So is it time to stop harping on that we’re going to hell in a handcart?

The past few months have been dubbed the winter of discontent as business confidence dropped and the most strident critics of the government said they were wrecking everything.  

But while that narrative flowed conflicting data kept coming out suggesting the New Zealand train was still chuffing along happily in its tracks.  Whether it was the growing tax revenue from greater activity or historically low unemployment rates, there was a succession of cold hard facts that stood at odds to the sentiments and feelings of the business community.

Today we hear that nearly two-thirds of small businesses are expecting to grow over the next 12 months. The Xero survey says our small businesses are  keen to take on more staff, invest in technology, introduce environmentally conscious initiatives, and tap into overseas markets. Two-thirds or 64 per cent are looking to grow in the next 12 months. I call that a pretty confident outlook.

Which is not to say that everything is roses from now on.  The prolonged period of negativity means that we’ve fallen a little behind where we could have been.  And the world is at an interesting economic stage what with tariff wars and Brexit negotiations, Russian sabre rattling and Saudi stirring.

And there is a second piece of news that means you should go into the summer thinking that you’ve wasted a lot of time worrying this winter, and that’s the watering down of the government’s proposed employment law changes.

The modified laws will no longer see union officials wandering into workplaces at will but most importantly it will not see a return to the days of nationwide pay scales for professions.  A piece of ideological idiocy that actually would have seen discord and battles and in the end could very well have kept pay lower.

Make no mistake: this is Winston Peters doing. Always remember he started in the National Party and he is a conservative with a small c.  He’d already kept the 90 day trial for small businesses and now he’s kept the unions from expanding.

Now, I consider this a triumph of MMP.  The argument for proportional representation was always that the excesses of both the left and right would be moderated by centrist coalition partners and here is a prime example.

There has been anger at MMP because New Zealand First and other coalition parties are perceived as kingmakers and the tail that wags the dog. Daily I get callers arguing that MMP has to go.  But under FPP you end out with extreme swings of philosophy when the real New Zealand is always somewhere in between.

So with Labour not going crazy because Winston’s keeping watch, New Zealanders cracking on with things I think we can all safely go to the beach this summer and not worry that we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.