Broadband the Answer to the OECD Report - Hodgson

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Posted Thu 13 December 2007 @ 3:27 p.m. by Ernie Newman

Economic Development Minister Pete Hodgson is onto it! Broadband is one of just two examples of issues he siezed on of ways to rectify New Zealand's accelerating slither down the slippery OECD slope!

Grilled on National Radio this morning by Geoff Robinson, with Bill English in the studio ready to pounce, Hodgson was asked "We need to work harder and cleverer, at what?" His reply:

"Lots of things. Why don't I just give you two examples? This country's got a pretty modest investment in what we call broadband and that has to quicken and so there was a big conference a couple of weeks ago in Auckland about that and I think that we will see now a bigger rollout of broadband in this country and there needs to be, secondly, a lot of the people, just to give you a second example, a lot of people in work have literacy and numeracy skills which are below par.

"They're actually not worse than any other country but what we're saying is if we improve those a little or even better than a little, then we're going to get a productivity increase from that.

"So that's why labour utilisation is, because it's already high we have to shift our focus to what we call labour productivity and that's where the broadband and skill stuff and a bunch of other stuff comes in to government thinking."

Great - the Minister has the message from the Digital Future Summit. Now we need decisive action, and money.

Minister Hodgson might consider one specific Quick Fix. After the TUANZ Broadband Conference in Hastings in 2004, with a strong mandate from our 200 plus leading industry delegates, TUANZ put to government a proposal for a project to rapidly increase the uptake of broadband-enabled productivity-enhancing measures for the SME sector. It aimed to get them acting to displace labour with more cost-effective use of technology. Although welcomed by Ministers, external groups and several key Ministries, the proposal was vetoed at the eleventh hour by his own Ministry.

It's still highly relevant and necessary. TUANZ will be dusting off a copy to send to the Minister before the holiday break.

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1 comment

  • Ariki Gell says:

    Give Bill English credit, hes allowed Pete Hodgson to leap to knowing all things broadband. Bad Move Pete. I find it highly unlikely Pete and his Ministry of misfits, that brief him like a bad episode of Yes Minister meets the twilight zone, know how to fix our pathetic OECD rating. Calling him onto it? "...that's where the broadband and skill stuff and a bunch of other stuff comes in to government thinking."? Is that the message from the Digital Summit? and other stuff ha ha. Ernie Newman's throw away comment "Now we need decisive action and money," is a clear indication of the reason behind the greasy tone of the posting. Careful Ernie, "onto it Pete" might not be around in 10 months time.

    Added: 18 December 2007, 1:11 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
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