Kōrero: Government and industrial development

The government held a number of conferences involving industry in the 1960s and 1970s, part of a general move towards broad economic planning. This is the opening of the 1972 National Development Conference, held in Parliament’s Legislative Council chamber. The two-day event was attended by 300 people. The conferences were more than talk-fests – at this one, importers and manufacturers forced the government to abandon a planned liberalisation of import licensing. The New Zealand Planning Council, set up in 1977, was an indirect result of these conferences.