Common Tasman labour market?

Press, 15 July 1980, Page 21

Common Tasman labour market?

Wellington reporter As New Zealand’s common labour market with Australia develops. the economy must be put on a par with Australia’s if New Zealand is to share, in the benefits of a free exchange of people and their skills, says the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch). He told the Institute of Quarrying annual dinner in Wanganui that the building of new energybased projects was the start of a new cycle of development in New Zealand’s role in the Pacific. The Government considered there was little sense being rich in resources if these were not used to the benefit of the nation. Geothermal, coal and hydro-electric power and natural gas all had the potential to provide feed-

stocks for a wide range of industries. Mr Birch said he believed that New Zealand’s future lay mainly in the expansion of food production from farms and the expansion of wood fibres from forests, as well as the development of fish resources from the seas. But New Zealand also had a chance to broaden its economic base and build industries based on raw materials from the ground. A third potline at Tiwai Point, a second aluminium smelter ip the South Island. an e.xpanded steel mill,' and a whole range of petro-chemical industries in Taranaki based on natural gas. were all exciting opportunities which New Zealand needed to take if it were to remain competitive in trade. Mr Birch said.