It took Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Sharon Fifield just over three minutes to sum up what Queenstown needs to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon last week.
In town on his first official visit last Friday, Luxon was invited to speak to Chamber members at Cook Brothers’ rooftop venue, in Frankton.
Fifield told him, from that vista, it’s easy to see what makes Queenstown unique — ‘‘but down at ground level, we have some real issues’’.
‘‘You could say that Queenstown is at risk of losing its mojo, to use your words, Prime Minister.’’
While Queenstown — a high-growth and high-potential area — is ‘‘busting at the seams’’, she asked — on behalf of the Chamber — to partner with Luxon’s government on solutions which ‘‘can truly unlock the huge potential of Queenstown to the national economy, and
preserve what is so unique about our place’’.
‘‘Tourism will be our number-one export earner again — a strong and sustainable tourism industry is critical for New Zealand’s economy,’’ she says.
‘‘It attracts not just visitors, but businesses and investment and, with that, a solid platform to build economic diversity from.
‘‘As the shopfront for NZ Inc, we need your help to protect that, Prime Minister.’’
While locally the community’s well-organised and aligned, with strong leadership and collaboration between business agencies to manage and enable economic growth, ‘‘resourcing, regulation and red tape limits our ability to respond’’.
‘‘People want to come here … but it is getting much harder for them to stay.’’
Both the rental and affordable housing crises are affecting the workforce — and the ongoing issues are getting worse.
She’s asking for place-based strategies and support for projects across the housing continuum, reiterated the need for changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to incentivise landlords to open up their homes to help the workforce, and reminded Luxon there was cross-party support at last year’s ASB Great Debate, before the election, to update the Accommodation Supplement boundaries.
‘‘All of this is essential to recruit and retain our wider workforce in order to grow our economy,’’ she notes.
‘‘We can’t grow our economic contribution alone and we recognise that money is tight, but it is frankly impossible for us to fund the necessary infrastructure for our visitation and population growth from a relatively small ratepayer base.
‘‘There is strong support here, locally, for a visitor levy or alternative funding mechanism to support our growing needs.’’
At a later media standup, though, Luxon appeared cold on any form of local bed tax.
On potential alternatives, he said he was open to Sovereign Wealth Fund money, overseas money, pools of capital from within NZ, public-private partnerships and toll roads.
Luxon on …
● Reversing the foreign buyer ban for purchasers of homes over $5 million:
‘‘There is no commitment to do that at this point under our coalition agreement, but what there is, amongst the whole of the government, I’d say, is a real desire to get overseas investment into the country.’’
Luxon says much of that starts with the Overseas Investment Office and ensuring ‘‘broader investment settings’’ are correct.
He believes a 30-year pipeline for infrastructure needs to be set, and there should be a 10-year city or regional deal between the government and Queenstown’s council.
‘‘We may not agree 100% of it, but we should get 80% of it right and then whether we [mayor Glyn Lewers and Luxon] both lose our jobs, the projects still carry on.’’
Luxon says Crown Infrastructure Agency also needs to be built out to the ‘National Infrastructure Agency’, with the ability to access international investors, foreign funding and financing to supplement domestic capital for build-to-rent projects, for example.
● The importance of fast-tracking any infrastructure development proposed for Queenstown.
‘‘I’ll take that back to [Infrastructure Minister Chris] Bishop — just put an exclusion clause in there, a special clause in the legislation for Queenstown, it’s free willy.’’
● What’s happening with a housing policy:
‘‘It’s coming and we’re working on it already.’’
Luxon says Bishop, who’s also Housing Minister, is doing the legislation now, essentially to get councils to rezone and consent 30 years of housing growth ‘‘today’’.
He says the government also needs to access different funding and financing tools, pointing to State Highway 29 in the North Island as an
example.
If that was built, it would open up 20,000 more houses, ‘‘but that’s not on the books, by the Crown doing it, until 2060’’.
‘‘So why wouldn’t you build that road as a toll road?’’
Luxon says there are global companies that could build it quickly, and many investors wanting to do that, who’d have it for a period and then pass the asset back to the government, while also catalysing housing growth.
It’s imperative local councils are also incentivised to participate in housing growth, he says.
● Speeding up Crown agencies:
‘‘We’re reprogramming the public service’’.
Luxon says the government’s bringing in better public service targets, which will be published, but also believes the overseas investment process ‘‘needs a complete rejig’’.
He points to the way Ireland — now twice as wealthy as NZ — welcomes overseas investment and says it’s a ‘‘very different customer mindset’’, while in NZ the process is torturous and slow.
‘‘We’ve got to get the public service working for us, making sure they have a customer service mindset, rather than just running through bureaucracy, ‘can’t do’ and obstruction.
‘‘That message is coming through, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’’
Luxon “well-informed” – WHS principal
Wakatipu High’s principal says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, thanks to a Mountain Scene story, is aware of the capacity issue the school’s facing.
Oded Nathan (right) buttonholed the PM after he gave an address at a Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce function during a visit to the resort last Friday.
‘‘He mentioned the article [Scene] had written, he was like, ‘oh yes, I’ve just read about your school, so two or three years’ — so, yes, he was well-informed.’’
Luxon was referring to the school hitting its 1625-student roll capacity within two or three years, which is likely to trigger the need for temporary classrooms given Ministry of Education’s yet to secure a site for another high school.
Nathan says the PM didn’t make any commitments, ‘‘but he appreciated the position and he said he was hoping they’d be able to do better in that space’’.
‘‘[Local MP] Joseph Mooney’s aware of it, and I’m hoping to catch up with [Education Minister] Erica Stanford over the next couple of weeks.’’
Nathan says he remains confident there’ll be an outcome that supports the school’s continuing quest for good educational outcomes, and stresses ‘‘we’ve got a seriously-amazing facility at the moment’’.
