Kirk opened with the structure of Business NZ. The organisation is owned by regional business bodies in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin as well as the Sustainable Business Council and the export sector. The objectives are primarily to aggregate and disseminate news and information relevant to NZ companies and to provide lobbying and advocacy for the NZ business community.
Kirk outlined the impact that the Covid pandemic imposed on NZ companies focussing especially on the tourism and hospitality industries. He provided a number of pertinent examples and described how he presented to Government and the Department of Health on the lessons learnt from the second Auckland lockdown. Specifically the importance of establishing a regional command centre in future localised level changes. This will ensure local knowledge is leveraged and communication and decision times are shortened.
A very timely and enlightening address.