Budget Preview with Grant Robertson Marks Anniversary of Historic Business Partnership

On Thursday morning, Wellington Chamber of Commerce were delighted to welcome over 200 business leaders from across the city to Parliament for our annual pre-Budget Breakfast event with the Finance Minister, Hon. Grant Robertson MP.

The Minister’s scene setting speech outlined a number of key challenges facing the New Zealand economy and outlined four key overarching themes for the upcoming Budget: supporting New Zealanders with the cost of living; delivering the services New Zealanders rely on; recovery and resilience, including economic resilience; and fiscal sustainability. The Minister also revealed that the Budget will include $4bn of savings and reprioritisations over the four-year forecast period.

Simon Arcus, Chief Executive of Wellington Chamber of Commerce said “Businesses across Aotearoa are facing a range of challengesincluding high inflation, rising interest rates and difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled and motivated staff. While today the Minister made clear that he understands and appreciates these difficulties, the Budget next week must clearly set out what the government intends to do about it and, ultimately, make a tangible difference.”

This was the second time the pre-Budget event has been run under the ‘The Power of Three’ banner – the first of its kind partnership in Aotearoa between the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Te Awe Māori Business Network and the Wellington Pasifika Business Network – which celebrated its first anniversary earlier this month.

Speaking of the Chamber’s role in the partnership, Arcus said "Our role as the Chamber is to help businesses succeed; ‘The Power of Three’ partnership has expanded our reach into new businesses and communities, and created new opportunities for all three organisations over the last year. We’re really proud to have hosted today’s Breakfast under ‘The Power of Three’ banner.”

Paul Retimanu, Te Awe Māori Business Network Deputy Chair, said “‘The Power of Three’ presents a real opportunity to further strengthen ties across the business community in Wellington and today’s event clearly demonstrates the role the partnership plays in ensuring Māori and Pasifika businesses have a voice at the table in public policy issues.”

Raphael Hilbron, Wellington Pasifika Business Network Deputy Chair, said “The partnership has come a long way in a year and we have exciting plans to further deepen ties between our organisations.” If you would like to find out more about ‘The Power of Three’, or would like to explore becoming a member of one of the constituent organisations, please contact Ed Gibbs (ed.gibbs@businesscentral.org.nz / 027 280 3622).

ENDS

Te Awe Wellington Māori Business Network is a non-profit organisation that was established in 1996. It is the oldest Māori Business Network operating in New Zealand. Te Awe has a strong membership base representing small to medium-sized businesses through to large corporate companies. Te Awe's purpose is to promote, assist and encourage Māori in business through regular networking Hui where Māori business owners meet and share their business successes and challenges.

The Wellington Pasifika Business Network started in 2014 with the passion of a small group identifying a significant gap in the market, particularly the lack of visibility of Pasifika businesses in the region. The Wellington Pasifika Business Network’s goal is to help grow Pasifika businesses in Wellington, to help create a community of like-minded Pasifika business entrepreneurs who can share ideas and successes, and to drive leading-edge for Pacific by Pacific innovation. The genuine commitment to bringing together the Pasifika business community was premised on the primary goal to encourage innovation, prosperity and growth of small business through quality network events and engagement whilst celebrating our successes and challenges in the world of business.

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce is a business membership association and has represented businesses in the Wellington Region for over 165 years, advocating for the interest of business and the development of the region’s economy. The Chamber provides export and trade, employment, health and safety, and human resources advice, along with professional learning and development training, business mentoring, and employment placement programmes. The Wellington Chamber is part of the Business Central Group, with around 3,600 members throughout Central New Zealand (Gisborne to Taranaki and down to Nelson) and includes Business Central, ExportNZ, and Porirua Chamber of Commerce, affiliated with both the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce and BusinessNZ networks.

The relationship between the organisations is founded on shared values and a genuine belief that the business community is stronger working together. The partnership aims to strengthen the voice of Māori and Pasifika businesses in the city.

For any queries, please contact Ed Gibbs (ed.gibbs@businesscentral.org.nz / 027 280 3622