Auckland economy ‘misfiring’
An economic summit is told the city's economy has shrunk during Covid-19
Auckland’s economy has been described as misfiring for two years, with activity declining as the rest of the country grew during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The comments were made at the opening of a daylong summit considering how the city could advance as it re-opened to the world.
“For all cylinders to fire, it will require the private and public sectors to work well together,” Nick Hill, the chief executive of the council agency Auckland Unlimited, told the Auckland’s Future Now gathering on Tuesday.
This is the third annual staging of the event, which has drawn 180 private and public sector figures, and is being webcast live.
The event opened with a review of a report looking at what Auckland could be in 50 years time, that had its origins in the 2020 event.
Auckland’s mayor Phil Goff acknowledged criticism of politicians in Koi Tū’s “Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau” that decision-making was too short term.
“The three-year election term is less than optimal in encouraging long-term thinking,” Goff told the audience.
“We need to think beyond our work programme.”
Goff acknowledged that while statistics showed traffic and pedestrian numbers in the city centre were returning to normal, issues such as inner city safety needed to be addressed.
“We still need to work with police and other agencies to dispel perceptions that it is not safe to be in the city centre,” Goff said.
The “Auckland’s Future, Now” gathering included panels on the city’s immediate challenges, how it should reconnect with the world, Māori entrepreneurship and the part played by younger people.
A big economic development project, aired at last year’s summit, has an unclear future after it missed funding in the Budget of $60 million for a Māori and Pasifika business-focused Ecopark.
“It was disappointing to see ‘more of the same’,” Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe), the general manager of Community and Social Innovation, said after the Budget’s release.
UNLOCKING AUCKLAND’S CREATIVE POTENTIAL
Auckland could be a city of creativity, culture and innovation – but, the creative technologies sector needs more support to be able to train and retain local talent, experts have warned.
Maru Nihoniho founder and managing director of Metia Interactive, told the Auckland’s Future Now conference that Auckland has the potential to be the creative capital of Aotearoa because of its rich diversity.
“We have a high population of Māori and Pasifika, which means we have a high degree of diversity and authenticity, especially when it comes to story-telling. We have a high young population as well which is really important because they make up our future workforce.’’
Nihoniho would like to see this diversity represented in the creative technologies sector, but asked for more support from central and local Government, to be able to train up the next generation.
Our biggest challenge is really finding talent and then having that talent in our studios to be able to train the next generation of diverse developers. We need to make sure the next generation who want to work in the creative industries are being embraced, but one of the challenges is how?
‘‘How do we build this
creative, Pacific, diverse industry here in Auckland? How do we support our young people? Because at the moment it’s challenging.’’
One solution she said is collaborating with schools and iwi to put together a system where, children can become interested in creative tech but, the challenge with keeping talent in New Zealand still persists.
‘‘We can nurture homegrown talent, but what’s the point if we can’t keep them here? We need to be supported at that central and local government level, so we can grow our industry and the creative community in Auckland and New Zealand.’’
Aliesha Staples, founder of Staples VR told the conference the tech industry is fighting to be heard.
For the first time, Staples’ company will be outsourcing overseas due to struggles finding talent locally.
‘‘A lot of us in the creative industries feel undervalued because we are struggling to find staff here,’’ Staples said.
Connectivity to the rest of the world, along with collaboration with other sectors, as well as ensuring Māori and Pasifika participation, is essential to the industry being considered as ‘‘worth backing’’ Staples said.
‘‘We need people to get behind the creative sector and make sure the smaller companies that are starting here aren’t having to fight the battle just to be heard.’’
Meanwhile, there was a stark warning that Māori and Pasifika unemployment in Tāmaki Makaurau could double, to 15%.
In a strongly-phrased address, a senior Auckland Council manager said joblessness in those communities had risen sharply, as many jobs linked to the Covid19 restrictions, and filled by Māori and Pasifika, were disbanded.
‘‘As soon as lock down lifted, there was a doubling of the dole queue,’’ Tania Pouwhare, general manager of community and social innovation, told the conference.
‘‘We are now on the ascent, we should be looking out for 15% unemployment,’’ she said, from current levels for Māori in Tamaki Makaurau (8.1%) and Pasifika (7.7%) which were already more than double the general rate.’’