Key’s causing of capital introspection is probably good for us
As much as Prime Minister John Key has
attemptedto water down his ‘Wellington is dying’ aside, at the very least it has provided a goodopportunity for some capital introspection.
One thing Key might be doing is confusing busyness with business – and on that count with itslarger population and vastly improved motorway network, well Auckland’s way ahead.
But looking under the bonnet of commerce, while Wellington can always do better, here’s a fewfacts John.
(Disclaimer: some of these are pretty hair-splitting in nature, but nevertheless!)
- Wellington has the most NZ companies in the Deloitte Asia Fast 500 (Wellington 17, Auckland16)
- In 2012 Wellington had four new additions to the TIN 100 (Wedgelock, FraserEngineering, Xero, Catalyst), versus Auckland with three and Christchurch two (Source; TIN100)
- Companies based in Wellington generate as much revenue as the entire SouthIsland and have a slightly better revenue per population than Auckland (Source; TIN 100)
- In 2012 the Wellington region ranked first in the country for business growth (Source: BERLRegional Rankings 2012)
- Information media and telecommunications was the largestindustry in Wellington in 2012, accounting for 9.9% of total GDP. The second largest industry waspublic administration and safety (9.5%) followed by financial and insurance services (7.6%).(Source: Infometrics, Wellington Region annual economic profile)
- In 2011/12 theWellington food and beverage sector grew at almost twice the national rate (growth of 4.2% comparedwith national growth of 2.1%). (Source: Infometrics, Wellington Region annual economicprofile)
- In 2011/12 Wellington’s screen and digital output grew by 2.2% comparedwith national growth of 1.2% (Source: Infometrics, Wellington Region annual economicprofile)
- Wellington outperforms all regions on GDP per employee, showingsignificantly higher output per employee – at $78,719 compared with a weighted average of $64,898.(Source: Infometrics, Wellington Region annual economic profile)
-
In 2012 theWellington region ranked 4
th
in the country for resident population growth (Source: BERLRegional Rankings 2012)
And finally – Lonely Planet Best in Travel –4
th
best destination worldwide
The main point is, supported by facts, that Wellington’s alive and kicking.
We, as in Wellingtonians and non-Aucklanders should be careful to avoid too much navel-gazing andtaking to heart of John Key’s off-the-cuff comments.
We want Auckland to be doing well of course.
We also want the rest of the country to be doing well.
It isn’t an either/or argument. It is an also.
If John Key really wanted to make a useful aside, it would be around the likes of ‘this is whatwe should be concentrating on to create more wealth for our country’.
But that would mean committing to a course of action; and that as we all know is not a modusoperandi for any sort of political party in New Zealand.
Key’s causing of capital introspection is probably good for us
Key’s causing of capital introspection is probably good for us
