Another Budget, another election year. Lots of hand wringing? I hope not.

The business community needs government to invest more and assist to make life better for all of us.

Through these challenging times, we are not hearing from Ministers, expressing concerns, or sharing ideas to address the difficulties businesses are facing.

When companies are challenged in moving forward, there needs to be options that can assist.

Take for example Wattie’s and McCains, where are the Minister for Regional Development and the Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing? If they are working on a plan to improve the lot of these two companies, they are sure not letting business and communities know what is going on.

If there are meetings going on, share the outcomes.

Regions like Hawkes Bay are renowned for the quality of their products. Growers all over the country too. Rural business is holding the country together, financially, with their ginormous returns for high quality hort and agricultural export products.

It is not the Queen Street farmer driving these efforts!

In the Budget, we need to see investment into Manufacturing for companies to go forward, with confidence, and continue to grow.

Manufacturing companies need the ability to invest in technology to do better and to enhance our market share. Improved technology can result in improved productivity, which can result in an improved bottom line.

We cannot have a budget like the one in 2025, when to balance the books, the Finance Minister needed the money that was to be used for equal pay!

I get it that in an election year members of Parliament may not want to comment or share ideas with the population because their words may well be remembered, affecting their chances of re-election.

However, they work for us; with business, to bring about the changes (and support) needed to be prosperous, and to meet the ambitions of all peoples to get ahead.