Auckland’s economy ‘misfiring’
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 day-long 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,” Auckland Unlimited chief executive Nick Hill 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 mayor Phil Goff acknowledged criticism of politicians in Koi Tu¯ ’s “Reimagining Ta¯maki Makaurau” that decision-making was too short term.
“The three-year election term is less than optimal in encouraging long-term thinking,” Goff said. “We need to think beyond our work programme.”
He 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.’’
The “Auckland’s Future, Now” gathering included panels on the city’s immediate challenges, how it should reconnect with the world, Ma¯ ori 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 Ma¯ori and
Pasifika business-focused Ecopark.
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.
Metia Interactive founder and managing director Maru Nihoniho told the conference that Auckland had the potential to be the creative capital of Aotearoa because of its rich diversity.
“We have a high population of Ma¯ ori and Pasifika, which means we have a high degree of diversity and authenticity ... 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 train the next generation.
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 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 was collaborating with schools and iwi to attract children to creative tech she said, but the challenge of keeping talent in New Zealand persists: ‘‘We can nurture homegrown talent, but what’s the point if we can’t keep them here?’’
Aliesha Staples, founder of Staples VR, said the tech industry was fighting to be heard.
For the first time, Staples’ company will be outsourcing overseas because of struggles finding talent locally.
Meanwhile, there was a stark warning that Ma¯ ori and Pasifika unemployment in Ta¯maki 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 Ma¯ori and Pasifika, were disbanded.
‘‘As soon as lockdown 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 Ma¯ori in Tamaki Makaurau (8.1%) and Pasifika (7.7%) which were already more than double the general rate.’’