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BUSINESS SUPPORT |
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Presidents Viewpoint - 14 December 2005 |
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Yesterday seemed like January, and now its almost Christmas. Hopefully time to spend some valuable hours with those who are close to you. Sit back, relax and prepare for another successful Wanganui year. If you can do something for someone who is less fortunate than yourself go for it. Our City is up there ahead of the best. I was at the Chamber of Commerce Conference late November and the majority of the people there commented to me on the positive direction Wanganui was enjoying. We are, and are seen as the City to be part of at the moment. It is a worry that all the commentators are saying we are heading for bad times, and I believe if we talk hard enough about it, the predictions will become reality. But what about Wanganui; if we ignore them and concentrate on the positives that are all around us we could prove them all wrong. What a wonderful occasion the ABN AMRO Craigs Chamber Business Awards were. We should applaud the organisational skills of the committee, be very proud of the winners and indeed all the businesses that made the effort to enter the Awards plus the 380 people who came along and had a great night. Well done. I have a huge issue with the blameless society we live in NZ. It is always someone else’s fault. Nobody is accountable anymore. We are looking at taxing the food suppliers for the disgraceful habits of people who have little pride or respect, who chuck their rubbish on the ground when they have finished with it. Why should people not be made accountable, find out who they are and the next time a full rubbish truck is heading for the tip get it emptied on their front lawn. Get the press along and shame these people. Don’t tax the rest of us who have been brought up to respect others. It would definitely get Wanganui some national and international press. Our Justice system for instance; who is accountable here? Perhaps it is time to replace them with someone who can do the job. It has to start with the Justice Minister requiring some accountability from the top down. We have an unbelievable justice system; if you offend and have no assets or money, you get legal aid, looked after by some of our best lawyers at no cost to you, and when you are found guilty you don’t have to pay your fine. At present the Government has $637million in fines to collect. It is more than double the amount that was outstanding five years ago. Many people are repeat offenders: 56,589 people owe money for 10 or more fines and there are 9000 people who each owe $10,000 or more, and nearly 180,000 people owed fines which were more than five years old. Perhaps reduce the department’s budget equal to the amount owing. I am sure like any business they would soon get most of it in if it meant their ultimate survival. The Government says there is not enough spare cash to give families or businesses tax reductions, well guys what are you doing about all these missing millions, I am sure if it was collected it could be put to better use. Put your hand up and be accountable and do something about it. We are not making either the offender or the justice system accountable, it should be run like a business. No wonder we have such a large crime problem, if you are actually caught, have no money, you are looked after and don’t have to pay when you are sentenced, and if you are lucky you can apply to serve your time at home! They say people have rights, what about the rights of the people who are contributing to this country. What happened to the new computer systems set up by tax, police and justice etc to link all these things more efficiently? Perhaps we should have kept the old Wanganui Computer Centre? Parliament has started again and off they go, finding out that somebody did something 30-40 years ago and wasting parliaments time and our money with personal trivia. We didn’t vote you in to run a side show, get on with moving our country forward. Perhaps pretend NZ is a business that you are responsible for. Parliament should be run like a Board and get rid of this nonsense. Be accountable and show us you deserved our vote.
The NZ Chambers of Commerce has made a presentation to Minister of Commerce Lianne Dalziel giving total support to a campaign by Wanaka’s business community for an easing of Easter shopping restrictions. Wanaka can’t open most of their businesses when the Warbirds over Wanaka International Airshow is on because it is Easter weekend. They have 10,000+ visitors yet nearby Queenstown can open because they are classed as a tourist town.
I am personally in favour of ensuring people have a break at Xmas and Easter but it does seem ludicrous that a town cannot cater for a big event that people choose to be part of on their day off. Equally strange, the Labour Department staff turn up, they are being paid extra because they are working on a public holiday, they get to spend time at a great event, don’t buy anything because it s meant to be closed, they even get an extra day off during the year because they worked, and they fill in their stay prosecuting various businesses for breaking the law for being open. Quite bizarre! I wonder if the Wanaka local authority could come up with an equally stupid bylaw that made it illegal for Labour Department officials to be working in their area over Easter! Finally I don’t believe people who live in NZ celebrate successes enough. You always hear Americans talking about ‘their’ nation with immense pride. We all have pride; just feel the pride when the All Blacks perform the Haka. We need to capture the passion and desire of the All Blacks to inspire us to show pride in our country and celebrate what a marvellous country we are fortunate to live in. Warren Ruscoe
President
Wanganui Chamber of Commerce
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