In the pursuit of growth it’s yes to mining, yes to tourism, yes to an overhaul of the science sector, and no to saying no, writes Toby Manhire from the PM’s state of the nation speech in Auckland.

Growth, said Christopher Luxon yesterday. Growth, growth, growth. Growth “unlocked”, he said. Growth “unleashed”. Growth “supercharged” and “turbocharged”. In a speech to the Auckland Business Chamber he used the word so many times – 43 – I feared a beanstalk might spontaneously sprout from the lush blue curtains of the Cordis ballroom and burst through the turquoise chandeliers. 

The theme of the state of the nation speech picked up where Luxon left off in his Sunday reshuffle, which included putting Nicola Willis into the portfolio formerly known as economic development, now rebranded as economic growth. It was a home crowd – which Luxon appeared to relish – but not a wholly contented one. Business confidence is inching up, but stubbornly. More troubling is the wider public perception. Among a range of dismal numbers for National in last week’s Curia poll for the Taxpayers’ Union, the most alarming was the finding that 53% of respondents thought the country was moving in the wrong direction, compared with 39% who said the opposite. That net result of -14 marked a steep drop from +3 a month earlier.

The prime minister only used his go-to mojo mantra once – half as many times as he invoked, curiously, “the bakers and miners that came before me” – but that was what he meant. Yesterday was about whacking the starter motor with a hammer, of jolting out of the doldrums into a virtuous circle: confidence begets growth and growth begets confidence and somewhere along the way the mojometer goes ding. 

Part of the challenge, said Luxon, to the chorus of clinking cutlery machining its way through roast chicken, was attitudinal, a “culture of no”. “The bottom line is we need a lot less no and a lot more yes,” he said, offering examples ranging from mining to tourism to concerts at Eden Park. The council, he suggested, should bin the limit. A reference to the scourge of road cones generated a one-man ovation from Wayne Brown. “It is about saying yes, instead of no,” he said. In with the mojo, out with the nojo. 

(The war on no, however, appears not to extend to council spending. Luxon’s message to council on funding stuff beyond the “basics” remains a firm no.)

This was more than an exercise in rhetoric, however. Luxon announced a substantial overhaul of the science and innovation sectors, hailed by the minister responsible, Judith Collins, as the “largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years”. The existing seven Crown Research Institutes will be rebooted as three “Public Research Organisations” focused respectively on bio-economy, earth sciences, and health and forensic sciences. Callaghan Innovation will be shuttered, with some of its functions picked up elsewhere. A Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council will be established, while a new agency called Invest New Zealand will be tasked with drumming up foreign direct investment (FDI). The science reforms were almost immediately lambasted by Lucy Stewart, co-president of the NZ Association of Scientists, for being “entirely focused on commercialisation and commercial benefits from science and technology”.

Whether that package of reforms has the catalytic effect Luxon seeks remains to be seen. In the pursuit of growth, factors largely outside the government’s control, ranging from interest rates at home to vicissitudes abroad – not least the spectre of Trumpian tariffs – risk torpedoing the very best of intentions. And in proclaiming, unabashedly, resolutely, that this is the year of the growth, you needn’t look too far back to find a cautionary tale. Six years ago, almost to the day, another new government embarking on its second full year in power pledged that 2019 would be “the year of delivery”. It was not long at all before that stake in the ground had metamorphosed into a rod for its back.