Michael Boggs, NZME — Top 3

Freedom to substantially live, work and play in an environment that you wish for. We are supported by relatively low levels of regulation compared to many countries and encouraged to look to the global stage to perform better, while taking the rich resources we have, people and commodities, to the world. The can-do attitude is encouraged within society and this will hold us in good stead into the future.

We have been held back by lack of bold vision and investment in New Zealand's infrastructure to support growth. Whether it be in transport, tourism or housing, the lack of speed in defining, approving and building key infrastructure is now hurting our productivity as a nation and is threatening the experience we provide to our people and a key export earner, tourism. Business must accept that further central and local government investment is required and be prepared to pay more, whether it be through taxes or user pays to ensure our nation continues to prosper into the future. Speed of decision-making and build is now paramount to the success of future generations. This will inflict some initial pain in our daily lives and businesses, as infrastructure is built or modified, but we must stay focused on delivering on a vision that will provide a better future than the counterfactual of low and slow investment.

It’s an exciting and challenging time to be in media. There are more and more sources of news and entertainment, and the ever-increasing speed of the internet combined with the strength of social media platforms and Google make distribution and access to a huge range of digital content very easy and, in most cases, free. However, people are becoming more wary of sources and want to trust the information they receive and source quality content. Audiences are mobile and increasingly demanding content in formats and on platforms to fit their individual routine and lifestyle. NZME works hard to keep pace with these audience demands and also the demands of our advertisers, who expect access to highly segmented audiences through quality data. We have to work harder than ever to deliver the best content to attract people to our platforms, at the lowest cost. We have an opportunity and an obligation to use our media assets and voice for good, for New Zealand as a whole, and we will continue to focus on this. Like every trend in media, we expect these trends to continue to accelerate through to the next general election in 2020. By then, the range of devices may have changed, but our audience will still demand that we produce quality, engaging content, as they do today.