“This new system is the best in the world. It removes the need for paper filing, cuts down on processing times, reduces compliance burdens and introduces much greater capabilities for Kiwi entrepreneurs,” says Mr Foss.

More than 4520 trade mark applications and 365 design applications have been lodged since the site went live three months ago.

“Tasks that previously took days can be done automatically and examination times can be reduced by more than eighty per cent.

“The system has been given the seal of approval by the World Intellectual Property Office, which says it provides comprehensive world-class features rarely seen in other countries,” says Mr Foss.

Further information can be found at www.iponz.govt.nz/cms.

“The new system gives trade-mark examiners more time to consider applications, instead of getting weighed down with administrative tasks,” says Mr Foss.

Mr Foss also congratulated IPONZ for winning the Grafton 2012 Driving Transformational Change Award earlier this week.

The summits, in Seoul from May 14-16, bring together Government, industry, research and policy representatives to share insights into their experiences in broadband and to explore joint ventures and research partnerships.

“With the development of the National Broadband Network in Australia and Korea’s world-leading broadband network, it will be interesting to hear about their experiences,” Ms Adams says.

“The opportunity to discuss New Zealand’s ultra-fast broadband policy and industry issues allows us to make better, more informed decisions when planning for future investment.”

Ms Adams will also attend the Korea Communications Conference in Seoul, and visit the Electronics and Telecommunications Institute in Daejeon.

Topics at the summits and conference also cover areas such as next-generation networks, broadcasting and new media content, smart services such as e-learning, e-health and disaster management, new business opportunities and green ICTs.

Ms Adams will hold bilateral meetings with Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and Korea’s Environment Minister, Yoo Young-sook.

“In addition, the visit to Korea offers an opportunity to leverage business opportunities for New Zealand ICT companies by raising the profile of our country as a supplier of niche technologies to Korean companies and highlighting Korea as an ICT market for New Zealand companies.”

Speaking at the opening of a carbon sink forest in Marlborough owned by NZ Carbon Farming, Mr Groser says that the NZ ETS was creating the desired shift towards renewable energy and investment in forestry. There were also early signs that business was factoring the scheme into its longer-term investment decisions.

“In the forestry sector, we have left behind the unprecedented levels of deforestation that occurred in the years up to the introduction of the NZ ETS, and are now seeing good net gains in afforestation,” says Mr Groser.

“While we lost 30,000 hectares between 2005 and 2009, we have seen a net increase of 6000 hectares in 2010 and an estimated 12,000 for 2011.

“Anyone familiar with the forestry sector, however, would know that this is small beer when measured against potential plantings.”

Submissions on the proposed changes to the NZ ETS close today, following an independent review of the scheme last year. The review, entitled “Doing Our Fair Share,” considered the operation and impact of the scheme in relation to New Zealand’s economic and environmental goals.

“These proposed changes will enable New Zealand to do its fair share while ensuring that the NZ ETS doesn’t impact unreasonably on business and households,” says Mr Groser.

Today I’m going to offer some thoughts on this theme, focusing on where I think we’re headed more broadly as an economy. I’m optimistic about our economic future – I do believe we’re on the right track towards achieving sustained economic growth – but we’re going to need to be fast, smart, and well-coordinated  (within the government and between the government and business) to push up our wealth curve.

In particular, we need to ensure that we’re doing the best we can to enhance the international competitiveness of our companies. New Zealand needs more businesses that are able to operate successfully in international markets in order to grow.

I am pleased that notwithstanding a tough global environment, our export volumes in recent years have increased year on year. That said, the rate of volume growth, running at around 1.4 per cent per annum over the 2004 to 2010 period, is considerably down on the annual average rate of 5.4 per cent in the preceding 1990 to 2004 period.

This is simply not good enough. We need to lift our game. An important lever in this respect is trade policy, but it will not deliver the growth we need on its own. We need all parts of the economy to work in sync if we’re to lift the tradable sector of the economy.

So whilst the government is focused on negotiating a raft of FTAs – including with India, Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan, and the Trans Pacific Partnership – we also need to ensure that our domestic policy settings are sound, that our companies are taking full advantage of the trading platform that we establish through these agreements, and that we are moving to integrate New Zealand companies more into global supply chains.

New Zealand’s Economic Story

I’ll return to this later, but let me begin by offering some thoughts on New Zealand’s economic story over the past few decades. As a small, relatively distant country, much of this narrative is bound up in our external trading environment.

To state the obvious: we cannot, nor will we ever, get rich by selling to ourselves. Our domestic market is simply too small and we require a vibrant export sector to maintain our standard of living. We don’t have the luxury of size when it comes to generating domestic economic activity to fully support our own growth.

This is a challenging space to be in as our economy can be disproportionally affected by developments largely beyond our control – namely the economic performance and policies of our big trading partners. The need to those external risks and uncertainties has necessitated a transformation of our economy over a number of years with a view to building greater economic resilience. In this we have been remarkably successful.

In the 1960/1970s, we were an effective mono-culture in economic terms.  Around 70% of our exports went to Europe – the majority of which were agricultural commodities.

This left us exposed. It’s a story that my generation is familiar with but it bears repeating. The UKs entry into the European Economic Community in 1973 was a sharp reality check – we had to diversify our export markets and product base as our preferential access to the UK’s middle class consumers disappeared almost overnight.

Indeed, diversification is exactly what we did over a number of years.  We went from being an inward-looking protectionist economy to one of the most open economies in the world.

Since then, the transformation in our trading profile has been quite extraordinary.

Market Diversification

Today, exports to Europe represent just 11 per cent of our total exports – still important, but nowhere near as important as they once were.

At the same time, we began a process of reorienting ourselves towards Australia and Asia, and our exports to the two regions increased significantly. Between 1964 and 2010 Australia’s share of total exports increased from 4 per cent to 22 per cent; Asia’s from 6.6 per cent to 39 per cent.

This sits against the backdrop of a major shift in economic power from the developed to the developing world. In particular, Asia looks set to reclaim a share of world GDP close to what it controlled prior to the Industrial Revolution. Wealth creation is returning to where the bulk of the world’s people live, and in another ten years or so, another billion people will enter the middle class in Asia.
It is clear that much of our trading future lies here, and I believe that we’re well placed to capitalise on this historical shift in economic geography.

We’ve developed strong political relationships in the region – it was no accident that we were the first Western country to sign an FTA with China. In many respects, this agreement was made possible by successive governments that worked hard to build a strong political relationship with China.

This government is working hard to capitalise on this tradition. For example, the Prime Minister and I have just returned from leading a high powered business delegation to Indonesia – my fourth such trade mission in as many weeks. Such visits are an important way of leveraging New Zealand’s political relationships for our business community.

Product Diversification

So, we’ve managed to diversify our export markets, focusing particularly on Asia.  At the same time, we’ve also managed to diversify our product base. While agriculture is no less a ‘sunrise’ sector as it was during the boom years of the 1950s – it is certainly less dominant today.

In 1964, agriculture claimed a 93% share of our total exports by value.  In 2010, this had reduced to 54%.

However, the sector has also diversified and moved its products up the value chain – important if we are to supply the safe, high quality food and beverages that the growing middle class of Asia is increasingly looking to purchase.

Take sheep meat exports for example. In 1971, 92% of sheep meat exports were frozen carcasses, with just 8% frozen cuts. By 2008, 65% were frozen cuts, with frozen carcasses barely registering at 3%.

Outside of agriculture, sectors such as forestry, high-value manufacturing, and oil have become high earners of foreign exchange for New Zealand.

Services Exports and Global Supply Chains

Although our goods exports have become significantly diversified in recent years, our services exports have been dominated by the tourism and education sectors.  We do well in these sectors, but we have historically underperformed in what is known as commercial or business services – the real high-value end of the services trade.

However, indications are that we’re beginning to improve in this area.  In the year to June 2011, we earned $4 billion from commercial services exports – an increase from $2.5 billion in 2005. Growth in this specific sector over this period was 8.3 per cent compared with a contraction of 0.9 per cent in our more traditional services sectors – tourism and education.

The top performer in the commercial services sector has been ‘management fees between related parties’ – which is simply another way of referring to the provision of services or the collection of royalties between head office and a subsidiary.  Exports of this type have increased a staggering 290 per cent since 2005!

Business models are also changing, which is reflected by the increase in merchanting exports. Merchanting captures the situation where a New Zealand company buys goods abroad and then on-sells them to another overseas party. For example, a New Zealand company might buy garments from an overseas factory and then sell these onto another overseas party at a higher price without the goods entering NZ. Exports of this type have increased by about 50 per cent since 2005.

This is not simply a story about a high performing sector.  When we observe this increase in commercial and business services, what we’re also observing is another shift in the nature of New Zealand’s trade – a shift towards greater integration into the global supply chain. And it’s big – the OECD estimates that trade in intermediate goods is close to 60 per cent trade in goods and 73 per cent of trade in services within the OECD.

This is being driven fundamentally by technology. As transportation and communication costs continue to decrease, it becomes increasingly viable for companies to make use of the comparative advantages of other countries to produce their products.

Let’s use China as an example. We simply cannot compete with China’s ability to produce things at a low cost. But what we can do, is combine their strengths with our own comparative advantages, whether it’s in design or high-value manufacturing, to become internationally competitive.

A good example of a company adopting this strategy is Rakon, who design and manufacture crystal oscillators used in smartphones and GPS navigation devices.  Their investment in a factory in Chengdu, Western China enables the company to keep costs down and remain internationally competitive in their major market for high-volume simple chips and oscillators. The top-end products continue to be manufactured in New Zealand.

This is how we should begin to position ourselves internationally – as a niche producer of intermediate goods in the global supply chain. However, in order to do so, we simply to have to break out of outmoded twentieth century thinking – the sort that would view this as a threat to New Zealand jobs. The reverse is actually the case – the rise of the global supply chain will create more high-value jobs for New Zealanders provided that we can find our way into this new ‘trade story.’

This, I think, speaks directly to the theme of this conference. As I said before, much of our trading future lies in Asia, but not only in terms of exporting finished products – we’re going to need to export more intermediate goods and services.
One implication of this is that we’re likely to see, given the link between trade and investment in the global supply chain, increased investment from Asia into New Zealand and vice versa. This is something we should welcome if we’re serious about growing the economy. We can’t afford not to.

New Zealand’s trading platform – the WTO and FTAs

So, what is the government doing to enhance New Zealand’s external position in this challenging and fluid environment?

We are focusing on two key challenges. First, we need to secure a world class trading platform, and second, we need to ensure that our companies are taking full advantage of these platforms to enhance New Zealand’s economic growth.
Let me begin by briefly sketching out the development of New Zealand’s trading platform over the past few decades.

Of fundamental importance is that we were able to secure a set of agreed disciplines around agriculture in the WTO Uruguay Round. That was big for us.
Since then the multilateral route has been exceedingly hard going. Unfortunately, few but the most optimistic are under any illusion that we’ll see a successful conclusion to the Doha Round anytime soon. It is in trouble, but we must continue to work towards enhancing a rules-based international trading system. Indeed, the body of pro-liberalisation jurisprudence is probably one of the most important achievements of the multilateral trading system – we saw the value of this during the financial crisis, when a number of countries reactively turned towards protectionism.

Thankfully for New Zealand we’ve also invested in a successful plan B – namely an active FTA agenda – to the extent that about 46 per cent of our exports today are now covered by FTAs.

This process began with CER in 1980 – a truly game changing agreement in New Zealand’s economic history.

Then there was a long gap, but things began to pick up in the 2000s. Between 2000 and 2010 we signed agreements with Singapore, Thailand, what is known as P4 (Singapore, Chile, and Brunei), China, Hong Kong, and (together with the Australians) an agreement with ASEAN.

But we haven’t stopped there. We have a suite of additional FTAs under negotiation with:
Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan
India
Korea
Gulf Cooperation Council
Trans Pacific Partnership – intended to be a building block for trade and investment for the Asia-Pacific region

We have also begun to look into the feasibility of an Economic Cooperation Agreement between New Zealand and Chinese Taipei. This is significant. If we succeed, NZ will be the only country to have secured trade agreements with the three Chinese customs territories (the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei).
If we conclude all of these agreements, then 64 per cent of our current exports will be covered by FTAs. To put it another way, 36 per cent of our exports by value are able to enter markets duty free under current FTAs. This will climb to 46 per cent by value if we secure these additional agreements – and a much higher percentage will be able to enter – if not at zero – at a rate lower than for 3rd countries.

This will be a significant achievement, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We have a world class trade policy platform, but these agreements, in and of themselves, don’t create wealth for New Zealand. The economic benefits from an FTA are largely realised when traders utilise the preferential tariff rates available.

Tariff Preference Utilisation

This is the piece of the jigsaw that I’m not entirely happy with yet. Recent research by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has indicated that our exporters are not taking full advantage of our FTAs. What I’m referring to here is tariff preference utilisation under these trade agreements.

Let’s look at our FTA with China for example, which has by most measures, been a tremendous success.

Since the agreement entered into force in 2008, our total trade with China has increased by 50 per cent: New Zealand’s exports to China have tripled over the last five years.  At this rate, we look set to achieve the ambitious goal set out in the government’s strategy to double two-way trade with China by 2015.

However, that statistic does not tell the full story. In the 2010 year, use of preferential tariffs under this FTA resulted in duty savings of about $50 million. This is up from around $27 million in 2009.

A good result – a combined duty saving of close to $80m in two years – but a quarter of NZ exports to China in value terms did not make use of available preferences. A further 25 per cent of exports underutilised available preferences.

In dollar terms, this amounts to lost duty savings of up to $94 million.

We know that the bulk of tariff preference uptake is taking place across a narrow number of tariff lines (where the majority of our trade to China takes place). Sectors with high tariff utilisation included fruit and vegetables (91.7 per cent), and agriculture (other animal products – 98.2, per cent, dairy – 73.2 per cent).

What we don’t yet know conclusively, is why there is a long tail of underutilisation taking place in other sectors. One explanation may be that the Chinese have unilaterally reduced or eliminated tariffs on a number of tariff lines, which means that there are no tariff savings to be had under the FTA when exporting these products.

Other potential explanations include:
Lack of information on preferential tariffs. It may be the case that our exporters simply don’t appreciate that their products are eligible for a preferential tariff rate.
In some cases it may be that the tariff preference margin currently available to New Zealand is not sufficiently big to incentivise companies to seek the specific New Zealand rate.
In some cases we suspect it may be due to the additional effort required to supply the correct documentation that is deterring companies from claiming preference.
It’s also possible that in some cases exporters might be passive. Certain businesses may know how to make use of preferences but simply decide not to use the preference unless the importer makes a request.

In a number of these cases I’m sure that preference utilisation uptake might be improved if the critical sector you all represent – that of customs brokers and freight forwarders – is active in understanding our FTAs and is ensuring that your clients are positioning themselves to leverage these FTAs to full effect.

Given that this issue is a “bread and butter” one for your industry, I expect that I might find some of the answers from speaking with people in this room during the morning tea break.

Concluding remarks

To sum up, it is clear that ‘Intra Asia’ is a key component of our trading future. Asia is on the economic rise, and there is significant growth potential for New Zealand companies that can take advantage of global supply chains within Asia.
This requires different ways of thinking and operating. It won’t happen overnight, but the government is absolutely committed to supporting our exporters to get into the right space.

Your industry is also a critical player. You have an important role to play in giving the best advice to your clients to enhance their export position. I’m therefore pleased to see a vibrant customs brokers/freight forwarding community present today.

Ms Collins says the Government is extremely concerned about the growing incidence of this abhorrent bullying and the devastating effects it can have on young people.

“Young people’s lives are increasingly enmeshed in social media and they are particularly at risk from the significant harm that can be caused by cyber-bullying.”

As part of its report, The News Media Meets New Media, the Law Commission is investigating potential changes to:

• introduce a new offence of maliciously impersonating another person on the web
• the Harassment Act 1997 to ensure its provisions apply to cyber-bullying and other online intimidation.
• extend the Telecommunications Act 2001 definition of misuse of a ‘telephone device’ to also cover computers and other electronic devices.
• amend the Human Rights Act to make it clear that publications likely to ‘excite hostility or invite contempt’ include digital publications and that cyberspace is a ‘public place’ from which people cannot be excluded as a consequence of significant and harmful sexual or racial harassment by others.
• investigate the need to make ‘incitement to suicide’ a criminal offence, regardless of whether a person actually commits suicide, or attempts to.

“I have written to the Commission and have asked that its work around cyber-bullying is given priority. I look forward to receiving their recommendations as soon as possible.

“I am concerned that we treat this as a priority, and take action to reduce the potential for harm where we can,” Ms Collins says.

Enviroschools and Te Aho Tu Roa (the Maori immersion approach) encourage children, their schools and their families to think and act sustainably – at school, at home and in everyday life.

“I’m pleased that, in tight economic times, we can provide substantial funding for this valuable programme as a result of the Government’s confidence and supply agreement with the Maori Party,” Ms Adams says.

“The Government is committed to improving and maintaining the quality of our environment and this funding will provide a valuable contribution towards the support of the Enviroschools programme.”

The $7.6m boost consolidates the interim budget negotiated by the Maori Party in 2010 for Enviroschools and Te Aho Tu Roa.

“This funding from the Government enables Enviroschools to continue, and Te Aho Tu Roa to be further developed in Maori immersion schools, with support from programme partners that include private businesses and local government,” Dr Sharples says.

“Because Enviroschools and Te Aho Tu Roa involve students, schools, whanau and communities, the results of this investment will be long-lasting.”

Ms Adams adds: “Children are our future environmental leaders so it is heartening that so many of them want to be involved in this initiative.”

Students will undertake initiatives to improve their own schools, including reducing waste going into landfill, installing water tanks and planting their own vegetable gardens.

“The programme has a strong bicultural approach, recognising that Maori perspectives and knowledge of the environment enrich the whole learning process,” Dr Sharples says.

Housing Minister Phil Heatley has announced the first tranche of funding from the Niche segment of the $37.35 million Social Housing Fund.

“This is tightly targeted funding that is carefully managed by non-government housing providers who are in a position to direct the benefit straight to people in real need,” he said.

“The money has been spread across the country and is going to a good mix of specialist providers.”

In the Niche Fund, West Auckland’s VisionWest has been granted $1.2 million to purchase land and build six houses for its target group – low-income, vulnerable families who often end up homeless.

The Nelson Tasman Housing Trust has received $1 million to provide eight affordable market rental properties for families with up to four children.

Niche funding has also gone to Bays Community Housing Trust ($530,000, North Shore, Auckland); Tauwhao Te Ngare Trust ($1.31 million, Bay of Plenty); “Whatever It Takes” Trust ($500,000, Hawke’s Bay); Habitat for Humanity ($50,000, Northland) and Accessible Properties NZ ($560,000, Christchurch).

The Social Housing Unit was set up last year as a key part of recent Government initiatives in social housing. It aims to meet the growing need for social and affordable housing by allocating funding and forming partnerships with third-party providers that provide social and affordable housing.

“Directions for Education Renewal in Greater Christchurch” is the result of several months of engagement with education leaders, teachers, young people, business leaders, stakeholders, and Ngai Tahu.

It outlines a number of proposals which could change the way education is delivered in the greater Christchurch area.

Among the ideas being proposed is the establishment of education campuses which would see tertiary education, schools, early childhood education and social services on a single site, and the introduction of more flexible learning spaces that could be configured to suit different types of teaching and learning.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says central and local government have worked tirelessly with the education sector to minimise the disruption and restore services to the community since the first earthquake.

“It is clear, however, that given the extent of the damage and the population movement that the sector cannot be returned to how it was,’’ Ms Parata says.

“Therefore we have an opportunity to address the inequalities and ensure we have a locally relevant yet best practice education system that equips all learners with the knowledge and skills to be successful citizens in the 21st century.’’

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce says “Directions for Education Renewal in Greater Christchurch” places considerable emphasis on the relationship between education and the regional economy.

“Tertiary education has a key role to play in supporting recovery both economically and socially,” Mr Joyce says.

“It will be key to providing the skills and knowledge needed to help get greater Christchurch back on its feet and to grow and prosper.’’

The draft programme proposes supporting and strengthening tertiary education institutions’ (TEIs) to build on areas that are economically important such as engineering and agriculture, sharing of tertiary facilities and better collaboration between TEIs and businesses to improve the understanding of each other’s needs.

“It is an investment in the futures of our children and young people,” Mr Joyce says.

“Directions for Education Renewal in greater Christchurch” is available online at shapingeducation.minedu.govt.nz. Submissions open on May 11 and close on May 31 2012. An implementation plan will then be developed.

“We are making changes to give priority to migrants who can make a real contribution to New Zealand. Overall we expect these changes will eventually save the taxpayer around $40 million a year.

“There will be a new two-tier process for the parents of New Zealand citizens and residents who want to migrate here. Applications from parents who have higher income sponsors, or who bring a guaranteed income or funds, will be processed faster than other applications.

“Parents whose English is poor will need to pre-purchase tuition, and the period during which sponsors are required to meet certain obligations for their parents’ support will extend from five to 10 years.

“As a result of these policy changes, many skilled migrants who have residence here can sponsor their parents and will receive a quicker decision with less red tape.

“The Sibling and Adult Child Category for new migrants will close on 15 May, which will reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it more difficult to get jobs and are more likely to end up on a benefit.  Research has shown that only 66% of people who gain residence as siblings and adult children had a job after 18 months, despite a job offer being required for residence.”

The existing Parent category will close on 15 May and the new two tier category will be available from late July.

Further information on the changes is available here

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/familycategorychanges

Launching the expanded throat swabbing programme at Holy Family School in Porirua with Prime Minister John Key, Associate Health Minister and Māori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said the Government was determined to significantly reduce this serious disease.

“Rheumatic fever in children is a serious issue in this area,” Mrs Turia says. “Children whose sore throats progress to rheumatic fever are significantly at risk of major heart damage later in life.

“But with proper antibiotic treatment at the sore throat stage, we reduce that risk of heart damage by up to 80 per cent.

“That’s why the Prime Minister is taking on rheumatic fever as part of his better public service challenge to support vulnerable children. And it’s why the Government, with the support of the Māori Party, is spending $24 million targeting 35,000 at risk children in seven regions.”

In Budget 2012, the Government is adding $12 million in operating spending to the campaign over the next four years, bringing the total five-year package to $24 million.
Porirua City has the highest rate of rheumatic fever among five to 15 year olds, Mrs Turia says.

“We’re making sure there will be enough funding so that all schools here in Waitangirua, Cannons Creek and Porirua East can take part, and as many children as possible covered.

“Māori and Pacific people – mostly children – living in cold over-crowded homes are most likely to get it. “They are more than 20 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with first time acute rheumatic fever than anyone else.”

Throat-swabbing programmes with antibiotic follow up are also in place for schools in Northland, South Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairawhiti, Hawke’s Bay and Porirua.