Restructuring tardiness brings 'pain’

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 3

Restructuring tardiness brings 'pain’

The argument that industrial restructuring should not proceed or should be retarded during periods of high unemployment was described as “specious and illogical” by the chairman of the New Zealand Planning Council, Mr lan Douglas, in an address yesterday to Wellington accountants. “It amounts to saying that while unemployment is substantially caused by structural deficiencies, no moves should be made to remedy those deficiencies while unemployment remains,” he said. “It is a circular absurdity.” Mr Douglas said that clearly the management of structural change should be as sensitive as possible to the human factors. “The. process does not imply our abandonment of the concept that we are, or ought to be, a caring society,” he said. “Indeed that priciple is put more in jeopardy by refusal or undue slowness to act.

“The stark reality of New Zealand’s present situation

is that tardiness in accepting the rigours of change will only result in more pain, rather than less. Delay serves to magnify the extent of adjustment that must eventually occur and to increase the discomfort that goes with that adjustment”

Mr Douglas said that most vested-interest groups within the community continued to put the blame on others for economic problems stemming from the poor national growth performance.

“It is much easier to talk about the need for change in the abstract or in relation to someone else’s interest area than to acknowledge that you also must be part of the process,” he said.