Canterbury’s economy needs diversity

Over the past 30 years or so, we have seen the manufacturing and productive sector decimated in this country. Back when my business, Cactus Outdoor, was founded, Canterbury still had a massive clothing industry with manufacturers and other support services keeping many thousands of people employed.

Since then, we have embarked upon a journey which, in typical ‘‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’’ style, sees our decision makers push us into entirely new areas.

Today, it seems, our future lies in Canterbury being a centre for software and tourism, with a side serving of space exploration.

Now don’t get me wrong – visionaries such as Peter Beck with Rocket Lab, Rod Drury with Xero and all those involved in the tourism sector have been beneficial to our country, but what I can’t figure out is why the powers that be always see this as a zero sum game. Why is it that to have a successful economy we need to turn our back on what has gone before?

I’ve long been frustrated at the shallow thinking that sees politicians and other luminaries shout loudly from the rooftops that New Zealand can be the next Silicon Valley. It’s shallow thinking and, fundamentally, sets us down a bad path.

It’s also dangerous in that it ignores fundamental truths – the fact that (arguably) we haven’t got a unique point of difference when it comes to software development for example, or the fact that the growing trend towards ‘‘Flight Shame’’ might threaten our tourism sector.

So instead of looking for simple answers and searching for the cool new thing, how about we look at creating diversity in our economy. Take a bit of software, sprinkle in some tourism, a few space rockets and, yes, add in some good old-fashioned manufacturing.

Recently we acquired Albion Clothing, a business with almost half a century’s history of making high quality garments in Christchurch. We did so not only because we fundamentally believe that keeping a manufacturing base here is the right thing to do, but also because being able to make locally, and offer consumers transparency over the environmental and social impacts of their consumption is smart business.

At some point in time, consumers will increasingly have concerns about their clothing being made by workers who are essentially slaves, or wearing fabrics the dying of which cause rivers in China and India to run in various non-natural colours.

At that point, if we follow the advice of those determining strategies for NZ Inc today, we will have lost any opportunity to respond and we will have communally thrown out the skills and infrastructure to actually make stuff here.

Instead of this path, how about we determine that retaining traditional industries, no matter how unsexy they are, is a smart thing to do and we start celebrating those who make an honest product, right here at home?

It’s the right thing to do socially and environmentally and, for those who focus on economics, it’s a super smart way to de-risk our economy as well.