Select Committee inquiry needed into manufacturing jobs crisis

Parliament cannot continue to sit on its hands while the crisis in manufacturing destroys thousands of jobs and drives Kiwis overseas, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

Dr Norman has written to members of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee asking them to support his motion for the Committee today to hold an inquiry into job losses in the manufacturing sector.

"An inquiry is urgently needed into why New Zealand is losing so many manufacturing jobs and what can be done to fix the crisis in manufacturing," said Dr Norman.

"The statistics on the state of manufacturing are sobering.

"In the four years to June 2012, exports from manufacturing have fallen by 12.4%, or $1.7 billion. Output from manufacturing in GDP terms has reduced by 9.1%, or $2.8 billion.

"In the past four years to June, nearly 40,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost, a 16.7% reduction in the manufacturing workforce. Hundreds more manufacturing job losses have been announced since the end of June, the latest date for which statistics are available.

"The crisis in manufacturing is a major driver of the record rate of emigration to Australia. Nearly 100 skilled manufacturing workers are leaving New Zealand every week.

"If this crisis is left unchecked by the Government any longer, New Zealand will irrecoverably lose its manufacturing base. We will be reduced to being an exporter of bulk commodities at the mercy of boom and bust cycles, while other countries add value to our products and reap the rewards.

"Smart, green manufacturing is a path to sustainable prosperity for New Zealand.

"I refuse to accept that there is nothing that can be done to arrest this slide, or that manufacturing is inevitably doomed in New Zealand.

"There is a wealth of commentary on the levers that the Government could pull to help manufacturing, if it is prepared to listen.

That is why I am calling for this inquiry: to give Parliament the opportunity to hear what is wrong in manufacturing and what the Government should do to get New Zealand working again," said Dr Norman.