N E W S www.engineeringnews.co.nz 13 “We all agree that tech leaders and industry have a role and responsibility to guide and support initiatives to retrain people for the new skills paradigm brought on by technological change. The development of the next generation of workers is also critical.” Among a series of recommendations, the leaders want to reduce fear-inducing messaging about everyone losing their jobs and robots taking over. alise that their staff too will face change with the fuel tax increasing the cost of getting to work, so staff need to be part of the conversations and the planning.” Mr Barnett says while the regional fuel tax will raise some much needed funds for Auckland’s transport programme he warns it is nowhere near a full solution. “We are going to need plenty of other initiatives and tools – road pricing and more private public partnerships, for a start.” He says there is some potential good news for SMEs in comments this week from prime minister Jacinda Ardern about the government’s upcoming tax review. “The prime minister has said she would like to see the tax review look at examples from other countries where they tax SMEs at a lower rate than large corporates. So, our businesses need to keep that in mind and realise that things might not be as severe as they think.” Harrison Grierson merges and diversifies One of the largest, and the longest established New Zealand owned engineering and design consultancy, Harrison Grierson, has announced its merger with Wellington-based spatial information specialists, e-Spatial. Harrison Grierson employs over 350 people in eight offices across the country. Its four key market sectors are Land and Buildings, Water and the Environment, Utilities, and Transport. E-Spatial’s expert services include spatial consulting, solution development, data management and technology. The new stand-alone business unit will be called ‘e-Spatial, a Harrison Grierson company’. BusinessNZ has welcomes CPTPP progress BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope says a successful conclusion to negotiations would mean new income and jobs in New Zealand. "The value and volume of our exports increase enormously in countries where we reach a free trade agreement, and every extra billion dollars in exports equates to 8,500 new jobs. "But New Zealand has not yet achieved many trade agreements - only 8, with 16 countries, far fewer than many other comparable countries have. "The CPTPP would greatly in- crease this number, cutting tariffs in many more places and increasing diversity in markets, helping insulate us against any economic headwinds we may face in the future. "New Zealand exporters are typically smaller than their global competitors and have further to go to get their goods to market. They currently find it hard to compete in markets where we don’t have trade agreements. "A successful conclusion to the CPTPP would be a huge boost for New Zealand’s exports." REN039
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