Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Napier Mayor says one size will never fit all.

  
 
Napier Mayor Bill Dalton gives his review of local political propoganda....

If ever there were four articles written, absolutely true to type, it is the articles by the pro-amalgamation team in the local political propaganda journal.

The first article was written by former minister in the Key government Chris Tremain. Now Chris is a good bloke but his argument supporting amalgamation is typically confusing. He trots out the sad old argument that there was opposition to the merger of Havelock North with Hastings and Taradale with Napier but Chris tells us, "no one that I know of is now advocating to reverse those changes."

Well of course they're not Chris because those mergers made sense. Certainly in the case of Napier and Taradale the towns grew into each other and effectively became one. It made then and makes today, good sense to administer them as one.

Does it make sense to administer geographically diverse towns like Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and CHB as one? Of course it doesn't.

We are told by Chris that he supports amalgamation for simple reasons – leadership, vision and implementation.

I find that statement incredible. Until his decision to retire from politics Chris was the MP for Napier. He sat around the cabinet table with his fellow Hawke's Bay MP Craig Foss. So we had two local MP's not only in government but in cabinet. And we lacked vision and leadership? If cabinet ministers can't implement changes to improve matters who can?
We have also had our most senior Hawke's Bay Mayor, Lawrence Yule, in Wellington for 4 years as President of Local Government New Zealand.

Chris claims amalgamation will provide leadership, vision and implementation. What have our three Wellington reps been doing?

The Tremain story finishes with Chris telling us he has owned businesses and property across our province and sent his children to schools in both Napier and Hastings.
Not a bad effort for a young bloke in a province that is supposed to be a basket case.
Rebecca Turner is the Chair of the organisation that has inflicted the amalgamation debate on Hawke's Bay. It is her organisation that has divided our communities and put the prospect of true unity in Hawke's Bay back decades. Much good work has been undone.

Ms Turner trots out all the tired old negative statistics which for some reason she attributes to our lack of amalgamation. Crime reported figures, feeling safe, those sorts of things. The fact that law and order is a central government responsibility seems lost on our writer. At least she didn't trot out the Hastings District Council assertion that amalgamation will cure excessive alcohol consumption and reduce teenage pregnancies.

Without any supporting evidence we are told that local businesses are frustrated by the dysfunction of multiple councils to deal with and the lack of new business and economic development. I would have thought the primary responsibility for new business would lie with the business community themselves. Chris Tremain seems to have done pretty well out of business in Hawke's Bay.

Lack of regional leadership is again highlighted by Ms Turner. If I was Chris Tremain, Craig Foss or Lawrence Yule, I would be seriously embarrassed by being constantly told that Hawke's Bay has lacked leadership.

We are told that "the benefits of collaboration and coordination are many and varied." We know that. The four councils that work collaboratively in Hawke's Bay know the benefits of collaboration. And in the areas where the fifth council chooses to collaborate, the benefits are there for those that want to see.

Ms Turner emphasises that identities will not be lost. Napier will still be Napier, Wairoa will still be Wairoa, etc. She's right. Ms Turner and I agree on this one but identity is not the point.

The issue is about determination. Who should determine the future and other matters in Wairoa? A Wairoa District Council that knows its district and community or a remote council in Napier or Hastings that Wairoa has a minority position on?

Again the whole point of local government seems lost on the pro-amalgamationists. Local government's job is to serve its community of interest. Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay are not one community of interest. We have different needs, different aspirations and different roles to play in the success of Hawke's Bay.

Chris Joblin's piece is so typical it is unbelievable. This is the fellow who was elected to the Wairoa District Council and when he found he couldn't get his own way, simply resigned. His impetuous action has cost the people of Wairoa tens of thousands of dollars as they are required to hold a by-election.
Mr Joblin champions the proposed introduction of local boards. He tells us these boards will have "negotiated" funding from the central council. He tells us that these boards will be responsible for the decisions affecting their local communities.

Well he is right. A local board in Wairoa would have to negotiate any funding it wanted from the central council dominated by Napier and Hastings. Because they hold the purse strings, the central council would control Wairoa.

Auckland has discovered local boards are totally useless and ineffective. One board chair in Auckland, Christine Rankin, used the term "impotent" to describe her own board. All 21 board chairs have written to the Mayor of Auckland stating that the board system simply doesn't work.

Mr Joblin takes issue with the Wairoa District Council taking a position in the amalgamation debate. He is noticeably silent when the Hastings District Council spends huge amounts of ratepayers' money supporting the flawed premise that amalgamation will bring benefits.
We are told by Mr Joblin that there have been 152 council amalgamations over the last 25 years, without exception these have been logical and none have asked to de-amalgamate.
Whilst the logic of his own argument may be lost on Chris, he has simply provided the answer.

When amalgamations are logical, there is no need to de-amalgamate. Amalgamating four geographically separate towns into one inefficient council simply defies logic.

Di Petersen is a farmer and former CHB councillor. I've sat on a committee with Di where she was good value. But for some reason, intentionally or not, she is misleading the people of CHB on the matter of representation.

We are told by Di that CHB currently has a Mayor and eight councillors and that will be replaced by a local board of eight so no one can say that CHB is not represented fairly.
Simply untrue. The Mayor and the eight councillors currently serving CHB will be replaced by 2 councillors sitting on a remote controlled council in either Napier or Hastings. Those two councillors will also sit on a local board in CHB. That board will have no powers to regulate and all funds received will be at the whim of the central council. CHB will be controlled from either Hastings or Napier.

The temporary retention of offices in both Waipukurau and Waipawa is a sop to the locals. The decision to retain offices across the region negates one of the main platforms of the pro-amalgamation lobby, that savings can be made by reducing staffing levels. In no time at all there will simply be a desk where you can pay your rates.

Like the other three writers Di tells us that our towns won't lose their identities and that our province has lacked leadership. She's right on both of these points. However she goes on to say, "why would people or companies want to invest in the Bay when there are five annual and five long term plans across the region?"

I have lived here all my life, worked in commerce for 40 years and been a politician for over 7 years. I have never ever heard of any business or person who has decided not to come to Hawke's Bay because we have five annual and long term plans. All of these plans are pretty similar because we all want to create strong, prosperous and vital communities. The reason we have different plans is that our communities are different. They have different characteristics. One size will never fit all.

Di finishes by saying that it would be lovely to hear us say proudly, "I live and work in Hawke's Bay, the best province in New Zealand." I've said that all my life. However since a small group created divisiveness and rancour over the last few years, in an attempt to force their will on our province, Hawke's Bay has suffered.

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