Manufacturers tell Govt to shape up

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 16

Manufacturers tell Govt to shape up

A call for the Government to shape up to inflation and cost-price policies of its departments so that the Closer Economic Relationship with Australia could be effective was made by the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association yesterday. Mr D. A. Bowron. president of the association, told a seminar of manufacturers in Christchurch, attended by the Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr Templeton), that the success of C.E.R. did not rest with manufacturers alone. .

"There are several major economic areas where the Government must also face’ up urgently if our industry is to get any over-all advantage of this arrangement. Without positive action on all of these, manufacturers could face disastrous consequences and unemployment could increase dramatically," Mr Bowron said. The Government could not continue to stand by and allow New Zealand’s excessive inflation rate — "50 per cent higher than Australia's" —to continue. .

This would eventually lead to an industrial crisis. It must provide the leadership to gain further acceptance of

the need of all sectors to make some sacrifice to reduce inflation. It must cut its own expenditure as an example, he said. It must revise its cost-plus pricing policies for services such as the Post Office, rail transport, and energy. “If manufacturers are to be accountable and competitive. so should the Ministers of these Government departments,” said Mr Bowron. Government service charges more often than not were raised each year higher than manufacturers' prices, and above the inflation rate, he claimed. This was not acceptable if manufacturers were to be competitive. Examples were the recent 20 per cent increase in postal charges and the 41 per cent jump in telephone rentals. The “over-protected and inefficient” transport industry cried out for a complete overhaul if' this important service to manufacturing was to be competitive. "Internal Australian freight rates in many cases, are 2 to 3 times cheaper than those in New' Zealand,” he said. "South Island manufacturers regard it as one of the severest handicaps to com-

peting fairly with Australia." He described the rail freight charges via the Cook Strait ferry service as a scandal. Mr Bowron assured the seminar that the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association wholeheartedly supported the Manufacturers' Federation stand for the maintenance of quantitative restrictions on imports.

“We under no circumstance agree that tariffs could alone provide adequate protection,” he said. The views of companies varied from extreme opposition to enthusiastic support of the concept. Canterbury had been no exception, although perhaps the antagonistic approach had been somewhat less than in other districts, said Mr Bowron.

“The Government is at great pains to finalise the C.E.R. agreement. Industry certainly has its reservations as there are too many imponderables for us to estimate accurately the effects on each company. It will be largely a matter of suck and see. Some of us could benefit, no doubt, and some could be faced with very difficult adjustments.” Mr Bowron said.