Or when there was talk about Telecom outsourcing and offshoring several thousand jobs (NB Telecom has  since advised me those plans are “on hold” for now). Steven Joyce is on record as sayign the government has no responsibility for decisions made by a private company on outsourcing.

What’s changed? John Key is reading the political wind. Well I’m glad he’s sticking up for Kiwi jobs. Maybe he could announce support for the Kiwi Jobs Bill which aims to put in place a procurement policy to maximise opportunities for local businesses when tendering for large government projects.

Read what he had to say:

Prime Minister John Key says companies choosing to send their call centres to other parts of the world “are making the wrong choice”.

He wants other New Zealand companies to take note of Canon’s new call centre on the Shore.

Mr Key told the North Shore Times it is a positive move to open call centres in New Zealand because it creates employment for people of different age groups and ethnicities.

He was being asked a patsy question by National’s Jo Goodhew about  how the Government’s procurement reforms provide value for money.

See what his response was because it really does a disservice to New Zealanders. He is basically mocking our capacity to make quality products and to put in competitive tenders.

Labour believes New Zealand industries should be given the best possible chance of taking up new work within our shores by getting full, fair and reasonable opportunities to compete for tenders and major projects. Not hand outs, just a fair process and a recognition of the importance of nurturing our local industries and creating Kiwi Jobs.

That’s what the Kiwi Jobs Bill aims to achieve.

See what Gerry said. (My question is 57 seconds in)

Today I released the Kiwi Jobs Bill (PDF link), my first Private Members Bill which aims to maximise opportunities for competitive local businesses when tendering for large government projects.

The Bill establishes a Commission of Inquiry to compare government procurement policies in Australia and other comparable jurisdictions, to determine whether the NZ Government can have a policy that gives preference to local procurement without breaching our international trade obligations.

The Commission of Inquiry would have a deadline of six months to report to Parliament and the Minister for Economic Development would be required to decide within 30 days how its recommendations could be implemented.

New Zealand industries should be given the best possible chance of taking up new work within our shores by getting full, fair and reasonable opportunities to compete for tenders and major projects.

The Kiwi Jobs Bill is timely and important to provide encouragement and certainty to New Zealand industries that their skills and capabilities are important to our nation and our economic future.

Currently we have a situation with KiwiRail about to embark on a formal tender process to build 13 electric locomotives and 114 ‘cars’ for the electrification of Auckland rail.

Both KiwiRail and the government have ignored the strong independent economic case by reputable Berl Economics detailing the benefits of having Auckland’s new trains built in New Zealand, which could create up to 1275 new jobs.

It is currently unlikely that the tender document will contain a preference clause giving a stronger weighting to a build that includes Kiwi content.”

Most of our trading partners  have clauses giving preference to local companies in tendering for government contracts

These government procurement policies recognise that value for money is about a broader economic benefit and not just about lowest price.

Many New Zealand industries would receive a boost from such a policy, including manufacturing, engineering and ICT.

The most pressing example is obviously KiwiRail’s Hillside and Woburn workshops, whose skills and capacity would be taken more seriously with preference given to local content, in building trains for Auckland.

If we want to build the NZ economy, and one of the main ways to do that is to ensure our local industries are given maximum opportunities to flourish.

Instead, will we see a situation where the National Government will accept only the lowest-cost bid, or a bid from a big overseas company writing Kiwi skills off as irrelevant and ignoring them.

National is reviewing its procurement policies, but the review appears more motivated by saving money than by maximising opportunities to local industry and thereby boosting our economy.

I think it’s time we gave ourselves a better chance. I hope you will support the Bill.