Suncorp confirms it's transferring 'a number' of New Zealand admin jobs to its 'strategic partners in Asia'

Where we impose tariffs on another country's imports into NZ they will likely return the favour. Given the size of our consumer base I don't see how we can win in this arrangement. With the same Tarif both ways naturally companies will move to where there is a larger consumer base?

duplicate post.

Yes and no. Tariffs are supposed to stop imports undercutting, and therefore stealing the market from goods produced in NZ. Suncorp moving their jobs off shore would actually increase the level of profit they make in NZ and therefore increase their tax exposure (else it would not be economically viable), and the announced Government moves will be designed to make sure this occurs.

Sadr's comments refer to when Tariffs are misused. Tit for tat tariffs are not constructive. The application of tariffs needs to be considered carefully and many of the countries we trade with have tariffs (and other barriers) to our goods that are not reciprocated in any way.

The Government could easily improve NZ's job prospects and overall economic performance by supporting the properly structured establishment of efficient manufacturing industries the take advantage of our resources and abilities. The problem is they are too wedded to the free market principles and don't want to.

Yep, he moved to the Vero earthquake team some months ago. Not as head of it, some other role as I understand it.

Large Australian insurers like Suncorp and QBE have been following the trend to outsource service areas to places like India and the Philippines for some years now. No one seems to be complaining too much that their queries and problems are being handled by someone in Hydrabad or Manila – although the accent can be a bit jarring for some. But then Australians have had to get used to Qantas phone service people having a Kiwi twang. Some insurers are keeping claims processes in-country, but as long as service standards are maintained, we're all going to have to get used to this shifting of processes to other places. Tower fell by the wayside because its costs were too high, which made it uncompetitive in its own market – i.e., people didn't buy their insurance products because they were too expensive. If you want to keep buying local products at the best possible price, you have to accept that the suppliers will try to cut their back-end costs by doing thinks like shifting jobs offshore. Welcome to the global economy.