What industries will a Special Economic Zone at Marsden Point cover? Exactly how will it streamline investment and establishment? What incentives will be on offer?

For our maiden episode of True North we were lucky enough to speak with Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, to see if we could squeeze out of him some additional detail about his thinking around a Special Economic Zone at Marsden Point.

It was a revealing discussion. We also covered the requirement for minimum employment and investment thresholds, the degree of focus on both foreign and domestic investment, the option of stimulating investment by sector rather than by location, and the extent of local government involvement or oversight (spoiler alert: “Nothing. Nothing!”)

For the inside track on these and many other matters, including the role an SEZ at Marsden Point could play in the next election, take a listen to our very first episode.

Links to items referred to in the show:

Cameron Bagrie bylined article at BusinessDesk (paywalled):
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/economy/big-corporates-lump-too-much-blame-on-the-economy

‘The Pick’:
https://www.northlandnz.com/business/get-business-support/start-your-business/thepick/

Government news release - Special EconomicZones:https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-consider-special-economic-zones