1Introduction Frontline was in Dunedin this week, meeting with a leading exporter. We told him this programme was on manufacturing after six years of Labour, and that we hoped to interview Minister of Finance David Caygill. "Who's interested?" The man said, and quoted a recent report comparing the Beehive to a political hospice. Mr. Caygill joins Frontline, presumably enthusiastic about the Telecom sale, and the resurrection of political fortunes promised in that $4.25-billion bonanza. And the options that gives him in his July budget for spending on health and education. This is after all a Labour government, or is it that this is perhaps more importantly election year. Bob Hawke once made an election promise that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990. A promise that returned to haunt him earlier this year. Geoffrey Palmer’s announcement that Labour’s priority was to return the country to full employment by 1995 has the same sort of ring to it when put to a somewhat sceptical electorate. Then when Mr. Palmer announced more employment initiatives this week, some were gracious enough to suggest the so-called job plus scheme was just mutton dressed up as lamb. Certainly, Auckland manufacturers who were among the first to hear the details weren't jumping for joy when the Prime Minister addressed them on Wednesday. That might have partly been because his message sounded familiar.

2Make or Break? The trouble is, that although a number of manufacturers are thriving in the present environment, many others are in a bad way. The 80,000 jobs that have disappeared in New Zealand industry over the last three and a half years, are just one symptom of a malaise that shows only vague signs of coming right. The Minister of Finance David Caygill says it’s time for manufacturers to stop being negative and start taking advantage of what he calls a climate of opportunity for business. Later in the programme, I’ll discuss that climate with Mr Caygill. Frontline director Brent Cammell and Reporter Rob Harley went to find out what they’re saying on the factory floor.

3An interview with the Minister of Finance, David Caygill about jobs, manufacturing, and Budget 1990.