BayBuzz #22 Mar-Apr 2015

Issue No.22 • MAR/APR 2015 • $8.00 Including GST

Hawke’s Bay Is Happy

But What Is Happiness?

They’re Gone!

Exporting HB’s Youthful Talent

A Business To Envy Furnware at 80

Tukituki Waits For Clean-up CHB’s Wastewater Woes

9 772253 262016

02

Kicking A Gift Horse Women’s Work Biomass Benefits Craft Beer Brews in HB Erotica Banned

Jeff Gray BMW

Hawke’s Bay

WHERE 2 NEXT?

Introducing a BMW like no other, the first-ever BMW 2 Series Active Tourer. It’s stylish and compact on the outside and brilliantly spacious on the inside, designed to fit in all that life has to offer. From daily journeys to your next adventure, you can pack more in, thanks to versatile seating and generous luggage spaces. Plus innovative BMW ConnectedDrive technology comes standard, along with a five year warranty and three years of scheduled servicing, so you’ll be ready for wherever life takes you. So where 2 next? Jeff Gray BMW.

THE FIRST-EVER BMW 2 SERIES ACTIVE TOURER. DRIVE-AWAY FROM

$51,900 OR $153 PER WEEK.

Jeff Gray BMW 822 North Karamu Road, Hastings. (06) 873 0055. www.jeffgraybmw.co.nz

5

PLUS

YEAR WARRANTY

3 YEAR NO-COST SERVICING 5 YEAR ROADSIDE ASSIST

BMD0051_JGH_BBM

Find out why BMW New Zealand continues to be the number one selling premium vehicle for 2014 and the most awarded brand by the country’s automotive experts.

Drive-Away Price based on the BMW recommended retail price for the purchase of a brand new unregistered BMW 218i Active Tourer. It includes GST, first full tank of fuel, 12-month registration, and all other costs required for final delivery of the vehicle. Per week rate from $153 based on 218i Drive-Away Price $51,900. Finance offer based on a 48 month Loan agreement, 10.55% interest rate and a $250 documentation fee with a 25% deposit and with a final balloon payment of $20,760. Offer expires 30/04/15 and is subject to BMW Financial Services lending criteria.

Issue No.22 • MAR/APR 2015

THIS MONTH Is Hawke’s Bay happy … and what might that mean? As our youth depart, should we lament or celebrate? Poop pond debacle. Furnware at 80 years. Craft beers brew in HB. Gobbling up online entertainment. Why not try biomass?

Horse of the Year changes horses. Plus food, the arts scene, and Brendan’s humour ...

20

FEATURES

HAPPINESS IS … Brooks Belford What is happiness anyway? Plus, Happiness Survey findings.

30

THEY’RE GONE Jessica Soutar Barron Hawke’s Bay’s expats are making their mark in the world.

38 CHB’S WASTEWATER WOES Bridget Freeman-Rock Why can’t we fix the poo ponds polluting the Tukituki?

42 GOBBLING GIGABYTES Keith Newman HB residents are devouring online content.

48 ALL CHAIRS ARE NOT EQUAL Tom Belford

At 80 years, Furnware is one of HB’s enviable success stories.

54 BOILERS FUEL A DIRTY ECONOMY Keith Newman Biomass is a viable alternative; why is adoption slow?

58

POLITICAL BUZZ Tom Belford Is Hawke’s Bay local government having some kind of meltdown?

Page 1 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Issue No.22 • MAR/APR 2015

JESS SOUTAR BARRON Jess is a wordsmith and project manager whose past gigs have included time with Sky TV, Hastings District Council and Band, as well as three years as a communications managerwith the Metropolitan Police Service.

She also produces Fruit Bowl Craft Jam.

KEITH NEWMAN Keith is a journo with nearly 40-years’ experience across mainstream and trade media.

He’s won awards for writing about hi-tech, produces Musical Chairs programmes for Radio NZ and has published four books, one on the internet in New Zealand and three others on New Zealand history.

Photo courtesy of Baroque Horse magazine

MARK SWEET Napier-born, Mark worked overseas in Hong Kong and Scotland, before returning to Hawke’s Bay, and establishing Pacifica restaurant.

Re-creating himself as a writer, Mark’s first novel Zhu Mao was published in 2011; an extract from his next novel, Of Good and Evil, has been short-listed for the Pikihuia Awards, will be published soon.

> BEE in the KNOW 08 Kevin Hansen dismounts. HB Wellness Index. Hot/Not. Smartphone health apps. New HB biz calendar. Online learning & podcasts & internet speeds.

Vanishing Nature. Ocean extinction. Hottest year. Cambodia project.

Reader quiz. Events not to miss.

> IDEAS & OPINIONS

BRIDGET FREEMAN-ROCK Bridget is Hawke’s Bay grown, and a bookworm by vocation, or a ‘literary scientist’ to borrow a German term for the ubiquitous arts degree in English. She freelances as a writer, editor and translator (German), and proofreads BayBuzz, alongside postgrad study and ventures in poetry and fiction.

84 BUREAUCRACY THWARTS EDUCATION Malcolm Dixon 86 UNFINISHED BUSINESS Peter Beaven 88 SMART FARMING: FARMING WITH NATURE John King 90 BRAIN DRAIN OR BRAIN EXCHANGE? Paul Paynter 92 WOMEN’S WORK Anna Lorck 94 KICK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH Damon Harvey

> CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

MANDY WILSON Mandy Wilson manages advertising and store sales for BayBuzz. She’s worked in print media in the Bay for 20 years or so (Wow!). In her leisure you can spot Mandy walking or cycling one of the numerous tracks throughout Hawke’s Bay or sipping hot chocolates in any number of cafes. 027 593 5575

62 BEER AS CRAFT Jim Poppelwell 66 TASTE LOCAL James Beck 70 ARTS Jessica Soutar Barron Erotica banned. Murals by Cinzah. Book reviews. Archie Hill tackles X Factor.

Bella Kalolo. Tribute to Tama Huata. Deco departure. Second life for Deco buses.

78 FASHION 96 NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY Brendan Webb BayBuzz articles are archived 30 days after publication at: WWW.BAYBUZZ.CO.NZ For editorial enquiries:editors@baybuzz.co.nz For advertising enquiries:mandy@baybuzz.co.nz

ISSN 2253-2625 (PrINt) ISSN 2253-2633 (ONlINe)

THE BAYBUZZ TEAM EDITOR: Tom Belford. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jessica Soutar Barron. SENIOR wRITERS: Bridget Freeman-Rock; Jessica Soutar Barron; Keith Newman; Mark Sweet; Tom Belford. cOluMNISTS: Anna lorck; Brendan webb; Damon Harvey; David Trubridge; Paul Paynter; Prue Barton; Sarah cates. EDITOR’S RIgHT HAND: Brooks Belford. PHOTOgRAPHy: Tim whittaker; Sarah cates.

IlluSTRATION: Brett Monteith. cREATIvE, DESIgN & PRODucTION: Empire Design; coast & co.

ADvERTISINg SAlES & DISTRIBuTION: Mandy Jensen. ONlINE: Mogul. BuSINESS MANAgER: Bernadette Magee. PRINTINg: Format Print. cOvER PHOTO By SArAh CAteS Page 2 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

This document is printed on an environmentally reponsible paper produced using Elemental chlorine Free (EcF) pulp sourced from Sustainable & legally Harvested Farmed Trees, and manufactured under the strict ISO14001 Environmental Management System.

FROM THE EDITOR TOM BELFOrD

Finding Happiness This edition of BayBuzz should tug at all of your emotions.

In They’re Gone, Jessica Soutar Barron celebrates a sampling of Hawke’s Bay’s wanderers who have left to find personal fulfillment and/or make their mark in the world, while reflecting on the counteremotion of ‘losing’ them. Paul Paynter, in Brain Drain or Brain Exchange, ditches the sentimentality and argues our youth are happier and better off gone.

Your blood pressure might rise as you read some of our point-of-view columns.

In Kick a Gift Horse in the Mouth, Damon Harvey critiques the ousting (my word, not his) of Horse of the Year founder and soul, Kevin Hansen. Malcolm Dixon takes a shot at bureaucracy in Bureaucracy Thwarts Education. And in Women’s Work Anna Lorck calls for women to take charge over tackling our social ills, since they are on the down-side of most of the troubling statistics.

Bridget Freeman-Rock’s CHB’s Wastewater Woes will leave you wondering whether the Tukituki will ever be made right. While Keith Newman’s Boilers Fuel A Dirty Economy questions why the resistance to climate- and environment-friendly biomass generation of heat and electricity.

And there’s plenty more Unfinished Business, argues regional councillor Peter Beaven, if we aspire to ‘do right’ by our environment and natural resources.

Once you’ve gotten all wound up, to ‘get a grip’ I urge you to read Brooks Belford’s feature, Happiness Is … She goes ‘under the hood’ of happiness, looking at some of the myths surrounding how people perceive and pursue that blessed state of being. It seems that brain scientists and psychologists have plenty to tell us about being happy … in case you thought it was easy.

Page 4 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Accompanying her feature is a report on the BayBuzz Happiness Survey, which was launched in the January/February edition. How happy is Hawke’s Bay? You can find out on page 28. Teaser: 22% couldn’t be happier! And if you haven’t yet taken the survey, you still can, and see where you fall on our region’s happiness spectrum.

Our look at happiness concludes with my commentary, Happiness and Government … An Oxymoron? Isn’t securing our happiness government’s ultimate purpose? You decide.

With government helping or not, we are pretty damn happy in Hawke’s Bay. At least we have plenty of creature comforts for those in a position to enjoy them.

The best wine. A blossoming cottage industry of craft beer brewers, as Jim Poppelwell reports in Beer As Craft.

Plenty of opportunity to buy excellent local foods and ingredients, as chef James Beck advocates in Buy Local! Buzz or Bounty? And even ever-increasingly fast broadband right here in Hawke’s Bay, opening the world of entertainment as never before, as Keith Newman describes in Gobbling the Gigabytes.

Sounds great. But not everyone in Hawke’s Bay enjoys the ‘good life’ supported by ample access to the creature comforts good incomes can buy. Many in Hawke’s Bay, in fact most, struggle with low incomes … a by-product of a regional economy tethered in the main to primary production and tourism.

Obviously neither of those sectors are going away, and of course shouldn’t.

But we must do more and better to create jobs in Hawke’s Bay that can lift our region’s standard of living. I suggest that requires diversification.

How happy are you?

Take the BayBuzz Happiness Survey.

Visit www.baybuzz.co.nz

An extraordinary example of what can be done is provided by local success story Furnware, this year celebrating 80 years of continuous business in Hawke’s Bay. Over 80 years, the last 25 at the hand of Hamish Whyte, Furnware has evolved from producing commonplace school chairs (and some other light manufacturing) to premium ‘furniture solutions’ for schools throughout the world. As I’ve reviewed in All Chairs Are Not Equal, Furnware has grown strongly, with plenty more to come, creating decent incomes for nearly 100 people, without a harmful environmental impact. A company grounded in a ‘family’ culture.

What Hawke’s Bay needs is more Furnwares. And then maybe we can all be happy.

TOM BELFOrD Tom’s past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organization, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major nonprofits and corporates. Tom writes an acclaimed blog for professional NGO fundraisers and communicators in North America and Europe, and is a HB Regional Councillor.

Live a coastal kind of life at Parkhill Farm.

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Situated in the seaside village of Te Awanga, there’s so much to see and do including the world-famous Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, fly fishing on the Tuki Tuki and whitebaiting in season. There’s miles of hiking and biking, including access to 180 kilometres of cycle trails. For seafarers, there’s a marine club and boat ramp plus good surf casting for the fisherman.

Come and see the location of the new Showhome that will open later in the year, the plans will be available to view. A sleek, pavilion style architectural home.

For Design inspiration meet us on site, call Design Builders today on 06 877 1441.

OPEN DAY Sunday 19th April 1pm- 3pm This is your opportunity to view the stunning Parkhill Development. Design Builders, Parkhill and Sotheby’s staff will be on hand to answer your questions.

Sites range from 2590m2 – 5776m2

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Various sections ranging in size and orientation, boasting exceptional sweeping views like no other in Hawkes Bay. Protective covenants and flat building platforms positioned for sun and privacy.

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To learn more about how these sections are managed and what you can expect when you purchase your piece of coastal paradise;

Call Craig Hay on 0508 Parkhill (727 544)

Michael Lock 027 674 9955

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Issue No.22 • MAR/APR 2015

LETTERS We’d like to hear from you!

Don’t be shy. Share your reactions to BayBuzz content and style with the BayBuzz team ... and other readers. We’re all good listeners!

napier port for sale The recent BayBuzz article arguing for privatising the Port of Napier made interesting reading. In my opinion, before any change of port ownership is considered, the possibility of better governance by the existing owner should be explored.

Perhaps the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council could start by seeking public submissions on the ownership issue, and as part of this process, develop an agreed statement on the Council’s long-term objectives as a port owner. I suggested doing this some years ago, when the Council was debating forming HBRIC as its asset holding company. So far as I am aware, no such statement of Council objectives was prepared.

The risk associated with not having agreed objectives is that councillors and/ or council staff may decide to use the Port’s income stream, and/or the Port’s ability to borrow against its asset base, to promote quite different objectives.

I’d hate to see the Port’s long-term competitive position compromised in order to support, for example, building the proposed Ruataniwha dam.

Bill Sutton

napier port for sale In the middle of Paul Paynter’s article (Issue 21) suggesting ‘it’s time to sell the Port’, is a photo of a construction site appearing crucial to Napier Port’s container operations, when it is only the foundations of the HBRIC approved state-of-the-art new Port office complex that might’ve been better built in town.

In his article, based on what he calls ‘the irrepressible trend towards containerised shipping,’ Paul points out that of ten Australasian ports surveyed in 2011, Napier’s crane rate was the worst. He overlooks the fact Napier Port was built on the back of break-bulk and general cargo.

paul paynter’s proposal to sell the napier port has gordon vogtherr up in arms. a man of few words ...

That a recent Port shipping guide shows that of 144 ships scheduled to arrive, only 53 were for containers. The rest were loading or discharging logs, fertiliser, woodchips, fuel, bitumen, cement, tallow, pulp and timber, squash, livestock and tourists.

Some commodities don’t lend themselves to containers. Bulk and general cargo accounts for two thirds of the Port’s profit.

The decision to purchase the Gottwald container cranes was the right one.

Kicking-off Napier’s container trade with the Scan Carrier roll-on-roll-off service in the late Seventies, past management, aware that strengthening wharves and purchasing gantry cranes was unsustainable, opted for flexibility instead.

The Gottwalds can be driven and adapted to handle containers and general cargo in other Port localities if required.

When performing properly, Napier’s crane operators would be hard to beat.

Staff involved in this operation will tell you that the problems they encounter maintaining their rates stem from delays due to the hours wasted travelling or digging containers planned wrongly on the ships involved, or on the pad.

Hiring an echelon of new managers from outside the industry, micromanaging and not heeding the advice of experienced employees has stymied the Port’s capacity to juggle operations and made it difficult for staff to cope. The Port lacks unification of its key departments. It has lost sight of its core business – ships, the cargo therein and maintenance of its wharves and infrastructure. And what’s the first thing management do when gifted millions from the HBRIC to spend on new projects?

Build a new office complex for themselves, while casual staff, based in third world huts, drive archaic trucks and forklifts over cobbled, unsound ground.

Paul suggests a conglomerate comprised of the likes of ‘Watties, Mr Apple, Pan Pac, Villa Maria and Progressive Meats’ should run the Port. If that happens, all I can see is a bun fight between the appointed directors demanding their cargoes get priority.

Napier Port should not be privatised or sold. It was gifted to the province, its profit and services to be used for the public good, and all this to be watched over by our duly elected representatives on the Regional Council; not them left hoodwinked and standing in the dark. It appears that the HBRIC, set up to run Port operations and future projects, is not holding Port management to account, and not reporting back to those we chose to serve us to perform the task.

Graham Chaplow

Send your comments, rants, praise, objections to: editors@baybuzz.co.nz Or, if you want to remain anonymous, just mail your comments to:

BayBuzz, PO Box 8322, Havelock North Page 6 • Issue 22 • Mar/Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ADVERTORIAL

It’s about great people, and great products.

PGG Wrightson. Committed to CHB farmers and their community.

PGG Wrightson’s agronomists Michael Benson and Hamish Best provide Central Hawke’s Bay’s arable and pastoral farmers with a complete cropping service. With an extensive range of top quality seeds, insightful and on-farm technical advice, along with ongoing consultation during and after sow-down, Michael and Hamish are dedicated to providing CHB farmers with solutions best suited to their land needs.

Michael Benson and Hamish Best.

Michael has been selling seed in CHB for PGG Wrightson for over 40 years. While holding a variety of roles, Michael has maintained a solid client base, some of which have been with him since the early 70s. With respect and dignity, Michael is well known for having time for farmers big and small, and has never refused to take on a new client.

As you’d expect, Michael’s seen plenty of change in his time with considerable increases in farm size and steady advances in the technology used to manage land. But the time has come for a change of pace, with Michael now handing over his wealth of knowledge and experience to a ‘new breed’ in New Zealand farming, Hamish Best.

Hamish grew up on a sheep and beef farm in the Ohariu Valley, Wellington. In 2010, after acquiring a BSc with Honours majoring in Agriculture from Massey University, Hamish worked for a wholesale seed company for three years prior to joining PGG Wrighston in 2014. As a prime example of the emerging future faces of farming, Hamish was Massey’s Agriculture Student of the Year in 2009.

Hamish is also vice chair of the East Coast region of the NZ Young Farmers Club, and as a show of his commitment to PGG Wrightson and the local community, has recently relocated and is now living and working in CHB. Hamish is passionately driven by agronomy and the buzz of achieving on-farm successes for CHB’s arable and pastoral farmers.

Hamish Best (left) and Michael Benson (right) discuss current maize growth with Leicester Gray from Gray Brothers of Waipukurau.

Handing over the reigns to a ‘new breed’.

Consistency is key to PGG Wrightson hence a succession plan between Michael and Hamish that will roll out over the next 12 months, with Michael taking on a support and mentoring role while Hamish learns the ropes.

Essentially a hand-over of relationships, the plan is to visit Michael’s entire client base to explain the transition and to make sure the process is smooth for all farmers – a feat in itself with some of Michael’s clients having been on the books for three generations.

Proud contributors to CHB’s community.

PGG Wrightson continues to be involved in the CHB community in various ways. One notable contribution in the late 90s was when Michael paid $10,000 for an entire lane at the Westpac Indoor Pool in Waipukurau.

In fact, to this day the lane is still called the ‘Wrightson lane’.

Other community involvement includes: • Sponsorship of various dog trials in CHB • Naming sponsor of HB Country Rugby and the ‘Player of the Season’ cup • Major sponsor of Smedley Station’s training farm – also present a shearing hand-piece to the top junior cadet each year

“With 420ha of cropping land we need only the best products and the best advice.

And that’s exactly what Michael’s been providing us with for well over 40 years.”

LeiCesTeR GRAY 5th generation CHB farmer and cropper.

The future of CHB depends on water security.

Looking forward, both Michael and Hamish see security of a consistent and plentiful water supply as central to the future success of CHB’s arable and pastoral farming sector.

This of course means the building of the proposed Ruataniwha Dam, which promises to supply the area with water throughout the year, including the dry summers that have become regular. Michael believes water surety will change everything for CHB by bringing increased production and the potential for more diversity in grown varieties and improved yield, to keep Central Hawke’s Bay alive and thriving. As Michael says, “It’s all about the people and the seed, and of course the water.” [ PGG Wrightson possess the only registered drying and dressing facilities for arable and pastoral seed in Hawke’s Bay. ]

To talk to Michael Benson or Hamish Best about your arable or pastoral seed requirements contact Michael on 027 597 5841 or Hamish on 027 807 8538. Or visit our Waipukurau store at 12 Takapau Road.

Freephone 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz

Helping grow the country

BEE in the KNOW

Dismounting

Photo courtesy of KAMPIC

Kevin Hansen is the soul of Horse of the Year, an event he invented, managed and grew for 17 years, including this – his last – year.

Under his leadership, HOY has become the largest equestrian event in the Southern Hemisphere, with an attendance of more than 80,000 to watch 2,600 horses and 1,800 riders compete. HOY generates an estimated $12.5 million for the region’s economy.

But perhaps most impressive are the 450+ volunteers, half from Hawke’s Bay, the rest from all over the country, who rally around Kevin and his son Andrew, donating some 16,000 person-hours to pull off Horse of the Year.

Even at minimum wage, that’s almost a quarter million in value. As Kevin says, “A volunteer force is the making of the show.”

We wish Kevin well in his Australian equestrian endeavors. Their gain; our loss.

Page 8 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

BEE in the KNOW

Hawke's Bay Wellness Index Jobs on Seek.co.nz

Homes For Sale

[February 22, 2015]

[Realestate.co.nz]

226

Lamb price at Stortford

February 22, 2015

AVERAGE

1,898

$70.24

Homes Sold

Petrol, Regular

Dwelling Assualts

[REINZ]

Average at BP

[Family violence indicator]

in January 2015 [Down 26% from Jan 2014]

[ February 22 ]

in December 2014 [Down 25 from Dec 2013]

Monthly Retail Spending

HB Hospital Emergency Department presentations

[February 18]

140 $1.826 103 125.6 6,167 235 [ Up 2.1% over January 2014 ]

$

Burglaries

[December 2014]

[ 15 Jan - 21 Feb, 2015]

Million

January 2015 [Paymark]

Visitors to MTG

Paid admissions, Jan

4,110 [ Up 1,508 from November 2014 ]

[ Up 3 from December 2013 ]

[ Up 338 from same period, 2014 ]

70

70 gigabytes of data downloaded, per month, on average, by NOW residential customers.

GB Up from 56 GB in Sep 2014.

[Year end Dec 2014]

1177 3,758,245

Bay Espresso coffee sold [Jan 2015]

Hawke's Bay Guest Nights

[ Up 95 kg from Nov 2014 ]

kg

[ Up 71,082 from YE Dec 2013 ]

What's Hot

What's Not

100kph

80kph

80kph

100kph

Kevin Hansen

Cynthia Bowers

HOY

Mission Concert

'Jack' & 'Vera'

NCC Deco Buses

Biomass

Coal

Erotica

Porn

HB Craft Beer

Industrial Brew

Fish & Game

HBRC / HBRIC

Page 9 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

BEE in the KNOW

Healthy Eating

No need to make educated decisions on what you should and shouldn't eat, soon you'll just need to count the stars.

The Ministry for Primary Industries is introducing a new front-of-pack nutrition labelling system called the Health Star Food Rating. They've been in Hawke's Bay recently teaching food producers and manufacturers how it works.

The system is designed to make it quicker

and easier for consumers to make better informed, healthy choices. It uses a star rating scale of ½ to 5 stars and can be used on all packaged food products for retail sale (except booze). The more stars a product has, the better the overall nutritional value.

The labels follow a similar Australian system, but you won't see them on packaging for another six months at least.

An App A Day Keeps The Doctor Away Amongst three billion smart phone/tablet users worldwide, a whopping 500 million use at least one health or wellness app. It's the fastestgrowing app category with more than 100,000 apps currently available.

By 2018, 50% of users will have downloaded mobile health apps.

HealthTap.com (itself worth a look) surveyed over 500,000 physicians to get their recommendations on a wide range of health apps. Apps were evaluated for medical accuracy, effectiveness, ease of use and validity. Here's what they came up with: 1 Weight Watchers Mobile (Weight Watchers International) 2 White Noise Lite (TMSoft) 3 Lose It! (FitNow) 4 First Aid (American Red Cross) 5 RunKeeper – GPS Track Run Walk (FitnessKeeper) 6 Emergency First Aid/Treatment (Phoneflips) 7 Instant Heart Rate (Azumio) 8 Fooducate – Healthy Food Diet (Fooducate) 9 Glucose Buddy – Diabetes Log (Azumio) 10 Pocket First Aid & CPR (Jive Media) 11 Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker (MyFitnessPal.com) 12 Stroke Riskometer (Autel)

Page 10 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

BEE in the KNOW

fEElINg cluEd uP By BAyBuzz?

P D

Now prove it! Answer these 12 questions (reading the magazine will help!). Then send your answers to: editors@baybuzz.co.nz or PO Box 8322, Havelock North 4157.

Or enter online at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ BaybuzzQuiz PErfEct scorEs WIN gIft voucHErs!

CASTS

BB#22 QuIz 1

How many species of bugs are at work in the CHB sewage treatment ponds?

2

What percentage of a person’s level of happiness is determined by behavioural choice?

3

Which Christchurch business was awarded by EECA for its biomass boiler?

4

What world-leading streamer of online TV and movies arrives in NZ in March?

the radio Adventures of doctor floyd: a new twist on a traditional style of radio play and a hit with the kids. It's wacky and off beat, with undertones of the Goon Show. It uses traditional radio techniques like Foley artistry but has modern themes – although all of that is often drowned out by a huge dollop of craziness.

5

Furnware started in the same year as which other Hastings business?

6

How many hectares of productive land are on the Heretaunga Plains?

7

Name a craft beer brewed in Hawke’s Bay.

8

Where will Bella Kalolo perform in Hastings in March?

the News from lake Wobegon: a standard fixture from Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. Keillor reports comings and goings from his fabled home town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." Keillor's delivery is superb and his whimsical meanderings through the lives of the fictional Wobegon residents funny and heartwarming.

9

Who established the Maori Music Awards?

The days of sitting around the wireless for an evening may have gone, but the internet is doing its part to revitalise that same feeling. Podcasts are radio programmes, some weekly serials, others documentary series, that are available through your computer, tablet or smart phone. The variety is limitless, from BBC Newshour to the truly wacky, but good ones to try are: serial: The world’s hottest podcast.

Plays out over 12 episodes as it untangles a case from 1999 when an American teenager was killed, allegedly by her boyfriend who is still in prison for the crime. The investigative reporting is excellent and the production quality very high. It's addictive too so be warned, one episode will not be enough! stuff you should Know: a series of documentaries that look very closely at very ordinary things. Everything from poison ivy to toy cars to rainbows and ice cream is put under the SYSK microscope. The shows have a conversational style that is very engaging and the range of subjects means there's something for everyone.

10 How much did Mark Scofield pay for his deco buses Jack and Vera?

11 Who owns The Little Chihuahua Mexican restaurants in San Francisco?

12 The book Cathy by John Carder Bush features photographs of whom as a child?

Business Brains Professional training and business events can now be listed online for free thanks to a Business Hawke's Bay initiative. It's a one-stop-shop for people wanting to know about training and networking opportunities from Wairoa to Waipukurau. Already organisations such as Crowe Horwath, the Icehouse and National Horticultural Field Day are using the Events Calendar to spread the word of their events and training opportunities.

Go to www.businesshawkesbay.co.nz/events to access the calendar.

Page 11 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

The BUZZ around the BAY International cultures day Saturday 7 March Performances and food from the diverse cultures of Hawke's Bay altogether in one place. @ Cornwall Park, Hastings.

Icc cricket World cup 2015 Sunday 8 March NZ v Afghanistan, McLean Park, Napier

Sunday 15 March West Indies v UAE, McLean Park, Napier

Napier Prison

deadhill ghost tour at Napier Prison Friday 13 March The Prison is spooky enough in the day, but at night it gets even creepier. Come see the place after dark and get a guided tour, complete with ghastly, ghostly tales.

Anzac commemorations Movie screenings @ Hastings Library (10am start)

Monday 16 March Lawrence of Arabia

Monday 23 March A Farewell to Arms

Monday 30 March Forbidden Ground

tuesday 7 April

death by dessert Friday 13 March The Artistic Director of the Hawke’s Bay Youth Theatre (HaBYT) and Director of the Drama Workshop, Peter Cottrell, has been accepted into the SGCNZ intensive Shakespeare course at the Globe Theatre London. Expertease Theatre is putting on a special fundraising Murder Mystery night to help get him there.

Call for tickets: 021 556061

Valiant

Friday 24 April Gallipoli: The Frontline Experience

Over 30 French films as part of a national festival. A wonderful collection and a treat for all francophiles. At Cinema Gold, Havelock North.

The website has full listings: www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz

Napier Port ocean swim Saturday 21 March 2015 is the 5th year of the Napier Ocean Swim. Races for all ages and distances.

200m Kids Classic, 300m Dash, 1km Classic and 2.5km Ultimate. @ Perfume Point Reserve, Napier.

Jan Preston

Jan Preston's Boogie circus Sunday 15 March Known as Australia’s foremost female boogie & blues piano player and singer, Jan delivers high-energy performances which, together with her candid and communicative personality, has given her longstanding popularity. @ MTG's Century Theatre, Napier.

Horse of the year Tuesday 17 March – Sunday 22 March Touted as one of the greatest equestrian celebrations in the world, this is a true celebration of all things equestrian and New Zealand's shared love of horses.

Page 12 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Alliance française french film festival Thursday 19 March – Sunday 29 March

The BUZZ around the BAY Buddy - the Buddy Holly story Tuesday 24 March Experience the drama, passion and excitement as these phenomenally talented actors and musicians tell Buddy Holly’s story, from his meteoric rise to fame, to his final legendary performance at The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. @ Napier Municipal Theatre.

Central Hawke's Bay. Teams will negotiate and navigate from checkpoint to checkpoint using only a topographical map.

tournaments: the Affiliates Tournament, Furnware Cup and Hawke's Bay Cup.

the Big Easy 2015 Saturday 4 April

Epically Awesome return of Awesome Epicness Friday 17 April

The Big Easy is the ultimate antidote to all those serious lycra-laden cycling events. 45kms long you can take all day and enjoy the many tasty Hawke’s Bay distractions along the way.

Regional Sports Park, Hastings.

Starts at Havelock North Domain.

After successful shows in Las Vegas and by popular demand iconic 80's Glam Metal Has-Been, Danny Dangerously, makes his return to Napier.

@ MTG's Century Theatre.

festival of Hockey Tuesday 7 April-Sunday 19 April

Hawke's Bay gold cup Saturday 18 April

sgcNz Hawke's Bay regional uosW shakespeare festival Thursday 26 March

An exciting series that sees top international teams as well as teams from around New Zealand descend on Hawke's Bay for two weeks of games across three

The Hawke’s Bay Gold Cup is one of New Zealand’s oldest Racedays, first run over 150 years ago! Live music, kids activities, free sausage sizzle and superb racing action.

Peta Mathias Wednesday 25 March A Comedy Show from one of New Zealand’s best loved personalities.

High school actors, directors and designers will present scenes and excerpts from Shakespeare’s plays. @ Napier Boys' High School.

volunteer fire Brigade open day Saturday 28 March Be part of the fire brigade for a day.

Live exhibitions, public safety displays and a sausage sizzle. @ the Havelock North Volunteer Fire Brigade.

ranui farm Park Adventure race Sunday 29 March This is a great opportunity to have a go at an entry-level adventure race down in

Festival of Hockey

Page 13 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Back to School learning new stuff is not just for kids! tool up and upskill with a range of classes, workshops and courses for adults.

TRYMOOCing

EIt has a whole range of weekend courses in arts practice over autumn/winter:

lino Prints 14-15 March

Pal tiya sculpting 28-29 March

Handbuilding with clay 2-3 May

screenprinting 23-24 May

Photography 23 -24 May

No cow required.

Keirunga gardens has pottery classes, and clay body workshops:

figures & torsos 14-15 March

Head sculpture 16-17 May

Environment centre Hawke's Bay in Hastings has workshops focused on sustainability:

compost Workshops Saturday 21 March

EDX.org is your doorway to a plethora of free online courses run by some of the world's best universities. Subjects range from Introduction to Probability from MIT, to The Einstein Revolution from Harvard. Both schools helped set up the initiative, but have been joined by many other universities from around the world.

The courses are known as MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, and there could be hundreds of thousands of people taking the same course at the same time, making for a seriously large virtual lecture hall! Anant Agarwal heads up EdX. He explains the learning revolution: "Today's online education is not our grandfather's online education. It's completely transformed.

We are doing short videos, interactive gaming where professors are using game-like technologies, discussions, (video) segments where experts in the field get together to discuss a topic. We bring discussion forums and the social into the classroom, into the online experience. And so this can be a very rich and very high quality experience."

Courses starting in March include Combinatorial Mathematics, Religion and Hip-Hop Culture and the Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics. Courses are free and available to join via www.edx.org

Worm farming & Bokashi Workshop

farmhouse Kitchen cooking school is doing cheesemaking classes with Inacio Guimares, award-winning cheesemaker:

ricotta & feta cheese Making Workshop

Source: Akamai

Saturday 18 April

Saturday 21 March

Mozzarella & Halloumi cheese Making Workshop Saturday 18 April

lotus Holistic centre in Hastings and Breathe in Havelock North are both holding energy workshops:

Energy clearing Workshop Saturday 28 March

crystal singing Bowls & the Moon, light and sound shower at Breathe Saturday 7 March (Also 5 April, 4 May and 2 June) Page 14 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Internet SpeeDS

42 8 6

NZ's internet speed placing out of 130 countries

Latvia's NZ's placing in the Asia Pacific region

7 14 75

NZ's average connection speed in megabits per second the percentage of NZ homes with internet speeds over 10Mbps % of NZ homes government plans to have hooked up to ultra fast broadband by 2020

The Child Poverty Monitor has just released its 2014 report. This work is a partnership between the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the University of Otago’s NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service, and the JR McKenzie Trust. The full report is available online at childpoverty.co.nz

Ocean Life Struggling

24% of dependent children in New Zealand are living in poverty.

A January report in the US journal Science warns that humans are on the verge of causing unprecedented damage to the oceans and their marine life.

That’s 260,000 dependent children aged 0–17 years.

MAorI

34%

PAsIfIKA

28%

EuroPEAN

16%

Household crowding rates MAorI

25% PAsIfIKA

AsIAN/INdIAN EuroPEAN

43% of children in the most deprived areas live in crowded houses.

47% 21% 5%

Kiwi kids living in severe poverty

110,000

children living in poor households

Over 10% of children aged 0–17 years live in severe poverty.

That’s more than 110,000 children.

196,247

11

17% reliant on a recipient of Jobseeker Support.

The study is a synthesis of data from an enormous range of sources, from fossil records to statistics on fish catches and seabed mining.

The greatest threat to ocean species is large-scale habitat destruction. For example, life-supporting coral reefs have declined 40% worldwide. Global warming is a key factor, changing both sea temperatures and chemistry, with carbon emissions making seawaters more acidic.

In addition to bottom trawling, which has adversely affected 20 million square miles of the sea floor, contracts for sea mining now cover 460,000 square miles underwater. Thankfully, here in New Zealand, the EPA appears in recent decisions to be protecting our offshore waters from seabed mining.

The Science report authors do note that, if only because of their vastness, our oceans could be more resilient than our land ecosystems.

Children rely on a benefit recipient

72% reliant on a recipient of Sole Parent Support.

The NY Times quoted an author of the research, the University of California’s Dr Douglas McCauley: “We may be sitting on a precipice of a major extinction event.”

11% of children aged 0–14 years live in households identified as crowded.

As one author observes, humans are a far more efficient land predator, having extinguished 514 recorded land animal species, compared to ‘only’ 15 documented ocean extinctions. Says Dr McCauley: “Fundamentally, we’re a terrestrial predator … it’s hard for an ape to drive something in the ocean extinct.”

In other words, the tiger shark stands a better chance than the tiger.

You can access the Science report here:

http://bit.ly/1wg7odX On a brighter note, global warming and our relationship with the oceans inspired this year’s Grammy-award winner for best contemporary classical composition – Become Oceans. The composition by John Luther Adams also won the Pulitzer for music in 2014. You can listen at:

http://bit.ly/1cq0W3f Page 15 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

DON’T MISS THE BUZZ!

SUBSCRIBE NOW& SAVE! Be sure to ‘bee in the know’ by getting Hawke's Bay’s hottest magazine delivered straight to your door… and save money too!

Take advantage of these great subscription deals.

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We’re plenty grateful that you recognize producing a high quality, HB-exclusive magazine is hard work … and costly. Same six issues delivered to your letter box, but no vouchers or gift subscription to sweeten the pie.

Plus, we add two bonuses: 1. You’ll receive a gift pack of merchant vouchers worth well over $50 – from Ten24 Restaurant and Mahia St Kitchen, Poppies and Beattie & Forbes booksellers, plus healthy foodstores Cornucopia and Chantal. Use the vouchers and you’re getting BayBuzz for free!

2. We’ll give one BayBuzz Gift Subscription in your name to anyone you choose to reward. [be sure to fill out the adjoining gift form.]

Just want to gift a BayBuzz subscription?

Gift subscriptions are a terrific way to help your friends understand the issues challenging our region and stay abreast of the ‘buzz’ around Hawke’s Bay. For $25 you can give a gift subscription for our new, bigger and better BayBuzz magazine.

Just fill out the adjoining gift form.

Why not take the easy option and subscribe online? Just go to www.baybuzz.co.nz/subscribe

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reasons Why you should subscribe to BayBuzz you love Hawke’s Bay and want to buy ‘locally grown’.

BayBuzz is sweeping Hawke’s Bay faster than bowl haircuts; supplies are limited.

you’ll save $18 annually off the per-copy price. you’d like to know what the other side thinks.

Nothing’s more nutritious with your coffee, and it’s only $0.006 cents a word per year. your boss, your in-laws, and the guy pumping your petrol all subscribe, and you’d better keep up. your newspaper just doesn’t say enough. you actually like to think.

WAys to PAy option 1 – Electronic Bank transfer Complete the pre-addressed, postage-paid Subscription form below and post to BayBuzz.

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option 2 – Pay by cheque Complete your Subscription and/or Gift form(s) and send in with your cheque. Please make the cheque payable to BayBuzz and post to: BayBuzz, Po Box 8322, Havelock North.

option 3 – Pay online Just proceed to www.baybuzz.co.nz/subscribe, where you can use your credit card or Paypal account to make a secure payment. If you’re gifting a subscription, post your pre-addressed, postage-paid Gift form to BayBuzz. can’t afford a BayBuzz subscription? Tell us about it in an email to editors@baybuzz.co.nz A limited number of courtesy subscriptions are made available by a generous BayBuzz supporter.

suBscrIBE ME to BAyBuzz yEs, I want to bee in the know. Please enter my BayBuzz subscription for: $50 … for one year (six editions) of BayBuzz. Please send my bonus pack of gift vouchers.

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KUMACambodia

There are 535,000 orphans in Cambodia, where the population is 15 million. Until recently many have been confined to orphanages and aid has funneled to children through those avenues, but now it's seen as more beneficial for the children to live in home environments with extended family.

The problem is that those families are stretched already, often living in poverty and struggling to provide the basics, let alone an education.

Hawke's Bay woman Andrea Naylor saw this first hand when she travelled to Cambodia in 2007 to visit a health project run by a friend. She was interested in the free clinic, which catered for pregnant women, but as a teacher was more focused on the number of children not in school.

"It seemed so wrong to me that children already marginalised from poor communities, were also missing the opportunity to gain an education, opening a way out of this poverty," she says.

At the time Andrea was teaching in Singapore at an international school, United World College of South East Asia, but she'd always matched her commitment to teaching with an equally strong philanthropic drive.

In Cambodia she brought the two streams together. With support from the College community, she began working on a project that would see the establishment of a school specifically for children with orphan status as well as those living in extreme poverty and in households with drug, alcohol and domestic violence issues.

Eventually Kuma Cambodia was born.

"It was a long process, but in 2012 a lease was signed for a property perfect for a little school," Andrea explains. "It's a large private house with shady trees and lots of room for running and playing."

It's a school, but much more. The hours are longer than usual so parents and caregivers can work, but the 70 pupils aren't in classrooms all day. Kuma teaches children hygiene and health alongside reading and writing. The children are fed well, shower each morning, sleep for an hour in the afternoons, take part in drama, dance and PE. "They have been transformed from sad, malnourished children with bad skin and multiple health issues into bright-eyed little people brimming with confidence and energy," Andrea says. "Their concentration has increased and they are genuinely excited, happy and eager to learn."

Andrea is part of the team who set up the school with help from an NGO (Norwegian Association for Private Initiative in Cambodia). The school itself is run by local Cambodians with Andrea travelling back and forth from her job in Singapore to work with the school's staff and families.

To find out more about Kuma Cambodia, or get involved in helping Andrea's school build a strong future for its children, visit their website:

kumacambodia.org Page 18 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Loss a Choice New Zealand’s natural heritage lies squarely at the centre of our national identity, our international brand and the future economic prosperity of our people. Yet despite its critical importance, the state of our species and ecosystems is deteriorating. New Zealand holds weakly to its ‘100% Pure’ status, with present statistics and trends telling a rather different story.

Vanishing Nature: facing New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis is a full colour, soft cover publication suitable for a general and a technical audience with user-friendly language and lots of images.

The book's authors argue the drivers of harm, as well as the barriers to effective protection, must be addressed to halt the loss of native species and ecosystems.

Curtailing biodiversity loss and inviting a reconciliation of economic and environmental aspirations will require visionary thinking and action at all levels. In some detail, this book catalogues the path New Zealand has trodden towards the present environmental decline, and lays the foundation for a new direction with a compelling suite of strategic, tactical and practical solutions.

The book includes a comprehensive suite of strategic, tactical and practical solutions, and finishes with a vision and action plan.

"Biodiversity loss is not inevitable, it is a choice", say the authors.

The pathway to true national prosperity lies in a powerful groundswell of action to conserve ecosystems and species and to more effectively provide for their place in the world.

Action at all levels from the individual to the highest levels of government must unite for a better future for our natural heritage.

EDS is a not-for-profit committed to improving environmental outcomes within New Zealand. EDS brings together the disciplines of science, planning, landscape and the law , and operates as a thinktank, providing thought leadership on key environmental issues as well as representing the environment before councils and the courts.

facing New Zealand's biodiversity crisis

facing New Zealand's biodiversity crisis

Our rich biodiversity is in peril and urgent action is required to turn the tide in accordance with national goals and global commitments. This book demonstrates that New Zealand has grappled bravely with the practical challenges of conserving biodiversity, resulting in a plethora of achievements, but that fundamental drivers of loss persist, largely unchecked.

VANISHING NATURE

VANISHING NATURE

the Environmental defence society has published an exhaustive analysis of New zealand's biodiversity loss and its conservation.

BEE in the KNOW

Marie A Brown R T Theo Stephens Raewyn Peart Bevis Fedder

We must follow through on the recommendations in this book. A future of declining natural heritage and loss of some of the world’s most iconic species and landscapes is simply not acceptable.

vanishing Nature is $45 +PP from www.eds.org.nz

1

climate Heating up 2014 was the hottest year on earth since record-keeping began in 1880 according to US science agencies NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Nine of the ten hottest years recorded have been since 2000.

The tenth was 1998.

El Nino years are often hotter than others, but 2014 wasn't an El Nino year, making the heat even more shocking.

NASA's Gavin Schmidt commented on the report in

the Washington Post, saying the new record is precisely what he would expect to see on a warming planet. "If you’ve got a long-term warming trend, you’re going to get new records every so often — in fact, on a pretty regular basis. This is going to continue to happen because the underlying rate of global warming really hasn’t changed."

There's a great animation of the changing temperatures here: http://bloom.bg/1cwg2n5 Page 19 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Happiness is ...

BY BROOKS BELFORD PHOTOGRAPHS SARAH CATES

Page 20 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

“We all want to be happy, and there are countless ideas about what happiness is and how we can get some. But not many of those ideas are based on science. That’s where this course comes in.”

So pitched the unexpected email message that showed up in my inbox one day last autumn.

A few clicks later, I was enrolled in The Science of Happiness, an online tutorial exploring what it takes to have a “happy and meaningful life” based on recent research findings from neuro science, evolutionary biology, psychology and the like. And I was not alone. Roughly 100,000 other people around the world signed up too for this free, 8-week tutorial from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

That’s a lot of people. What other topic besides sex could draw a crowd that size to study something so basic and, well … as Thorton Wilder said, who cares “why or whither; just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate”?

Perhaps, as J.P. Morgan observed about money, people who think about happiness obviously don’t have enough. Or maybe they’re all just self-absorbed whingers with too much time on their hands. George Bernard Shaw advised avoiding misery by being too busy to wonder if you’re happy or not. Edith Wharton saw it slightly differently: “If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.”

Or, do the happiness scientists have something worthwhile to say? Yes, they do.

“Across all the domains of life, happiness appears to have numerous positive by-products that few of us have taken the time to really understand,” writes leading positive psychology scientist Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness, and one of many expert sources for the Science of Happiness course.

Benefits include more numerous and robust friendships; more satisfying marriages; more flexible, creative and rigorous thinking; more productivity and higher pay at work; greater resilience in the face of trauma and loss; more confidence and self-esteem; better physical health and longer lifespans; and—of course—more overall enjoyment and satisfaction with life.

Happiness literally “transforms us for the better, even at the cellular level” declares Dacher Keltner from Berkeley’s Center for Greater Good.

Sea-change in science These are recent discoveries. Only in the last 20 years or so have scientists paid serious attention to positive experience and its mental and physical consequences, thanks largely to a sea-change in the field of psychological research.

Much of the history of Western psychology has been shaped by a singleminded focus on pathology and dysfunction: “What’s wrong with people and how do we fix them?” Not until late in the 20th century did pioneers like Dr. Martin Seligman – founder of Positive Psychology – begin asking the opposite question: “What’s working well for people and how can we encourage more of it?” Since then, happiness and related concepts have become grist for the scientific mill.

As a result, the subjective consequences of listening to music, walking barefoot, making a charitable contribution, ‘reading’ facial expressions and body language, or getting a pat on the back from a friend, are now scientifically discernible. Feelings such as ‘compassion’ or ‘gratitude’ can now be empirically mapped and quantified, as can

“Across all the domains of life, happiness appears to have numerous positive by-products that few of us have taken the time to really understand.” the beneficial impacts of these and other positive emotions on our brains, bodies, and the way we interact with each other and with our environment. In short, science can now explain the remarkable bio-chemical processes that both generate and are the by-products of ‘happiness.’ An oft-cited example: when we feel good our peripheral vision expands, literally enabling us to “see the bigger picture,” which in turn promotes more creative and innovative thinking, leading to more satisfying interactions with the environment, leading to more positive feelings … and so on.

This kind of neuro-environmental feedback loop is the physiological driver of happiness, but happiness as we knowingly experience it involves a different set of dimensions.

Psychologist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman identifies four ‘domains of happiness’ to account for what is meant when someone says “I’m happy.”

One is a general sense of overall wellbeing and satisfaction with life, as in “I’m happy with my life these days.” Two is a personal disposition or trait: “I’ve always been a happy and enthusiastic person.” Three is the

Happiness Myths Scientists are demonstrating that much of the conventional wisdom about happiness is inaccurate; and that even though people do have the capacity to increase their happiness in lasting ways, we’re not very good at doing this due, among other reasons, to quirks of human nature.

Consider, for example, the following findings culled from The Science of Happiness course. Compared to people of ‘average’ or ‘below average’ happiness, ‘very happy’ people: • Don’t have fewer adverse life events; they’re just better at bouncing back.

• Don’t use money, material possessions or high social status to measure their self-worth (people who do show lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction).

• Aren’t perfectionists, don’t judge themselves in comparison to others, and don’t base their self-esteem on being ‘the best’ (which is associated with more stress, anxiety and depression).

• Aren’t necessarily more attractive, more accomplished or more richly endowed with the trappings of desirability and success. Although happier people tend to be more ‘successful’, ‘successful’ people aren’t necessarily happier.

• Aren’t focussed on getting the most pleasure, enjoyment or satisfaction out of every situation. On the contrary, they’re good at being satisfied with ‘what is’ and don’t feel compelled to ‘make it even better’. (People who habitually do the latter tend to show higher levels of dissatisfaction, depression, regret and pessimism.)

• Don’t go out of their way to avoid or deny difficult situations and negative feelings.

In fact, being able to experience the full repertoire of human emotions is part and parcel of greater happiness and robust mental health.

• Don’t assume that getting what they want – a better job, smaller dress size, new boat, whatever – ensures happiness.

• Do experience more positive day-to-day feelings but don’t expect – or frequently experience – the high-octane bliss seen on Coca Cola commercials.

• Do put more time and energy into the important people in their lives, and typically are more generous, altruistic and helpful.

Page 21 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

“Not only do our life circumstances have very little to do with our happiness levels, each of us has a lot more influence than previously thought over how happy we can be.”

“So many people are so convinced that money buys happiness, it’s worth elaborating on the fact that it doesn’t.” experience of positive/enjoyable emotions such as might come with the birth of your first grandchild, cruising the Caribbean or winning Lotto. The fourth is pleasurable sensory experience: getting a good massage or eating Oreo cookies.

Scientists have hotly debated the relative merits of these domains and whether one type of happiness is ‘better’ than another.

But positive psychology pioneer Edward Deiner and many of his peers are convinced that the sense of overall wellbeing and life satisfaction PLUS feeling positive emotions equals the gold standard for optimum human experience … what Deiner calls ‘subjective wellbeing’. This, more often than not, is what the happiness scientists mean by “happiness.”

As Lyubormirsky says, “I use the term happiness to refer to the experience of joy, contentment, or positive wellbeing, combined with the sense that one’s life is good, meaningful and worthwhile.”

Page 22 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

However, inborn predisposition – Kahneman’s second domain – is another crucial piece of the happiness equation.

For a long time scientists believed that a person’s happiness potential was genetically determined. And because there was little anyone could do about this hereditary ‘set point’, there was little if any sense in trying to figure out how to become happier.

How of Happiness author Sonia Lyubomirsky and colleagues discovered otherwise. Heredity, they found, accounts only for about 50% of a person’s level of happiness, with the rest determined by a combination of life circumstances (10%) and behavioural choice (40%). These are remarkable findings: Not only do our life circumstances have very little to do with our happiness levels, each of us has a lot more influence than previously thought over how happy we can be.

But it’s not so simple.

Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in part for his discovery of ‘impact bias’ and the fact that people generally fail to estimate accurately how much an anticipated event or experience will affect them for better or worse. Newlyweds, for example, enjoy an initial surge of happiness but return to baseline levels after about three years. So do lottery

winners, but the surge is considerably shorter. And some studies show that people who suddenly lose a limb or become quadriplegic tend to return to something close to their original level of happiness within about a year.

Part of what’s going on here is ‘hedonic adaptation’. What gives exquisite pleasure at first – the new Porsche, longed-for job promotion, perfect lover – will gradually lose its lustre over time for the simple reason that we grow accustomed to the experience. This, of course, is why people who equate happiness with the pursuit of pleasure are likely doomed to the ‘hedonic treadmill’, and why the pursuit of money and things is a losing ticket to permanent wellbeing.

But there’s a silver lining. Things that make us uncomfortable at first get easier as we get used to them. When the thrill is gone from driving the new car, at least the demanding new job that pays for it no longer feels so stressful, thanks to our remarkable ability to adjust and adapt.

So many people are so convinced that money buys happiness, it’s worth elaborating on the fact that it doesn’t.

Money and things do make a difference … up to a point. Not having the means to maintain a reasonable and secure standard of living, chronic financial stress, the

crushing grind of poverty – these pose real and significant threats to mental and physical wellbeing. And research shows that people with higher incomes – and people who live in wealthier countries – report higher average levels of happiness than those with lower incomes or who live in poorer countries.

Yet longitudinal studies show little change in people’s level of life satisfaction over their lifespan despite the ups and downs of their incomes. And even though per capita income in the US is significantly higher now than it was half a century ago, people’s level of satisfaction hasn’t risen commensurately.

Although the research on wealth and happiness is vast, contradictory and complex, former Harvard University president, and author of The Politics of Happiness, Derek Bok, sums it up nicely for the purposes of this article: “Financial success is not the only prominent aspect of life that seems to contribute less to happiness than most people suppose.”

Finding happiness So what does cause real and lasting happiness if genetics, impact bias, hedonic adaptation, and the like so often get in the way? To find out, happiness researchers looked closely at the behaviours of very happy people and very unhappy people, and analysed which behaviours had the greatest impact on ‘subjective wellbeing’.

In so doing, they discovered certain ‘habits’ that significantly contribute to greater happiness; and, although very happy people seem to come by them naturally, anyone can learn to adopt them. Those who do show gradual improvement in happiness levels and related psychological, physiological and social rewards.

Here is Berkeley’s Center for the Greater Good’s list of 6 Habits of Happiness Worth Cultivating: Keep friends close. Humans are the most pro-social species on the planet, despite glaring examples to the contrary. As the Center for Greater Good’s Dacher Keltner says, we’re “hard wired for connection” with extraordinary innate capacities for bonding, nurturance, cooperation, and mutually rewarding interdependence. Given our ‘ultra social’ natures, it’s no surprise that one of the standout necessities for happiness is rich social bonds and rewarding relationships.

Very happy people score higher in empathy, compassion, altruism and the other crucial emotions that fuel pro-social behaviour. They spend much more of their time in the company of others, put much more energy and effort into their relationships and reap substantial rewards – including reduced stress response, better immune function, greater emotional resilience and longer life.

Pay Attention. Happy people ‘savour the moment’. The ability to say focused and enjoy the present is strongly associated with wellbeing and good mental health.

It’s also one of the keys to ‘flow’: that wonderful sense of being totally engaged and productively absorbed in whatever you’re doing – painting a picture, playing rugby, baking a cake with your kids. As Buddhism and other philosophical/ spiritual traditions have recognized for centuries, we can increase our emotional resilience and wellbeing simply by training our minds to be more fully attentive and engaged in the present moment.

Meditation, of course, is one of the simplest and most widely used means to this end.

Give Thanks. The simple practice of ‘counting our blessings’ promotes greater optimism, life satisfaction and better health. Essentially a shifting of focus from what one lacks to a deliberate appreciation of what one has, gratitude has been shown to help people recover from past hurts, feel more energetic and optimistic about life, and behave in more pro-social ways.

Dacher Keltner says gratitude is more than a momentary acknowledgement of a positive occurrence; it’s an orientation to life including ‘humble dependence’ and ‘feeling of reverence’ for things beyond our own making. This leads Keltner to another characteristic typical of very happy people: religious or spiritual beliefs, including the sense of being part of something larger than one’s self. In this light, gratitude can encompass feelings of wonder, awe, and inspiration – with or without religious/spiritual connotations – that are amongst the most powerfully positive of human experiences.

Drop Grudges. There’s no escaping conflict and transgression; the real issue is how we deal with them. Primates and humans are among the rare species who seek reconciliation after social bonds have been breached or broken. We’ve evolved to be able both to appease and to forgive. People who do the latter report greater life satisfaction and fewer symptoms of psychological distress, such as sadness, restlessness or nervousness.

Not so for those who don’t. Grudges are closely associated with hostility and its physiological consequences: weakened immune response, reduced relationship satisfaction and higher stress levels.

Worth noting: forgiveness does not mean condoning the offense or even reconciling with the offender. What it does mean is acceptance that the transgression occurred, letting go of the urge to punish, and some degree of compassion towards the offender as a fellow human being, however imperfect.

Monique Therese Says Good News for Travellers…

If you want a beautiful piece of jewellery and feel it is a little out of reach? We can offer travellers going overseas “Tax free purchases!” How does this work you ask? It is easy. Simply come in to Monique Therese Jewellers with your passport details and flight information, choose the stunning piece of jewellery you desire and leave the paper work up to me. It really is that simple. And you will SAVE, SAVE, SAVE no G.S.T. What a wonderful way to get the piece of jewellery you’ve always wanted…..

Buy the engagement ring of your dreams or a special anniversary piece to mark your precious years together.

It doesn’t get better than that! If you have any questions about how tax free purchases work or how you can cash in on this amazing service, please don’t hesitate to contact Monique at “Monique Therese Jewellers.”

New and exciting times are ahead of us at Monique Therese. We would like to introduce a new member to the workshop family …Tim Turner talented goldsmith will be working alongside Monique to create even more beautiful creations to keep you all on the edge of your seat. Feel free to pop in and have a look at the latest looks hot off the jeweller’s bench.

With a great knowledge of design and colour Monique, Tim or Eileen can help you find the perfect piece of jewellery to compliment your style, hand make to your design or if you need some inspiration we can sketch ideas with you and come up with something amazing. We are here to you help and guide you through the design and making process making it a fun and memorable experience with a sparkly happy ending.

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Page 23 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Get Moving. Happier people get more exercise, and the supporting evidence is overwhelming – reduced anxiety, improved self-esteem, better sleep and eating habits, greater mental clarity, increased energy.

Nothing short of better all-around health.

Practice Kindness. Quite simply, we’re hardwired to help others. Whether it’s making a charitable donation, buying someone a gift, being emotionally supportive, or doing volunteer work, altruistic behaviour and the feelings associated with it lights up the same reward centers in the brain as food or sex, especially if the helpfulness promotes increased affiliation and social connection.

Note that people who do volunteer work tend to live longer than those who don’t.

Interestingly, kindness is contagious.

How often have you felt ‘moved’ or uplifted hearing about someone else’s great act of kindness? People who are confronted by the generosity of others tend to behave more generously themselves. The emotions associated with doing, receiving, or observing kindness are, like those of gratitude, some of the most positive and inspiring in the human repertoire.

Happiness science gets sliced, diced and parcelled out in different ways. Two additional qualities that often show up on ‘happy-habits’ lists are optimism and a sense of purpose. Happier people believe

Page 24 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

that what they do makes a difference and their lives are worthwhile; and they look to the future with confidence.

But Edward Deiner and other positive psychology scientists report that “confidence, optimism and self-efficacy, activity and energy” are part of the cascade of benefits that come from having positive experiences in the first place. And these, in turn, lead to more “positive, goal-directed interactions with the environment.”

So be happy!

In other words, happiness empowers us to be more proactively and productively engaged with the world. “Science documents that positive emotions can set off upward spirals in your life, selfsustaining trajectories of growth that lift you up to become a better version of yourself,” writes researcher and professor Barbara Fredrickson in her book Love 2.0.

With rhapsodic endorsements like this, it’s not surprising that there are 1,700 happiness ‘How to’ books available from Amazon.com (and 1,000 from Fishpond. com). Or that any women’s magazine you pick up is bound to have a ‘5-steps-toa-happier-you’ article. Or even that the Science of Happiness course offers plenty of scientifically-sanctioned ‘things you can do’ to make happiness habits a bigger part of daily life.

Yet the above listed ‘6 Habits of Happiness Worth Cultivating’ are pretty much what wise people have been urging us to do from the beginning of recorded history. It’s ironic that we now need ‘scientific evidence’ to justify – if not spell out for us – the benefits of caring for one another and of having more profound positive emotional experiences including empathy, compassion, altruism and the like.

Taking a closer look at happiness reminds us to pay closer attention to who we are as human beings and to the fundamental – and quite awesome – attributes that have enabled us to survive and evolve as a social species. Yet in a culture of ‘having it all’ and ‘doing it all’ (as quickly as possible!) it’s all too easy to turn ‘gratitude’ and ‘kindness’ into just more items on our jam-packed ‘to do’ lists. And this, say the scientists, will not make us happier.

“Happiness,” says Sonya Lyubomirsky, “is more than anything is a state of mind, a way of perceiving and approaching ourselves and the world in which we reside.” If we allow ourselves to embrace it “we benefit not only ourselves but also our partners, families, communities, and even society at large.”

And if that doesn’t warm your heart, try this: http://bit.ly/ISjjGV

Brooks Belford is a counsellor in private practice and works for local social service agencies.

Happiness & Government … an oxymoron?

As our Happiness feature makes clear, there are habits of attitude and behavior that anyone can practice to improve their personal happiness.

But that isn’t the whole story.

The academic research, backed by common sense (or is it the other way around?), makes clear that our surrounding environment can obviously be conducive – or not – to individuals’ happiness. Factors such as employment, perceived health, and even quality of government are found to be associated with lasting happiness, for individuals and, collectively, their communities.

As Derek Bok notes in The Politics of Happiness, the importance of these factors brings into play the role of government – philosophically and practically – in fostering our happiness.

Thomas Jefferson, for example, said: “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” His Declaration of Independence promised a government that would deliver “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

His fellow US founding fathers, like John Adams, agreed: “The happiness of society is the end of government.”

Their French contemporaries wrote into the French constitution of 1793: “The goal of society is general happiness.”

And British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, with his ‘felicific calculus’, argued that the overriding aim of

BY TOM BELFORD

government should be to secure the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people – “the foundation of morals and legislation”. Some might bemoan that his (together with John Stuart Mill) utilitarianism was a precursor to cost-benefit analysis!

Of course, some latter-day American presidents have strayed from the founders. Ronald Reagan, for instance: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” That said, Reagan’s most deadly campaign commercial aimed at Jimmy Carter simply promised: “It’s morning in America again” – happy tonic, now a political classic.

So, is there a government role in fostering happiness? Obviously we look to government to promote job creation, provide health care, and protect us from danger. In other words, promote our social wellbeing.

Recognizing there’s more to life than GDP, governments around the world are experimenting with the concept of measuring social wellbeing as an improvement over measuring national advancement in terms that are merely economic. The OECD even measures ‘subjective wellbeing’ (or ‘life satisfaction’) and compares nations – tops is Switzerland; New Zealand (at 7.3 on a scale of 10, compared to OECD average of 6.6) ranks a happy 6th (How’s Life? 2013). For a report card on NZ, go here:

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http://bit.ly/1An5mY4 The chart on the next page from Stats NZ show the relative level of ‘life satisfaction’ across NZ’s major population groups:

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Page 25 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Level of Overall Life Satisfaction

By Ethnic Group

Percent

I 2012 I Source: Statistics New Zealand

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 European Very Satisfied

Maori Satisfied

Here in New Zealand, central government, led by – believe it or not – Treasury (yes, the custodians of cost-benefit analysis), has developed a sophisticated framework – ‘Living Standards Framework’ – for evaluating government initiatives and policies.

This Framework incorporates ‘objective’ measures like health and employment status, but also the ‘subjective wellbeing’ touted by OECD and academic researchers. It is grounded upon the latest sociological and psychological research on happiness.

We cannot in this article dig into how extensively Treasury applies its Framework, or with what impact on ministers, but its mere cultivation is noteworthy … and what better agency to champion it? You can follow this work here: http://bit.ly/1Fw3AZ3 In Hawke’s Bay, a high level of perceived satisfaction seems to exist (see page 28, Is Hawke’s Bay Happy?), despite an abundance of measures that indicate high levels of deprivation, inferior health, job stagnation, and significant domestic violence Page 26 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Asian Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied

compared to other regions. Indeed, only Southland reports a higher level of ‘Overall life satisfaction’ than Hawke’s Bay. (Stats NZ) We’re suffering, but satisfied. What a huge impediment to change!

Complacency? Something to ponder.

Our local councils do pay some attention to social wellbeing – providing museums, civic celebrations, youth programmes, CBD street patrols, etc – but largely leave the major environmental facets of our ‘happiness’ – job and income security, health promotion, safety from crime – to central government initiatives and agencies.

The Hastings Council documents its concern in its Supporting Social Wellbeing Strategic Framework, codified in 2010. The strategy states as its focus: “Supporting Social Wellbeing will focus on promoting safe and secure communities, a community that reduces the prevalence of illness and injuries and a community where people

Pasifika

Total

Dissatisfied / Very Dissatisfied

are independent and are able to engage in the economy. It will target youth, older people, Maori and people living in pockets of the district characterised by high levels of deprivation.”

Again, what priority has been given to implementing this social wellbeing strategy, or any similar efforts by other councils, is beyond our scope here.

Probably most of us don’t think of local councils as instruments of our happiness. But consider that the next time speed limits are changed, you have a bad experience in the CBD, your sport code can’t find a playing field, or your favourite ‘public’ tree gets chopped!

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IS HAWKe’S BAY HAPPY? As we write, 343 happy campers have responded so far to our BayBuzz Happiness Survey. Thanks to all of you (mostly) happy people. Here is an overview of our state of happiness in Hawke’s Bay. Cutting right to the chase, let’s look at the core question, where readers were simply asked to rate their personal happiness on a 7-point scale, with ‘7’ representing the happiest. This chart shows who the happiest of us are – looking at only the ‘6’ and ‘7’ responders.

PerSOnAL HAPPIneSS rATInG

% 6 + 7 rATInG

Total sample (ave rating = 5.3)

47%

Male

56%

Female

45%

Napier

44%

Hastings

50%

Income up to $49k

37%

Income $50k to $100k

53%

Income $100k or more

48%

Completed high school

60%

Bachelor’s degree

44%

Post-graduate degree

54%

Under 30 years

41%

30-44 years

37%

45-59

51%

60 and older

67%

As our feature article suggests, there are plenty of happy people across income and education levels in Hawke’s Bay. Beneath the surface, though, those with less income are far less likely to agree that “so far I have gotten the important things in life” or that “I am optimistic about my future”.

The age profile of the Bay’s happiest also reflects wider research, which finds that generally people start happy, go through Page 28 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

a mid-life ‘happiness trough’ (job/career challenges, kid stress), and then start getting happier about age 50.

In our survey, perhaps the gender divide is most intriguing, with males indicating quite higher happiness.

On the one hand, men report being considerably more “engaged and interested in my daily activities” – 43% strongly agree, vs 30% for women.

Yet on other attributes associated with happiness: • More women (30%) than men (16%) strongly agree “So far I’ve gotten the important things I want in life”.

• More women (31%) than men (21%) strongly agree “I am satisfied with my life”.

• More women (41%) than men (31%) strongly agree “I actively contribute to the happiness and wellbeing of others.

But, there’s also a noticeable degree of discontent among women: • More women (27%) than men (17%) disagree or strongly disagree “I am satisfied with my life”.

• More women (24%) than men (12%) disagree or strongly disagree “So far I’ve gotten the important things I want in life”.

• More women (15%) than men (8%) disagree or strongly disagree “I am optimistic about my future”.

Most women seem to congregate at one end or the other on these scales, while men tend to fall in the middle to more positive range.

Happiness and “I am satisfied with my life”, not surprisingly, are highly correlated, and most international studies use the satisfaction question for comparative purposes. Opposite page is the Hawke’s Bay profile regarding “I am satisfied with my life”:

STrOnGLY DISAGree Or DISAGree

AGree

STrOnGLY AGree

Total

25%

48%

37%

Male

17%

62%

21%

Female

27%

42%

31%

Income up to $49k

30%

51%

20%

Income $50k to $100k

25%

44%

31%

Income $100k or more

16%

54%

30%

Completed high school

19%

50%

31%

Bachelor’s degree

30%

41%

29%

Post-graduate degree

20%

51%

29%

Under 30 years

44%

29%

26%

30-44 years

28%

53%

19%

45-59

24%

44%

32%

60 and older

6%

59%

35%

I AM SATISFIeD WITH MY LIFe

Napier Hastings

As the feature article suggests, our most satisfied folks in Hawke’s Bay are more optimistic, feel more in tune with those around them, find ready companionship, and feel more competent.

Note the chart in our Happiness and Government article, indicating that about 32% of all New Zealanders fall into the “Very satisfied’ category. HB is in the same zone, at 37%.

And apropos of our feature article, They’re Gone (next page), note that 44% of our respondents under age 30 are not satisfied with their lives here in Hawke’s Bay.

If you haven’t yet taken the BayBuzz Happiness Survey, you can still do so at: www.baybuzz.co.nz Just click the Happiness Survey button. Then compare yourself to these results!

Page 29 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

They’re Gone!

Top Bay Talent Goes Yonder

They’re off ... to their big-smoke jobs or their big OE or to O-week.

And we’re left at the departure gates mourning their loss. Perhaps instead we should be cheering as our bright young things fly off into the big wide world, taking their talents and enthusiasm with them. Are they our best export? And aren’t they simply following in their parents’ footsteps?

BY JESSICA SOUTAR BARRON PHOTOGRAPHS SARAH CATES Page 30 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Louis, Bruno & Mason Chambers One of our brightest sparks is a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Louis Chambers at 24 is already accomplished, but eagerly awaits his next step. He’s been snapped up by McKinsey and Company and is waiting to hear if he’ll be based in London, Dallas or Toronto.

He was 2007 dux and head boy of Havelock North High School. He holds a BA/LLB (Hons) from Otago and a masters from Balliol College. He speaks French, plays the piano and is the captain of Balliol’s rowing team. He’s a sixth generation Hawke’s Bay boy.

Louis was here last summer, recharging after a challenging year at Oxford. It may be some time before he comes back again,

certainly to live, but he says Hawke’s Bay will always be home.

“Hawke’s Bay still has a role to play in my life when I’m over here. It’s not like I’ve discarded it. I have an ongoing relationship with the place and the people. Even when I’m not physically in Hawke’s Bay the emotional ties run incredibly deep,” he says.

Perhaps leaving, learning, growing then coming back is part of the way we raise our children in the Bay. Speaking with Louis’ father Bruno and his grandfather Mason a family theme emerges.

Mason Chambers thinks it’s natural for young people to travel.

“It broadens their mind, it lets them see other people’s points of view. They come back better than they went,” he says.

For Bruno travel sits alongside education as a vital factor in raising children to be contributing adults. “It continues to

“Even when I’m not physically in Hawke’s Bay the emotional ties run incredibly deep.”

LOUIS CHAMBERS enhance the investment we’ve made in our young people. The jobs that offer experiences to develop oneself and one’s career aren’t available in New Zealand. It’s a good thing, especially if that investment returns,” he says.

Louis is stepping into his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in his journeying.

The lessons learnt may be similar but the circumstance is very different. Where Louis is already joining the professional world, Bruno was exploring as a bohemian gadabout, and 30 years earlier Mason was

Page 31 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Bruno (top) and Mason Chambers

Louis Chambers

travelling as a 19-year-old soldier at the tail end of World War II. In the 1970s Bruno travelled through Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Asia in his early twenties.

“I took the less travelled routes and sometimes went several weeks without seeing another whitey. I would have liked to keep travelling but the money ran out and there was an expectation hovering above me to come home and run the farm.”

Louis knows the pressure to ‘come home’ was more intense for his father than it is for him, but he still entertains the thought of making Hawke’s Bay his forever-home.

“I’ll always be a Hawke’s Bay child where ever I am,” Louis says. “ I would in a heartbeat want to raise my family in a place like Hawke’s Bay. In a rather frantic and crazy world we are able to look after the simple things in life.”

“Turangawaewae,” says Bruno. “A sense of home, that’s what I’ve always tried to give the kids … Being here was a good grounding experience and Louis had a well balanced upbringing. He experienced the outdoors, the farm, the river.”

Louis shares his father’s belief that Hawke’s Bay’s environment adds much to young people’s lives, but he knows it’s important to offset that with experiences elsewhere. Rather than being a good choice for young people, leaving town may be the very best choice.

“Some people are quite happy to be in Hawke’s Bay, but a lot of people in their 20s who are still there don’t see it as an entirely good thing. It’s a great place to be until 18, it’s not great to be there in your 20s,” says Louis.

While young Hawke’s Bay people get a lot from their overseas experience, the world benefits from what they bring as well.

“There’s something quite useful that

Page 32 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

people from the smaller, more humble backgrounds can bring,” Louis explains.

“We have a different way of thinking about problems, we simplify things and see ways through the challenges we encounter.”

Anna & Jane Pierard Anna Pierard is on the other end of the overseas experience. She left New Zealand in her late teens to work and travel as a professional opera singer, made her mark overseas, then, with her Spanish husband and children, returned here to live. She now works with young people, training them in opera but also giving them a stepping stone

“I demand a high standard of manners from them, and I’m not very much into praise,” she says. “For me fear is the big barrier, once you’re scared the mind scrambles. I want kids to be free, happy, busy, working hard.”

Anna works with small groups of talented singers to grow them into professional opera singers.

“To see these kids taking selfies with the leads, recognising that it’s totally acceptable to be by their side, that contact with the outside world and with role models, that’s how we influence them,” she says.

Anna’s own experience of being in the Bay then working overseas has, like Louis Chambers, been supported by strong

“You can find other people, other cultures, other ideas attractive, but you’ll always need that comfort of home.” ANNA PIERARD into a career and life outside of the Bay. “What I learnt from being away is there’s not a lot out there that I need to be scared of,” says Anna. “Actually the world is very small. There’s nothing to be afraid of. If we’re not afraid then we’re secure.”

Anna’s mother Jane has watched all five of her children leave Hawke’s Bay, grow their experiences, their careers, their families, then come home.

“Let them go!” she says “They’ll think of this place, they’ll come back. I never think of it as a brain drain. I don’t think of it as a great loss. So many of them end up back here.”

Jane has taught for nearly twenty years at Taradale High School and in the job has watched multitudes of young people leave the Bay. Part of her role as a teacher is preparing them for the big wide world.

foundations and a sense of place. Coming home to the Bay was a choice, not an expectation.

“I liken my appreciation of Hawke’s Bay to the way I love my husband. You can find other people, other cultures, other ideas attractive, but you’ll always need that comfort of home.”

Sophie & Craig Foss At the beginning of their journey out into the world are young people finishing school this year, looking forward to their next steps to bigger cities, university, or overseas. One is Woodford House Head Girl Sophie Foss. When she finishes school at the end of this year she plans to study at Victoria University in Wellington.

“It’s not that I want to get out,” she says. “It’s not that I want to run far away.

Going to varsity is about experiencing another place, living somewhere else. I definitely want to travel, but I definitely want to come back too.”

There is a common theme among her friends that leaving is inevitable, but so too is coming home. “We all talk about that, most of my friends say they’ll come back.”

Sophie’s father is local MP Craig Foss, who is both personally invested and professionally interested in the perceived Hawke’s Bay brain drain.

His observation is that the world gets as much from our young people, as our young people get from experiencing the world.

“It is true: You never appreciate what you’ve got until you leave. To understand the true value of New Zealand it’s helpful to go afar!” he says.

“Kiwis are doing well all over the world, in really competitive areas. We’re lateral thinkers, problem solvers, we quit the drama and get on with it,” says Craig, who left at 30 and lived in London, Tokyo and Sydney before deciding not to return to his home town, choosing instead Hawke’s Bay in which to settle and raise his family.

“By leaving you discover who you are, you have to rely on your own tool kit, not the safety net of where you live,” he says.

Even at 17 Sophie knows her years growing up in Hawke’s Bay have given her a strong bedrock on which to build her life, no matter how far away from home it takes her.

“It’s nurturing here. You can have strong foundations and strong relationships from really young,” she says. “I want to be independent and broaden my horizons, but we’re lucky to have grown up here.”

Craig has mixed emotions about his own children leaving the Bay, but his view on

Anna (left) and Jane Pierard the brain drain is pragmatic. “Should we thrash ourselves because most year 13s are leaving? How would we change that? We can’t,” he says. “We have faith that they’ll come back. Is their heart leaving? No.” It becomes more poignant when he considers Sophie saying goodbye to the

Bay next year, although he is as sure as she is that she’ll return.

“It’s that invisible bit of elastic that holds her here wherever she is,” he explains. “As a Dad I don’t want her to go, but as someone who wants to see her become all she can be, absolutely.”

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Page 33 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

MORE HAWKE’S BAY EXPATS

Andrew Johnstone Owner of The Little Chihuahua, San Francisco “Unfortunately New Zealand is still a very tough limited market and it doesn’t seem like the structure is there to really support young entrepreneurs. This makes it hard to leave such a supportive space here.”

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

The Little Chihuahua is a series of Mexican restaurants in San Francisco owned by Hawke’s Bay ex pat Andrew Johnstone. We made contact on the night he was catering for 100 Kiwis at a black-tie Waitangi Day dinner.

It’s full circle for Andrew who left Hastings in 1990 straight out of high school. There’s little nostalgia for him.

“I totally believe getting out of Hawke’s Bay and NZ has made me who I am,” he says. He’s lived in America since 1999, after working for two years in Chile, meeting his wife, becoming fluent in Spanish. “The US in particular is all about business and growth. Some may not like that, but from a business side it is amazingly supportive.”

But it’s not just the business world

Page 34 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

that has supported Andrew’s ambitions, it’s the people and the general attitudes too. “People are very supportive and not afraid to show that; something that is really lacking in New Zealand. Tall poppy syndrome comes to mind.”

Andrew believes that encouraging young people to seek their fortune overseas is essential to growing them as people, although he admits it’s not for everyone.

“We should definitely send the ones away that want to go, with pride and let them shine,” he says. “There are the ones

who are content to stay and live a chill Kiwi life, which I do miss sometimes, and the ones that just need to do go.”

Andrew has always been open to opportunities. Since childhood he wanted to be a chef and at 18 headed to Auckland to work and train. In 1997 he was poached by a New Zealand businesswoman setting up a New Zealand cafe in Chile. In that role he began to learn business and management skills.

“This was my first look at the business side and I was really intrigued. I helped with design, concept and 100% of the operations. We built a very successful business which has now grown into one of the top cafe concepts in Santiago.”

From Santiago Andrew took roles as a corporate chef in an up-and-coming restaurant chain and culinary director of a Mexican restaurant chain with 152 outlets.

“I had fallen in love with Mexican food years earlier and had taught myself all about it,” he explains. “I ran the entire kitchen programme nationwide and spent many, many days flying around the country helping to revitalize their brand.”

As his family grew to include two children Andrew took the big step of opening his own operation.

“My wife and I came up with the concept of healthy fresh Mexican food using sustainable ingredients and made to order. We found an old restaurant for sale, bought it, did all the renovations ourselves and opened in 2007.

The Little Chihuahua was born,” he says.

There are now three restaurants that serve up to 1700 covers a day.

He does come home to Hawke’s Bay every other year and, although he says he’d like to, he can’t imagine settling here.

“Unfortunately New Zealand is still a very tough limited market and it doesn’t seem like the structure is there to really support young entrepreneurs. This makes it hard to leave such a supportive space here,” he says.

MORE HAWKE’S BAY EXPATS

Rowan Fraser Project Consultant for the United Nations, Bangkok “We should look at Hawke’s Bay in terms of what it has to offer, not in terms of what it lacks. If you’re young, you have to leave Hawke’s Bay for a while. It’s in leaving it that you really begin to appreciate it.”

ROWAN FRASER

Rowan Fraser works for the United Nations in Bangkok.

He’s a consultant on urban development projects across Asia and the Pacific.

Born and raised in Hawke’s Bay, in 2000 Rowan was head boy of Havelock North High School. In his late teens/early twenties he left New Zealand for good, twice. First in 2005 when he travelled to London and Paris and “forgot about New Zealand.” Then again for study and work opportunities in 2010. Between times he completed an architecture degree in Auckland, then, with a taste for study, went on to masters degrees in architecture, French literature and finally urban policy at a university in Paris. Rowan moved to Bangkok and the UN in 2012.

Amidst all the travel, study and impressive work opportunities, the things Rowan is most proud of come from within, and some of that he puts down to his upbringing in Hawke’s Bay; a “good wholesome family-oriented launch pad”, he calls it.

“One of my greatest strengths is my focus, and I feel like I owe that to Hawke’s Bay,” Rowan says, although he’s nervous to enter a debate over nature versus nurture.

“Perhaps the white crystalline sunlight and the brilliant transparency of the skies breeds a certain capacity for clarity and

focus in people who grow up in the Bay.” Rowan’s work takes him all over the Asia-Pacific region, but he comes back to the Bay regularly. “Every time I come back, I feel how much Hawke’s Bay is home. Even if I spend the rest of my life outside of the Bay, it will always be home in a very deep psychological way.”

What keeps him away is his work, but he can imagine a time when he will be able to balance work and being here.

“I would love to spend three months in the Bay per year, and then the remaining nine in some large city.” If the right project came up Rowan would come home, but he thinks it unlikely that he’ll ever return to live “solely and exclusively in Hawke’s Bay”.

On Hawke’s Bay’s presumed ‘brain drain’ Rowan is considered. He’s not convinced that it is a true export of brains and skills, but instead a difference between raw and honed talent.

“Hawke’s Bay produces raw talent, and the facilities available in the Bay can begin to hone that raw talent. But for the real honing, you need the universities in the major cities around NZ and globally,” he explains. “You need work places where quality experience can be gathered and where talent is pushed, stimulated, challenged and recognised.”

Rowan wonders if perhaps the secret ingredient in Hawke’s Bay is a concentrated dose of a quintessentially Kiwi characteristic: a can-do attitude.

“The ‘can do’ attitude is pretty strong in the Bay. There’s a great culture of getting stuck in, of making the best of things,” he says. “At the same time, I think the beach and winery culture brings a kind of hedonism into the mix, a somewhat bucolic bacchanalian undertone, which adds a lot to our capacity to enjoy life. Maybe it’s the combination of ‘can do’ and ‘fun times’ that is of value as a unique characteristic of Hawke’s Bay folk.”

Page 35 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

MORE HAWKE’S BAY EXPATS

Hayden Judd Executive Producer at McKay Williamson, New York City “That ‘brain drain’ phrase is really changing now.

Whether people have to go off overseas or not, they always come back. We just learn a lot more, experience life and then we can contribute to our community.”

HAYDEN JUDD

Hayden Judd lives the dream. Well, his dream at least: he thought it up, he made it happen, and now he’s taking the lead role.

At 17 he skipped out of Taradale High School, worked for a few years then headed to Auckland at 21. A year later he was on a plane to elsewhere. He ended up in America; started to build the strong networks that later in the journey would form the basis of his bread and butter.

“I did a lot of travelling, like most of us do at that age, then I decided it was time to get a real job,” he says.

The ‘real job’ was with a financial magazine in London. “It was the most boring, mundane thing you can ever imagine. I decided that if I was in London to build a

Page 36 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

career I had to work at something I felt passionate about”.

He went hunting for passion and for a company that shared his vision of creativity and entrepreneurship working in harmony.

That’s when he found Richard Williamson and eDv, now McKay Williamson, who make films for families. Connecting with Williamson meant meeting a mentor and then, a few years later, a business partner.

Finding where he fitted, in business and creatively, Hayden adapted quickly. He worked hard, did his time, progressed swiftly, broke some records, then took a big step. He

wrote a business plan for his boss proposing opening a studio in New Zealand. “He said it was one of the best business plans he’d read, but he wanted a studio in NY not NZ.” Hayden rewrote the plan and found himself heading up a studio in New York City. That was six years ago and Hayden still runs the New York operation, but now from a base in Auckland.

Judd comes from creative roots. His mother’s a fashion designer, his father an architect.

“My father told me, if you want to survive at something be smart enough to be stupid enough to do exactly as you’re told. It’s advice that’s seen me through.”

Last year McKay Williamson did 300 commissions for clients. There are 32 staff and 30 regular freelancers, including film makers, writers, artists, animators, photographers and producers.

Hayden’s happy to talk metrics and measurements of success, he can rattle off figures and knows how his business is tracking but is more proud that the studio produces work that is fulfilling.

“We do have to get over that tall poppy thing,” he says.

Hayden attributes a lot of his success and his attitude to the way he was raised. “You notice these things as a child – the way your parents operate – but it holds no relevance.

It’s only as an adult that you reflect back and weave that into your life goals, your ethics, your ways of working.”

Hayden doesn’t see young people leaving the safety of their nest as a bad thing; in fact it’s essential.

“That ‘brain drain’ phrase is really changing now,” he says. “Whether people have to go off overseas or not, they always come back.

We just learn a lot more, experience life and then we can contribute to our community.”

There is an excellent Independent article on what McKay Williamson does, although it is ten years old and predates Hayden’s time for the company. It can be found online at http://ind.pn/197cm2e

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CHB’s Wastewater Woes STORY BRIDGET FREEMAN-ROCK PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

A brassy hot February afternoon and I’m visiting the contentious Central Hawke’s Bay ‘poo ponds’ to find out why they are failing to turn the district’s sewerage into a discharge that leaves the Tukuki safe for downstream swimmers and critters.

That’s the goal, but the alchemy is yet to work, with the ponds falling well short of their legal requirements to filter out toxic soluble reactive phosphorous, ammoniacal nitrogen and E.coli before discharging into the Waipawa and Tukituki rivers. On 26 January the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council put the CHB District Council on notice, issuing ‘cease and fix’ plans to be ticked by July/August.

I meet up with Steve Thrush, engineer for CHBDC and man in charge, at the Waipawa wastewater site. It’s almost scenic: a small dark lake framed by mountains in the distance. There’s barely a whiff in the air.

Thrush is patient and keen to walk me through the process.

He points out a filter by the entrance which sifts out the solids for landfill before the rest flows into the holding ponds, where ideally it circulates for 30-50 days (in reality 20) being worked over by up to 3,000 species of bugs. A floating bed of native reeds acts as a filtration system, drawing up the last of the nitrogen before the water is dosed with chemicals to bind

Page 38 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

the phosphorous to then be (theoretically) separated out by sophisticated sand filters. What should at this stage be clear water is lastly treated by UV light to remove all pathogens before being discharged via a bush drain to the river.

The UV treatment only works, however, if particles in the water are less than

“If the Ruataniwha dam goes ahead and there are farmers not meeting the quite stringent run-off levels set, what faith can we have that the council will enforce compliance?”

5mg/ml, which is not the case now, so it’s currently only working at 30% capacity.

The sand filter is not filtering properly. It’s clogged by a sludge of phosphorous and chemicals that have not bound in the way

they should, in part because tannins are interfering with the process.

But where the tannins come from, and how to deal with them at source, has yet to be identified.

It could be that Waipawa residents drink inordinate quantities of tea. But a more likely explanation is the two local trucking firms hosing off effluent into the drain or the 40-year-old pipe that’s potentially cracked and leaching in tannins from the peaty surrounds. Thrush says they are working with Massey University to investigate.

In the meantime, to solve the problem of phosphorous, they’re trialling different chemicals to find a more effective, stronger mix that won’t react with tannin, and have ordered new and repurposed clarifying units to mechanically settle out the floc, the “light, fluffy stuff” that’s stuffing up the system. CHBDC has also engaged an expert firm in Auckland, with experience with similar systems overseas, to help deal with the ongoing issues.

It all sounds pretty experimental, however, and late in the piece to be

Floating bed of reeds at Waipawa ‘poo pond’ soaks up the nitrogen

Page 39 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

CHBDC engineer Steve Thrush says clogged filters are the problem

tinkering. The Waipukurau plant – same design, larger scale – was only completed in September last year, just weeks before new discharge standards came into effect.

The floating wetlands require time to ‘bed in’ and they’re still sorting out adequate aeration.

Thrush concedes it’s been an unfortunate play of trial and error; “we thought we were buying something that had a proven track record.” Both wastewater systems are modelled on a similar plant in Hunterville that was producing drinking-quality water at the time, says Thrush, but has since run into similar difficulties with phosphorous.

Initial results from the Waipawa plant (completed 2013) were promising, and here the floating wetlands at least appear effective in dealing with nitrogen and bacteria.

Thrush says he’s been taking samples from the river both upstream and downstream from the outlets “to see what effect we’re having, and basically there’s no difference between the samples.” While he’s as keen as anyone to get the discharge levels right, and better, he refutes the claim that CHBDC are “polluting the river”.

A ‘second-best’ scheme?

But it’s been over a decade since the effluent ponds in CHB, which were discharging raw sewerage straight into the rivers, were identified as a major problem, and environmentalists such as John Scott, who’s been fishing the Tukituki for 45 years, are frustrated the issue has still not been resolved, despite the legal battles, the countless discussions, promises and missed opportunities.

Page 40 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Since 2006 when resource consents for Waipawa and Waipukurau were issued following an Environment Court process that stipulated more rigorous conditions, CHBDC knew the discharge standards they would have to meet by 30 September 2014.

But it took six years alone to decide on a wastewater system.

They initially considered a dualdischarge approach, which would have seen over half the waste discharged onto forested land, bypassing the river

going into the rivers.

HBRC still maintains that a dualdischarge or discharge-to-land type approach is the preferable option with a better outcome for the river, but in the end it is up to the district council.

Thrush is unapologetic over fiscal decisions. “We have a small population, many on fixed or low incomes and our ratepayers include communities such Porangahau who are not connected to the system. We work within a very limited budget.”

CHB District Council looked at five alternatives, including worms and other onland biosystem treatments, but the floating wetlands option stacked up well as costeffective, simple and “a good system if it runs properly”. The catch, of course, is ‘if’.

John Scott believes HBRC should have funded the difference between what CHBDC could afford and what was needed to do the job properly. “The Tuki is not a CHB problem, it’s a Hawke’s Bay problem – it’s an iconic river that flows through our region, and this affects everyone along the tributary from Waipukurau to the Haumoana estuary.”

But in advocating for the Tukituki over the last 10+ years, Scott says he has experienced a systemic unwillingness among regional council staff to listen to anyone outside the closed walls of office and influence, to the detriment of the river and genuine progress. He cites numerous examples where environmentalists’ concerns or recommendations have been ignored.

For instance, two years ago, when they were finalising plans for the wastewater

“The Tuki is not a CHB problem, it’s a Hawke’s Bay problem – it’s an iconic river that flows through our region, and this affects everyone along the tributary from Waipukurau to the Haumoana estuary.” altogether. The regional council actively championed the proposal, and in 2010 even purchased land for $1.6 million expecting in ‘good faith’ that it would be used for this express purpose.

However, in 2012, CHBDC decided not to run with the scheme after all, as it was looking to cost more than the $8.6 million they had budgeted for and they faced a potentially costly hearing process with challenges to the proposal as it stood.

Concerns that would need to be addressed included the observation that the land purchased was neither large enough to cope with the quantities of effluent nor the appropriate soil type; the possibility of sodium land-contamination; and the fact that 40% of the wastewater would still be

plants, HBRC consultants met with environment groups to discuss their intention to reduce the size of the holding ponds in an effort to reduce the cost CHB had to meet. “We argued that by making the ponds smaller, they reduce the window of opportunity to deal effectively with overload, such as stormwater; they’ll be forced to dump excess when it doesn’t suit the river flows, as has happened now. But council didn’t listen, and signed off the plans for smaller ponds.”

“It was an apology for consultation, it always is—the council has a pre-ordained outcome for what they want to do, and consulting with us is simply a process they have to go through to tick the boxes.”

Iain Maxwell, HBRC

So now what?

Scott believes HBRC have been too lenient on the district council (“they need CHB for the dam”), and that their decision not to prosecute in this instance bodes poorly for land intensification conditions under Plan Change 6 that will be even harder to regulate.

“The HBRC has got no track record of enforcing consents if they are broken.

If the Ruataniwha dam goes ahead and there are farmers not meeting the quite stringent run-off levels set, what faith can we have that the council will enforce compliance? As the regulatory body, the regional council has a responsibility to maintain and enhance our rivers, but they are not even upholding their basic duty.

If they can’t enforce compliance, they shouldn’t be issuing consents.”

A few days later, I am sitting down at the regional council headquarters with Iain Maxwell, resource group manager, Charlotte Drury, principal consents officer, and Wayne Wright, compliance manager.

They clarify that the consents for the wastewater plants effectively set the outcome (the discharge standards) but it was always up to CHBDC to “figure out how to get there.” Drury: “And that’s the RMA. It’s not our role as the regulator to tell someone how to achieve something; it’s our role to set the standards necessary to ensure that the environment is protected.”

But all three are careful to stress that they are working collaboratively with the CHB District Council on the best course of action, and have been in close communication all along.

“It’s not like we just sat there and watched the train wreck”, says Maxwell.

Wright explains: “We identified early on in the monitoring process that we were [potentially] going to be in trouble….

CHB were doing all they could to try and make it work and the whole time we were trying to impress upon them how important it was to get it right.”

After the new discharge standards came into effect, six consecutive samples showed the Waipawa plant discharge exceeding

acceptable levels of phosphorous, and Waipukurau exceeding on phosphorous, nitrogen and E.coli. When the latest results came in on 4 January, both plants were officially deemed noncompliant.

HBRC chose to take the route of issuing CHBDC with abatement notices, specifying what needs to happen and when before 8 July (Waipawa) and 19 August (Waipukuruau) respectively.

Iain Maxwell disagrees that HBRC should have prosecuted. “If CHBDC were turning around and saying, ‘we don’t think there’s a problem, you guys are being difficult’, then we might have to take a more coercive approach. But that’s not the case. We have a willing participant, agreement on the outcome, a plan in place.

We’d rather have CHB invest their money and energy into achieving that outcome, buying the equipment, putting in the extra infrastructure, than fighting us in court over something they agree with anyway. What a nonsense that would be!”

Wayne Wright says an abatement notice is “a serious and significant legal document”, it’s not simply an extension.

And while he doesn’t want to pre-empt what course of action HBRC will take if CHBDC fails to address the conditions within the timeframe laid out, he emphasises that “our expectations for meeting the discharge standards won’t have changed, and all options, including stronger enforcement tools, remain open.”

While the likes of Steve Thrush at CHBDC work hard to find effective solutions for a wastewater system that is still to be proven, HBRC stands with hand poised on the whip urging them on.

If consent conditions have still not been met come August despite all intentions, and HBRC don’t prosecute CHB council, the environmental protection group, Friends of the Tukituki, will be engaging in a legal battle to bring them both to task. They have threatened to take CHBDC to court for “continuing to pollute the Tukituki and HBRC for not fulfilling its statutory obligations”.

Meantime, the Otane oxidisation pond, whose discharges also wind up in the Tukituki, will soon further complicate the situation. Its consent expires 30 September this year. What contingency has been made for this, or will we see a replay of process?

HBRC say they’re already in discussion with CHBDC, who have been working with HBRC scientists and the Papanui Working Group on the Otane situation for some time.

A proposal will be lodged mid-year and HBRC will decide then if the Otane pond needs to be upgraded. If yes, under Plan Change 6 the CHBDC will need to inform HBRC of their upgrade system at the time of consent application.

The Tukituki awaits its cleansing!

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Page 41 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Gobbling the Gigabytes?

Keith Newman does the research and reckons accelerating internet speeds and streaming content are transforming our TV, movie viewing and online surfing habits.

tim.co.nz

Hamish White’s NOW is pumping out 10% more gigabytes each month

The digital pipedream of blazing internet speeds and instant access to a gazillion hours of eye candy is edging closer to reality with 2015 likely to be the year of on-demand binge viewing and the death knell for the dreaded data cap.

The monopoly of traditional broadcast and pay TV providers is under severe challenge with several legitimate, high definition content platforms now streaming direct to smart and not so smart TVs, gaming consoles, PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

In preparation for this long-awaited entertainment explosion, Internet service providers (ISPs), facing stiffer competition than ever, are reinventing themselves as utility strength telcos with all you can eat premium accounts including voice, free national calling and mobile options.

Just five years ago, most of us had internet access speeds of 2-4Mbit/sec, data caps were in the low gigabytes and there were penalties for exceeding the limit; online catch-up TV was in its infancy and movies were a step too far.

Chorus, the nation’s main infrastructure provider and wholesaler, noted that average internet consumption rocketed from 4-19Gb a month to 41Gb in the four years to mid-2014.

A quick glance at the domestic usage meter at Hawke’s Bay telco NOW confirms we’re right up there. Between Nov 2012 and 2014 Internet usage nearly trebled from 22Gb to 61Gb, well over the national average and growing 10% month on month.

NOW CEO Hamish White says demandbased services and the “internet of things”, where almost everything’s connected to everything else, are making premium broadband accounts including fibre optic connections extremely attractive.

“Go into any household in the evening now and everyone’s on Facebook and YouTube and streaming movies on the TV.” A key factor is widespread use of wireless devices in the home. “Just about every member of the family is on a wireless device so you are no longer tethered to a household computer.”

Content contenders While network gaming, a growth in online shopping, social media, sharing photos and videos, posting selfies and constant ‘cloud back-up’ are factors, it’s the online content revolution that’s gobbling the gigabytes.

Although TVNZ pioneered on-demand streaming back in 2007 and TV3 followed suit, a new breed of non-broadcasters are pushing the global envelope and a handful are now jockeying for position in New Zealand with packages costing $15-$20 a month.

Australian streaming company Quickflix launched here in March 2012 with old and new TV shows and movies plus pay-perview for newer films, although it will have to become more compelling to ward off better resourced rivals.

Spark’s Lightbox went live in August 2014 with a goal of reaching over 70,000 customers by June this year. It has over 5000 hours of TV but ensured mass takeup when it offered 12 months free access to its 600,000 broadband customers.

That pre-emptive move was clearly designed to take the shine off Sky TV’s Neon service now offering 4500 hours of TV plus movies also being offered free to existing subscribers and for $20 a month to non-Sky users.

“Go into any household in the evening now and everyone’s on Facebook and YouTube and streaming movies on the TV.” Vodafone and NOW jumped on that bandwagon offering unlimited account holders free Neon access for a period.

Sky also announced season passes for specific shows and its FanPass sports streaming service which is up against arch-rival Coliseum.

The arrival of world leading streamer and content creator Netflix at the end of March means there are now four serious contenders alongside the main broadcasters and their catch-up and offschedule shows.

Netflix originally rejected New Zealand because of our poor broadband and content restraints, but its massive stable of TV shows and movies confirms Internet streaming as a mainstream delivery mechanism.

Popping performance caps Extending fibre optic cable to local exchanges and neighbourhoods has supercharged copper line capability and made fibre to the home, from 30Mbit to 100Mbit/sec, the fastest growing Internet connection, potentially rivalling copper within four years, according to StatisticsNZ. Akamai suggests our average broadband speed for the September 2014 quarter was 7Mbit/sec (megabits per second) a 37% increase over the previous

Page 43 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

“Broadband is only as fast as the narrowest points, routers are letting people down with black spots in the bedroom or deck while access points are struggling to simultaneously cope with more than one user.”

year with only 14% achieving more than 10Mbit/sec. Rival researcher TrueNet has a more positive spin, claiming average speeds had improved 34% to 14Mbit/sec.

Of course by the law of averages those powering along at lightspeed tend to skew the focus away from the many who’re still on post dial-up speeds trying to get off the dirt road onto the main highway.

There’s still some distance to travel to fulfil the Government’s promise of 75% of the population having access to Ultrafast broadband by 2020 although our escalating appetite for online content and services is tangible evidence it can’t come too soon.

If an average movie gobbles about 1.2Gb and an hour of streaming a day consumes about 70Gb per month, even 100Gb data caps already pose severe limitations for entry into this new digital frontier.

Over half of all Kiwi internet

Page 44 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

subscribers are already adopting premium accounts with unlimited access plus phone line and free national calling for around $90-$100 a month.

Quality of service The focus on content, network speed and gigabit consumption inevitably leads to the issue of quality of service rather than the current best effort approach, and a growing demand for hands-on technical service to ensure multiple devices can operate optimally on a home network.

Constant buffering, sound degradation and image stuttering are unacceptable, whether caused by line congestion, weather, distance from the wireless router or just bad service.

Consumer NZ’s latest report card makes it clear the ‘service’ part of Internet service providers is still sadly lacking for many customers. The big players Spark and Vodafone were below

average in most categories, and worse than last year.

Overall ISP satisfaction, a reflection of connection reliability and speed, was 68%, down from 74% last survey. Over half of Internet customers occasionally experienced disconnections and drop outs, 15% of them regularly.

A big selling point for NOW, with over 7,000 customers in Hawke’s Bay, is having Akamai’s caching servers in Napier to improve quality and speed of access, particularly content streaming, and their policy of having their own field technicians on the road.

They’re flat out troubleshooting issues arising from the increasingly complicated mix of home technology, including updating routers and adding wireless access points to improve coverage.

“Broadband is only as fast as the narrowest points, routers are letting people down with black spots in the bedroom or deck while access points are struggling to simultaneously cope with more than one user,” says White.

Antidote to anarchy?

Despite the arrival of approved streaming services the digital genie has been out of the bottle for a several years despite all the concern about piracy and copyright violation.

The same generation that found workarounds for DVD country codes has also bypassed streaming content geo-codes.TV as the baby boomers knew it is an outdated model; they’re already watching movies and TV series before they’re broadcast or at DVD rental outlets.

Colmar Brunton in its 2014 youth trends survey (16-29-year olds), reveals half of young Kiwis admitted ‘unauthorised’ streaming of TV programmes and a third were downloading movies; a quarter of them regularly.

And they’re not necessarily using the peer-to-peer file sharing that put a rocket up the music industry forcing it to offer legitimate alternatives but acquiring vouchers, a US credit card or spoofing access to international subscription services including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and iTunes.

That approach is now being facilitated

by providers like Slingshot and Orcon using the Global Mode international solution to enable Kiwis to ‘legally’ logon to offshore streaming sites that might otherwise be geo-blocked.

Web developer Matthew Denard, “a refugee from Christchurch” now living and working in Napier, changed to an unlimited account with NOW after struggling with the limitations of an ISP with a 100Gb cap, and $2.50 per Gb penalty thereafter.

Denard and his partner regularly use YouTube and the Unotelly.com redirection site, which unblocks access to BBC iPlayer, Netflix.com, US mega-site Hulu and other content sites. They’ve more than doubled their streaming consumption in the past year, have reduced their SkyTV account and may even dump it altogether.

Expanding digital universe While Internet users are rapidly migrating to fibre (about 60,000 to date), thousands of mobile users are also stepping up to next generation 4G technology, which is 10 times faster than its predecessor with phones optimised for streaming HD content.

“Music shops have virtually ceased to exist — the whole industry was displaced.”

Concurrently there’s massive repositioning of international Internet capability. The Southern Cross Cable linking New Zealand to the rest of the world is ramping up to 100Gbit/sec speeds with overall capacity to support 12 terabytes per second.

Reality check? That’s the ability to stream over 700,000 Ultra HD videos simultaneously or download 180 million Blu-Ray discs a month.

Just to be sure we can cope, Spark,

Vodafone and Telstra have committed to a competing second international cable which will also act as a kind of emergency back-up if the Southern Cross goes down. This could be operational by mid-2016.

In November last year InternetNZ was “bemused” the chief censor was considering prosecuting Slingshot over its use of Global Mode. Its sage advice was, ISPs are not technically responsible for what their customers do and the courts haven’t determined it’s illegal.

In an increasingly borderless world, said InternetNZ CEO Jordan Carter, the censor would be better off starting a conversation about how to deal with censorship issues in the digital age, rather than trying to limit the reach of the Internet.

The first of the new wave of ‘legitimate’ streaming at least attempts to counter the anarchy perpetuated by those with voracious appetites for geographically restricted content, but in reality the content revolution is only just gathering momentum.

As NOW CEO Hamish White says, streaming is already threatening the conventional DVD library in the same way online offerings challenged music

outlets from 2006. “Music shops have virtually ceased to exist — the whole industry was displaced.”

Page 45 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

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2.4 2.4million milliontonnes tonnesofofbulk bulkcargo cargowas was handled, handled,representing representing3.2% 3.2%growth growthfor for the theyear. year.This Thislift liftwas wasbroadly broadlyininline linewith with New NewZealand’s Zealand’sGDP GDPrate, rate,despite despitethe the slowdown slowdownininexports, exports,particularly particularlyChina’s China’s reduced reduceddemand demandfor forforestry forestryproducts. products.

All Allother otherNew NewZealand Zealandports portswere weresimilarly similarly affected. affected.Total Totalthroughput throughputreached reachedaa record record4.105 4.105million milliontonnes. tonnes.

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NAPIER HANDLES THE BIGGEST CONTAINER VESSELS IN NEW ZEALAND

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“Napier continues to handle the biggest container vessels operating on New Zealand’s coast, (those with greater than 4000 TEUs capacity), sitting alongside the other major New Zealand container ports Auckland, Tauranga and Lyttelton,” says Mr Cowie.

He says 15 major container shipping lines each offer 10, year-round, weekly liner services ex-Napier, with more during peak season. This provides un-matched choice in Central New Zealand. .....AS WELL AS NEW ZEALAND’S LARGEST CRUISE VESSELS

“Another marine record was set earlier in the year with the maiden call of the cruise vessel Celebrity Solstice at 317m length overall and beam of 36.88m. This is the largest vessel of any kind to visit Napier Port as well as being the largest cruise vessel sailing in New Zealand waters.” *Source: Ministry of Transport, Freight Information Gathering System (FIGS). Report July 2013 - June 2014

INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE GROWTH CHALLENGES

“Coping with unprecedented demand presented some challenges in early 2014, notably within the Container Terminal.

Transport operators and shippers should however be reassured that a number of improvements have been made to build terminal capacity for the 2015 peak season and beyond,” says Mr Cowie.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

“More than $40 million of capital has been spent on development projects over the 2013 and 2014 financial years.

The 50 Year Infrastructure Master Plan was reviewed following the annual strategic planning process. Revised growth projections highlight that a significant infrastructure development programme is required at an estimated value of $80 million and $140 million over the next five

and 10 years respectively,” he says.

Mr Cowie says planned developments will include a new large vessel berth, further container terminal intensification, extended rail capacity and more off-port, empty container depot expansion.

EXTENDED CARGO REACH

“As our cargo reach continues to extend we need to ensure we have capacity to match. Napier Port’s catchment now includes cargo moving from or to Wellington, New Plymouth and the southern Waikato area.

A highlight for the year was the establishment of Longburn Intermodal Freight Hub in Palmerston North, a collaborative joint venture involving Napier Port, Ports of Auckland and Manawatu logistics provider, Icepak,” Mr Cowie says.

All Chairs Are Not Created Equal

BY TOM BELFORD PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

Damon and daughter

Painting by Dick Frizzell Page 48 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

One of Hawke’s Bay’s most successful businesses sells furniture solutions to schools. Including faraway locations like Kazan International School, Tatarstan. With occasional design improvements suggested by 8 year olds (ie, its customers). At prices higher than its competitors.

Its furniture is 100% recyclable, but for the powder on the steel. And 99% materials used are sourced in New Zealand.

It’s unaffected by drought, hail, or threats like fruit flies and PSA. The company’s revenue has grown 60% over the last four years. In two years, 70% of its sales will come from overseas.

14 staff were added in 2014; as many will be added in 2015. Each full-time person generates $220,000 in revenue.

This company, Furnware, started the same year as Watties, has evolved in style and focus over 80 years, but in its current incarnation reflects the vision of its present owner and managing director, Hamish Whyte.

How did this success story come about?

And what lessons does it hold for other aspiring businesses in Hawke’s Bay?

Going to school “I’m a social guy,” says Hamish Whyte when asked what prepared him to take on and grow a company that in its history had built everything from state house kitchens to rifle butts to caravans … and then school chairs.

“I was the kid in school who looked out the window … I couldn’t wait to get out,” he says. And when he did, he wound up working at Woolworths, where by age 21 he was managing the Hamilton store with 100 employees. Something worked.

He would say people skills: “I knew I was good around working with people.”

A few years passed, delivering sailboats in the Caribbean (“I knew the happy hours in every bar.”) and selling copying machines, until Hamish at age 31 and wife Sarah returned to her home turf, Hawke’s Bay, in 1990.

With the family’s backing, in 1993 Hamish took an ownership stake in Furnware and became managing

director. That move might have turned out disastrously, because a government initiative had gotten underway in 1990, called Tomorrow’s Schools.

By this time, Furnware was already principally in the business of manufacturing and selling school furniture. Sales were made to the Education Department as the purchasing agent for all secondary schools and a small group of regional Education Boards purchasing bulk for primary and intermediate schools. It was a wholesale business.

Furnware had mastered this tightly centralized system well, but under Tomorrow’s Schools that system was up-ended. Within a few years, individual schools were charged with making their own purchases … Furnware now had 2,500 customers to woo throughout New Zealand. And at the time had one sales representative amongst a staff of 21. The demands of servicing the school business soon drove out other markets Furnware had traditionally served, such as architects, designers and hospitals.

So by the time Hamish took over, the customer landscape was totally changed, and an entirely different marketing and sales strategy was required that focused on servicing and building relationships with many end customers … fortunately the strong suit of the new managing director.

Furnware’s DNA Hamish Whyte likes to talk about the ‘DNA’ of his company. He doesn’t speak more than three or four sentences without using the word ‘customer’. The DNA of Furnware translates into listening and responding to customers.

And in the case of Furnware, the ultimate customer is the kid … the student. Back to that in a moment.

In the open market Tomorrow’s Schools environment of the early 90s, Furnware found itself facing increasing competition. Some companies blitzed school principals with direct mail offers, cutting costs by not having sales reps.

Chinese manufacturers were the rage in the late 90s and sold purely on the basis of cheapest product, delivered quickly.

“All our competitors were focused on being cheapest.” Faced with becoming a ‘me too’ manufacturer, up against ‘cheaper, quicker’ competitors, Hamish chose to bet the company on design and quality. Not just making a school chair, but making a school chair that

“I was the kid in school who looked out the window …

I couldn’t wait to get out.” made his customer – the student – more comfortable, thus happier and less distracted, and, to the immense gratitude of his or her teachers, more productive.

Chair manufacturer becomes teacher’s aide. An entirely new, market/customerdriven value proposition for a sector whose other players focused on how compactly their steel chairs stacked together for shipping.

So in the early 90s Furnware turned to designing the highest quality school furniture. Industrial designer Murray Pilcher was put to the task. His first insight: kids are different sizes; we need to fit the chairs to them. You need to go into the schools, measure the kids, observe them in the classroom. Furnware did just that, measuring over 20,000 students throughout New Zealand and videotaping classrooms – the largest study of this type

Page 49 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Furnware owner/managing director Hamish Whyte visits 100 classrooms a year ... to learn from his customers

undertaken. Prior to that, “We had zero relationship with the kids.”

Now Furnware was really meeting, and growing to understand, its customers. “We went back to school to learn,” says Hamish.

The result was a new line of school furniture, called Bodyfurn. “We gave them comfort.”

Students were videotaped using the new furniture and compared to those using traditional school furniture. The Bodyfurn students were less distracted by the discomfort of their chairs and desks. And less distraction from physical discomfort translated into less time offtask (up to 83% less in higher grades) and more engagement with schoolwork.

Hamish tells the story of a Burnside High student so pleased with his Furnware chair that he carried it from class to class because not all classrooms had the Furnware furniture. A highly satisfied customer.

However, quality comes with a price.

In this case, Furnware was then selling a $100 chair against a $40 competitor chair. “Everyone thought I was nuts …

Probably the biggest risk I’ve taken in my life,” says Hamish.

A disaster? To the contrary, Furnware has grown strongly and steadily ever since.

Page 50 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Making the sale So how does one sell a chair that’s twice or more the price of its competitor?

Hamish describes a number of factors, beyond the ergonomic superiority of the product.

Quality of manufacture – durability, backed by a ten-year warranty. “We repair or replace heaps of our competitors’ products,” says Hamish. And recyclable

In today’s marketing parlance, to students and teachers alike, Furnware is offering an experience, not a product, and certainly not just another chair or desk.

In school classroom studies conducted by Waikato University, after using Furnware chairs, 88% of primary students said they would not like to sit in their previous chair. And 69% of primary and 54% of intermediate students said that they

“I know my customers far better than any of my competitors … I like to know what they’re thinking about and what is important to them.”

– “Almost every component of our furniture can be recycled … and the students like that.”

Getting the trial – often what Furnware needs is simply the foothold provided by a school willing to trial just a single classroom. From there, the student improvement is picked up by the teacher.

The teacher becomes an advocate. The school catches the virus. Other schools get infected.

Customer service – in Furnware’s DNA, the customer is never wrong.

Anything that does go wrong is righted at Furnware’s expense. “Our philosophy here is ‘customers for life’.”

would not like to use the desk or table that they had before.

But still, it requires an inspired sales force. Not just anyone can upgrade a school principal from a $40 chair to a (now) $130 experience. The benefits of the Furnware line are grounded in solid research that must be effectively presented – the rep is as much an educational consultant as a salesperson. Furnware’s sales people often have so much more knowledge than the schools (why do the colours of the furniture matter?) that they look to the rep for advice.

Hamish described the tortuous interviewing process involved in hiring

“Everyone thought I was nuts … probably the biggest risk I’ve taken in my life.”

Where to?

When Bodyfurn first came along, sales were 100% domestic. Domestic market share is still growing, but as mentioned earlier, Furnware’s future is in exports – today about 45% of sales, projected to reach 70% in two years. How? Hamish explains that the first call in any country is to the International Schools – the schools used by foreign and local elites. A nice launching pad. They are watched in a ‘best practice’ sense by the other schools. And their parents are both able to appreciate and be prepared to fund innovation and the best for their children, and they are influencers.

In addition, Furnware uses every Kiwi connection it can, including expats and their international organization, KEA. And finally, strategic partnerships don’t hurt. Furnware is partnering with Fielding Nair International, a Floridabased education consultancy and designer of schools worldwide, to assist in outfitting their International schools in the coming year. Fielding Nair has done over $10 billion of school work in 43 countries over the last 15 years.

What could limit Furnware’s growth, which has been 60% (turnover) over the last four years? What could go wrong? For the first time, Hamish struggles with a question.

Capital isn’t an issue. The product line has enormous credibility with teachers and principals. Markets are available, though he does note that the AUD exchange rate is certainly impacting on the aggressiveness of their strategy into Australia, where Furnware has nine reps.

Finally he mentions finding the right staff. At heart Hamish believes in company as family. He’s fond of the early days when the entire staff (then 17) had morning tea together: “By the end of tea I knew if someone was sick, if a machine was broken … everything I needed to know.” He’s proud of the fact that “five guys have been here over 40 years”, and

Virtually 100% recyclable

adds, “they will always have a place here.” And he’s thrilled that children of employees are joining Furnware.

Growth is great, but it requires the right people with the right attitude … and avoiding becoming too corporate.

“The culture is more important than the machines.”

As for risk, he’s confident. “I, and

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Page 51 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

“Five guys have been here over 40 years ... and they will always have a place at Furnware.”

I’m speaking for Furnware, know my customers far better than any of my competitors … I like to know what they’re thinking about and what is important to them.” He continues: “We have many competitors in all the markets we are in; the biggest difference is we look at learning spaces as best we can through the students’ and teachers’ eyes.”

Hamish mentions that he will typically visit 100 classrooms in the course of a year, watching and listening to students and teachers. Teachers will say, ‘I need a cabinet I can pull along with me as I move around the classroom’ … and we’ll develop it – a teacher’s pod. He delights in a story of how an eight-year old student suggested a detachable compartment for his desk that solved a problem Furnware designers had been struggling with.

In today’s business environment, being ‘customer-centric’ is the prevailing corporate mantra, but honoured more in the breach. In Furnware’s case, it’s the real deal. And that’s because it’s in Hamish Whyte’s DNA.

Page 52 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Lessons for HB businesses Perhaps the best measure of business success is the metric proposed by New Zealand’s Sir Paul Callaghan. He argued that NZ’s economic priority should be nurturing businesses that generated the most revenue per employee. High revenue per employee would translate into higher incomes and financial wellbeing.

Our region typifies what Callaghan viewed as the wrong path – stubborn

and exclusive emphasis on primary production and tourism. Tourism, for example, generates (nationally) around $80,000 per job. When he did his calculations, Callaghan figured Fisher and Paykel Healthcare (with $500 million in exports) generated $232,000 per job.

Furnware generates $220,000 revenue per full-time employee. How many Hawke’s Bay companies can make that claim? Maybe that, and not its 80 years

“We have many competitors in all the markets we are in; the biggest difference is we look at learning spaces as best we can through the students’ and teachers’ eyes.” longevity, is why Furnware holds PO Box 1 as its Hastings address!

Hamish Whyte believes there are other enterprises in Hawke’s Bay that are rough diamonds (“There are some seriously clever businesses here.”) – small operations that could easily double and triple in size with the right doses of capital and entrepreneurial upskilling. He sees Icehouse (the business incubator) and Business Hawke’s Bay as providing the needed mentoring and networking opportunities.

But is there any uniquely “Hawke’s Bay” factor critical to Furnware’s success? Or that of other businesses?

Furnware has no dealings with local councils. Its export strategy is its own.

Furnware could be anywhere that provided easy access to shipping its exports (about half of Furnware’s exports go through Napier Port).

Desks to write on, literally

“We don’t need to be in Hawke’s Bay; we want to be in Hawke’s Bay.” Hamish emphasizes. What Hawke’s Bay does offer, importantly to him, is an appealing, less stressful place to live and for family values to thrive. For a business, that translates into a stable and loyal workforce, and is an important factor in attracting job recruits and immigrants with the talent and wealth

the region needs.

Part of the Furnware DNA is corporate citizenship. The best businesses invest back into the community for the common good. In Hamish’s experience, it means a lot to employees when their companies give back, and it strengthens the company culture.

And the stronger the business, the stronger the region.

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Page 53 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Boilers Fuel a Dirty Economy Keith Newman discovers breakthroughs in biomass technology are being ignored because short-term budgets favour fossil fuels.

Fossil fuel-fired boiler technology will continue to be used in New Zealand factories until more compelling emission controls and financial incentives force a conversion to carbon-neutral alternatives.

That’s the word from Christian Jirkowsky, a former environmental change advisor to the Austrian Government, now based in Havelock North, who champions the uptake of leading-edge biomass boiler systems.

In Europe, he says, fossil fuel boilers, now frowned upon, are replaced after 20 to 25 years, but in New Zealand many will

Page 54 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

continue to be used well past their use-by date or replaced by similar burners that continue to pollute the atmosphere.

While there’s potential for several Hawke’s Bay plants to shift industrial heat generation to biomass boilers, Jirkowsky, general manager of Polytechnik Biomass Energy, says that’s unlikely to happen as long as councils believe a certain level of pollution is acceptable.

He’d like to see companies like Watties move to biomass systems, but doesn’t hold much hope as they’re strongly focused on cost cutting, efficiency and reducing staff.

The market, he says, is largely uneducated about environmentally friendly alternatives, and there aren’t sufficient financial incentives to encourage change.

Even adhering to World Health Organisation (WHO) limits, he says, you still need advanced technology to stay within proper emission standards. “I’ve never been to a place in Europe which has air pollution to the same degree as Hawke’s Bay in winter.”

Not so clean and green Jirkowsky and his family moved from Austria to Havelock North in 2007 after he was head-hunted to establish wood and biomass boilers for a national firm with offices in Hastings. It didn’t sit well that after 35 years as a renewable energy specialist, the role turned out to be sales and technical manager for gas and coal-fired boilers.

K&L Nurseries won 2014 EECA energy efficiency award for its biomass-heated glasshouse

In 2011 he went back to his roots, becoming Australasian general manager for his former employer, Polytechnik, an Austrian-based biomass boiler systems manufacturer.

Jirkowsky committed to the original job because of its career promises and New Zealand’s clean green reputation, which was confirmed when he visited Abel Tasman National Park and Coromandel. However, he soon observed that in many places air, river, and stream pollution was worse than Austria.

In his short time in the country, even oncefavourite swimming holes have become unsafe through pollution.

He says factories and industrial plants in Hawke’s Bay seem to increase their output at night time, something that would be unthinkable in Europe.

Jirkowsky served on the steering committee advising the Austrian

Government how to reduce harmful industry emissions without impacting the economy.

In the 1970s Europe had a major acid rain problem which destroyed many forests.

“I’ve never been to a place in Europe which has air pollution to the same degree as Hawke’s Bay in winter.”

Subsequent emission limits, the requirement for scrubbing systems, and taxes on fossil fuels made coal boilers uneconomic.

Alternative approaches including biomass boilers were introduced and sulphur dioxide and CO2 particulates were significantly reduced. Billions of dollars from fossil fuel taxes were invested

in renewable energy, including solar and biomass energy generation.

While industrial-scale biomass burners require bigger fuel storage areas and larger boiler houses and combustion chambers than fossil fuel boilers, there’s long-term payback for business and the environment.

He says a system can cost $1 to $10 million, or for co-generation of electricity $5 to $15 million.

Boilers are fed on sawdust, wood chips, bark, garden waste or a combination of other materials, with the heat exchange used to boil water, create steam or thermal oil for industrial or commercial heating or drying plants, for example.

Jirkowsky sold his first wood-fired boiler to K&L Nurseries near Christchurch to deliver managed humidity through a glasshouse venting system, a project that won the 2014 EECA Award (Energy

Page 55 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Prize-winning glasshouse burns green waste, eliminating 3,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions

Efficiency and Conservation Authority) for small to medium businesses.

After dumping an old coal boiler, the nursery halved its energy costs by burning 100 tonnes of green waste annually, and no longer sends 3,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The half million dollar biomass boiler is expected to pay for itself this year.

Although there’s support for change, and Jirkowsky has taken senior Fonterra managers to Europe to see biomass burners in action, it never gets past the board.

Government disincentives

Power potential overlooked Around 50% of biomass boilers worldwide are used for co-generation of electricity; but that opportunity hasn’t yet presented itself locally. As Jirkowsky says, there’s an innate resistance, often from consultants who haven’t upskilled around advanced technologies.

“They are very comfortable with fossil fuels and coal-fired boilers and sell their services doing tender documents, evaluations and project management around basic coal-fired boilers, because that’s what they’ve done for the last 30-40-years.”

In the past four years Jirkowsky has sold ten boilers to a variety of industries on both sides of the Tasman, including Zealandia Nursery in Christchurch; another two will service new glasshouses at its Clevedon premises, south-east of Auckland from later this year.

Last September, Polytechnik had to battle with the Ministry of Health to win a tender to replace Canterbury’s Burwood Hospital’s coal burners. The

Page 56 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Christian Jirkowsky preference was to go with coal again until Jirkowsky involved the EECA and the Bioenergy Association, for which he is the wood group convener.

“They cited budgetary reasons, but we managed to shift their thinking and now they will have the most advanced wood boiler plant in New Zealand.”

Fonterra has around 100 large boilers burning huge amounts of coal for two massive milk powder driers at Darfield.

These were granted resource consent as long as their emissions remained below 20 micrograms of sulphur dioxide particulates.

That now needs to be reduced before they can go ahead with their third plant.

While the EECA was established to encourage the use of eco-friendly energy sources, with up to $150,000 for approved sites, its budget has been slashed and it’s been “downsized significantly”.

While it has the resources to encourage small businesses and schools to migrate from fossil fuel boilers, large businesses who have to invest $3-$6 million need more convincing.

Jirkowsky says a major opportunity was lost when Canterbury University wanted to phase out its coal boilers and look into the viability of a district heating system for the university, hospitals and industry.

Instead of investing in the project, the Government put $5.5 million R&D into Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology which uses organic fluid rather than steam to run co-generation turbines. Then Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges invested another $1.5 million soVenture Southland could look into biomass energy.

ORC technology is already well understood and theVenture Southland research, he predicts, is unlikely to succeed because of the low population and the fact brown coal and lignite are so cheap in that part of the country.

The overall $7 million spent on consultants and research was “wasted”

when it could have covered more than half of the cost of a biomass-based district heating plant, says Jirkowsky.

And he asks why the Government continues to run Solid Energy at what is now over $500 million in operational losses over the past two years, which is covered by tax payers and essentially a coal subsidy.

“That money could be used to phase out coal and reduce emissions.”

Forestry crisis ahead?

Pan Pac Forest Products has two boilers at Whirinaki and another in Southland where they’re allegedly in discussion with Polytechnik for a biomass solution. But overall, says Jirkowsky, forestry and the sawmilling industry are in a precarious position.

Australia, New Zealand and Austria process around 25 to 28 million cubic metres of timber a year, but New Zealand derives very little added value because most of its harvest goes direct to Japan or China for pulping.

By comparison Austria imports additional timber for high quality flooring and furniture and uses the ‘waste’ for biomass burners and electricity generation for industry, including pulp and paper plants, effectively creating employment and investment in the local economy.

Jirkowsky warns that without stronger incentives to replant, New Zealand faces huge deforestation and subsequent carbon footprint problems after our main forests are harvested over the next few years. “Timber and sawmilling are very vulnerable businesses.”

Converting the European economy from carbon intensive to a low-carbon, renewable-energy economy was assisted by targeted low-interest loans, a tax on coal and up to 30 cents fossil-fuel tax per

Kudos to K&L Nurseries litre at the petrol bowser.

Although lower petroleum prices have made a shift away from diesel and LPG less likely in New Zealand, Jirkowsky suggests European-style taxes and more rigorous emission standards would help reduce our carbon footprint.

He’s concerned many companies still get away with burning plastic and other rubbish in their coal burners because emissions aren’t monitored.

The feedback after several years of taking local industry representatives to Europe is that New Zealand is 25 to 30 years behind.

With the right local and central government incentives, Jirkowsky believes that gap could be closed in two to three years; without it, he warns we’ll continue to do what we’ve always done.

Page 57 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Political Buzz

BY TOM BELFORD

Doesn’t it seem like all the responsible folks at our local councils deserted Hawke’s Bay and put Homer Simpson in charge? Or Dilbert? Are we undergoing some kind of governance meltdown? The headlines and events lately have been disquieting, to say the least. Enough, one would think, to make elected leaders run for cover.

• Opera House fix to cost $21 million or more, if it’s fixable.

• Ahuriri Estuary pollution getting worse.

Who’s letting that happen?

• Speed limits flip-flopping.

• Regional Council suing Napier City Council over a leaky building, and HBRC battling HDC in the Environment Court over land use consents. Only lawyers win.

• HB Museum and Art Gallery requires a $500,000 band aid.

• CHB poo pond clean-up scheme, eight years in the making, fails to do the job; HBRC wrings its hands.

• Fish catches depleting in Hawke Bay (although MPI hasn’t caught up with this).

• Cows still lounging (and worse) in the Tukituki, with toxic algae warnings making matters worse.

• The future of Horse of the Year jeopardized by its own board.

• $20+ million plowed into a dam of dubious merit, with spending continuing at $300k per month.

• Five councils soon each launching their next long term plans, with no synchronicity or collaboration.

• Bottled aquifer water to be sold abroad, while Heretaunga growers face irrigation bans. Which council(s) allowed that?

One part of the solution

The list could go on … that’s just the picture as I write in late February. But your head is probably already throbbing.

Thank God we’ve had Art Deco week and cricket to distract us from the real world! And our wines are still winning prestigious awards. But don’t images of the Titanic’s ‘and the band played on’, or Nero fiddling, come to mind?

So, what’s wrong with this picture? How does all this dysfunction come about?

I offer five possibilities.

First, inevitably, s**t happens.

Take the Opera House. It would appear that the Hastings Council acted with due diligence when it refurbished the Opera House. Then along came a Christchurch earthquake and more stringent building standards, and eventually a steep price tag on coming up to snuff. No one at fault here … a bad roll of the dice for Hastings ratepayers,

POLITICAL BUZZ councillors and the mayor.

Contrast that with Hastings dog pound debacle, where the council deservedly came under fire for malfeasance of its own doing.

Or compare the Opera House situation to the fiasco at HB Museum and Art Gallery, where lack of proper Napier City Council oversight (where was Finance chairman Bill Dalton?) led to poor design decisions, a storage dilemma and inflated visitor projections that are now costing Napier ratepayers plenty … over $678,000 this year alone.

Then there’s the Regional Council’s leaky roof, costing $2 million to repair, with lawyers for HBRC and NCC fighting over financial culpability.

People wonder why cows still poop in the Tukituki

Second, nobody’s paying attention.

“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve,” said George Bernard Shaw.

Only 44% of Hawke’s Bay eligible voters even bothered to vote in local body elections in 2013. So what tiny percentage of the body politic might possibly be paying attention in any meaningful way to the week in, week out travails of our councils?

Pitifully few, if measured by attendance at council meetings, making of submissions, or participation in other consultation opportunities.

As an advocate and now a councillor, I’ve been on both sides of this table. At times thumping the table, demanding more informed and timely input into decisions.

And at other times, scratching my head with staff and fellow councillors regarding what more could be done to encourage public feedback.

A more energetic local media, with more critical and informed reporters, might be expected to bring key issues before the public in a way that framed the choices in a useful and timely way. And to play a watchdog role. Instead of being spoon fed by councils’ communications staff.

But local media in Hawke’s Bay will never be adequately resourced to do this job, and reporter turnover compounds the problem. There’s no substitute for watching the ‘game’ for a few years to really understand the dynamics of issues and where the bodies are buried.

In Hawke’s Bay, of reporters normally covering councils, only Marty Sharpe of the DomPost and Diane Joyce of the local Fairfax weeklies have the ‘seniority’ and critical eye to get at what’s actually going on (and Diane’s now gone to the ‘dark side’ as communications chief for the Hastings Council!).

And what is undeniable is that when councils believe no one is watching, that’s when the mischief really begins.

Third, lack of council transparency.

Of course, the rejoinder to my second point is that councils are very difficult to penetrate and scrutinize, sometimes because of the inherently protective DNA of all bureaucracies, but very often because of deliberate obfuscation by elected councillors and council staffs alike.

So citizens legitimately complain that too little information is available, consultation is a sham, and too much happens behind closed doors. As a

though the show belongs entirely to them.

Councillors tell themselves that, hearing no noise, they can do as they please in their various fiefdoms.

‘Malcontents’ – be they members of the public or fellow councillors – be damned.

And council staffs – especially senior managers who have ‘seen it all before’ and have longer shelf-lives than most councillors – are highly skilled at managing information, controlling agendas, and steering the ship in their

Three terms or almost ten years in the same office is plenty of time to make a public service contribution, without becoming addicted to the ratepayers’ teat. councillor, I’ve attended six workshops so far on the HBRC’s next long term plan; sometime in April, you readers will get to look at it. Of course we don’t make decisions in those private meetings (passing resolutions would be illegal); instead, we give guidance to the staff.

My experience as a councillor has strongly reinforced one conclusion: the last thing most councillors want is to be watched, interrogated, challenged. Life is complicated enough without an audience.

And this is even more true of council staffs, who by archaic rules are insulated even from their own councillors.

And so – with few ‘outsiders’ watching or equipped to challenge – the conditions are ripe for councillors and staff to act as

preferred directions. An imbalance of capacity made worse by the part-time nature of most councillors.

Under these circumstances, the worried ratepayer doesn’t stand a chance.

Indeed, even a persistent and determined councillor can’t penetrate the walls, especially if one is viewed by staff as on the ‘minority’ side of any given issue.

Fourth, convoluted, disjointed structure.

My soul bared, I am an advocate of amalgamation. Conflicting jurisdictions, authorities, agendas and even vendettas of competing councils exacerbate most of the issues and poor outcomes on my opening list.

Page 59 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

POLITICAL BUZZ While many advocates of amalgamation cite savings and less duplication – which the ratepayer has every right to expect – my own reasons go more to getting better policy outcomes and sharper accountability.

Much inter-council warfare is internal, out of public sight … what Americans call ‘inside baseball’. Occasionally the conflict erupts into public view, as councils fight over money, jockey for public accolades, or feel a need to shift blame.

But while the in-fighting saps energy, money and time within the councils (who have no limits on the time, money and energy they can waste), it also saps the resources of the groups and individuals in the community who try to engage with council decisionmakers to produce better outcomes.

That list I started with … it will only get longer and longer as we paddle along with five councils pointed in their own directions.

Fifth, old blood.

That said, amalgamation is not a ‘cureall’. As many say, why re-arrange the deck chairs simply to find them occupied again by the same folks who’ve delivered today’s state of affairs?

Considering the list of issues above, one’s first impulse, understandably, might be to jettison the crews of those ships. However, that’s a little too simplistic. Poor structure and process can stack the deck impossibly, thwarting even the best-intentioned and most capable elected officials. Reorganization is an essential part of the solution for moving Hawke’s Bay forward.

But we must face up to ‘personnel’ change as well – whether we are fortunate enough to amalgamate or not. As I’ve

Page 60 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

HBRC building gets a major repair, while councils fight over who foots the bill written before, Hawke’s Bay is reclining, if not declining, under the ‘steady hands’ of our political veterans – some serving five, six, even seven terms.

With too much time in office, elected officials have too much baggage, too many past policies to defend, too stale ideas, too much feeling of entitlement, too much commitment to the status quo, and too much sense of ‘we know best’.

Consequently, I support term limits for elected officials. Three terms or almost ten years in the same office is plenty of time to make a public service contribution, without becoming addicted to the ratepayers’ teat. After that, a smart community can surely find other ways to capitalize upon whatever further public service inclinations and talents these veterans might have.

Local government terms are set by legislation, so for all practical purposes, any move in this direction will need to come at the

voluntary commitment of future candidates, who would hopefully be rewarded by voters for their modest aspirations!

So there’s no single antidote to the spate of malfunctions I listed at the outset.

Paying more attention … demanding more transparency … amalgamation … more fresh blood – each of these is needed.

The first two require our persistent commitment. Fresh blood awaits 2016.

Amalgamation, however, is at our doorstep.

That campaign is underway … to the consternation of ratepayers who believe councils should say nothing on the matter.

As you read this, the Local Government Commission should have completed its random survey of Bay-wide voter interest in reorganization. And assuming it is satisfied with the level of interest it finds, it will issue a final reorganization plan. That plan is sure to be put to a public referendum.

At that point, democracy will ensure that we get what we deserve!

Beer As Craft

STORY JIM POPPELWELL PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

Chris Barber of Zeelandt brewing up

Matt & Gemma from Brave Brewery

Chris Ormond from Giant Brewing Co

Hawke’s Bay takes pride in its reputation as a gourmet’s delight. More than eighty wineries produce a diverse range of wine styles that consistently hold their own alongside the world’s best. The Hastings Farmers’ Market is one of the largest and oldest in the country, and the region boasts the largest number of artisan food producers in New Zealand.

It seemed only a matter of time before the local craft beer scene began to catch up, and after what some may consider a slow start, beer appreciators are increasingly spoilt for choice.

Established local operations Hawke’s Bay Independent Breweries (HBIB) and Roosters Brew House were joined by Zeelandt Brewery in 2012, and Fat Monk Brewing Co. a year later. More recently Brave Brewing Company has hit the market along with Havelock North-based Giant Brewing Co. In the very near future another two brands will join the Hawke’s Bay brewing fraternity: Sneaky Brewing Co. and Godsown Brewery.

Whereas previously Hawke’s Bay could be considered an outlier from brewing centres such as Wellington and Nelson, the recent emergence of these new players gives credence to the claim that the Bay is a nascent beer destination in its own right.

Arts and craft In some ways the brewers we spoke to consider the term ‘craft beer’ outdated, or at the least, lacking in nuance. They felt it was useful in times past to help consumers distinguish between industrially-brewed lagers and those crafted by smaller boutique breweries.

Based on this definition, all breweries in Hawke’s Bay can be considered craft, even

though they range in size from Giant’s small pilot brewery to an output of more than 650,000 litres a year at HBIB. In a wider sense, craft breweries can be defined by a focus on flavour and authenticity. Many craft brewers have experienced a beer epiphany, a moment when they discovered that beer could taste different to the sweet brown draught or generic green bottle lager that they were raised on. From this perspective, brewers are often motivated by a desire to share this discovery with others, with less emphasis on marketing and more on the beer itself.

Speaking of authenticity, a word about faux-craft. As the name implies, faux or fake craft is the name given to the attempts of the corporate brewers to pass off their sub-brands as originating from independent and seemingly small-scale breweries. While in the end a beer should stand or fall on its own quality, would you trust a beer that intentionally misleads you about its origin and ownership?

Making the journey For many craft brewers, their personal beer epiphany naturally leads to experimentation with making beer at home. Some readers will recall a similar experience, though few will likely have produced a beer that they considered superior to their favourite beer at the time. Even fewer will have taken out the champion brewer award at the SOBA New Zealand Homebrew Competition, as did Matt Smith of Brave in 2013.

Chris Ormond of Giant and Godfrey Quemeneur of Godsown are brewers who followed a similar path, producing beers of increasing quality at home before making the leap of faith to commercial production.

Some others serve time at existing commercial breweries before going out on their own. Chris Barber of Zeelandt is one local brewer with a varied industry background. After working at breweries in the UK, where he also completed a Bachelor in Brewing Technology, he became assistant brewer at Hallertau in west Auckland.

Chris Willis, one half of Sneaky Brewing, has collected commercial brewing experience at Hawke’s Bay’s pioneering Limburg Brewery, Roosters and in the US. He and partner Matt Searle will launch their brand very soon.

Spreading the gospel One challenge that all low-volume breweries face is securing tap space at bars that are contracted to one of the dominant corporate brewers. As Matt Smith says: “Unfortunately many Hawke’s Bay bars still have tied tap contracts with large breweries which is a challenge for local brewers. We can change that however if enough of us demand better variety and better beer.”

Having said that, as Chris Ormond tells us: “It’s great to see more and more bars and cafes widening their range beyond mainstream lagers and ales”.

For some, the problem of securing distribution can be overcome through vertical integration, or what is commonly known as ‘opening a pub’, or even just an off-licence. Chris Harrison at Roosters took this route, and perhaps as a result seems less focused on securing distribution far and wide. HBIB’s brews are available from The Filter Room in Meeanee, although 90% of the brewery’s product is sold outside the Bay in other cities across the North Island. Again, the prevalence of big brewery contracts is the barrier to local sales.

Fat Monk shares a cellar door with Abbey Cellars on Maraekakaho Road, whilst flagons can be purchased from the Zeelandt brewery on Thursdays and Fridays from one to six.

Godsown has perhaps the most interesting project underway, with plans to develop their quarter-acre hop field into a cellar door and eventually a fully operational brew pub.

Brave can also see a move to on-premise sometime in the future.

Just one fix For those in need of immediate succour, however, there are few bars that stand out as destination drinking holes for the beer curious.

Page 63 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

A Selection of Hawke’s Bay Craft Brewers Brave Brewing Company Matt & Gemma Smith Brave Brewing Company is a 300 litre microbrewery based in Hastings, run by a husband and wife team, Matt & Gemma Smith.

“We believe that when given the proper respect, beer is a fascinating and delicious beverage that has a great, positive culture around it, and we hope to be able to contribute to this culture in Hawke’s Bay.”

Hawke’s Bay Independent Brewery Basil Diack, Greg Forrest, Geoff Edwards The Bay’s largest brewery. Situated in Meeanee and producing a large range of beer and ciders.

“Our mission is to capture the purity and essence of Hawkes Bay and lovingly distil it into every glass that you try of our honest, natural craft beer and cider.”

Fat Monk Brewing Co.

Roosters Brew House

Dermot Haworth

Chris Harrison

Fat Monk is a craft brewery based in Hastings, specialising in brewing assertive and distinctive beers.

Brewing and selling beer on site in Omahu Road, Hastings since 1994.

“We have the ability to mix it up and to make any style we want, when we want.”

“We make traditional natural batch-brewed beers and ales.”

Sneaky Brewing Giant Brewing Co. Chris & Tom Ormond, George Mackenzie Giant Brewing Co is a little brewery east of Havelock North village. It was established by two brothers and a mate, two of whom have done lots of home brewing and one of whom has some sort of brewing qualification.

“We recently hit the shelves in a few Hawke’s Bay bars/restaurants/cafes with the NZPA, and will release more styles throughout 2015. Punters can expect these to be big on flavour.”

Godsown Brewery Godfrey Quemeneur & Rachel Downes Godsown Brewery has an 800 litre capacity brewery situated next to a quarter-acre hop field at Maraekakaho.

“Five years ago we set out in our 1973 caravan to find the right location … and here we are.”

Page 64 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Chris Willis & Matt Searle A yet-to-launch brand that will release a full range of Sneaky beers year round as well as seasonal and festive brews.

“We believe the passion for craft brewing is showcased within our beers.

So relax and enjoy a Sneaky beer!”

Zeelandt Brewery

One bar that has fully thrown off the shackles of a corporate contract is the Westshore Beach Inn. Proprietor Jeremy Bayliss regularly features beers from some of New Zealand’s most beloved brands, including Garage Project, Liberty, Panhead, ParrotDog, Renaissance and Tuatara.

Those searching for a decent beer selection in Hastings should head to Common Room, where Gerard Barron fills a small space with an impressive selection of bottled beers backed up by a couple of taps offering Zeelandt Pale Ale and Helles by the glass.

Another option for those wanting to expand their beer-tasting repertoire is Beer Appreciation Day, a small-scale festival first held in Hawke’s Bay in 2011.

At that time accessing standout brews from New Zealand and beyond was not easy for Bay beer aficionados.

Held at Havelock North’s Duart House in March, the event had previously focused on bringing exceptional beers to Hawke’s Bay from New Zealand and beyond. The recent development of the local brewing community has enabled this year’s format to also act as a showcase for the Bay’s new and emerging brands.

Given the success of events such as Wellington’s Beervana and Nelson’s Marchfest, event organisers feel that the time is now ripe to start marketing the Bay as a beer tourist destination.

Chris Barber

Bright Star at Night

Based in the Esk Valley in an impressive purpose-built brewery.

So what will the future hold for beer in the Bay? Though each has their own ambitions for the future, all the Bay’s current crop of beer makers seem confident that they are here to stay.

Given the quality and diversity of their products, and the varied nature of their future plans, it seems that things can only get better for Hawke’s Bay’s growing band of beer appreciators.

The last word goes to Zeelandt’s Chris Barber: “The local support has been great so far but it is now time for all hospitality to get behind their local brewers. From McLean Park to BA5 events, think beer, think local.”

“We have a great team behind the scenes and we have some exciting plans for the future. I love Hawke’s Bay and I want to contribute to its success.”

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Chef James Beck buys local and shares his favourite suppliers

Taste LOCAL

BY JAMES BECK PHOTOS SARAH CATES

I’m between kitchens, so I’ve got time to think about what’s important to me in my cooking.

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

Every chef and their dog are talking about ‘local’ at the moment. For some it’s just marketing, but for many of us it has become something of a creed. It’s not just that it’s a trendy global movement, local also makes good business sense, whether in a café, a restaurant or at home Why? First, by supporting our local growers and producers we develop a personal relationship with our community and in turn they support us. With smaller growers there’s diversity in what I’m bringing into my kitchen because it’s coming from a range of producers, rather than everything coming from one big supplier. And because they are small they will grow products especially for me

and for the dishes I want to serve.

The second reason I buy local is that it’s bound to be fresher than product coming from further afield, and that’s the case for fish, produce, meat and fruit.

Finally, buying local keeps food miles down and saves us money because it cuts out hidden costs – both financial and environmental – associated with freight and packaging. We choose local really consciously and we follow it up by visiting the farms, orchards and gardens that supply us.

Hawke’s Bay is such a good place for this ‘buy local’ buzz. We have our own unique terroir that allows our vintners to produce great wine, and our growers and farmers to produce great meats, vegetables and fruits.

To give a full picture of where some of our real gems are, here’s a list of some of my favourite local producers. Being in the restaurant trade means I am lucky enough to get special cuts or products from them when I need to, but most of these also supply the home cook.

Page 67 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Clyde Potter from Epicurean Tangaroa Seafoods has had some tough times recently, but Sue and Chris still supply the freshest fish available in Hawke’s Bay and they go out of their way to make sure we get what we need.

Ti Kouka Meats specialises in lamb and beef. For them traceability is really important; they are the real deal when it comes to ‘gate to plate’ eating, as they raise the animals themselves and also butcher them. Based at Waimarama they’re really accessible and I’ve always been able to discuss what’s in season or particular cuts I need.

Kahikatea Farms raises mostly seedlings, but they supply me with wild leaves and herbs, micro greens, peashoots, wheatgrass and edible flowers. It’s beautiful product grown by a family who are absolutely committed to living in a sustainable way. Their products give my dishes accents of flavour, terroir, colour, and they bring a super freshness that really showcases the Bay. I used their penny royal in a pea consomme recently and it had such an effect on the food that we were scrambling in the kitchen to provide cuttings for each guest.

New Zealand Game Birds has supplied me with pheasant for a long time now. They’re in Sherendon where they have a stunning

Page 68 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

spot by the river. When I have pheasant I use every part of it. I confit legs, poach or roast the breast, make broth and sauce, and liver parfait. As well as growing their beautiful birds, Bridgette and Jeff arrange shoots throughout the season, which I cater, and a yearly game dinner where any number of wild animals are provided and lovingly turned into a degustation.

Te Koha is the place for apples. At one stage they had over 30 varieties. With the recession, organics has struggled as cooks are working with tighter budgets and people don’t want to spend money on food, but Te Koha is still a favourite to work with. Hawke’s Bay is the apple capital of the world, and Te Koha supply the best of the best.

Lawsons True Earth is another family owned and operated outfit. They’ve supplied me with blueberries, carrots, potatoes and onions over the years. They are a good solid grower of those staples.

It’s another relationship built on reciprocity.

They supply me and I cook for them.

Epicurean grows a whole heap of vegetables. It is hard to do such a wide range, but they manage to do it all really well. We support them as a grower because they will do things especially for us, they go the extra mile and that counts for a lot.

Hohepa makes organic cheese in Clive.

I was a Woofer (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) there and I worked in their cheese room, so I have a personal relationship with the place and with their cheese maker. It’s a nice product and not expensive for what it is. A good example of how we make a local product work in the place of something more traditional is how we use Hohepa’s vintage tasty cheese instead of parmesan in dishes like risotto.

I suppose in doing that we are giving the dish a Hawke’s Bay twist!

Holly Bacon is a family company that have been making great bacon and other pork products for over 100 years. Their happy pigs may not come from the Bay but that special ‘holly flavour’ sure does.

Te Mata Figs produce an amazing variety.

They do make their own products, but I am much more interested in getting their fresh fruit and seeing what I can do with it.

I particularly like using figs in savoury and meat dishes.

Aunty’s Garden is an awesome space on Karamu Road where locals can harvest whatever is growing in season for minimal money. I turn up, see what’s there, harvest it, respect it, do something delicious with it, and I give them a koha in exchange. I especially like using what would otherwise go to waste.

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Holly Bacon is a James favourite All in all we are well catered for when it comes to buying good produce locally, but there are a few gaps. We used to have a place to buy really nice smoked eel, another place that grew paua, and I’d like to be able to harvest seaweed locally.

But there’s plenty of new ventures on the go. Every week people drop me clues about their own favourite local suppliers of great ingredients. Not long ago a woman came into my kitchen with a truffle. She told me she had the right trees, the right spores and the right dog to hunt them out, she gave it to me and said, “There’s more to come”. I sure hope so.

James Beck ran Hastings’ Taste Cornucopia for five years before handing over the reins at the end of 2014. In spring 2015 he plans to open a new venture in Hawke’s Bay.

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oxygen.co. nz Page 69 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and LIFESTYLE Michael Hawksworth, from gallery to car boot

Page 70 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

Hangups

BY MICHAEL HAWKSWORTH

[Editor: On 12 December 2014 the Creative Arts Napier gallery opened with a show called ‘Hui Hui Ono’. It contained works from local artist Michael Hawksworth. He’s an EIT art tutor who has previously exhibited at HBMAG. Hours before the opening Creative Napier board members toured the show and deemed Hawksworth's work ‘pornography’.

Although the curators of the show suggested R18 signage and curtaining, the board members removed the works from the walls. During the show opening Hawksworth exhibited the works in the gallery carpark, selling a number of pieces that night. This is his response to that experience.]

One night when I was 12 or so, I left my bed, unable to sleep, and walked into the living room. My parents were watching as a squad of men, heads encased in helmets and black visors savagely beat a flailing and unprotected young man with rubber truncheons. All of the usual theatricality and choreography I had assumed as the natural character of violence had gone.

Now I knew I was face to face with the real thing. It was terrifying.

My father quickly ushered me back to the darkness of my room without explanation so I could be alone with the after images. The film was Sleeping Dogs.

Was that good parenting? I’m still not sure.

On a beautiful spring afternoon in 1988, I walked into the gloomy foyer of the Midcity Cinema on Manners St in Wellington and bought a ticket to see David Lynch’s new film Blue Velvet.

A group of women were milling at the entrance to the theatre and, as I entered, one pleasantly handed me a leaflet. It said, “This film contains pornographic images of the violent sexual subjection of a woman.

Do not support it.” (Or other highly subjective words to that effect.) When I left the theatre two hours later, Blue Velvet had replaced Eraserhead as the single most exciting event of my film-going life.

Early on in 2013, friends of mine, members of the Auckland punk group Mean Girls, contacted me about doing some artwork as a response to their justreleased, self-titled e.p. I tend to work in an opportunistic manner, and as luck

would have it, I had a magazine of images of kinbaku-bi (literally translates to ‘the beauty of tight binding’, a Japanese sexual bondage discipline dating from the Edo period; look it up on Wikipedia, kids).

I excised the girls from their somewhat dingy backgrounds and recast them as fantastic performers in new scenes modelled on 18th century Baroque and Western religious art compositions.

"I exhibited the Mean Girls pictures in Auckland and they attracted nil controversy, exactly as I expected. I attempted to exhibit them in Napier just before Xmas 2014 and boom!

Strong-armed from show."

Choreographed? Theatrical? Obviously artificial? Tick, tick, tick.

Making this stuff was fun. I certainly didn’t approach it as, you know, ‘Art’.

I was just at play in the fields of The Lord. Everybody knows art-making is an inescapably escapist activity. Artists take the flight response and cunningly repackage it as fight. I’m doing it now…

But it's funny how even though people all agree that art isn’t real or factual, that it’s a fiction in every meaningful sense of

that word, they somehow still get cold feet about its freedom as if it had a causal relationship with reality. There’s always that joyless policing mindset.

And then, of course, everybody always reaches for the lever marked ‘porn’, never the ‘erotica’ button.

I exhibited the Mean Girls pictures in Auckland and they attracted nil controversy, exactly as I expected. I attempted to exhibit them in Napier just before Xmas 2014 and boom! Strong-armed from show. I hesitate to leap to an eyerolling ‘typical provinces’ attitude because, well, in global terms this country is a province and it could happen in Auckland.

The art gallery, much to artists’ and curators’ enduring disappointment, is separated from the rich vitality of the conservative mainstream by a resolutely impervious membrane of disinterest. So arguably the gallery is the safest place to squirrel away this contentious stuff. If you really want to minimize the amount of people looking at it and giving you grief, put it in a provincial gallery.

On the other hand, if you think it's important to provide a safe, quarantining, and mature forum for people to talk about problematic artwork as if digital and social media’s greased channels and inflammatory framing didn’t exist, you really should open a provincial gallery.

I don’t care about the conservative mainstream and they certainly don’t care about me. I’m beneath their notice. My pictures will never invade their family

Page 71 • Issue 21 • Jan/Feb 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

havens. I have the cultural reach, the clout of a Montgomery Burns. Nicki Minaj is kicking sand in my face every day. But somehow middle NZ has developed a bemused tolerance of the ‘buns’ in her ‘Anaconda’ video – “He can tell I ain’t missin’ no meals/ Come through and fuck ‘em in my automobile/I let him eat it with his grills/He keep tellin’ me to chill…”

When do I get some of that action? :-( Luckily for you and yours, mainstream culture handles the hot potato of R18 content quite well. It covers it with a plastic sleeve marked ‘R18’ or otherwise trusts the family/ community unit to use their common sense.

Aren’t art galleries supposed to be liberal reflectors and microcosms of the cultures that underwrite them? Then surely they too can responsibly handle R18 content instead of filing it under ‘too hard’ and whipping away the right-to-view of the community they claim to represent, just like those religious/fundamentalist organs they assume they’re the opposite of, that dictate the terms of culture in the middleeast and the bible-belt of the US. My dad would’ve hated the Mean Girls works. Filth! He would have refused any attempt to draw him into discussion about them. He would have sat there in his armchair with pursed lips and a red face and fumed.

And that’s what this kind of reflex censorship does. It refuses to consider

Page 72 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

"I don’t care about the conservative mainstream and they certainly don’t care about me. I’m beneath their notice. My pictures will never invade their family havens. I have the cultural reach, the clout of a Montgomery Burns." either its own role as a societal mechanism or the nature of the work it is ushering

from sight. It simply pulls the fusty old Patricia Bartlett lever marked ‘indecency’ and shuts down any valuable discussion. It treats us like children.

Please understand, I’m not anticensorship. In fact, in this specific case censorship did me a favour. My pictures were made in a punk spirit that stuck the fingers up to politically correct representations and so I needed to be punished in order to complete the picture convincingly. It's rock ‘n roll kids!

So please, you protectors of public morals, censor me. You helped me do my work and better than if I’d done it on my own. So is it art? No, not really. Should it be in a gallery? Who cares?

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

BIGART There's some art that can't be contained. And some artists too that need to stretch out: metaphorically and practically.

Cinzah 'Seekayem' Merkens is one of them and his growing pains started at an early age.

Cinzah drew and painted his way through high school. Paper wasn't big enough so a teacher gave him the tech room walls to paint. He did that then moved on to the local skate bowl. He's taken over galleries and studios since then and outgrown all of them. Along the way he's picked up skills and taken opportunities and at 28 he's a master craftsmen with an impressive portfolio of commercial work and street art.

Big colours, bold characters, full walls, threestorey buildings, great sagas in paint: no space is too big for Cinzah to cover with his esoteric artistic bravery.

His skills have taken him from Auckland to Melbourne to Mexico then back to Auckland and now to Napier where he moved in early 2015. He's on the hunt for big spaces to cover in his work.

"I follow my gut. If it seems like a good opportunity, and I like the people, and preferably if it pays the bills, then I'll get involved."

Creating his work is as much art as the finished product.

"It's very public. People come and talk to me while I'm working. They watch me. It's performance," says Cinzah, who has also done live painting in bars backed by DJs.

Auckland he's outgrown too, not spatially but emotionally, "My whole generation is priced out of the market in Auckland. We weren't getting ahead there. We were working around the clock just to live. We never saw each other," he says of his young children and partner Ash.

Cinzah 'Seekayem' Merke

ns

"I call family still in Auckland and they say they're flat tack, stressed out." He says his move to the Bay is "like living on holiday".

Since landing, Cinzah has covered a wall or two already, including a fish and chip shop in Napier. To experience the work and the performance there's a delightful video clip of his process here:

https://vimeo.com/118571413 After a misjudged sand dune slide on Wainui Beach aged 17 Cinzah spent 5 weeks flat on his back and 6 months in intensive rehab learning to walk again.

"I hit this point where I thought bugger it these things can happen; you've got to follow your own path."

Page 73 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

BOOK REVIEWS quo. Banksy has something to say and the way he chooses to say it makes him an urban Robin Hood, mocking the rich to amuse the rest of us.

Title: Cathy Author: John Carder Bush Unavailable since its 1986 limited print run, Cathy is a series of photographs of Kate Bush as a young girl, taken by her brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. This new edition contains an introduction by the author and photographs not included in the original.

Title: Wall and Piece Author: Banksy Love him or hate him, the mysterious Banksy is entertaining, provoking and undoubtedly talented. Wall and Piece is a book to stick your nose into, squint at and absorb every detail of the politically inflammatory graffiti Banksy has graced the world with.

Peppered with observations such as, “A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to,” the book invites you to marvel at the bravado of a man who has embellished Segregation Wall in Palestine and Central Park Zoo in Barcelona, as well as the steps of the Tate Gallery (Mind the Crap – hee hee).

Since the early ‘90s, Banksy has been adding his social commentary to the streets of London and abroad.

He chooses not to accept things we are socialised to accept as the norm. A favourite bugbear of his is advertising, which he replies to with ‘Brandalism’. An infamous stunt addressing this issue was the disturbing 2004 sight of a child-sized blow-up doll in Piccadilly Circus hanging in the air from a McDonalds balloon; Banksy commented: “McDonalds is stealing our children.”

It’s easy to laugh him off, attribute paranoia or Communism, and brush his views under the carpet, but as you peer into the images in Wall and Piece and ask what it all means, you might just find yourself daring to question the status

Page 74 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

The images clearly show the promise of the child, Cathy, apparently already a creative, elegant force, at one with the camera. Her brother captures her moods, style and humour in a series of black and white portraits of a clarity that conjure warmth and dust, a smile that evokes the laugh just before or after it. Many of the photographs are annotated with anecdotes or memories of time and place making the observer a part of the process – Bush indeed states that if Cathy had not become Kate, there would have been no wider audience, and no book.

Cathy is thoughtfully produced, the images framed by cut ‘windows’ – perhaps a deliberate attempt to raise that other Cathy and welcome us into her world.

Title: Tell Me a Picture: A guide to looking at art Author: Quentin Blake In 1999 when Quentin Blake was appointed Children’s Laureate he was asked to create an exhibition for the National Gallery entitled ‘Tell Me a Picture’. Unlike the aforementioned Banksy, he was invited to draw on the walls as a way of annotating the pictures he chose and so created drawings of children who commented on the paintings and what they might be about.

Arranged in alphabetical order so as not to imply one painting is more worthy than another, Blake moves from Avercamp to Zwerger through Hopper, Goya and Paulo Uccello’s marvellous ‘Saint George and the Dragon’. Short notes on the paintings and where to find them offer more information for those suitably sparked.

This is a wonderful introduction to art; its accessibility makes it the perfect book to pore over and discuss with children. Each painting is careful chosen because of the story it tells. It’s one of those children’s books that is perfect for everyone.

Louise Ward www.wardini.co.nz

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

Bella Voce Soul comes to the Bay this month when Bella Kalolo's dulcet tones hit Hastings Playhouse Theatre.

Kalolo's 22 March gig is the latest in a series of concerts held at the Playhouse in the wake of the Hawke's Bay Opera House closing its doors last year. Of Samoan, Tongan and Maori decent Kalolo performs soul classics alongside her own compositions and is accompanied by Andy Mauafua on guitar and Darren Mathiassen on drums.

Kalolo was awarded Best Female Vocalist at the 2012 and 2014 Vodafone Pacific Music Awards.

For tickets: creativehastings.org.nz/ tickets and Hastings Community Arts Centre 106 Russell St.

The Hill is Alive with Music At 14, Archie Hill from Hastings is one of the youngest contestants on TV3's XFactor 2015. Being in Auckland filming the show with a large, although ever decreasing, number of like-minded musicians is a big change for Archie, but he's in his element. "It's a mix of emotions but being around so many people who are into their music as much as I am is amazing."

Performing and music come naturally, but he still gets jitters in front of the XFactor audience and judges. "I feel sick for ages before I perform, really anxious, but at the same time I know when I go on I'll be fine. I just try not to over think it."

Archie was taught guitar for a year as a ten year old but most of his musicianship comes from

spending two years at Hereworth School on a choral scholarship.

"If I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't have done this," he says, referring to XFactor and to his time on New Zealand's Got Talent as a 12 year old singing and playing guitar.

Which does he prefer? "Singing.

You don't always have access to an instrument but you've always got your voice."

Page 75 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

Tama Turanga Huata ONZM

Editor: It’s hard to imagine how anyone could do more to nurture and celebrate Maori performing arts and culture, locally to internationally, than Tama Turanga Huata, who passed away in February.

His friend Des Ratima prepared this fitting tribute.

Tama I have known for a very short time in the context of both of our lives, only 10 short years. I was privileged to glimpse the future as seen through the eye of a powerful visionary. Tama a man that many may not have had the opportunity to know or observe in action. His work ethic was astounding. His leadership was of a quality and a clarity that came from an ancestry of chiefs and strong women.

In the space of a few years I saw him work to unify the maraes of Heretaunga, not an easy task. This unification delivered poupou now standing in the Hastings CBD. A stunning achievement. A testament to his conviction, and vision.

The man himself was articulate, passionate, and knowledgeable about things Maori and business.

He earned an MBA. He started Te Whare Wananga O Te Whare Tapere, a university that produced the first performing arts degree, and created Kahurangi, an outstanding cultural group of exponents who are multi trained and skilled. The wananga is joined by a kohanga reo, a kura kaupapa and work is proceeding to establish a whare kura (secondary school).

Page 76 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Many times personal sacrifice saw him leading many cultural occasions including the Takitimu Festival, hosting the royal house from Tahiti and working to improve and strengthen the Takitimu relationship. For a time he lead the largest cultural kapa haka competition in the country called Matatini and is directly responsible for securing the next competition to be held in 2017 and hosted here in the middle of Ngati Kahungunu.

He established the Maori Music Awards, recognising the struggle and achievement of Maori musical talent. Through his leadership he took the awards ceremony to level of excellence that caused other regions to lament that Hastings is too small, bring it to Auckland or Wellington for bigger better returns. None of which appealed to Tama. He was a man committed to the Bay, and the awards would stay here.

Tama was a man of prayer, a humble man.

Many times he would ring up in the late evening and we would speak for hours debating each uncertainty around a project or projects.

I will remember Tama for his humour, and passion. He coined the phrases ‘we are a movement not a monument’, ‘ko te kupu te mana – our word is our bond’, and my favourite, ‘they are bereft of ideas’.

Tama proclaimed at the end of our now short conversations together, onward and upward.

There are many more stories and achievements that over time will come forth. Sufficient for me to say, he was a friend, and a mentor. He was the remnant of a rare and special line, e rere e te Huata, hopukia!

I also pay a special tribute to his wonderful, supportive wife Tangi and their children, who will carry his legacy forward to the next exciting levels.

I will miss him.

Des Ratima – one lonely voice

DECODARLINGS Mark Scofield called his wife one afternoon last year and told her he hadn't bought a bus ... he'd bought two. That was in August and she's slowly coming around to the idea that she's sharing her backyard, and her husband's time, with two art deco buses called Jack and Vera.

"I had the option of redundancy the same week I found I owned the buses," explains Mark, who paid $50,000 for the two buses which the Napier City Council had paid $837,000 for two years earlier.

Mark has now completed his first party season with Jack and Vera and it's gone well.

"It's been fantastic this summer," he says. "The build up to Christmas was really busy and I thought it would slow down but the bookings keep rolling in."

Mark and his two new party friends provide the transport for company functions, groups going out to dinner, wedding guest transport, and last month he was 'the bridal car'.

"We cart them to and fro, take them to wineries, we do the cruise ships."

How does one man do what Napier City Council couldn't? Take an idea and make it work.

"The idea of the buses was great but the council couldn't get into this market," he says.

"I've had people on Marine Parade say, 'I hear it's nice at Ahuriri, how do you get there?' That's the thing though, there is no way," he explains. "This is

what these buses were designed to do, but I believe the consultants the council used are a big problem."

"They wrote a report that said they'd make money but, like the museum, they say you'll get X amount of people but then those people don't turn up."

Mark's passion for eccentric vehicles didn't start with Jack and Vera.

"When I was 17 (in 1978) I wrote a letter to London Transport asking how I could buy a Routemaster [double decker bus]. It took me until 2005." Mark went to London that year and came home with a Routemaster and two London cabs.

He sold the bus after seven years; the cabs are still waiting for NZS regulation seatbelts to be fitted.

"I've got passenger transport in the blood," says Mark; his mother worked for Newmans Transport for years. "I just can't get the diesel out of my veins."

Jack, Vera and Mark can be found online at:

www.decocitydiscoverer.co.nz

ARTS and LIFESTYLE

Mooney Moving

Art Deco is done for 2015 and sees the annual fixture's event manager step down after fifteen years.

Peter Mooney is moving on to other things saying he had watched the event "develop from a fledgling into a grown adult.".

Sally Jackson, who heads up the Art Deco extravaganza said Mooney would be missed, calling him an exceptional person with expertise and knowledge that would be hard to replace.

Mooney was awarded Life Membership of the Art Deco Trust in 2013 to mark his contribution to the event.

The Art Deco Trust is currently undergoing a tender process to find a new event manager.

Page 77 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Wear the blues this Winter Blue skies give way to big winds. Punnets of berries are replaced with windfall apples. Our minds turn from ice cream at the beach to soup by the fire. Like it or not we’re on the doorstep of autumn.

If the thought of cold mornings and fading light gets you down, then this piece of news may be music to your ears: don’t be afraid of the winter blues this year, you’re not going to want to kick them, you’re going to want to wear them!

Move over black, navy is taking over this season according to Nardine Ataera at Baz*ar. Wear this winter’s colour in lots of different fabrics and textures: yarn, beautifully soft mohair/cashmere blends, and even velvet. If you’re one for comfort you’re in luck: another strong trend this

season is luxe sportswear. Think high end basics that are still functional and comfortable to wear – a classic look.

Baz*ar’s picks for this winter’s must-have items: a really good knit sweater dress and leather in any way, shape or form.

Other ‘must-have’ shades this winter will be cobalt and turquoise, says Rosemarie Stone from Bonjour. Vibrant and summery, wearing these colours will surely keep your mood lifted as the weather starts to cool down. If winter makes you think of curling up on the sofa

with a good book, you can add a touch of fairy-tale magic to your wardrobe this season with a cape jacket. Long or short, capes are in.

If none of this is enough to make you feel any better about the impending change of season, we have news that just might: you can say bye-bye to your skinny jeans. Trouser legs are getting wider, according to Dale Cooley at Papillon (a piece of information that makes you want to go out and eat cake straight away in celebration). With this we will see a move away from loose flowing tunics and shorter more fitted tops will be making a comeback.

If you’re digging the sound of this season’s trends, why not jump in feet first. Camella McLean at Holland Fashion Footwear says we will be seeing shoes in “every shade of blue you can think of.” That means everything from navy blue to baby blue with a good splash of cobalt in the middle.

Not a fan of uncomfortable high heels?

Have no fear, block heels are in this winter.

From printed leather to over the knee boots, metallics, glitter and sequins, if you like your shoes to stand out you are going to love what you see this winter.

So enjoy the warmer weather while lasts but remember: when the weather starts to cool down, don’t get the blues.

Wear them!

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Holland Fashion Shoes 239w Heretaunga Street, Hastings p 06 8788508 WINTER IS COMING, TIME TO GET BLUE Blue is the new Black this Winter!

We see Metallic Leathers and Trims are still strong. Pastel shades of Pink, Mint and Blue and Creams are showing, We have Floral sprinkled through our coming range. Stunning prints on leather and the Black & White combination is coming also! Like us on Facebook to see each style as it arrives!

Holland Fashion Shoes 239w Heretaunga St , Hastings 06 8788508

Page 80 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Papillon Shop 5, 11 Joll Road, Havelock North

Bonjour Fashion with Flair 1 Napier Road, Havelock North p 06 877 2165 e bonjourhavelocknorth@gmail.com w bonjour.co.nz

p 06 877 0355 e dale@papillonclothing.co.nz f facebook.com/PapillonClothing w papillonclothing.co.nz opening hours Monday – Friday: 9.30 - 5.00 Saturday: 10.00 - 3.00 Sunday: 10.00 - 2.00

opening hours Monday – Friday: 10:00 - 5:00 Saturday: 10:00 - 4:00 Sunday: 10:00 - 3:00

Page 81 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Salsa Fashion Boutique 4 Havelock Road, Havelock North p 06 877 9887 opening hours Monday – Friday: 10:00 - 4:00 Saturday: 10:00 - 2:00

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www.bazaartheempire.com Nardine & Hayley 06 8350695 bazaartheempire@live.com 2/91 Bridge St, Ahuriri, Napier

Page 82 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

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Let’s take care of the whole child, says Malcolm Dixon

Bureaucracy ThwarTs educaTion

BY MALCOLM DIXON PHOTOGRAPH SARAH CATES Retirement gives one a wonderful opportunity to reflect on where one has come from and to use one’s experience to discuss, ponder and predict where education may be heading in the future.

My children experienced a fabulous education in the state education system. I fear for what may well be my grandchildren’s experience.

Charles Beeby, New Zealand’s finest educator whose bronze bust is on the Ministry of Education’s reception counter, would cringe in his grave if he knew where things were at today. Beeby’s educational ethos is best summarised as “every person regardless of background or ability had a right to an education of a type for which they were best suited.”

Today’s education system is completely based on what the Minister of Education wants, not what the profession recommends.

Students are being treated as data, when in fact they are children.

As children they have a wide range of needs that far outweigh the academic progress that is a fixation in the Minister’s mind. We currently have a Ministry of Education that is hell bent on measuring and analyzing the product, rather than the child’s progress and the teaching and learning process by which they achieved it.

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The Minister has set a target that 85% of Year 1-8 students will be at or above National Standard by the year 2017.

Admirable! But achievable? No. It is actually impossible. Why? 1

2

Every child has the right to safety and security, good food, a healthy lifestyle and good housing. Teachers will tell you that children are now arriving at school either ready to fly or to make one cry. Child poverty is increasing at an alarming rate and here in Hawke’s Bay it is no exception. These children are behind the eight ball right from the start. And, no matter how exceptional the teacher, they don’t catch up. I admire the teachers, especially those in our low-decile schools, because for them children’s needs come first. The human element: “Tender loving care and an ear that listens.”

My education colleagues agree that teacher morale is at an all-time low.

Education has lost its fun factor.

Teachers are being smothered with paperwork, accountability trails and regulations. They no longer have the energy, the passion, or the desire to expose these children to those authentic and rich learning experiences that children in the past

would have been exposed to. We have schoolchildren here in Hawke’s Bay who have never seen the sea.

3

A child who is under stress often exhibits a range of very challenging and unpredictable behaviours.

Schools are not equipped and teachers are not trained to handle them. They continually disrupt the learning of other children; parents of these children rightfully express their concerns and the offending child is stood down or suspended.

4

I am aware of a local Hawke’s Bay school where at least 50% of the school’s population changes from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. They have a transient school population as parents chase employment or move from one rental property to the next. Poor attendance, transience and transition are real barriers to learning.

Investing in Educational Success (IES), $359 million over four years, at first glance sounds like pennies from heaven. However when one uses a current Education Ministry strategy and analyzes the data, it actually boils down to the grand amount of $117 per school-aged pupil per year for four years,

based on the Education Counts 2013 website data. Equal to half a day of teacher time, a day of teacher aide time, a quarter of an iPad, or part of a voluntary donation for most decile 4-10 schools. IES funding is actually a bait to entice the profession to buy into the grand plan that lurks within cabinet papers.

By deciding to buy in, so-called ‘expert’ principals/teachers will probably need to agree to the State Services commission and give away their freedom of speech.

Another question they need to ponder: is the additional pay for being an ‘expert’ teacher merely performance pay in disguise? I would also bring into the debate the skills set required by an ‘expert’. If relationships and collegiality are not part of them, then they won’t cut the mustard.

Boards of Trustees will lose their own autonomy, as IES may show that one Board can govern a cluster of schools and some smaller schools will close. As we are all aware, there is no such thing as a free lunch and in this case the consequences could be dire.

We are working with the same government that recently restructured the NZ Teachers Council by replacing independent board members with their own appointees. They also tried unsuccessfully back in 2012 to increase class sizes in the mid years of education until the parents/voters rebelled and normality returned.

“A leopard never changes its spots.”

Innovation stymied When IES was first announced I was involved with a group of ten very successful local schools that discussed the concept with a senior manager from the MOE head office. Our proposal was going to provide professional development for teachers across a range of subjects, in conjunction with groups of students from across the region being provided with extension and/

or remedial work that would meet their learning needs. Running alongside this was a public/private partnership to provide additional funding. We were strongly encouraged to apply.

Our application was declined. Because we didn’t have a pipeline where pupils could be tracked through from early childhood to

“Teachers will tell you that children are now arriving at school either ready to fly or to make one cry.” primary to intermediate to secondary.

Thus a very innovative, creative idea that was supported by a range of schools with credibility was declined. Why? Because the Minister was not prepared to accept any modification to her idea so that it could be adapted to meet the needs of local students. Or probably closer to the truth – her grand plan.

The head office of the Ministry of Education has been taken over by government appointments of civil servants (bureaucrats), compliance freaks or policy analysts. Karen Sewell (ex-Secretary of Education) was the last of the educationalists who was prepared to stand up and be counted on behalf of students and teachers. It was a very sad day for education in New Zealand when Karen decided that the writing was on the wall and gave it all away.

For a number of years there has been a huge debate regarding the discrepancies in decile funding (Targeted Funding for Educational Achievement). In today’s technological world the allocation of additional funding is outdated; in fact it is archaic.

Take ‘decile ten’ schools: they receive no decile funding to meet the needs of their students. Some schools in Havelock North, North Shore, Remuera are all so-called ‘decile ten’ schools. The average house price in the Auckland suburbs is in the millions.

We all know that is not the case in Havelock North, and yet as far as additional funding is concerned they are treated the same.

When a child enters a school they come from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds and they bring lots of joy along with all sorts of problems. For far too many children in New Zealand, school is their safe place and the teacher is their face of trust. From my experience a happy child will learn and a happy teacher will work their butt off to make children’s learning an enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

Sadly, here in New Zealand, if we continue to measure the product and not value the progress or the process, no matter how much money is spent, it is not going to make any significant difference.

The motto of the Education Review Office is:

Ko te tamaiti te putake o te kaupapa The child – the heart of the matter To me that means the whole child, not just the part of a child’s learning that can be analyzed and judgment made about the school’s and the teacher’s input into their learning. If the Education Review Office was truly independent like they claim to be, they would revert back to their motto and be true to all, not just to the data driven regime of the Minister.

Malcolm Dixon is recently retired Principal of Frimley Primary and HDC Councillor.

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Page 85 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

BY Peter BeAven, Hawke’s BaY Regional CounCilloR

Hill country erosion is a huge challenge for Hawke’s Bay.

Like many Hawke’s Bay residents, I am a product of the baby boomer generation. Sixty-five years on, this year may see momentous changes for our region’s future in both local government and infrastructure investment. It is timely to reflect on our generation’s stewardship of our productive region and consider where our priorities should lie for the future.

The land of limitless opportunity of our youth has proven not to be. On any meaningful economic indicator, such as average household income or employment growth or percentage of residents with tertiary qualifications, Hawke’s Bay now ranks amongst the worst two underperforming economies in New Zealand (the other is Northland).

In addition we face significant environmental challenges.

Some have been resolved. Who remembers those cold spring mornings when most orchardists protected their flowers with frost pots? A pall of smog would hang over Hastings and in those days waking with a nose full of soot was commonplace. Today, wind machines, helicopters and overhead sprinkler systems for frost fighting are the norm.

In my youth every house had an open

Page 86 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

fire. Firewood and coal sales were big business. However, increased air pollution, mainly from fires and cars, was becoming a problem. This was finally recognized in 2004 when the government introduced national environmental standards for air quality.

Hawke’s Bay has done a good job of moving towards cleaner heating systems and controlling rural burn-offs, thus improving air quality throughout the province.

Far bigger challenges remain. We must address them while at the same time not losing any precious economic momentum.

Hawke’s Bay’s population growth is modest – in fact, Wairoa and Central Hawke’s Bay will continue to shrink, while Napier is almost static. Selling our story to attract both tourists and new business and employment cries out for a coordinated regional approach and combined funding from all local bodies. Sadly, with the lack

of cooperation and trust between our civic leaders this is unlikely.

Things were different in the decades earlier. Hawke’s Bay’s expanding primary production in the 1950s, 60s and 70s brought jobs, opportunities and wealth for all. The downside was greater pressure on our natural resources.

Examples are easy to find.

Land – the engine room of our regional economy We have 18,000 hectares of productive land on the Heretaunga Plains (and more beyond).

Approximately one-third in pipfruit, onethird in wine grapes and the balance a mix of summerfruit, pastoral, annual crops and lifestyle blocks. We are lucky enough to be sitting on one of the most fertile plains in the world, with a mild climate, sufficient water, isolation from many major pests and diseases, a good port and road network, and well-educated, knowledgable growers.

In fact, our productivity per hectare for apple growing at 60 tonnes per hectare is comfortably the world’s highest, and three times that of Australia.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that one of our priorities must be to protect that resource. Yet since 1950, Hastings has

enlarged its urban boundaries by absorbing 2,000 more hectares, or more than 10% of our available productive land. If the next generation does the same we will have squandered a significant chunk of our productive capacity. Hastings in particular, but also Napier, cries out for leadership to force buildings up, not out. Where is the evidence that we are doing this?

Water – the lifeblood of our production Water was so abundant in my youth that anyone could drill a bore and pump as much water as they wanted. No one thought about efficient water use or the effect of runoff on river health. No one considered the impact of low flows on our ecosystems or the loss of wetland habitat for many native species. No one even bothered to measure how much water we used.

“... our productivity per hectare for apple growing at 60 tonnes per hectare is comfortably the world’s highest, and three times that of Australia.”

Even now, many years later, no one has accurately measured the supply versus demand equation for water in the Heretaunga Plains aquifer – how much is available annually through aquifer recharge and how much is actually being used? In each and every one of the past 20 years since monitoring began, the aquifer has fully recharged. That is why the Twyford water ban during the 2013 drought was such nonsense. But we know there is a limit and the evidence suggests we might be getting close to it. The same applies to Ruataniwha and the Tukituki catchment area.

The government now requires us to set minimum flow limits in our waterways and to manage levels of such contaminants as nitrogen and phosphorous to ensure a healthy ecosystem.

We can no longer treat water as a limitless resource. We need to use it more efficiently and we need to look after river health. Many are understandably upset with the recent non-performance of Central Hawke’s Bay’s wastewater treatment system for this reason.

We are going to have to make choices about our water priorities. For instance is a bottling plant that takes a million cubic metres annually a better use than irrigating 300 hectares of apples, or operating a new food processing plant?

If the proposed Ruataniwha dam in its present form fails, the HBRC will need to consider a smaller version to maintain environmental flows.

Land – slip sliding away We have managed to show a similar disregard for our indigenous forests, nearly 80% of which have been removed over the last 150 years. It’s hard not to feel sorry for sheep when you drive through the region. Most have nowhere to shelter from the fierce sun.

Clearing the steeper country caused the problem. Cyclone Bola drew our attention to it in a dramatic way, cutting a swathe of slips and destruction through the hillside pastures. Some farmers saw the light and retired blocks of land into pinus radiata.

However thousands of hectares of hill country remain vulnerable. Not just the hills though. Creeks and streams transport the problem to the lowlands and are the single biggest cause of high phosphorous levels. Stock with unencumbered access to streams adds to the level of sedimentation, seriously exacerbating the problem.

The consequences are quantified in recent HBRC reports, which state that we have destroyed 98% of our wetlands and lost 27 species of bird, fish and reptiles from the region by habitat destruction or through the introduction of predators such as possums and feral cats.

Two actions are required: fencing off and establishing riparian plantings next to our waterways and reforesting the hills. The

scale of the problem is enormous. We have 21,000 kilometres of streams and rivers and 150,000 hectares of ‘at risk’ farmland hillsides. It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to fix. Where do we start and how do we fund it?

Sea level rise – our greatest threat?

In case we don’t have enough issues to occupy us, we also need to commence planning for climate change. The predictions are that the East Coast will be drier and warmer. For sun worshippers that sounds okay, but there is also a prediction of sea level rise of a metre or more by 2100 and larger storm surges on an already eroded coastline.

Think for a moment about the infrastructure at risk. A short list: the Hastings wastewater treatment plant, all coastal roads, the airport, the Napier CBD and the railway line. Not to mention several coastal settlements and schools.

Some big tasks requiring careful management lie ahead for Hawke’s Bay. They will need a coordinated approach, committed regional leadership and strong support from the many affected stakeholders. It is hard to imagine a successful outcome if each local authority regards its own patch as the most important priority.

Brett Monteith Mobile 021 1684 381 bretthamiltonmonteith@gmail.com facebook.com/gupillodes

Page 87 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Sponsoring insight into smart farming in Hawke’s Bay

FARMING WITH NATURE

BY JOHN KING

If nature and books don’t agree, throw out the books! Changing our understanding of how the environment works opens up business advantages for farmers that are often ignored due to traditions.

So where can we change? There are three areas for insights about improving resilience: lift efficiencies, replace inputs, and then when things are really serious, redesign the business.

Lifting efficiencies Communities want soils that absorb water rapidly and release it slowly. Imagine if MPI said that, or the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council did so, how would that change pasture and cropping management?

I wonder in all the debates and publicity on water in Hawke’s Bay, has anyone asked whether soil stores more water than a dam?

Just like in Canterbury, debate is all about surface storage, never soil surfaces, despite soils holding more water than waterways. All

Page 88 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

primary production figures are based on rain fall, not what land absorbs. The difference between total and effective rainfall means a majority of Hawke’s Bay farms are probably overstocked. Many believe rainfall determines productivity, but if farmed soils barely absorb half of what falls, how can any property meet its potential, even with irrigation?

When Australian farmers get water cycling properly, their dams no longer fill from surface run off. They fill from bottom up through seepage about three days after rain has fallen. In New Zealand dams must be built water tight so nothing leaks into soil. This kind of regulation reflects narrow perspectives by overlooking what nature delivers for free … providing we invest in different grazing and cropping techniques.

North American cropping farmers use poly cultures not monocultures to improve soil structure, fertility, and water holding capacity without synthetic chemicals.

Universities and primary industry ignores this practice because such farmers get by fine without reaching for the shelf other than seed and a single tractor pass. Some farmers have improved rainfall infiltration rates ten times their neighbours, meaning their soil can absorb 200mm/hour rainfall.

How does this influence productivity?

One farmer had 300mm drop on his place in 5 ½ hours during summer 2009 (annual rainfall 400mm, 1/3 is snow). Within four days tractors were working his land. There

was no soil erosion. His neighbour had to wait six weeks. Guess who made more money that summer?

So there are many ways enhancing free natural services lifts efficiencies. Where else can farmers make a change? Another area is replacing inputs, like organics. How can we look beyond technology as the only tool in our toolbox?

Replacing inputs A classic is fertiliser. Hay is probably cheapest fertiliser there is. A 300kg round has about $50 worth of minerals all tied to organic compounds meaning very little if any leaching. Compare this to soluble fertilisers, where up to 60-90% of minerals are lost from soil through leaching or vaporising. This means when farmers sell hay, they need to apply twice as much mineral because there is so much waste with soluble fertilisers.

What about weeds? If livestock graze any plant and get nutrition from it, it’s herbage not a weed. Some common weeds at right times have higher protein levels than clover or lucerne, but most research ignores this observation because their focus is a small number of highly commercial plants. Instead out come spray cans. This is another removable cost when farmers understand how diversity of pasture influences livestock health and performance.

North American councils employ local farmers to graze weeds in public spaces, roadsides, and waste areas with goats because it’s cheaper than hiring humans and often more effective. Grazing livestock don’t cause fires unlike workers mowing and slashing using steel blades. In fact grazing livestock are commonly hired by forestry companies and wildlife agencies because they reduce ferocity of wildfires. Insurance companies here have yet to click on to that.

So farmers can use different inputs to take advantage of what nature provides for free, but what happens when things get really serious? Identifying root causes of family farm problems challenges many traditions.

Farmers are so stressed they cannot tell problems from symptoms, and consequently waste money. For example, many see thistles as a problem, something to be controlled, but in reality they are a symptom of management choices.

Redesigning farm businesses Many issues in farming are not technical or financial; they are social, often linking communication and trust. When trigger points are breached, then redesigning how farmers go about their business takes precedent, requiring a change of perspective plus courage. Change happens at kitchen tables and bedrooms before seeing results on land.

Actions which improve trust lift business performance. Family and staff stress reduces when singing from same song sheet. Communicating a family’s purpose lifts accountability by encouraging everyone to be responsible for their actions. Family members understand their contribution to bigger picture rather than just pursuing their own agenda. It helps them become proactive in addressing problems before they become serious.

“Many believe rainfall determines productivity, but if farmed soils barely absorb half of what falls, how can any property meet its potential, even with irrigation?”

As communication improves, families can consider new techniques and information with an open mind. For example, planning profit is easy but requires change in mindset from how we are educated. The traditional accounting equation is: Income – Expenses = Profit. Paying everyone else first is ingrained into all business practice and causes many farm problems. Farmers need to use a different equation: Income – Profit = Expenses. Sounds simple, but it’s not easy, because it requires prioritising expenses from a different perspective to accountants.

Accountants focus on tax categories, seldom stimulating emotional equity in clients’ financial planning and execution.

Imagine if a couple spent money on three things to move their business forward: fencing to control livestock, a consultant to assist with grazing plans, and a counsellor because one partner suffered from alcoholism. Look closely – which expense has greatest impact on clearing a business logjam? How would accountants categorise that expense? Managing holistically means addressing root causes.

Prioritising spending focuses time management so families act with integrity.

Assume a family decides to go on a week’s holiday every year no matter what their circumstances. However, this season prices are low, costs are up. What is stopping

John King them from taking $500 from their fertiliser account and camping at the back of farm?

As an example of leadership, what does this demonstrate about a family?

Imagine possibilities for farm development, succession planning, and marketing? Redesigning business reduces stress for all parties, especially when everybody knows what to monitor, whether that be landscape function, finances, or fun. Changing communication at kitchen tables is all about how to achieve what you want to happen, while reducing any unintended consequences from choices made as a family.

So where does this leave you, the reader?

Thinking that creates problems never solves them. Many farmers question high input systems because they seldom generate cash surpluses to cover real risk. To see and create advantages using nature’s free services requires a shift in perspective first and an attitude to experiment. As demonstrated here, farmers are discovering new ways of business which are practical, profitable, and grounded in common sense.

John King is a Christchurch-based agribusiness tutor, facilitator, speaker, and grazing advocate. He can be reached at john@succession.co.nz

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We believe in having GE-Free land, fertile soils and clean water supplies. Working together as a community to protect our land for future generations is our priority.

www.jborganics.co.nz Phone: 06 873 9046

Page 89 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

Paul Paynter, life advisor to Sophie & Craig Foss

Photo contrived by Tim Whittaker

Brain drain or Brain exchange?

BY paul paynter

Manning a booth at a Careers Expo! How did I let myself get talked into this!? I just have to learn to say: “I’m really sorry but I’m terribly busy. Please, do ask me next year” and hang up.

I approached my allotted booth and mustered a face of feigned enthusiasm. The place was riddled with busloads of what appeared to be typical gen Y’s; endlessly seeking excitement in their smartphones as they shuffled by. They might be worth engaging with in another five years, but surely I was wasting my time.

Two hours and 11 servings of humble pie later and I had a better perspective.

Those that engage confidently at careers expo science booths are a near monoculture of intellectual achievement. To me, they seemed the most ambitious and inspiring generation of young people ever! These callow waifs were talking nanotechnology, quantum physics and biotechnology. They understood they had timed their run perfectly in terms of the new frontiers of science and technology that are opening up.

I might have failed to inspire them, but they inspired me – only briefly though, as I knew that in a few months most were off to Otago, Auckland or wherever. They generally don’t hang around in Hawke’s Bay.

Page 90 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • Bay BuZZ

Please go away!

There has been renewed discussion about the ‘Brain Drain’ lately; BayBuzz (Nov/Dec 2014) and Hawke’s Bay Today (31/1/15) having notable features. It’s an issue that causes a perennial gnashing of teeth amongst social commentators and politicians. “How do we keep our young people here?” they ask.

After considering all the arguments, I’ve decided on a message for our youthful treasures: “Please go away! And when you’ve secured a university qualification – please stay away.”

I still love these kids, in my own strange way. What I don’t want is to keep these bright little lights in Raureka or Greenmeadows. I want to share them with the world, or more correctly, to share the world with them.

All societies are full of mindless tribalism. Do you support the west or the emerging world, the Israelis or Palestinians, New Zealand or Australia, Auckland or Waikato, Hastings or Napier, Boy’s High or Karamu? When it comes to the brain drain

it seems like we naturally want to consider it from the perspective of ‘Team Hawke’s Bay’. But how are we a team? We had five ‘mayoral’ captains last time I checked.

As far as I can make out, we’re a province mostly for statistical convenience.

As far as our young people are concerned, we shouldn’t demand they join the tribe and do what’s best for Hawke’s Bay. Let them do what’s best for each of them as individuals … and for most that means going away. First they should get the best qualification they can; then get some lessons from the school of life, preferably far from the comforts of the nest.

The truth is we have limited educational opportunities in Hawke’s Bay. If you ever fancy the services of a doctor, dentist, lawyer or vet you won’t find a new graduate that qualified here. Even if you could study these things in Hawke’s Bay, in these fields EIT would be generations away from being as well-staffed or prestigious as our top universities. EIT earns high regard in a number of areas, viticulture and oenology and nursing for instance, but employers are snobs in many other fields.

The Machiavellian reality is a big name university qualification almost always wins out on the employment front in a close race with a ‘second tier’ tertiary qualification.

There isn’t much evidence to indicate such snobbery is rational, but it’s everywhere.

I worked for a time in a staff of 900 at a London law firm. The unwritten recruitment rule was that they only employed graduate lawyers from Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol, because that’s where the Partners went. If you’re looking for a job there, you can either stand outside with a placard protesting such nonsense, or simply attend the right school.

Get a life Hawke’s Bay also offers high quality – but limited – life experiences. As a passionate Frenchman once said to me: “It’s more important that I learn to speak English than you learn to speak French.” In the same way, it’s more important for our young people to experience the big cities and economies of the world than for youthful city slickers to experience Hawke’s Bay. I went abroad in my mid-20s and found myself flatting with an equity derivatives trader and an arbitrage trader. I’d never heard of these jobs previously, but I wish I had – they were entry level workers but still earned three times what I did.

When I got back home I realised the truth – New Zealand is a backwater and Hawke’s Bay is a backwater of a backwater.

Now, I love it here and wouldn’t have it any other way, but if you want your kids to be well-rounded citizens of the world, they’d do well to spend a little time in rich countries and a little time in poor countries.

One of the ironies of the recent brain drain discussion is that Hawke’s Bay Today interviewed David ‘not from around here’ Trubridge. And I’m writing for a magazine started by foreigner.

In the ‘woe is me and HB’ moment, we forget about all the wealthy and creative people we attract to Hawke’s Bay. Even if some don’t choose to live here, they’ve built Craggy Range, Elephant Hill and the Cape Kidnappers development. Those investments create the fancy job opportunities we seem to crave.

The truth is that there is less of a problem with a brain drain now than there has been for a generation. Flagging prices for natural resources means smart Kiwis are returning in droves from Australia. At the same time we have booming immigration of the best and brightest (or wealthiest) from Asia.

More than a decade ago Treasury released a paper entitled Brain Drain or Brain Exchange?, which showed that we’ve had outflows of smart kiwis for decades but that these have largely been replaced by inflows of new immigrants. They concluded that what we’re really seeing is “the increasingly free flow of people (including New Zealanders), around the globe”.

There is nothing that attracts and retains clever people more than a prosperous economy and appealing job prospects.

Recognising this, the National Government staged a Job Summit in 2009, shortly after being elected. They got all the best heads in the country together to work out how to boost employment. They have never quite admitted it, but they failed to come up with any good ideas. A national cycleway was about the most impressive thing that emerged from the hullaballoo. It’s nice, but hasn’t generated a raft of highpaying jobs, post-construction.

In a similar fashion we have local body politicians and other ‘do-gooders’ endlessly rabbiting on about how “We need to create more exciting job prospects for our young people”. Who’s “we” exactly? That menagerie of council CEOs and mayors?

There seems to be a vigorous campaign to get rid of 80% of them – on the basis they’re expensive to maintain and perhaps not doing a great job anyway.

No, the job prospects in Hawke’s Bay rely on the prosperity of a few key industries and the passions of the business people and entrepreneurs of our region. And none of these people get out of bed in the morning primarily thinking about what they can do for ‘Team HB’. They pursue their personal passions and ambitions in a place of their choosing – much as our young people should be doing.

I’d be pleased to welcome you all back to Hawke’s Bay in a decade or so, but until then I’m happy to drive you to the airport.

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Paul Paynter is our resident iconoclast and cider maker. Sometimes he grows stuff at Yummyfruit.

Page 91 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • Bay BuZZ

WOMEN’S WORK

BY ANNA LORCK

Frontline women hold many of the answers to making better social progress in New Zealand and yet they are underpaid and overworked and gagged from making changes, according to a report yet to be published.

Page 92 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

W

e all know that frontline women have the credentials, experience, skills and emotional strength to tackle the tough stuff – they are the experts. They see the problems day after day, they know what’s really going on behind closed doors and how people are living. They see the good, and the worst of it.

Giving these knowing women a genuine opportunity to deliver a better way forward is common sense, but it also takes a different way of thinking. These women would have heaps of good ideas – but I think the fear of being showed up or being told what to do is the very reason why decision-makers never ask for help.

More women work in nursing, early childhood education and primary school teaching; they hold the majority of jobs in home-based care and rest homes caring for the elderly, our young, our sick and our chronically ill. More women also volunteer to help in charities supporting social problems and fundraising for causes.

This ‘traditional’ line of work, paid and voluntary, is what gives women far greater insight and appreciation of what’s really needed to make a difference in people’s lives in a practical, no nonsense manner. But until more women are given the opportunity to contribute, they won’t offer up the answers.

Why? Because most don’t think the decision-makers want to know, or that they have little to contribute because much of their work, no matter how important it is, doesn’t pay much. It’s not of great economic value, despite the huge and growing contribution to society. Frankly we need to turn our thinking upside down.

Women should be responsible for coming up with the answers to sorting out New Zealand’s social problems. Why should it be women’s work? Because women have the know-how and, frankly, it will take women to get the job done.

T

he Salvation Army recently released its 2015 State of the Nation report card with the objective of encouraging public debate around our country’s social progress – it had loads of information and it certainly raised some real warning signs.

While the Government is depending on them (and other charities) to be major providers of ‘social housing’, the Sallies raised significant concerns about the plan.

They warned that: “There’s incredible stress for people in terms of housing, the impact on their rents, the impact on their ability to feel like they are providing for their families, the constant stress of shifting.

Some of our families shift six times in a year or don’t know where they are living day-today. That adds incredible stress.”

“Women should be responsible for coming up with the answers to sorting out New Zealand’s social problems.”

And: “Reduction in recorded crime rates during 2013/14 has a hollow tone given the arbitrary way in which the police record crime” … “the slight reduction in recorded rates of violent offending is hardly significant ... against such minimal change, the collapse in rates of resolution of such offending is alarming.”

I

could pull out more, but sadly the report card is unlikely to cut through. So far it hasn’t gained enough public interest to bring the conversation to the dinner table.

It might have got some national media coverage, but for all the effort and resource reflected in its 99 pages, I worry it will sit on the shelf or in cyber space along with all the others – even though the facts are alarming.

The Sallies too are at the coalface working with our most vulnerable, doing the best they can with little resource. But even though they are seen as an authority, their voice isn’t strong enough.

The thing is, New Zealanders are switching off because it’s not getting to our core. Until we are part of the problem and realise it, we won’t want to talk, think or fix it. And if there is no real pressure from a majority the Government knows it must listen and respond to – it won’t.

The report was called a mixture of good and bad news, describing “a mountain all can climb”. But it’s hard enough getting people interested, let alone climbing mountains.

Closer to home, I can pull up comparable sobering statistics on Hawke’s Bay. We are in the bottom of the heap for unemployment, with the worst crime in the country for violence at home and on the street, and we have working families living in poverty across all our towns, cities and rural areas. We get sicker here and on average people die younger in Hawke’s Bay than anywhere else in the country.

We should be outraged. But no we’ve heard it all before. It’s not like we don’t want to see improvements; it just that generally most people are too busy dealing with their own lives and worries to get involved. Or they have tried and been disempowered, so they give up.

Instead of looking for a game changer, what we need is change the game.

New Zealand women have proven that when we join forces we can move mountains.

I believe what’s missing from the State of the Nation report card is a section on women.

W

omen in education, in work (full and part time), on benefits, in prison, in poverty, at risk and so on. How many are in the workforce, what are women’s income levels and what work are women doing? How many own homes, how many rent. How many years in and out of work while raising families. How women rate on social hazards – alcohol consumption, drugs and gambling … getting my drift?

And then, how do we match up to men, how far we have come and how far behind we are. Do you know?

I’m sure these statistics are buried somewhere at Stats NZ. But the last comprehensive report on women, wrapping all the data together, was published ten years ago. It’s time we started actually tracking women’s progress in our country of equality, where girls can do anything. If we do, year by year, we might hit a nerve.

We’d get a better picture of women’s contribution to the economy, to society and to family … and a lot more people would take notice of reports from the Sallies.

I

think most women want to know how and if we are really progressing, and what we need to do where we are failing. We are all in it together as mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, friends and colleagues.

I’m a Hillary Clinton fan, and I hope she becomes the next president of the United States. I think she will have a significant impact on the world and for women.

In America women hold two-thirds of minimum-wage jobs. One in three women are living in or on the verge of poverty, more than 25% of low-wage and low-income workers are also single mothers.

We need to see comparable information readily available in New Zealand where it can be used by advocates for change.

We can’t just pass the issues on to our daughters and our granddaughters.

As a mum, helping to raise a family of five girls, my job is to give them the tools to navigate life in the 21st century. So they have the confidence, self-resilience and skills to succeed in whatever they want to do.

That’s a big responsibly for us parents, but to do this I think we need to be able to let them know as young women the challenges they are likely to face, backed by facts.

We have social indicators to measure progress. I’m simply suggesting we add another category, one that will have more cut through and strike up more debate – because unless we are the story, why would we notice?

You’ve got to wonder if those conservative men in blue ties making the decisions in Wellington – in a government where women are so under-represented – actually have the balls to let us women know how we are tracking. Now that would be a report card to behold.

Page 93 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

KICKING A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH

BY DAMON HARVEY

Damon and daughter

Photo courtesy of Baroque Horse magazine

The last jump has been kicked over for the event organisers of Horse of the Year.

It hasn’t always been a clear run and there have been penalties along the way, but the biggest penalty of all could still await everyone that has embraced or benefitted from this fantastic Hastings event.

The powers that be, and they’ve surely wielded that power over the last few months, have now pushed local legend Kevin Hansen, his family and loyal army of volunteers too far. So now the Hansen

Page 94 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

name will be part of HOY history, rather than its future.

I’ve known Kevin for some time and I’ve regarded him as the face of Horse of the Year.

He’s not a ‘show jumper’, but a ‘rough around the edges type of horse’. He was not only the front person of the show, but also the first one to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in to make the show the best it could be.

And the best it was too. The show has grown in entrants, range of events, tradeshow holders and crowds.

Kevin’s ruffled a few feathers along the

way, but he’s been able to connect the vast array of cogs into what is now a behemoth of an event.

It’s so large in fact, that it was potentially outgrowing its home at the A&P Showgrounds. It had already outgrown the infrastructure capacity of the venue, with more amenities brought in than are actually housed on site.

Not only are hundreds of toilets needed, but also marquees, hundreds of metres of security fencing, stables and enough power for light up a small town.

T

o many HOY entrants, the event is regarded as the best in the Southern Hemisphere, if not the world.

Unlike other events that go stale after several years, Kevin and his team have continued to evolve the event and add new elements, such as moving the cross country race to the site. They have created an event that has become ‘mainstream’, which is a huge achievement considering horse events are seen as for the ‘hoity toity’.

The entertainment extravaganza on the Friday evening is the only time in a calendar year that you’ll see the showgrounds grandstand chocka full.

So why in the world has a company – formed in partnership with Hastings District Council, Equestrian New Zealand and Showjumping Hawke’s Bay – made it untenable for Kevin’s company EventPro to be involved?

I have known for a long time that there were issues and that some parts of the event management was loose. But to put the event management out to tender and potentially take it away from the event’s creator, is one of the most questionable calls I’ve ever witnessed.

Although the event did report a loss in 2014, it was still acclaimed as a success – a $108,000 loss against an event yielding $12.5 million for the region’s economy I know this column will rattle the cages of some and will put me offside with those that made the decision but …

Against Hansen’s track record, these questions need to be answered …

• Was a board needed to oversee the show in the first place?

• Did the board have the right people and did they have the time to actually put into being involved?

• Did the region’s councils adequately

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support the event in the first place – given the economic impact and strong tourism benefits of the show – and invest accordingly?

Why was the contract with the current event managers never sorted in a timely fashion?

Did the board consider the public fall-out of the event and identify all the risk areas, including that the event could be lost to Hawke’s Bay? Of the 2014 loss, how much of this is associated with decisions by the trust (who appointed a consultant as a general manager) versus those of the event managers?

What will happen if all the event tenderers ask for too much money as event managers? This process was called an exercise to find out the real fee for event management.

Did the board already have some event managers waiting in the wings?

What will be the requests by a new event manager in regards to the facility (the showgrounds), as this venue has added significant additional costs to running the event.

Was the Sport New Zealand review just a way of gathering the intellectual property and information about how to run the event? And in doing so can they pass this intelligence on to someone else?

Have the board gauged what level of support they have from within the horse community?

What’s the level of commitment from the current board to continue, or will they jump from a sinking ship?

W

e look forward to these questions being answered?

So where to from here? I hoped that a mediator would have stepped

in and tried to help resolve the split. Who would have been the appropriate person?

Lawrence Yule has offered a vision of Hastings being the equestrian centre of New Zealand (which now looks unlikely) so perhaps he could have stepped in?

Instead Lawrence is reported in HB Today as saying “I’m sad that you haven’t chosen to be part of the tender.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that effectively you’ve got us to this point.”Now I’m not sure what he means by this – is it that the Hansens have grown the show to this point or that the Hansen’s have forced the actual tender process?

I then heard that in the HDC meeting called to review the current financials that other remarks made included the possibility that more investment needs to be put into the show.

Excuse me? The council only puts in a paltry $35,000, for an event with massive economic and social outcomes for the region.

Also Hastings isn’t exactly flush with events either. New Zealand’s richest horse race has long but gone, there’s no large wine festival, few sports events and no large-scale concerts.

There’s the old saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” and in this case Horse of the Year is the gift horse and Kevin is the rider. It’s a sad state of affairs.

There will be no winners. Some say the event will be back in Auckland before we know it. Controversy has never been good for events. When there’s controversy loyal sponsors get nervous and consider pulling out, while those that perhaps were looking for an out, now have one.

Unfortunately it’s too late for the board to get off its high horse. The goalposts have already moved. The Hansens have moved on and they’ll find another city that will value their efforts. It’s just a pity it’s not their home town!

Call 0800 SPEEDY today! hastings@speedysigns.co.nz 903 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings www.speedysigns.co.nz

Page 95 • Issue 22 • Mar / Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY

BY Brendan weBB Bullish Doltus strode into Napierion’s council chamber, ignoring his councillors as he strode to his throne and sat down heavily.

They bowed and took their seats.

“I move that the public be excluded from this meeting,” said one councillor.

Doltus glared at him.

“The meeting hasn’t started yet,” he said, “and anyway, it wasn’t advertised. But lock the doors, just in case.”

Everyone nodded. Then Doltus scratched his beard and cleared his throat.

“What is the most important issue facing Napierions at this moment, the thing keeping our citizens awake with worry?”

The councillors looked at each other uneasily. They were not used to asking or answering questions.

“The Mausoleum of Minimalism that nobody visits and is costing us a fortune to run?” asked a councillor.

Doltus shook his head.

“Forget the mausoleum muck-up.”

“Those Artus Decus chariots that we bought for a fortune and had to flog off cheap because they were useless?” asked another.

Doltus clenched his teeth, eyeing him coldly.

“Forget the chariots cock-up. I’m talking about amalgamation.”

There was silence. A councillor timidly raised a hand.

“We thought you told us not to talk about amalgamation. You said if we just ignored it the commissioners would go away.”

“They did go away,” snapped Doltus, “but now they’re back trying to shove democracy down our throats. I hoped that declaring Napierion an independent state would put them off but it obviously hasn’t.”

He leaned forward, steepling his fingers.

“The problem is, we’ve been fighting amalgamation the wrong way,” he said.

“We’ve been telling everyone that amalgamation won’t work because everyone knows Napierions are a more refined, sophisticated, cultured race of people than those Rusticarians on the Heretaungus Plains.

“We are unique. Our buildings are from the Artus Decus Era, the greatest architectural period in the history of mankind. There are no sheep in our streets.

Page 96 • Issue 22 • Mar /Apr 2015 • BAY BUZZ

We breathe sea air, not the foul stench of composting cattle dung.

“But unfortunately, these fabled qualities, so envied by Lawrencus and his Rusticarians, have now become Napierion’s Achilles Heel,” he said.

His councillors stared in silence at the table in front of them.

“I hurt my Achilles tendon jogging in a new pair of leather sandals once,” said one.

“I couldn’t walk for weeks.”

Doltus ignored him.

“As I say, we have been fighting amalgamation by extolling our superb lifestyle but now I see that was the wrong strategy.

“We rely on tourists who come to stare at our shops, snigger at our clothes and then sail away the same day.

Let’s be honest, if straw hats and fox furs ever go out of fashion, we’re finished.”

“To put it bluntly, we have to be more positive about being negative. We need to convince Lawrencus Yulus and everyone else that Napierion would actually be a complete liability in any amalgamation, not an asset.”

His councillors gasped in disbelief. Were their ears deceiving them? Was their great leader, Bullish Doltus, saying their town was not a priceless asset, the envy of the civilised world?

They stared blankly at each other. Finally one stood up. He raised his arms wide and lifted his eyes until they came to rest on a crack in the plaster ceiling.

“But Doltus, surely Napierion is seen as the shimmering pearl in this province’s oyster? Surely no star shines more brightly in the heavens? Did the prophet Artus Decus not bless our people with great wisdom, clear vision and a sensible taste in clothing?

“And thanks to the prudent fiscal management of our predecessors, are we not the most debt-free people in this whole land?” he said.

“Depends who does the books,” Doltus murmured to himself.

“Of course all of these things are true,” he replied loudly, “but we Napierions must now downplay the fact we live in this Garden of Eden, shaped by the mighty hand of Mars himself.

“In a word, from now on we must pretend to outsiders that Napierion is rather ordinary.”

His councillors sat with frozen faces. They could not believe what they were hearing.

One slumped to the floor in shock.

Napierion ordinary? Not to be seen as the pearl in the province’s oyster but just a stone in its sandal? Not the world’s brightest star but a black hole on the beachfront?

Doltus smiled grimly.

“Look, it’s not as hard as you may think.

You and I know Napierion’s legendary beautiful beaches are, to be brutally frank, just rolling dunes of stones, driftwood and discarded sandals. And we also know that anyone who is foolish enough to try to swim in the sea is likely to be dragged under by the mighty Poseidon himself.”

The councillors nodded. He was right.

“Don’t you see? If we start admitting that Napierion is not really some mythical provincial paradise and has no real assets, Lawrencus might leave us alone,” said Doltus.

“We rely on tourists who come to stare at our shops, snigger at our clothes and then sail away the same day. Let’s be honest, if straw hats and fox furs ever go out of fashion, we’re finished.”

Most of the councillors were now sobbing inconsolably. How could they possibly pretend their beloved Napierion was . . . ordinary?

A councillor at the end of the table suddenly looked up.

“Wait, we’ve got assets. What about our world-famous statues of beautiful women?” he said.

“What about the Woman With Small Dog in our main street or the stunning Diana And Her Golden Apples on the foreshore?

You wouldn’t want Lawrencus to get his hands on those.”

Doltus smiled indulgently.

“I don’t think you need to worry,” he said. “Lawrencus’ idea of statuesque beauty usually has four legs, a broad woolly chest and firm hindquarters.

“Therefore I recommend we tell the rest of the region that Napierion would be no great asset because its golden beaches are shingle deathtraps, you can’t sleep because of logging chariots and we only erect statues of human beings. That alone should put old Lawrencus off.

“So from now on, we will tell people that Napierion is nothing out of the ordinary.”

“But who’ll believe us?” groaned his councillors.