Mr Trotter attacks ‘Think Big’ slogan

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 1

Mr Trotter attacks ‘Think Big’ slogan

PA - Auckland The Government’s >■ “think big” slogan was-at-tacked yesterday in Alick- •' land i by the chairman of New- Zealand’s - largest: company, Fletcher-Chai-, lerige, Ltd, Mr Ron Trotter. • ' ? •: / Mr Trotter, who : was ? addressing 120 businessmen.;' at a Government- . sponsored ; workshop on the theme, “Thinking 'big and its spin-off opportun-. ity,”. said:- “The slogan' that worries me is ‘think- ■ ing big’.” “I," believe in big. think- / ing ■? business, in unions./ and-within the cbinjL-.-.b.'iy,' ' ‘‘Blit . .‘think , big’ .as a. .

political statement is unfortunate. > “It has political and emotional connotations,” •he said.-. ' Mr Trotter told the workshop,, which was opened; and- is being ?■ chaired by the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch), that . the . issues, facing New Zealand were not a ques- . lion, of thinking big taking. <: precedence over all else. He said that the environment and bigness had both. been tangled up. ’ ' However, he believed that . the. environmental issues ; of today would ‘not be thd ; : main issues of tomorrow. • ; Mr Trotter raid that ;

size was important in developing New Zealand resources to secure a nat- ; idnal competitive advantage. However, other'areas such as agriculture, horticulture, . forestry, and manufacturing for export did not fall into the think big attitude, yet provided . enormous potential for New Zealand. - Earlier, Mr Trotter told the workshop that th; biggest stumbling block to growth was.the balance of payments problem. Mr Trotter estir...:ted' that it took $6000; of foreign exchange, to employ each person in the work force. Future employment,

he' said, would come from foreign exchange earnings, either through import savings or actual increased revenues. . The. Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) made • his point at the' : Gdvenimeht-spoh-sdred seminaryesterday by handing put copies, of a National Party political pamphlet. - ■■ •. ' He told 120 businessmen at the -end of a half-hour speech devoted to. New Zealand’s growth opportunities that it was .the first time he could recall ever having made such a- move. “It is not usual -to distribute political pamphlets on an occasion,such as this,

and I cannot recall that I have ever done it before. “But the material is so graphic that I think it illustrates what I have been talking about better than anything I can say'to you, and so I propose to distribute a copy to each of you,” Mr Muldoon said. The pamphlet’s title, “We’ve got New Zealand going . . . We’ve really, got it growing,” is reminiscent of a late 1960 s rock song by. the British group The Kinks. It begins with a tough message from the Prime Minister. ' . . “Growth means independence and independence

means we don’t get pushed around by other countries’ problems,” he says. The pamphlet outlines development plans—s6soo million worth of investment is lined lip—and new job creation—4lo,ooo by the end of the decade. • Mr Muldoon had earlier told the workshop that “it is high time this country got its act together.” He said his recent visit to Japan and Korea had convinced him we had advantages over those countries, yet they had achieved remarkable growth. ’ . He said. there was a queue of bankers lining "up

at New Zealand’s door with project finance. “I emphasise project finance, because both of my opposing political parties appear to totally misunderstand the method of external financing which is necessary,” he said. He said that big energy related projects must be built with project finance. However, in agriculture, farming or small business, funds would come from the general pool, which would be built up from the surpluses of energy based projects. Mr Muldoon predicted that New Zealand should be totally independent of imported oil by the year 2000.