Joyce on foreign investment

Great to see a Minister sticking up for foreign investment. The Herald reports:

Not enough New Zealanders appreciate the benefits of foreign investment and economic growth, says Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce.

The reaction of too many people was “you can’t do this, you can’t do that, you can’t do the other thing”, he said, with little thought to the impact it had on potential jobs.

“The same people tend to turn around and demand more jobs one minute and then declare that they don’t want to see any things over here happen.”

Exactly.

Mr Joyce said that if people wanted more job growth, they had to take a more positive attitude to investment in the New Zealand environment, especially given the mobility of people and the mobility of capital. …

Economic growth required the use of capital, resources, skilled labour, infrastructure, innovation and a market.

“So all those things have to be managed. It’s not a case of carte blanche but every time you say ‘I don’t want that’ that shuts off another opportunity.”

Too many people see foreign investment as bad, or at best a necessary evil.