Rob Campbell on Q&A

TVNZ's Q&A had Rob Campbell on this morning; I thought, oh dear, New Zealand has to be in real trouble if Rob Campbell has emerged from his cave and is speaking out. 

Many NZers will only know Campbell from his current role as a professional director. But in a previous life he was a Labour party stalwart and union boss. He's a graduate in economics and seen a lot. That said, he's basically saying; New Zealand is jiggered. He talked of there being no plan, and that the government is not harnessing the resources of business sectors. One could say, that's because Labour are now trying to destroy business. 

He did suggest, if you listen carefully, that tourism may never recover. This effectively turns Queenstown into a ghost town. Add to that Wanaka, Franz Josef and Te Anau. 

Some may have missed his reference to the problem of relying on the one thing. I agree with this although he was far too polite. NZ is dangerously reliant on a very shallow base. Shallow in terms of breadth and depth. Today, NZ consists of cafes and bars (which are now endangered species) and farmers below them. Between the two, from producers to services, there is very little for the country to hang its hat on. NZ has very clever people but the government is so myopic, and I'd add functionally illiterate and innumerate when I say this, that the country has been whittled away to nothing. I equate NZ to a logging company that has made so many cuts it's now down to one chainsaw but thinks this clever. Clearly you've got serious trouble when that one chainsaw breaks down. Right now, NZ's chainsaw is spluttering. 

We are standing right at the edge of the cliff folks. One more step and that's it, NZ falls over the edge.