McBride: Speech was a “call to action”
NIGEL MCBRIDE, Chief Executive Officer, Business SA: In response to Steve Harrison’s letter and your headline (“SA economy not all gloom and doom”) I’d like to inject a little more balance into the account of my speech reported in the InDaily article entitled “We’ve lost our mojo: business chief’s dire warning.”
I was asked to give a candid overview of SA’s economy. The title I used for this after-dinner speech was “South Australia at an economic crossroads”.
I pointed to the extraordinary pace of change in the global social media and on-line space and its seismic impact on industries from print media to retail. I used this as both an analogy and a catalyst for what we were facing in this State. Nearly all of our industry sectors are going through some kind of “future shock” – driven by historic global economic and market changes. Some of our worst hit sectors are the manufacturing and retail sectors.
We can either ignore that and live in denial, or courageously recognise it and actually do something to change the (otherwise inevitable) outcomes. That’s not “doom and gloom” that’s a call to action. Our members facing enormous challenges out there deserve no less.
These are not new concerns. Business leaders in this State have been speaking out about this for some time. In relation to our ailing automotive industry and our manufacturing sector challenges, Raymond Spencer, Chair of the Economic Development Board, recently said: “Frankly, we have to face the music and transform elements of our economy so they work going forward.” (May 25, 2013, The Advertiser)
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I’m in total agreement. We either have the courage to face the music or fiddle while our economy burns – and with it the future of our children and grandchildren in this State.
However I also talked positively about the opportunities in a number of sectors: defence, agribusiness, resources, education, ICT and so on.
For the record I’ve spent years being a passionate advocate of this State. For example my time as the voluntary Chairman of SA Great/Advantage SA when I tirelessly promoted this State nationally and internationally. I continue to back this State and believe that we have the depth and backbone to overcome these challenges.
And, in an after dinner speech which had some lighter moments to offset the tough subject matter, I simply asked the question: whether we “had lost our mojo” with a picture up of Austin Powers. The “at least we’re better off than Spain” aside was firmly tongue in cheek. But I guess you had to be there.
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