Northland Corporate Group co-chairs Andrew McLeod and Rosie Mercer. Photo: RNZ / Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira
Northland business leaders say the region's economy could grow six-fold to $60 billion by 2050, if it had better infrastructure.
The Northland Corporate Group - which includes some of the region's biggest businesses like Marsden Maritime Holdings Limited, Northpower and McKay Limited - hosted an event on Wednesday night at Parliament, pitching the region's economic benefits to MPs.
At the event, economic analysis, prepared by New Zealand Institute of Economics (NZIER) and commissioned by the group, was released and showed that while the region contributed $11.2 billion to national GDP in 2024 - 30 percent below the national average - it could be higher if it had proper investment in its infrastructure.
Speaking at the event, group co-chair Rosie Mercer said the region was full of resource and talent, and was ready to unleash its full power.
If Northland's GDP was on par with the national average, it would be a $16 billion economy, Mercer said.
"We think that gap can and should be closed, but we're not going to stop there. We're not just going to close that gap. We're ambitious and we are saying that Northland can be a $60 billion economy."
The analysis found the region needed an additional 1.1 percent growth every year above the current trend to achieve that.
The potential for energy supply growth, agriculture, construction and manufacturing, tourism, trade and supply chain logistics and its closeness to Auckland were all key enablers for economic success.
However, the region needed more resilient transport infrastructure, like roads and rail, more certainty on what infrastruture was down the pipeline and recognition the region had under-utilised assets - particularly in the energy sector.
Co-chair Andrew McLeod invited politcal leaders to "look north" to see the strength of the region's industries and said building a region was a "long-term game".
"Our communities have stood in the north for hundreds of years, in our own businesses, for over 19. We're looking for a commitment, of similar duration, across parties, across governments and across political cycles.
"Our ask is, give ongoing commitment to provide a connection between us and Auckland and provide real long-term commitment to infrastructure," McLeod said.
Speaking to media, Northland MP Grant McCallum said the "ultimate challenge" would be getting cross-party support for long-term investment in the region.
"The power of this pitch today is being business and community led, it hasn't been led by the politicians, because you can immediately create one side or the other," he said.
"The key pieces of infrastructure that the government can do to help enable all of this is, build a decent four lane road all the way to Whangārei, and put the rail connection out to the port. That will enable all that to happen."
McCallum said Northland had been underperforming for generations and he hoped people could see the oppurtunity.
"It's got all its social challenges, and we're not going to get wealthy by increasing the size of the welfare cheque.
"We've got great opportunities, great soils, we've got great tourist attractions and great people in the north, and they just need the opportunities to grow and for businesses to grow."
He said businesses needed to be confident investment in the region by government would be long-term.
"The big advantage we have as a region is we're close to Auckland, the biggest population base in the country.
"We're all sick of the stories about the Brynderwyns closing, or the Mangamuka closing. They just send the wrong message and if we ... turn that around, we can actually achieve this," McCallum said.
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