge government subsidised job schemes – at least until the credit agencies downgraded NZ. If the former then the organisations concerned really need to be able to win customers in the global economy. Getting the NZ government to spend its scarce resources on subsidising jobs in one local business is not fair or sustainable in the long run.
Roger, are you referring to telecom, or the film industry in your post?
Maybe its the PM’s plans to develop a niche sector of finance here in Enzed. Perhaps financiers who like to ride bikes in their off-work hours might come if the cycleways get built in time.
As a successful small businessman, quite happy and content with the acheivements and financial rewards my endevours has garnered, you can take what you like from where you like and stick it where you like
But seriously, whatever childish comment you eventually throw down in response, it doesn’t change the fact that a national led government would rather spend billions of tomorrows money on tax cuts for the rich, rather than spend a portion of it generating wealth and income for everyday kiwis.
The nats are no more friends of middle New Zealand than they are socially responsible.
I’m a socialist. I’m happy for government to intervene with funds to create jobs and wealth for all of us.
I’d recommend axing borrowing to fund tax cuts for the mega rich, instead diverting a small portion of the billions involved to support New Zealand.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-free-trade-worth-it.html#links
I wonder if our Productivity Commission will do a report on whether free trade is worth it – after all it is modelled on the Austelain one which has just reported on this issue (and not to praise free trade agreements by the way).
Thats an interesting issue raised by norightturn SPC, but its not a relevent arguement here. If it is true that Free Trade Agreements actually reduce trade because they impose regulations I would be very concerned. But the issue here is simple: Is trade good or bad? The theory and the evidence proves it is.
Basically I don’t know why the rail union expects goverment hand outs. We don’t live in the days of the NZR that lost billions of dollars being expected to run government job creation programmes.
Basically I don’t know why China needs NZ government hand outs. We don’t live in China, and our economy has lost a lot of dollars being expected to run the trains on the back of a Chinese job creation programme!
tracey – the five year $12.6B unfunded debt hole facing the Government as noted here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10694250
is almost exactly the same size as the amount of tax cuts given to the top 10% of NZ income earners.
Keith Park said
meh, it contradicts your posts that NZ workers cannot build high quality modern carriages.
Thanks for sticking another knife into NZ workers mate, to favour foreign ones.
Swampy said:
I would have thought that you out of all the right wing commentators would understand that we urgently need to build up our own industrial and productive capabilities.
And I thought you would have understood that hand outs should go to our own highly skilled highly productive people, NZ’ers who have a stake in helping build our country, not to a Chinese Govt owned company.
N1 spud.
China now produces all of the USA light bulbs
China now produces practically everything in the Warehouse.
I made a prediction a while back (near the bottom)
http://iansescapevalve.blogspot.com/2010/09/austerity-new-black.html
The last bit said
So where will the profits of all the industrious Chinese companies end up, not in our treasury. How long before all Western Countries have to do is fight other peoples wars, hang out at Ronnie’s Golden Arches and die from obesity?
Unless countries, their governments and their population wake up and realise what is happening we are all doomed.
@Al1ens – too right; Phil made a blunder this morning on Breakfast TV; he mentioned the tax cuts for the 650 millionaires; he said they received $1000 – what he needed to enphasise was this was $1000 per week
I am sure the $650K per week could have made the difference in the price between the Chinese wagons and those made in the south!
Thanks Viper
True!
Though I think Phil did fine this morning 
Quantity of jobs are the most important thing in any society. With high employment naturally comes workers rights, if a worker is given bad pay/conditions he can just go to another job. Higher standards of living, less need for taxes through less benefits, more consumption more tax revenue more production and economic activity. With high employment you will find goals being met at all sides of the political spectrum and any political group who does not make it their #1 priority is being foolish.
Is it worth throwing away all of this because of some theory of ‘competitiveness’ no it is not. National wants the rich to be taxed less that will not be done by trying to compete with economies much larger and stronger than ours it will be done by keeping employment high so there are less benefits and the lower/middle classes can help with the tax burden. National is the one blinded by ideology.
“Maybe its the PM’s plans to develop a niche sector of finance here in Enzed. ”
In fact the PM was a bit narked about ten days ago and fast tracked his financial hub concept.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10691438
Nope, what we want, and need, is a sustainable economy that exists within the renewable resource base and equitably distributes the wealth around so that there is no poverty within a democratic society rather than the dictatorial one that we have now.
Actually, the evidence proves that the theory is bollocks.
Is trade good or bad? China gets $29m we get train carriages. Our rail expertise workforce diminishes literally and knowledge/experience-wise. We pay benefits to those not able to work, and those communities which would benefit from the flow on effect of the carriages being built here won tget a pet job creation scheme such as Greymouth is being promised. We get, Warehouse crap.
I wouldn’t categorise iPhones and electric car batteries as “Warehouse crap” but each to their own…
Speaking of Warehouse crap, I hope this is the year that I finally get a dancing tree!
!
Jeremy, yes they make some good stuff, but also send lead coated toys here and most of the stuff they do send is of dubious quality (e.g much of the $2 shop stock)
Sheeeesh you are right with all the unemployed train and manufacturing workers in this country, we need all the cheap crap that we can get Jeremy. Its hard to afford much else on the dole other than cheap Chinese made crap. So yeah I guess our society comes out ahead.
Your cheap distorting digs are getting quite tiresome CV, guess I must be making some inroads for you to resort to Michael Moore tactics… As you’ll note earlier in the thread I was calling for Kiwirail to investigate whether it’s wagons could be exported overseas as high quality products, even invest in expansion if shown to be viable, was critised for it by someone from the right actually… Guess that doesn’t fit in with your narrative, easier to smear and tell mistruths…
The simple fact of the matter is the view that today China only makes cheap, poorly manufactured goods for the Warehouse is completely incorrect…
Jeremy, I’m quite aware that China makes extremely high quality goods. China is also starting to design and brand top grade products from scratch itself.
All of which does zippo to help our industry, our workers and our employment stats.
So my point remains.
We can import cheap consumer crap, I mean consumer goods – of top quality or rubbish quality – but with our low wage economy and half of NZ income earners on just $26,500 p.a. or less, its just as well because its all we can afford.
A $29M order could have gone a long way to make your dream come true. Too bad Bill and John don’t have the foresight.
Maybe the Auckland units were too big an ask for Hillside to build but surely the government could have ordered 30 more carriages to follow on from those being buit for the coastal pacific and trans alpine. The Overland will need new carriages and also Auckland Hamilton service. A twice daily Napier- Wellington and Christchurch- Dunedin service could be restored. The new rail services from Napier to Wellington could run on the lightly used Woodville- Masterton alternative routing and that section of track up for consideration for closure could be rebuilt for 160km passenger operations
The point is Stephen Joyce, Treasury and Kiw Rails new management are attempting to move Kiwi rail away from the passenger orientation under Clark and Labour and back to a Beeching style philosophy of a freight oriented railway and a belief if you concentrate on freight and wagon construction you can make rail pay. It hardly seems possible given that Even Fay and Richwhite never made rail profitable other than from selling land, stations and ferries and increasing the degree of leaverage on assets.
My own belief is much of the potential of rail is in passenger services. After all even in Australia relatively high speed frequent provincial services have been developed from Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and in NSW there are Explorer services a number of times a day to Canberra, Newcastle and other provincial centres.Joyce seems to only differ in degree from the rail hate of Kerr and treasury officials in Muldoons day
Losing the Designline bus factory in Christchurch is also a tragedy from many perspectives.