Published on the 05/06/2019 | Written by Jonathan Cotton

It’s been a chaotic lead up, but Labour’s new budget seems to hit both its social and industrial marks…

Labour did what they said they were going to do with Budget 2019: The Wellbeing Budget: “a significant departure from the status quo” with the big focus on mental health.

Released last week it included $455m for a new frontline mental health service, significant investment in child wellbeing, support of Maori and Pasifika programmes as well as significant investment in healthcare and schools.

But while the PR is all about the social issues, the government is also promising solid investment into innovation, economic opportunity and the overall modernisation of the New Zealand economy.

“New Zealanders are innovative,” says the Labour spin. “The Government wants to foster that innovation and encourage smaller start-ups to expand, which will in turn help improve New Zealand’s productivity, wages and drive export growth.”

Manufacturing globally is undergoing massive technology changes and there is an opportunity for New Zealand’s manufacturers to embrace these changes and be more competitive

In concrete terms that means the creation of a $300 million venture capital fund, $200 million for apprenticeships and training, as well as the expected investment in a slew of low‑carbon initiatives. (That $300 million VC fund includes $240 million in early stage capital market development, $7.1 million to develop better communication between business and government, $25.5 million in commercialisation initiatives and a $2 million kitty to support the development of satellite-based positioning technology. )

It also means an investment in the “future-proofing” of New Zealand’s manufacturing sector – by way of driving uptake of ‘Industry 4.0’ thinking – to the tune of $6.2 million in operating costs (and a further $600k in capital).

The government says the money will be used to create high-tech smart factory examples for the rest of us to follow.

“This initiative provides funding for an Industry 4.0 demonstration network consisting of a mobile industry showcase, a network of Industry 4.0 site visits and up to two ‘smart factories’, all available for visit by those interested in learning about Industry 4.0 technologies and concepts,” says the official document.

That’s a boon for manufacturing says Brett O’Riley, chief executive of the the EMA, who says the new budget will help New Zealand manufacturers “understand and utilise digital technologies” in order to become more productive and develop new products and services.

“Manufacturing globally is undergoing massive technology changes and there is an opportunity for New Zealand’s manufacturers to embrace these changes and be more competitive,” says O’Riley.

“This approach sees manufacturers open their doors to others in the industry and share insights to improve productivity and meet customer needs using digital technologies,” he says.

“This will help create more high-value jobs in the sector.”

The New Zealand manufacturing industry currently employs around 241,000 people, as well as making up about 12 percent of GDP and half of the country’s exports.

In other news, the Government will also roll out a $2 million cyber security program, which it sorely seems to need in light of the scandal currently sinking Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhlouf.

Last Tuesday a few eyebrows were raised as National leader Simon Bridges released confidential details from the Budget. A fairly unremarkable act of political gamesmanship maybe, until later that day when Treasury (a body which had access to content from the soon-to-be-released Budget) published a statement saying it had been “deliberately and systematically” hacked.

Makhlouf called the police to report the breach and informed both Finance Minister Grant Robertson and the office of the Prime Minister that a hack had occurred. It now appears that the GCSB had already informed Makhlouf that no such hack had taken place.

Two days later Treasury released another statement saying that the information had actually been accessed via a compromised search tool on its website which erroneously displayed information from the budget.

The State Services Commissioner has now announced it will investigate the ‘breach’ – if that’s what you’d call it – and, in a separate investigation, Makhlouf’s response to the situation.