Advocacy

We represent our members in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, by facilitating debate and working with Councils and other organisations to acheive the best outcomes for business.

A key purpose of the Chamber of Commerce is to provide the best commercial environment by giving business a “voice”.  The Chamber will work to influence, on behalf of its members, the rules and regulations that local Councils and central Government impose on business in order to minimize compliance costs and optimize your business performance.  The Chamber will act as the business advocate when required to assist in overcoming obstacles.  Services include:  Lobbying, advocacy, representation to local and central Government.  

  • Identify key issues.
  • Keep track of and respond to Eastern Bay Issues.
  • Communicate benefits of Business to Eastern Bay of Plenty.
  • Facilitate business development for business growth.
  • Trade local campaign.

Investment

  1. For our businesses to succeed and compete in today’s global economy we need our Council to link up with our Chamber of Commerce and other business organisations to work together to attract investment to build our local economy and attract tourists.
  2. We need to work together to lock our present industries further into our communities, and attract new industries for the future.   To do this we need a Council that is:
    • Focussed on business growth
    • Understands the competitive advantages, strengths and weaknesses of our region, and
    • Has a strategy that recognises what we are good at, builds on it, and recognises any weaknesses or gaps that need closing.
  3. We need to work together to identify the talent required for growth, while finding ways to retain and train our young people to bring new skills to our region.

No Patch Protection

Some councils have better resources and capabilities than others, so they need to share them, to capitalise on their respective areas of strength.

For instance, is there:

  • A billing system that could serve multiple councils? Use it.
  • Does our council have staff expertise another council may not need to duplicate? Use ours.
  • Similarly, does another council have expertise ours could use? We need to optimise the talent available across our councils.

The savings are for ratepayers.

Set the Best Platform for Growth

  1. Business people and just about everyone else want the place where they live, work and play to be the best possible. They want a city or town with a future, and for their council to state what it looks like and how they are going to make it happen. Reliable infrastructure including roads, water, sewerage, public spaces, parks and parking are just the necessary prerequisites.
  2. It needs to be easy to do business with our Council. Regulations, compliance and consenting must be development-friendly. We want our Council to build a culture that is quick to facilitate action, not put up barriers .Red Carpet NOT Red Tape

Partner with Local Business

  1. We want our Council to work with our Chamber of Commerce and other business organisations to tell the story of our region, build our local brand, and develop a marketing strategy based on it. Doing this will show the Council is on side with business and employment.
  2. The Chamber and others already have resources and experience in place to enable business growth and employment. The opportunity is for Council’s economic development agencies to form partnerships with us to drive growth locally, and build shared infrastructure and services.
  3. It is important that local suppliers are given a shot at supplying competitive services and product. This will ensure that we keep the money flowing around our community this point could be seen as advocating away from local suppliers

Immediately – do it now!

Our fast changing world needs Council to be fleet-footed and agile. Promises don’t cut it, and they don’t build successful environments for the businesses on which our communities depend.

Regionally Speaking

Countries don’t compete; cities and regions do. That means our Council needs to maximise the use of our region’s resources, not duplicate them. It means our Council needs to collaborate with our Chamber of Commerce and other business organisations to identify our competitive advantages, build the brand of our region, and help us remain competitive internationally. Doing this will attract growth and jobs.

Expense Control

  1. We want top quality services for ratepayers from our Council. This means everything the Council does has to be fit for purpose, delivering affordable services that do not compete with their own business ratepayers. The services provided by Council should only be those business cannot efficiently provide.
  2. Council spending has to be transparent, and on a realistic scale in relation to our region’s size and resources, and in relation to what our ratepayers can afford.
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