BB#31-sept-oct-2016

Issue No.31 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • $8.00 Including GST

Water Torture Bad Water Tests People & Politicians

Brett Monteith

9 772253 262016

04

HB’s family violence / Regional council rivals / 5,000 new jobs / Wealth gap grows / Farmers save energy / Pacifica triumphs / Grandy’s old

Providing excellence with style.

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Issue No.31 • SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2016

Hugh Richie, story page 52. Photograph: Tim Whittaker

THIS MONTH Hot races for Hastings mayor and Regional Council. Hawke’s Bay fitted with new economic development strategy.

The wealth gap and what it means for our region. Energy-saving technologies benefiting HB farmers. Family violence escalating in Hawke’s Bay. Plus health, online marketing, upcoming events, architecture, arts and culture.

FEATURES 18 SO YOU WANT TO BE MAYOR? Sophie Price Do two challengers spell re-election for Yule?

24 REGIONAL RIVALS SLUG IT OUT Sophie Price Will the balance of power shift at the Regional Council?

30 NAILING OUT COLOURS TO THE MAST Tom Belford ASPIRATIONAL BUZZWORDS NEED DETAIL Keith Newman Who’s excited about the new regional economic strategy, and why?

44 WEALTH INEQUALITY … THE ASSET GAP Mark Sweet Growing gap in wealth across NZ, including Hawke’s Bay

52 CULTIVATING ENERGY SAVINGS IN FARMING Keith Newman HB farming can profit from energy-saving practices & technology

62 NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN Jessica Soutar Barron Family violence in Hawke’s Bay needs more attention

Issue No.31 • SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2016

Page 82. Photograph: Tim Whittaker

08 BEE in the KNOW >

IDEAS & OPINIONS

38 THE PRESSURE IS BUILDING Paul Paynter 40 GOING FOR THE GREEN GOLD Sarah Cates 60 BORING INTO GASTROGATE Tom Belford 70 SOCIAL MEDIA DESPAIR Matt Miller >

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

72 THE SCENE Lizzie Russell Index at HCAG. Peak Trail Blazer. HB Wine Auction. Hospice Holly Trail.

Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition. Fringe in ‘Stings. John Paynter.

The Rabbit Room. Greenhill wins gold. French correction. Book reviews.

82 FOOD: TWO HATS OFF TO PACIFICA Michal McKay 86 BOOK REVIEWS 88 FASHION: GETTING BACK TO BASICS Michal McKay 94 EVENTS 96 LETTER FROM THE COUNTRY Mary Kippenberger Follow us at: FACEBOOK.COM/BAYBUZZHB Selected BayBuzz articles are archived at: WWW.BAYBUZZ.CO.NZ For editorial enquiries contact Tom Belford: editors@baybuzz.co.nz For advertising enquiries contact Mandy Wilson: mandy@baybuzz.co.nz, 027 593 5575 BayBuzz, PO Box 8322, Havelock North.

ISSN 2253-2625 (PRINT) ISSN 2253-2633 (ONLINE)

THE BAYBUZZ TEAM

EDITOR: Tom Belford. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Lizzie Russell. SENIOR WRITERS: Bridget Freeman-Rock; Jessica Soutar Barron; Keith Newman; Mark Sweet; Tom Belford. COLUMNISTS: Anna Lorck; David Trubridge; Mary Kippenberger; Matt Miller; Michal McKay; Paul Paynter; Sarah Cates. EDITOR’S RIGHT HAND: Brooks Belford. PHOTOGRAPHY: Tim Whittaker; Sarah Cates; Florence Charvin. ILLUSTRATION: Brett Monteith. DESIGN: Unit Design. ADVERT ART MANAGEMENT: TK Design. ADVERTISING SALES & DISTRIBUTION: Mandy Wilson. ONLINE: Mogul. BUSINESS MANAGER: Bernadette Magee. PRINTING: Format Print. COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM WHITTAKER.

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.

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 manager with the Metropolitan Police Service.

She also produces Fruit Bowl Craft Jam.

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

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.

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FROM THE EDITOR TOM BELFORD

As a number of billboards around Hastings, Havelock and Flaxmere attest, I am standing for re-election to the Regional Council.

The choices we make in the next few years will define Hawke’s Bay for decades: • Protecting our waterways and aquifers adequately; • Positioning our primary producers to compete in demanding overseas markets; • Ensuring the resilience of our environment and economy in the face of global warming; • Safeguarding key assets – our Port, our fisheries and productive soils.

As a regional councillor, I’ve listened daily to the concerns of people across Hawke’s Bay. I’ve done the homework, read the reports, challenged staff, dug deeply into the issues. And, as editor of BayBuzz, reported on the key issues with independence and persistence.

Lawrence Yule once said to me: “Tom, the problem with you is you can’t be controlled.” Sensing admiration in his voice, I took that as a compliment.

Yes, I’ve sounded alarms when needed, because I care about our future. A few might call this ‘negative’, but many, many more, who are eager to make Hawke’s Bay better, have urged me on over the years. To them, I’m the ‘real deal’ – not a career councillor, born-again as an environmentalist.

So many in the community have urged me to fight against allowing cow poo or treatment pond overflows to ruin the Tukituki and the aquifer it feeds. To protect our aquifer waters from fracking. And to protect that water from exploitation in other ways, like giveaway water bottling that may prove unsustainable and generate no wealth for our community.

They’ve urged me to mount the toughest 4 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

possible challenge to a dam that will further degrade the Tukituki and risk council’s (i.e., ratepayers’) financial security.

They’ve urged me to fight for accountability, now sorely lacking, in a council that tried – with its usual bulldozing 5-4 vote – to spend $36 million to buy water from the proposed dam … without public consultation. Just one example of this council’s majority throwing due process to the wind.

With a new council, hopefully those days will be over.

If given a second term in the Regional Council, I will focus on: • Getting it right on water, whether the issue is protecting aquifers, swimmable rivers and beaches, water bottling, restoring marine fisheries, or water security for the Heretaunga growers who drive our economy.

• Protecting and restoring the hill country land that constitutes so much of Hawke’s Bay, but whose invaluable and irreplaceable soils now run by the millions of tonnes per year into our rivers and ultimately our marine environment, fouling both. Here’s a win/ win for the economy and environment.

• Helping our primary sector create higher value and better jobs by supporting best practice and technology use, and by focusing on premium (safe, environmentally sound) products wanted by overseas consumers.

• Supporting a diversification strategy to create more value and jobs from the knowledge, creative/cultural and innovation mini-economies that are quietly growing in Hawke’s Bay, at no environmental cost.

• Making Hawke’s Bay an envied region for its use of efficient, planet-friendly use of

renewable energy – from solar power to electric cars to bio-energy.

These goals are mutually compatible and achievable, if we smartly use our local brainpower (now more often ignored), draw upon best practices from beyond our region, and choose our direction only after inclusive and transparent debate.

But before we can achieve any of that we must regain the public trust this Regional Council has squandered.

As a regional councillor, I’ve seen the dangers from fixation on one all-consuming project that benefits too few. From passive deference to staff agendas and control of information. From secrecy and ‘box ticking’ consultation. From disregard of talent and expertise sitting right here in the Bay. From councillors who simply salute as a habit.

So, if re-elected, my ongoing commitment will be to re-earn trust and confidence in our Regional Council and its decision-making.

The tough choices ahead regarding priorities for moving forward and optimal use of ratepayer dollars cannot be made by a council whose ‘trust account’ is empty.

I hope some readers will agree, and give me your vote to get on with the job.

tom@baybuzz.co.nz TOM BELFORD Tom is a HB Regional Councillor. His 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.

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BEE in the KNOW

Photograph: Tim Whittaker

As we go to press (a struggle, as BayBuzz has had some gastro casualties), DHB’s latest estimate is that over 5000+ people have been affected by the campylobacter outbreak. Medical attention seems to be shifting to follow-on illnesses.

A case in point is Kerry Macintosh, suffering one of the most severe reactions 6 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

to the campylobacter infection. She has developed complications with GuillainBarre syndrome (where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves) and severe reactive arthritis (Reiter’s syndrome). She lost the use of her legs and must learn to walk again.

As BayBuzz went to press for this edition, the blizzard of questions – how

did this contamination occur, where does accountability lie, what steps must be taken to assure us this will not happen again – far outpaces the delivery of reliable answers.

In our next edition, BayBuzz will examine these issues in depth, hopefully by then with much more definitive information on the table.

Hawke's Bay Wellness Index Jobs on Seek.co.nz 27 August 2016

339

Lamb price at Stortford, average, per head

759

UP 44 FROM JUNE

Homes Sold in July 2016

DOWN 73 FROM JUNE (REALESTATE.CO.NZ)

22 AUGUST 2016

Burglaries June 2016

Dwelling Assaults (Family violence indicator)

306

245

202

UP 88 FROM JUNE 2015

DOWN 47 FROM JULY 2015 (REINZ)

Napier Port Cargo, Tonnes June-July 2016

IN JUNE 2016 (UP 82 FROM JUNE 2015)

Gastro Illness

5,000+

337, 807

Visitors to MTG, July, Including FREE children

(UP 5.99% FROM SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR)

HB Hospital Emergency Department presentations 19 June to 23 August 2016

7,717

EAD $121.04

Homes For Sale 27 August 2016

(DOW N 540 FROM SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR)

Visitor nights, commercial & private, compared to year end June 2016

1,982

+4.0 %

Bay Espresso coffee sold May 2016, kg (Up 314kg from March)

Gigabytes of data downloaded, in July on average, by NOW residential customers.

1,459

127 GB

What's Hot

What's Not

Bottled water Local elections Swissies Tukituki whitebait Accountability Port Ministry of Vulnerable Children 5,000 jobs/5 years Origin Green

Gastrogate Career councillors Child victims Tukituki cows Blame game Port at risk CYF Anything less Pure NZ

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 7

BEE in the KNOW

Don't point the finger

It has been said that it takes a crazy person to run for public office.

US media (traditional and social media) have been analyzing Donald Trump like crazy, assessing him as a sociopath, as having narcissistic personality disorder, as needing an intervention.

The American Psychiatric Association has warned its members of the risk of this type of commentary, reminding them that it’s not okay to diagnose people you haven't directly treated.

The recommendation follows the Goldwater Rule, which derives from a survey

by Fact magazine in 1964. The magazine surveyed more than 12,000 psychiatrists about Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. About 2,400 responded, and half of them declared Goldwater unfit for the presidency.

The headline read "FACT: 1,189 Psychiatrists Say Goldwater is Psychologically Unfit to Be President." Goldwater sued for libel and won. Trump thrives on suing people ‌ psychiatrists beware!

Why the chicken crossed the road.

In 2014 Ben Bostock saw an opportunity to create a product where he controlled the whole process from pasture to plate. He researched international poultry practices to see how he could produce the best organic chicken in the world.

Ben could grow the feed, grow the chickens, get them to market and - best of all - give his organic chickens the best life possible. Chicks are nurtured and housed in clean, state of the art, solar powered ‘French Chalets’ allowing them to roam free, enjoying the fresh green grass and home grown organic barley and corn, in an environment protected from cold weather and predators.

That’s why the chicken crossed the road.

Read the full story at ~ greatthingsgrowhere.co.nz

BEE in the KNOW

Heel thyself Hazardous handbags and heels Your choice of handbag and how you carry it may be affecting your health long term.

“Regularly carrying a large, heavy bag, texting and looking down can cause an alteration in your natural structure. When you add the combination of high heels it becomes a recipe for accelerated symptoms,” says Hawke’s Bay chiropractor Dr Ryno Tope.

“The heels tilt your pelvis forward and cause adaptive muscle shortening over time, predisposing you to back pain. The heavy bag over one shoulder magnifies the risk of chronic pain and neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction.”

There is a longer-term risk that women will develop arthritis in their lower neck, and will have difficulty turning their head. The dreaded “Dowager's Hump” can also be a consequence.

Tension headaches may also result from spasms in the shoulder and neck muscles, which may cause pain in the back of the skull that radiates around to the front.

Dr Ryno advises bags with handles or those with longer straps for crossbody wearing which distribute the weight more evenly, but adds: “Change things around regularly by switching to the opposite shoulder at intervals when walking, so that you balance the way your body carries the weight and your muscles develop equally.”

This page: Betty Grable demonstrates effective stretching procedure to combat adaptive muscle shortening.

10 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

BEE in the KNOW

BEE IN THE KNOW UPDATE: HBRC AIR QUALITY EXCEEDENCES

Smoke Signals

In BayBuzz #29 we reminded you that time was up for older-style woodburners.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s programme of providing grants and loans to help people upgrade to modern wood burners has been popular, and 8,700 wood burners have been replaced across Hastings and Napier since the programme began in 2009. Many other homes are likely to have upgraded as well, without the use of HBRC funding, says HBRC’s Heat Smart manager Mark Heaney.

But is this enough? Low wind conditions in June and July have contributed to seven exceedances of the National Air Quality Standard – set at 50 micrograms of PM10 per cubic metre – twice as many as HBRC had hoped for.

The air pollution problem in Hastings and Napier is caused by smoky air sitting close to the ground during cold periods with little or no wind. The small particles in smoke – or PM10 – are a health issue inside and outside homes, especially for people with respiratory problems.

So the educational push continues.

During the cold snaps of spring, keep in mind the need to burn only dry, non-treated wood in modern woodburners.

Gore Blimey Five elderly members of the Gore community have boldly gone where few have gone before: into daily life with robots.

In a joint project between engineering and medical teams at the University of Auckland, the health robots lived with the patients suffering chronic health issues from three months to a year.

The tasks of the robots (iRobi, made

by Yujin Robot in South Korea, featuring web-based applications run on a Windows XP operating system) included reminding patients to take medications, providing memory and entertainment games, and Skype.

The robots, with their touch screen interface, also talk to the patient via

audio. LED lights on the robot’s face express emotions, and it raises its arms and sounds a tune when medications are due. When battery life is short, iRobi gives the comment, ‘I am hungry’.

The study found a drop in primary care visits and phone calls to doctors, and reported increases in quality of life.

The future implications are pretty exciting, says Karl Metzler, CEO of Gore Health.

“Robots can assist the elderly in selfmonitoring, helping with cognitive dexterity, keeping in touch with family via Skype, as well as the critical psycho-social element in reducing isolation and loneliness and associated anxiety.”

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BEE in the KNOW

Life at the Boundary

A new regional research initiative East Coast LAB (Life at the Boundary) will be officially launched in September. The project aims to improve the resilience of communities on the East Coast of the North Island to natural hazards associated with the Hikurangi Plate boundary and living life on the coast.

The multi-agency initiative brings together scientists, emergency managers, experts and stakeholders across the East Coast and has four objectives: research, education and engagement, risk reduction and project learnings.

But the main hazard focus is on earthquakes and tsunami which pose a significant risk to the four regions the project covers – Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu/Wanganui and Wellington.

A multi-use education room at the National Aquarium will serve as a physical manifestation of the project, exhibiting information for the public and hosting events such as talks and presentations.

There’s plenty for the public to contribute to and learn from East Coast LAB, with resources and activities at eastcoastlab.org.nz Photograph: Tim Whittaker

12 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

If anyone knows the properties of great wine, it’s Bayleys.

As the leading marketer of vineyards in Hawke’s Bay, Bayleys knows how important it is that the region’s wine maintains and grows its reputation for excellence. That is why we are proud to sponsor the awards that celebrate the outstanding quality of the wines produced here in the Bay. We strive for excellence in all we do, and it’s only natural we want to honour those who do the same, not just for their own businesses but also for the region’s wines as a whole.

To contact Bayleys regarding viticulture, rural, lifestyle, residential or commercial property please call Napier 06 834 4080 | Havelock North 06 872 9300 | Waipukurau 06 858 5500

BE IN THE KNOW UPDATE: GM FREE HAWKE'S BAY

Cleared for take-off

In BayBuzz #28 and #29 we reported on the efforts of Pure HB in supporting Hastings District Council’s decision to make the district an official GMO Free food producing zone.

Things are moving in a different direction in Florida, where they’re one step closer to field trials of genetically engineered mosquitoes that it’s hoped may be able to slow the spread of diseases like Zika. And by ‘field trials’ we do mean GM mosquitoes flying about in the open.

The zones would not be physically divided by barriers like nets, but Aedes aegypti only travel in an area encompassing a few hundred meters on average in their lifetime, so they should not migrate from one area to the other, says a project spokesperson.

Sounds a little like the non-smoking area in a 1980s restaurant, in the six seats at the back of the plane, and the proverbial non-peeing area of the local pool, no?

Sileni on American Airlines American Airlines has begun a new daily route direct to Auckland from Los Angeles and the new 787-8 Dreamliner is about to get even more comfortable because Hawke’s Bay’s own Sileni Estates Cellar Selection Pinot Noir will be served in this and all American Airlines Business Class cabins.

Pinot Noir is one of the fastest growing export varieties for Sileni, and this latest endorsement adds to its positive run. Recent vintages have earned trophies in the Sydney International Wine Competition, the Korea Wine Challenge and the China Wine and Spirits Awards. It’s also won gold medals in the Sélections Mondiales des Vins in Montreal and Mundus Vini International Wine Awards in Germany.

“Hawke’s Bay doesn’t yet have the same recognition as other pinot noir producing regions within New Zealand. However, we struggle to keep up with demand for our Hawke’s Bay pinot,” says Sileni CEO Graeme Avery.

Smartphone Parking in Napier The future of paid city parking is here. From now on in Napier you can stop fumbling with coins and use your smartphone to repel the pesky meter man.

Kashin - a phone app that debits from a pre-loaded credit card – has been operational on an 18-month-long trial basis within three pay and display parking areas.

Feedback has been so positive, says

Napier City Council’s Richard Munneke, that the system has been implemented throughout the city.

“People love the fact that you can use your phone maps and GPS to find a car park location and pay to park without using coins,” he says.

“There’s no need to display a receipt on your car dash, and the app provides reminders about how long you have been parked. You only pay for the time you use.”

The app is free to download and can be used in other metro areas such as Auckland and Hamilton.

You have 90 seconds Canada is preparing for The Big One, and when it comes, the people of British Columbia will be the first to know.

In June, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) started creating a system of seabed sensors west of Vancouver Island. The cables will transmit signals from sensors at the edge of the Cascadia fault, where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate slips eastward under the North American plate.

This will only work however, if The Big One is a subduction quake. If there’s a quake that doesn’t start along a subduction zone, like the quake that devastated Christchurch in 2011, it won’t provide a heads-up.

If there is a subduction quake, the new system should be resilient enough to keep the data flowing, no matter what. Once the signals leave the water, via a thick, highbandwidth cable, they will ultimately be

transmitted in a variety of ways and all the data that go to Victoria will also be sent inland to Saskatchewan.

Canada has spent some $230 million on ONC so far. So what are they going to get for it?

The new system might give people in Vancouver 30 to 90 seconds warning of a quake that struck right offshore.

$100 Million Homes There aren’t many stories in the media these days that make Auckland property look cheap, but a recent report from Bloomberg does just that, as it reports on the surge in properties costing US$100million or more on the international market.

Currently there are around two dozen homes for sale asking above $100 million, more if you count undeveloped residential lots.

It seems for a select few, the global financial crisis is now a distant memory. Just before new year 2015, a condo at New York’s One57 sold for a reported US$100.5 million. Later in 2015 a single-family home in Hong Kong’s The Peak neighborhood sold for HK$1.5 billion (US$194 million), allegedly to Alibaba’s Jack Ma. This year another home in that same neighborhood sold for HK$830 million. And then there’s the Playboy Mansion, which has just reportedly sold for $100 million – the highest price ever for a home in LA. Suddenly Herne Bay and Parnell seem like a bargain, right?

www.lookingback.co.nz SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 15

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“I don’t get asked about the basics much.” Lawrence Yule

So, You Want to Be Mayor?

SOPHIE PRICE ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRETT MONTEITH

18 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

In politics, timing is everything. And mid-August was not a good time to be mayor of Hastings!

It’s hard to imagine a worse disaster than a gastro illness pandemic caused by foul municipal drinking water to overshadow the launch of Hastings’ mayoral campaign.

In an election where the threecandidate math should give the clear edge to the incumbent who’s previously won a majority of the ballots, will the gastro-disaster dramatically change the equation? What about the impact of ‘normal’ issues?

Whether it’s safe drinking water or spending or leadership style, “change” is the resounding battle cry coming from the camps of the three Hastings District mayoral candidates.

When constituents return their ballots they will have the option to vote for a business woman who wants to “get back to basics”, the incumbent who offers the role more than two decades of political experience, or a moderate who thinks it’s time to shed some of the dead wood of the recent past and bring a new way of thinking to the council chambers.

Outsider Guy Wellwood says his main motivation for standing for mayor is that positive change needs to happen at the top.

For Councillor Adrienne Pierce now is the time for “different thinking”.

Mayor Lawrence Yule agrees with such comments. He, however, believes a refresh of the council line-up can be done from within.

“I am looking to bring some other people forward, a succession plan of people that the community can feel comfortable with [so] that the council can go forward. I think that can be done from within the current ranks.”

Entering the race for the last time Yule

offers both the knowledge and experience of office. Interviewed prior to the gastro outbreak, he argued that the council had the basics nailed down, allowing it to go after bigger quarry such as the Pettigrew Green Arena and the Sports Park. “I don’t get asked about the basics much. What people want is a leadership that shows them a better place for them and their families, how that can be achieved.”

However, it’s this longevity that could work against him in the race with his competitors.

“Lawrence Yule has been there for so long that the babies he kissed at the start of his political career can now vote for him,” Pierce quipped.

The Havelock North businesswoman says the refresh the mayor is talking about has come too late. “It’s past time, it’s unhealthy”, adding if Yule had refreshed the leadership within council previously it might be a different story. “But he hasn’t, and it just locked-in thinking.”

Wellwood says the mayor still carries the baggage of last year’s failed amalgamation attempt, and that as a long-standing member of the legal fraternity he would bring different ideas that would be useful for Hastings.

“That is what I sincerely believe and that is why I am making this commitment,” he says.

“I think I would be quite entertaining too.”

Despite this critique, Yule is proud of what he has accomplished in his career. He is standing again because he feels he owes it to

ratepayers to see through what the council has started under his leadership.

The earthquake strengthening of the Hawke’s Bay Opera House is probably the first venture that comes to the mind of voters – some would say it is his passion project, with the “thousands of hours” he has spent working to ensure it is reopened to the public.

The other candidates agree with this, although Pierce, who believes council should not be involved in commercial activities, says the way it’s run is “too corporate. You don’t need to make a profit, you just need it to break even.”

Having much to do with the Grand Old Lady’s initial refurbishment, Wellwood doesn’t want to see her go – however, her restoration should not be treated in isolation.

“It can’t be just treated as one building that we have got to fix at the ratepayers’ expense; it’s got to be fitted into the rest of the city.”

Which brings him to some of Yule’s other “big ideas”, especially those concerning the fixing of the CBD – such as setting up the big box retailers in Nelson Park, which for Wellwood has wrecked the heart of the city.

“So if fixing up the CBD is a big idea, it is caused by another big idea that went wrong.”

He believes a master plan for the centre of town needs to be put together – one that would see the shrinking of the CBD at the Heretaunga East end and more residential planning towards Stortford Lodge.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 19

“So if fixing up the CBD is a big idea, it is caused by another big idea that went wrong.”

Guy Wellwood

For Pierce more action and less talk is needed to address the issues faced by the city’s retail precinct.

“More fairy lights in the trees are not going to help,” she says, offering up the suggestion of using some of the empty buildings for a rest home and a park – to bring people into the city.

Pierce says not only will this serve the ageing population – as it will be near amenities, health services and public transport – accommodation in the city would follow with families needing somewhere to stay.

Undeterred, Yule believes the Hastings District community needs to have a conversation about what it fundamentally wants in what he terms the “heart and soul” of the district.“Not just retail,” he says. “It is going to have to be a mixture of other things and we are going to have to be quite strong and bold in terms of some of the things we are having to do.”

He notes, however, that to take it back to its humming vibrancy of the 60s and 70s 20 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

some money would need to be spent.

This leads him to the much-criticised Horse of the Year, an event which council has spent $170,000 propping up so it can go ahead in 2017. “I think we need one or two of these types of events in a year to say that actually Hastings can be part of this action. It’s an iconic event, it plays to our strengths, visitors like coming here and it’s well supported by locals.” For the number of years the district has hosted the event, says Yule, the amount ratepayers have paid into it was quite modest – and if it wasn’t supported it would find another home.

However, Pierce has not bought into this view – using her vote at the council table to show as much. “It was a terrible, terrible way of handling all of that.”

While Wellwood notes the importance of HOY and believes council should have a budget for it, he wants it treated as a regional event. “We should explain to the people of Napier, Wairoa and the CHB that this is what HOY does for the region. Instead we are so keen to grab it all as a Hastings thing, we end up having to pay all the bills.”

The GMO-free stance taken by the HDC

is one all three candidates support.

Pierce says it’s a great marketing platform for a region that grows great food – one, if elected, she would continue.

Although supportive of the stance, Wellwood, who helped put together the national GE strategy following on from the royal commission at the turn of the century, was more cautious with his choice of words. “If it came up at the council table I would vote for it. But I just know there are big pressures out there and probably Hastings District can’t fight those pressures forever.”

Yule made it clear he was not an “ideological zealot” when it came to GMOs; this was leadership to support the food-growing sector. “I accept at some point in time there may be a need to use GE-based technology,” adding that the plan the council has in place lasts for only the next 10 years – a plan that could be changed if needed. “We export some of the highest quality food you will find anywhere in the world. To have a GMO-free based brand behind that in my view is worth

“More fairy lights in the trees are not going to help.”

Adrienne Pierce

millions of dollars to this community and I want to protect that while it’s available.”

One issue that threw all candidates was the outbreak of campylobacter, a gastro illness that knocked down thousands of people in Havelock North in August.

Havelock North residents were livid about what they perceived to be a lack of communication on behalf of council and the district health board – social media bore the brunt of their anger.

So with this lack of communication Pierce took to the phones and Facebook to warn people of the water contamination.

“Communication about the outbreak was required earlier. Follow up information more regular and less vague.” Wellwood has made fundamental services such as water a “priority” if the people voted him in.

For his part, Yule stood between council staff, angry citizens and media, and while it might not have been as timely as it should have been, he offered with composure what information he had on the situation.

22 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

There’s little basis for concluding that Yule’s political competitors would have handled the council’s response to the health crisis any more effectively.

That said, the most important issue to resolve to protect the public’s well being is how the contamination came about.

Safe operation of drinking water bores is a paramount responsibility of the Hastings Council. With a history of E.coli registering in the Havelock North water after major rain events, surely the government inquiry will examine whether or not the Hastings District drinking water infrastructure has been managed with sufficient care.

However, that verdict won’t arrive until after the election.

As for the candidates’ future outlook …

For Wellwood, it’s a public service calling; now is the right time for him to take a stand.

He wants to mend fences with the other local bodies in the region; sort out law and order; stage a European Festival; work on better transport; clean up the Karamu; and create more open, collaborative and

accountable government.

Yule feels he has always been approachable and his council has been open. And so he will focus on job creation.

“We live in one of the best parts of the world you could ever want to live in.

The limiting factor for a lot of people is actually employment, the ability to stay here.” He wants to leave the Hastings District better than he found it. “I am trying to improve the quality of life for the people who live here. That’s what drives me every day.”

Pierce harks back to her business skills, citing “store blindness”. “You have had the shop for too long and you don’t know that all your windows are dirty and that corners are dusty and people come into your shop and it’s just not like it was 10 years ago.”

While Pierce too wants to look at transport and “play nicely with the neighbours”, she also wants to create jobs here in the Bay. For this to happen council must “buy local” and tender jobs out to Hawke’s Bay businesses.

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“The problem we have had is a difference of opinion at the leadership level...”

Rick Barker

Regional Rivals Slug it Out SOPHIE PRICE

For a while, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council appeared to only have one race guaranteeing change in this year’s election – the Napier constituency, where both David Pipe and Christine Scott signalled the end of their political service.

battles are uphill. Peter Beaven should hold his Ngaruroro seat against challenger Dan Ross.

Three main areas of discussion emerged in interviews with the candidates – the dam, their expected contribution to HBRC, and specific future issues of priority to the various individuals.

That left Alan Dick as the lone flag bearer of Napier councillors past, joined by four new candidates vying for the three available seats – Paul Bailey, Moira Irving, Neil Kirton and Martin Williams.

The three Hastings seats for HBRC seemed left to incumbents Tom Belford, Rex Graham and Rick Barker, until two “newcomers” signalled their intention to run for that constituency. HDC’s seven-term Cynthia Bowers and former CHB mayor and regional councillor Tim Gilbertson both decided to step in.

In Wairoa and CHB, challengers Dean Whaanga and environmentalist Dan Elderkamp offer fresh faces and will give spirited fights to incumbents Fenton Wilson and Debbie Hewitt respectively, but their

The dam

24 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Barker’s view of the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme is that it is the wrong water storage model for the CHB. “I voted against putting money into the dam when it came up. I just thought at the time it did not work.

That is basically my position.”

However, he has voted to accept some findings, such as Deloitte reporting that current water sales of 42.8 million m3 meant the project would break even. “On things that are matters of fact, well I will accept them as matters of fact. It doesn’t mean to say that I necessarily changed my view about the dam.”

Belford opposes the dam. “No councillor has dug more deeply into

this project, and I come away convinced the environmental damage intensified farming will inflict on the Tukituki is unacceptable, and the financial risks too high, given the highly speculative economic benefits. There are better ways to provide on-farm water security.”

Bowers openly supports the irrigation scheme, but not “at any financial cost”, indicating that if the Napier Port were put at risk then she would withdraw her backing.

“Now my understanding is that is not the case, we have been told that quite clearly by [HBRIC Chairman] Andy Pearce.”

Tim Gilbertson loudly supports the RWSS. An irrigator himself, he says he has been presented with no evidence as to why it shouldn’t go ahead. “The people against the dam have not put up anything like the convincing factual scientific case to say that the dam is not an economic goer and it is not going to improve the environment,” adding if they could do this he would withdraw his support.

“I don’t talk to BayBuzz” Fenton Wilson

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A staunch supporter of water storage, but not the way the RWSS is proposing to achieve it, Graham questions whether the water sales condition has been met. “I don’t agree that they got across the condition precedent. There is no way that 42.8 million m3 gets a break even and I don’t know anybody in their right mind could think that we did. At that sales level, the project does not break even.”

Graham also wants to know where the institutional investor is. “We have had a long time waiting for this investor and they are not there. So where are they?

Why hasn’t the investor appeared with his chequebook?”

As for Napier candidates …

Dick wants finality on this investment to see it go ahead for the betterment of the region, especially so the Tukitukispecific management plan – Plan Change 6 – can work. “The Ruataniwha Scheme and Plan Change 6 … are totally integrated and interdependent. Plan Change 6 won’t work

without the extra water in the river that the water storage scheme can guarantee.”

Bailey disagrees – with his resounding “can the dam” catch phrase – he says not one aspect of the RWSS works.

He says Plan Change 6 won’t work with the dam. With the catchment already exceeding the plan’s dissolved inorganic nitrogen limit, more intensive farming through irrigation will only make meeting this limit harder.

“But it will be interesting to see how strictly enforced Plan Change 6 is … that is the one that really worries me.”

As for ‘environmental flows’, “Dilution is not the solution to pollution. All you are doing is diluting it, sending it out to sea.”

Williams says he cannot envisage a realistic scenario where the investment company would be forced to borrow so much that it would put the Port at jeopardy, as assets such as this are isolated from the scheme.

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Ruataniwha Water Limited Partnership, would be at risk, not HBRIC or its other assets.

Kirton is very much in support of water storage. “To me it is a no brainer, we need it. We have got a deficit of water at the moment. We have got to do something about that; it will get worse before it gets better.”

However, he wants to weigh up all the facts on the RWSS, so he is keeping an open mind about the scheme. “I am very much needing to see all the evidence, particularly the capital raising and very interested to see the protection for the port.”

Irving supports anything that would contribute to the economic development of Hawke’s Bay. “From what I have seen of it, it is growing potential for jobs, increasing exports, so it keeps our port busy and that has got to be positive for Napier.”

She says as the RWSS is “effectively a done deal”, the important thing now is consents are issued correctly and monitored stringently, that water use is compatible and the scheme does deliver on its promised environmental improvements.

Why me?

Environmentalist Paul Bailey says Napier ratepayers deserve better representation

than what they have been dealt, that the current councillors have acted like “rubber stamps” for the HB Regional Investment Company (HBRIC) for “too long”. “I think Napier rate payers deserve something better than that.”

He touches on the point that it should be the elected councillors who set policy, not council staff. “I think that is quite important,” he says, using the recent $36 million proposed purchase of environmental flows as an example. “It is just bizarre and the staff recommended it.”

With 12 year’s local government experience sitting on the Taranaki Regional Council, Irving has now made Napier her home and wants to contribute her experience. “I don’t come with particular views or biases as to what has happened here in the past.

So positive fresh enthusiasm alongside experience.”

Irving says from an outsider’s observations the publicised spats between councillors have been inappropriate. “A good organisation should be able to have heavy debate and discussion and get to a point where there is some consensus about how the message is going to be translated out to the public.”

Dick conceded that this last term had been

a difficult one, noting that with six new people coming on board, it has taken quite a while to get to know one another. “That appears to have started to happen over the past three to four months, but that’s far too late.”

Kirton believes that an unhealthy standoff culture has emerged at a governance level.

“To me, it’s to the point of being almost broken. It’s dysfunctional and both sides of the equation have now got to get off their horses and work together.”

Still, he says when he was first elected at a regional level he was accused of not being loyal to the authority. “And I said I am not ‘the council’. I represent the public on council and I will dig into any old cupboard I like to get the best deal for the ratepayer.”

With his legal background, Williams feels he can work with people of differing viewpoints. “I think the ratepayers are really frustrated with all this negative rhetoric going on and councillors writing letters to the editor and Talking Points against each other slagging each other off, it is just not a good look.”

Bringing resource management and local government law to the race, Williams want to use these abilities for a “more productive social purpose … How could I apply those

Proven Vote

Lawrence Yule

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skills that I have learned through practice to the benefit of the region?”

As for the Hastings candidates …

Barker speaks of moving on to unfinished business, “I think the last three years were some lost opportunities. He says, “The problem we have had is a difference of opinion at the leadership level on two issues – amalgamation and the dam and it has muddied the water quite a bit” … water that would clear once both those issues became a thing of the past.

Belford sees his role as “pushing the council toward a common sense ‘let’s get it done attitude’, especially when it comes to joining together interdependent environmental and economic goals.”

He says, “Councillors need to set fresh direction, as staff becomes too caught up in its own baggage and established ways.

They begin to ignore both local expertise and fresh outside ideas. Councillors can’t let that happen.”

Bowers says she would work at improving the culture. “I think the regional council are doing good things, but they are doing it in such a way that they are making life more difficult for themselves.”

Gilbertson is standing because he regards the regional authority as “virtually dysfunctional” for the last three years. “I think that is really bad for Hawke’s Bay and I can’t see that if the current councillors are re-elected there will be much change.”

But Graham does not believe that there is a squabbling culture in the council chamber.

“There are different points of view on this particular venture [the RWSS]. But on most issues we get through. Some people think [the dam] is a wonderful idea, I think water storage is a wonderful idea; but I don’t think this particular dam is. Some people think it is, so we disagree.”

Future priorities

Bailey says the council should be outcome focused, not process focused. He says once the culture change comes about then the councillors can start coming up with real solutions.

“It’s getting back to basics really; its turning around and saying our task is to maintain and enhance the environment.”

If elected he will address the issue of assigned authority to staff. “We need to be very careful what we are delegating to staff to do, without some sort of political input,” Bailey says, using the issuing of water

bottling consents as an example. “The water bottling consents should never have been granted the way they were. They should have come back into the political scene for final approval.”

Alan Dick is standing again to achieve positive conclusions on transportation projects he has championed. “We have been working for five years now on two transport plans and a rail issue and the transport planning is about to come to fruition,” he said, noting the $40 million worth of capital works on the Whakatu arterial, the Pākōwhai intersection and addressing the safety issue near Hawke’s Bay Airport.

He advocates the Napier-Wairoa rail line, given the staggering increase in log harvest volume out of the northern district about to come. “State Highway 2 just can’t handle that with trucks alone and people will lose their lives.”

Kirton eyes the environmental damage being done to the Ahuriri Estuary. “Napier [City’s] storm water discharges are just appalling.”

Where there was 30-40 hectares of bare pasture, “suddenly within three years you have got hard surface everywhere, you have got all those heavy metals coming off into the storm water, you have got

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 27

“I think water storage is a wonderful idea; but I don’t think this particular dam is.”

Rex Graham

people washing their cars with detergents discharging straight into the storm water.”

This is the glaring Napier issue for him, one which is contributing to less fish in the Hawke Bay. The council has some good science capabilities, Kirton says, capabilities the council could leverage into a national marine institute.

Williams sees coastal management as an issue, and “managed retreat” is how he would address this situation.

With hundreds of homes dotting the edge of the Bay, he thinks alternative zoning needs to be applied to land and a pooled risk insurance scheme offered to affected residents to aid their move when the time comes.

And from the Hastings candidates …

Barker believes the council needs to have some careful thought about the coastline.

He says with global warming leading to 28 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“I want to push the council toward a common sense ‘let’s get it done attitude’.”

Tom Belford

sea level rises and more extreme weather events the authority is going to have to be careful how it manages coastal erosion. “I think it is inevitable that some areas are going to have to retreat and other areas we might wish to try and defend, but it will be at significant cost and very challenging engineering wise.”

Belford sees water management as the key issue, “whether that be safe drinking water, water storage and allocation, water bottling, protecting our aquifers from fracking, swimmable rivers or sustainable fisheries.”He adds, “Our land and soil is the other side of the coin. We must curb enormous hill country erosion, and we need to be more proactive in helping our farmers and growers adopt the best practices they need to be both sustainable and competitive in overseas markets.”

Water is a key issue on Bowers’ agenda.

“TANK is really, really important

because that’s what is going have the most influence on water issues for the Heretaunga Plains and there are huge expectations riding on it. Yet as a community we don’t know much about it yet and it is meant to be in place by December 2017.”

Global warming, renewable energy and shared services are all areas that Gilbertson wants addressed. He said as a result of the failed amalgamation vote, all councillors said they were going to save money by sharing services. “They haven’t done that, so that is the other issue I would really stand on.”

Looking forward, Graham wants to start the process on addressing hill country erosion. “That is probably the most serious issue facing Hawke’s Bay.” And he wants council agreement to protect the region’s aquifers. “We are sitting on this wonderful resource; we have got to bloody protect it and look after it.”

“ We’ve got to get the governance right.”

Wayne Jack, NCC chief executive

“ What drives me nuts is sub-sets of regions playing zero-sum games. It’s a waste of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars.”

Alasdair MacLeod Project Leader “Economic development is about the people and the land, rather than just money and finance. Once we established that we got very engaged.

Ngahiwi Tomoana chair of Ngāti Kahungunu

Nailing Our Colours to the Mast TOM BELFORD PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER 30 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“There will be huge disappointment and consequences if we don’t get this right.”

Stu McLauchlan, chair of Business HB

Hawke’s Bay now proudly owns a new regional economic strategy (REDS).

Formally titled MATARIKI: Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2016, the strategy was announced with ministerial fanfare on July 27. Ministers Joyce, Guy and Flavell were on hand to bless the plan and bestow a few dollops of government funding (none of it new) to sweeten the occasion.

From those directly involved in its creation, enthusiasm abounds. Says Lawrence Yule: “This can be a game-changer in how we operate if all the councils and other partners sign-up and participate in the Action Plan. It’s the first time all the parties in the region have agreement on what should happen, who should do what, over what time frames and what are the targets.”

For those still digesting the plan, initial impressions range from cautiously optimistic to ‘show me the beef’!

Texters to HB Today reacted …

“Takes me back 60 years, sitting in a treehut with mates planning great things to do without a clue how to do them.”

“Yea! A lollyscramble, 5,000 new jobs.

There must be either local body or national elections coming up.”

“Sounds like a great idea to help this area go ahead as a joint initiative. Let’s hope the knockers that hold the area back look at the big picture and stay in their dark burrows.”

So, what does Matariki: REDS mean for Hawke’s Bay?

Jobs … try harder

It’s fair to say job creation is the heart of the proposed strategy. The aim is to accelerate job creation, creating 5,000 net jobs over the next five years. Complementing that goal are two others: increasing the region’s median income above the national median, and raising HB to the top quartile of NZ regions in terms of growth rate and sustaining that position.

Within the job goal, 1,000 jobs are targeted to come via Project 1000, a new initiative that will link local people on benefits to 1,000 new jobs over three years (Yule wants to see the first few hundred jobs flowing from this within a year). Says the plan: “Government agencies will work closely with employers and training providers to support those people into employment opportunities in key growth areas such as horticulture, viticulture, manufacturing and improved alignment of local infrastructure projects.”

One aim is to grow the Bay’s cadre of local skilled full-time workers as our orchardists and veggie growers seek to expand and wean themselves off so much seasonal labour – 30% of which is currently filled by imported labour.

In the BayBuzz interviews, players involved in developing Matariki were

quite modest about its actual content. No intellectual or policy breakthroughs were cited – “these ideas have been around a long time,” said one. And programmes already offered at EIT and others like Youth Futures – supported by local business, territorial councils and MSD – aim at providing viable ‘pathways to employment’.

The challenge of lifting a regional economy that is so seasonably based is longstanding, as is the challenge of better aligning training of locals to meet the skill requirements for jobs that are actually available.

As the strategy puts it, we “need to train people to be work-ready, who can then be matched with ‘employee-ready employers’.

We’re also talking about creating a skilled and resilient population that is equipped to thrive in an uncertain future.”’

At this point, the plan is short on details about how the ‘new’ workforce goals will be met or existing programmes expanded, accelerated or improved. In a nutshell, the strategy is ‘try harder’.

“It’s fair to say job creation is the heart of the proposed strategy.

The aim is to accelerate job creation, creating 5,000 net jobs over the next five years.”

So where does the positive buzz around Matariki come from?

Family/Whānau focus

One positive aspect everyone notes is the focus on lifting families and whānau now struggling in the lower reaches of the HB economy. Alasdair MacLeod praises the “much higher degree of social inclusion” in this plan as compared to previous efforts.

“This is not about economic development for the sake of economic development … or make a few individuals vastly more wealthy.”

As the strategy observes: “We still have much to do particularly for our high-needs communities and our children: a third of our children are growing up in poverty and nearly half of Māori under five are living in households that depend on benefits. It is critical that opportunities and benefits of a thriving Hawke’s Bay economy be accessed equitably … Bridging the equality divide in the region must be central to all attempts to drive economic development.”

This is a focus that excites Ngahiwi Tomoana, chair of Ngāti Kahungunu, the region’s largest iwi.

He notes that the strategy process got off to a shaky start when minimal effort was made to confer with the region’s Māori

community. Effectively the process was given a re-boot, and very extensive consultation was then undertaken, leading Tomoana to give the final process and product his strong endorsement. “Economic development is about the people and the land, rather than just money and finance. Once we established that we got very engaged.”

Other key players in the process – like NCC’s chief executive Wayne Jack, who serves as chair of the Governance Group, and Stu McLauchlan, chair of Business Hawke’s Bay – are proud of the support the project has won from Māori leaders in the region and the ‘social conscience’ the strategy displays.

To Tomoana, the strategy is not just “jobs, jobs, jobs” as admirable as that is, it is also about how people’s lives must be improved, with all parties – councils, DHB, EIT, business, government – bought into that objective.

It is also about integrating Māori business aspirations – and the investment capital that will become available from Treaty settlements – into a common plan for the region. He points to the example of Wairoa, where there are 10,000 acres of undeveloped Māori land that could be developed into a horticultural hub – “a mini-oasis” as he terms it.

As Tomoana sees it, Māori are just beginning to be recognized as the equal partner they can be, including as coinvestors, as “contributors to the solution” in achieving the region’s growth.

Partnership

Asked what excites him most about this project, Alasdair MacLeod (who guided the project team) responds emphatically, “the spirit of partnership”. More than anything, the enthusiasm of Matariki developers stems from the broad buy-in that has been achieved for the strategy from stakeholders in the region, plus government.

Stu McLauchlan, chair of Business HB, credits the process with “bringing a lot more diverse groups along the journey … there’s an expectation now and a buy-in where more stakeholders support the strategy and want to see it make a difference this time.”

Lawrence Yule, Ngahiwi Tomoana, and Wayne Jack, all emphasize this accomplishment. As do other leaders interviewed by Keith Newman in the article that follows.

The diverse range of participants include the region’s five councils, Business Hawke’s Bay, DHB, EIT, Ngāti Kahungunu as well as hāpu and treaty settlement representatives, HB Tourism, and government ministries like social development (MSD), primary industries (MPI), and business, innovation and employment (MBIE) and NZ Transport.

Partnership means more than friendly involvement. The acceptance by the partners of specific lead responsibilities is touted as a critical step toward future accountability.

MacLeod sees partner accountability for delivering on the Actions as a key difference SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 31

with previous plans. His “personal” view: “I would like to publish an annual plan of what we collectively agreed we’re going to achieve, and then be held collectively accountable for it.” He continues: “I would like to see us nailing our colours to the mast and say this is what we’re going to deliver as a joined-up region, and here are the people who are going to deliver the various bits, and here’s how we will measure success.”

Amen! While there’s no doubt that impressive collaboration has gone into the strategy, and everyone involved is presently singing ‘kumbaya’, the test of collegiality that matters will come now as the strategy moves to its implementation phase.

Who’s in charge?

The first two steps toward ‘formalising’ the buy-in claimed to exist, and ensuring ongoing momentum, are political.

The very first Action item behind the strategy reads: “Undertake a stocktake of the organisations involved in economic development in the region and recommend the regional economic development model to give effect to this strategy.”

Or more plainly put: Who’s going to be in charge?! And what will be the accountability mechanisms? Says Yule: “There must be transparency around how we’re doing at

meeting the plan goals. If it’s not happening, why not?”

This task is assigned to the project’s Governance Group, consisting of the chief executives of the region’s councils, DHB, EIT, Business Hawke’s Bay, NKII and others.

No single entity can be responsible itself for implementing the full range of initiatives contemplated by the strategy, but there clearly needs to be a driver of the process … perhaps a regional economic development agency (EDA). This entity would establish milestones, help coordinate multi-partner projects, monitor and report progress (or lack thereof ), identify gaps and bottlenecks, help minimise duplication and competition, and in some cases directly implement projects of its own.

To some, the most logical organisation to fill this role is Business Hawke’s Bay (BHB), given that the central goal of Matariki is to drive job creation, with all other initiatives positioned as ‘enablers’ to facilitate that objective. Ultimately it is current and potential businesses that will need to grow and supply the jobs.

BHB has built some credibility through its strong board and its roles with the new Business Hub, helping land Jetstar, and its Callaghan (business innovation) and agri-business projects. It enjoys existing relationships with councils and government agencies.

However, BHB would itself need a make-over to play such an expanded role.

Currently BHB operates on a shoestring budget of roughly $500,000 per year, with a director and two part-timers who deliver the programmes the organis ation is already committed to. BHB is simply not resourced to serve as the driver of Matariki’s multifaceted economic development strategy.

Importantly, whether BHB or starting from scratch (yet again) with a new ‘delivery model’, funding will be a key matter that must be addressed. But it can’t be formally settled – assuming councils’ funding is involved – until the next fiscal year, beginning in July 2017. Meantime, it is expected that councils, and Government, will tap existing funds to keep the initial implementation planning moving.

As Wayne Jack emphasises, “We’ve got to get the governance right.” There is a wide range of partners with significant responsibilities, healthily engaging with one another, who must be coordinated, occasionally prodded, and monitored. “But if we go too big, it becomes difficult to manage.”

So, if BHB were an option, its own governance, now limited to business heavy-hitters, would need to become more representative of the partners who have bought into the strategy. Alternatively, a governance body needs to be created that BHB would be accountable to in its

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coordinating role.

More modestly, MacLeod would welcome “just a small group that looked at truly regional things” and clear “non-compete agreements” among local authorities. “What drives me nuts is sub-sets of regions playing zero-sum games. It’s a waste of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars … it’s got to stop.” Which raises the question of what happens to existing economic development units/staff already implanted at the various councils.

One can expect that delicate politics will be traversed as either a ‘regional EDA’ (which might re-absorb Tourism HB), or a more limited ‘coordinating secretariat’ not ‘owned’ by any partner (an EDA-lite), is constituted, given its mandate and jointly funded. A recommendation on this is due to councils in October.

Political involvement

Which brings up the second political issue – securing councils’ involvement and approval going forward.

Matariki has been driven largely by a team of executives and managers from councils and other key units like DHB and EIT. Moreover, at Government insistence, the process, until the 27 July unveiling, has been extraordinarily secretive. Elected councillors have been totally in the dark, which some onlookers, including ratepayers, might find worrisome.

So councillors are only now beginning to learn what responsibilities the strategy ‘assigns’ their councils, with much detail still to be worked out. Consequently, for all the talk of buy-in and everyone being on the same page, ‘buy-in’ on the part of the region’s five councils is actually yet to occur … and could prove contentious.

The Government’s continuing participation must also be sorted. MacLeod calls the government support for the project a “game changer” and hopes that improved relationships built through this process will yield better future outcomes on infrastructure issues like roading and broadband expansion.

He’s also a big fan of the Senior Regional Officer.

Throughout the development process, a government intermediary, Carl Crafar, was assigned to the project and sat on the Governance Group. Crafar, on loan from MSD, carried the title Senior Regional Officer. His role, reporting monthly directly to the ministers concerned (chiefly Joyce, Guy, Flavell), was to serve as the interface between the local team and the government agencies that would also have roles in developing, implementing, and possibly funding (in part) the strategy. Or as he puts it, “the conduit between the ground and Wellington” … a role our locals have found very valuable.

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Crafar is especially pleased with the Action items and the assignment of accountable lead partners for each. He will continue as Senior Regional Officer, “making sure that we all deliver against the parts of the plan we publicly committed to.” Importantly to Crafar, that means local representatives of lead agencies like MSD, not just Wellington, must own their partner responsibilities in the Action plan and be held accountable.

One other key Action initiative of Matariki should be mentioned for its political sensitivity. The strategy proposes that all major infrastructure projects in the region be consolidated into a master plan and schedule. This includes all the major capital expenditures of the five councils, DHB, the Port, and central government agencies. Presently on the books of these entities is an estimated one billion dollars for long-term infrastructure spend.

The concept is to attempt to better sequence and make public these projects, so that the required labour skills are trained and available. Otherwise, demand for the relevant skills – from engineers to trades – will exceed supply, costs will be higher, and jobs will be filled by temporary workers from outside the region.

There is compelling logic to this scheme, but it will require the major players to adjust their own capital spending schedules

(presumably each driven by real need) to each other – arguably, do we build a new wharf for the Port first, or a new wing for the hospital, or prison? Napier City Council has the lead in fleshing out this concept.

What next?

High expectations have been created. When will we see things happen?

Key drivers of Matariki, Alasdair MacLeod and Wayne Jack, expect much more specificity to emerge by year’s end, accepting there will be some election season lull:

• Timelines for each of the Action items will be fleshed out;

• All parties will be clearer about their responsibilities;

• A monthly reporting system will be in place that includes public reporting;

• Interim funding to sustain the process will be identified; and,

• The recommended “economic

development delivery model’ – a BHBgrounded EDA or something else – will be put to councils in October.

Accomplishing those steps is the shortterm test of the Matariki strategy. Success with even these initial implementation tasks will require collaboration by councils and other partners on an unprecedented scale … going well beyond agreement on concepts (many familiar already) to willingness to yield turf, alter programmes, sort personnel, commit to funding.

Only then can we see whether Matariki might jolt the regional forward or quietly lose momentum. Stu McLauchlan gets the last word: “It’s a good start; now the real work begins. Execution is the key … There will be huge disappointment and consequences if we don’t get this right.”

Matariki Action Steps

Moving beyond its broad job and income goals, what concrete initiatives are embedded in the Matariki strategy at this point?

The strategy incorporates 45 ‘Actions’, with each assigned to a lead agency with key partners. Numerous Actions still lack specificity; others seem to be simply restatements of activity already underway in the region. And there’s jargon galore.

Among the more specific Actions (should be easy to see if these progress): • Project 1000 – as described above; • A package of funded roading projects – SH2, Port access, SH38 (but already in the pipeline, merely brought forward); • Decide what the ‘delivery model’ will be – who/what entity will drive the process going forward?; • Establish a coordinated approach to major infrastructure projects; • Expand National Aquarium into marine research; Among the more vague (plenty of work here for consultants): • Develop the business case that defines the region’s “sustainable competitive advantage”; • Develop the “research and evidence base to support strategy implementation”; • Establish Regional Research Facility “to help optimize regional assets through innovationled productivity growth”; • Support development of emerging Māori business leadership; • Establish incubator for small businesses; • Better digital connectivity outside urban centres; • Adopt common approach to consenting and regulatory approval; • Research the HB “productivity gap”.

Among the already happening (one would hope): • Develop school-industry-tertiary partnerships to develop vocational pathways for HB students; • Conduct feasibility studies for investment in Māori business growth; • Identify promising start-ups and potential high-growth firms in the region; • Identify land to support new business growth; • Work with primary producers to ensure productivity gains deliver alongside improved environmental performance; • Identify new food and beverage opportunities for HB businesses; • Develop strategy to attract businesses, investment, migrants to HB; • Improve collaboration among organisations tasked with tourism development – products, events, infrastructure.

One might find it disappointing that many of these ‘Actions’ – representing Regional Economic Growth 1.0 – aren’t already far along in Hawke’s Bay. In some cases, like tourism promotion, they are; the problem has been duplication and competition amongst the players. In other cases, like offering education and training tailored to Hawke’s Bay actual job opportunities, appropriate initiatives exist but need to be expanded.

Accomplishing these Actions will indeed require buy-in from all the relevant parties in the region. Wayne Jack calls it “an ambitious start” and “a living plan”, with the expectation that some projects might not prove out and be dropped, and other projects added as gaps or opportunities are identified.

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Aspirational Buzz Words Need Detail KEITH NEWMAN

Local influencers spoken to by BayBuzz applaud broader cross-sector involvement in the new Regional Development Strategy (Matariki: REDS). However they wonder about the dearth of detail; the lack of ‘out of the box’ thinking; failure to include health, sport and social elements; and how to remove bureaucratic obstacles and keep the big picture from fragmenting.

The Matariki action plan is full of aspirational buzz words. Scratch deeper and there’s not yet a lot of substance to support bold promises like making Hawke’s Bay the most innovative region in New Zealand, the leading exporter of premium primary produce, and a hub for business growth.

Regional councillor Alan Dick and others remind us this is the latest in a long line of mostly short-lived attempts at boosting Hawke’s Bay, the most recent being Vision 2020 and Venture Hawke’s Bay, which largely failed because everyone continued to do their own thing. While five councils, the Chamber of Commerce and Business Hawke’s Bay drove things, the focus remained on tourism and a relatively narrow view of business.

Dick says business mentoring, for example, stalled after two years when a review found weaknesses “when this thing emerged from the shadows”.

On the positive side, he says, Business HB and HB Tourism are now significantly better resourced than they were, and funding

shouldn’t be an issue with other projects, including iwi and post-settlement entities, which have their own resources.

Dick’s hope is the final governance structure will provide greater delegation of responsibility rather than having one organisation at the centre.

Bigger thinking needed

Medical entrepreneur and Sileni Estate co-founder Graeme Avery believes REDS will need private sector leadership, with an independent chief executive skilled in “venture finance and innovation process management” to galvanise all the parties in a public-private partnership model.

He says “much bigger thinking,” and innovation than the region has so far demonstrated will be required to unleash undeveloped economic potential.

The sharp end, says Avery, will require strong cohesion to develop and deliver on all the 45 Action plans, with big gains coming from thinking about “what is best for the region, not its component parts”.

We’ll need to attract venture capital “for development and commercialisation of ideas and a multi-partner team to develop strategies for success,” says Avery.

Napier Labour MP Stuart Nash agrees “out of the box thinking” identifying our national competitive advantages and how we’re going to leverage these is missing from REDS. He’s

hopeful that beneath the “consultant speak” is detailed work setting out how goals and objectives will translate into reality with measurable outcomes.

“Moving away from a reliance on primary industries is a must. Relying on a sector that is dependent on variables we have no control over (weather, commodity prices and exchange rates) is a risky strategy.”

And Nash says the document “completely glosses over the real social challenges we have in the Bay despite the vision supposedly being about “every household and every whānau”.

Beyond seasonal economy

Jerf van Beek, who heads the seasonal labour effort for Horticulture New Zealand and PickHB, bringing in about 3,500 Recognised Seasonal Employee (RSE) workers, says REDS’ “common objectives are well meaning”.

However, the region needs to move on from a seasonal economy base to one that offers full-time employment for those living here which would “solve the majority of our social problems and raise the standard of living for those who need it most.”

One of the things Kevin Snee, the CEO of Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, is keen to see is an open dialogue on large building projects so the region can ramp up its capacity.

“Significant building work needs to

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The REDS cheerleading squad at launch. BayBuzz will revisit in one year.

happen in a joined-up way so we can use local businesses with the right training and ensure EIT has the right number of skilled people coming through.” The DHB, for example, expects in excess of $300 million in construction projects over the next decade; Snee believes that with other public agencies added, total construction will top a billion dollars. Building at the same time could drive prices up with work going outside the region, whereas staggering large projects would ensure local construction firms, contractors and tradespeople had ongoing work.

Snee says jobs are needed in all sectors of the economy, not just seasonal work, but jobs that “upskill and take the community somewhere”.

Engaging with youth

For Hastings CEO Ross McLeod the buzz is about more youth training and matching young people to full-time employment through greater engagement between employers and agencies.

The stars seem to be aligning. There’s central government investment, the economy is in good shape, there’s competition for workers, and those near retirement are creating opportunities for young people.

McLeod says this fits well with Youth Futures efforts to equip and train those heading toward the welfare line, and a more engaged approach from iwi saying “we want 36 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

our young people to succeed”.

Councils processes can be an impediment to business growth and efficiency. Holly Bacon CEO and entrepreneur Clair Vogtherr wants councils to become enablers rather than enforcers of compliance.

“It’s a truly staggering situation” that each council in the region has different rules and regulations.

Imagine, she says, the investment in homes, businesses, development, spending and employment that would be freed up if consents were fast tracked, or the first response to any reasonable interaction with council was, “How can I help you achieve that?”

Vogtherr applauds the recognition that many households are dependent on the success of small to medium businesses and the fact that Māori youth, with mentoring and investment of settlement money, have the potential to become some of our greatest business resources.

Fit for purpose

Graeme Avery is concerned that health and sport seem to be missing from the plan. “A healthier community is an integral component of a more prosperous and vibrant economy.”

He’d like to see intervention programmes – addressing physical inactivity from birth right through the education system – to reduce the large economic burden of a potential regional obesity epidemic.

Avery says hundreds of millions of dollars in productivity are lost throughout the country annually through physical inactivity, noting that “Hawke’s Bay has the highest regional rate of inactivity and obesity”.

Sport has a fundamental role to play in a thriving economy. “Winning in sport has a major social benefit impact through enhanced self-esteem and development of leadership skills.”

Kevin Snee says there will always be gaps in any strategy and that’s why he views REDS as a living document, something dynamic that will change as we learn to do things better.

A “sister” social inclusion strategy is being prepared, targeting “underlying social problems that exclude people from the mainstream of society”.

Ross McLeod agrees REDS shouldn’t be seen in isolation but as part of a central government roadmap with further support, processes and projects ahead.

For the first time since he came to the Bay in 2009, Snee is witnessing a greater willingness to work together. Good Things Grow Here and the discussions arising from the amalgamation debate seem to have changed the tone of regional engagement.

Alan Dick thinks leadership could be an issue “keeping people on side and enthused”.

Then there’s a risk of doing the same old thing again if we don’t learn from the past. “Most people’s memories are fairly short”.

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RESIDENT ICONOCLAST PAUL PAYNTER

The Pressure is Building Can you feel it? The world is changing, pulsing, vibrating like never before in my lifetime. Let me take you on a brief global tour of the chaos…

In England they snubbed the views of the major political parties and economic commentators and voted for Brexit. In doing so they forced then Prime Minister Cameron to fall on his sword, throwing the country into political turmoil. Members of the public are joining the British Labour Party in droves, to try to retain leader Jeremy Corbyn, a supposedly unelectable, die-hard socialist. More than 80% of his fellow MPs have voted ‘no confidence’ in him, yet still he remains.

In the US, the Grand Old Party have in all seriousness put up Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. More than anything it’s just another vote of no-confidence aimed at the political establishment, an ‘anyone but a politician’ vote. The Democrats have hardly done any better, opting for Hillary Clinton, who twothirds of Americans say they don’t trust.

Many worldwide consider the US political situation as some sort of bad joke; a choice between the deranged and the duplicitous.

In recent years Germany has been the economic strongman of the western world.

They have prospered on the back of a euro weakened by Greece and…almost everyone else in Europe. They showed wonderful humanitarian spirit in accepting thousands of Syrian refugees recently, but the backlash is palpable.

Two-thirds of voters want to get rid of the stately Angela Merkel and the refugees are a big part of the reason. They don’t speak the language, don’t fit in with the culture and are largely unemployable in that state.

Cultural refugees with an inspiring cuisine open ‘cheap as chips’ restaurants and are well received, but ‘Syrian Restaurant’ conjures no great emotion and they stand no chance against the Turkish kebab shops.

Germany has provided them housing and

now it’s stuck with them as they retreat into unemployment enclaves of ‘Little Syria’.

Sixty percent of Germans believe Islam is incompatible with German culture and anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise.

The nationalist, right wing AfD is polling up to 15% and the socialist Die Linke has more than 10% support. Political sentiment is lurching violently away from the centre.

This has happened in Germany before, if you recall.

In Italy the economy is lurching under its crippled banking sector. Italian banks have about 360 billion euros worth of subtly termed ‘non-performing loans’.

Putting 360 billion euros into perspective, it’s more than two years’ worth of NZ’s entire GDP. Portugal and even France are not very far behind. The UK has Brexited a badly losing team. In this topsy-turvy world the European Central Bank and those of Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland all have negative interest rates, prompting a boom in the sale of home safes.

“Somehow our protector of the public good has allowed us to be poisoned and, as I write, no one has come up with a plausible explanation as to how it could have happened.”

Closer to home

Even in New Zealand blokey John Key is losing his appeal, as people realise he’s done almost nothing about income inequality and homelessness. NZ also seems out of control on the immigration front with seemingly no meaningful change in government policy on the horizon.

In truth it’s hard to fix problems of stagnant income and the lack of housing.

And we need the immigrants if they can hold a hammer. Moreover, National offers ‘conservative government’, which means by definition they have been elected to

be ‘steady as she goes’. This once brave opposition party that railed against the RMA, interest-free student loans and middle class welfare have done, well, nothing much about them in almost eight years. The bumbling charisma-free Andrew ‘Stuart’ Little, might just have a chance – if we’re desperate enough.

What does all this mean for Hawke’s Bay?

Well, the same issues are at play here. Political change is driven by the frustrations of ordinary people going about their daily routines. Here too there is frustration with the establishment and an erosion of trust.

Top of the list is the Hastings District Council on the back of the campylobacter water contamination. Somehow our protector of the public good has allowed us to be poisoned and, as I write, no one has come up with a plausible explanation as to how it could have happened.

Regardless of whether the event reflects negligence or was just rotten luck, people are angry.

They have seen those they love most dearly, their children and the elderly, suffer horribly. The mood of the people is frenzied, fearful and reactionary. It feels as though a lynch mob could arise at any moment. It’s an environment where protest votes will be cast and there is some appetite for fresh blood over ‘career politicians’.

Mayor Yule would be in real trouble if a really strong candidate was standing against him. More vulnerable are perhaps multi-term incumbents like Kevin Watkins or Sandra Hazelhurst, despite strong polling at the last election. This year a big name will get rolled somewhere.

The Regional Council has been dragged into the water contamination debate.

Fingers are being pointed at the Central Hawke’s Bay ‘poo ponds’ which still struggle to comply after being handed new standards ten years ago! Radio NZ reports that apparently winter floodwaters caused them to again spill partially treated sewerage into the Tukituki River. It’s unlikely that this has anything to do with the recent

contamination issue, but many in the community see it as symptomatic of the environmental regulator not doing its job.

The HBRC battle will also be fought over the Ruataniwha Dam, and that’s perhaps its fundamental flaw. Such a substantial investment needs to maintain the support of 75% of the community and 75% of the councillors in order to remain credible.

The day it becomes a battle for 51%, then I think proponents have lost their mandate.

How will HBRIC lawyer Martin Williams fare against ageing incumbent Alan Dick, or returning heavyweight Neil Kirton? Will the Green perspective of Paul Bailey gain any traction?

Given HDC’s problems, showing uncanny timing is Cynthia Bowers, whose jump to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council looks like the ‘great escape’. Up against the cohesive one-term trio of Graham, Belford and Barker, I question whether a 21-year ‘career politician’ will be the fresh blood the electorate seeks.

In her favour she’s a ‘name’ and better still a woman. Bowers was the top-polling candidate for the HDC in 2013. Against her is the Horse of the Year; a financial and PR disaster. I think it will be a tougher battle than Bowers is expecting. Unseating an incumbent is always a big challenge.

In Napier, the other grand project, the

multi-sport velodrome, appears to be a key point of contention. Many in the community seem to prefer investment to renew existing infrastructure over this new initiative. Again the resistance seems to be building against ‘visionary ideas’ over core council functions. Many are growing intolerant of the ‘ruling classes’ and the delusional ambitions they have with other people’s money.

Candidates will have to come out clearly on one side or the other when it comes to the velodrome. Voters will be intolerant of fence sitters. Perhaps the most interesting matchup is the passionate and plausible coastal erosion campaigner Larry Dallimore, up against incumbent Mark Herbert. Perhaps the only surprise is that Dallimore hasn’t stood for the HBRC instead.

Social and economic issues are the real drivers of society and you can feel frustrations on the rise. It’s the anxious discombobulations of the mild-mannered middle class. Across Hawke’s Bay and the world they are becoming irritable and impatient.

Can you feel the pressure building? Can you feel change coming?

Paul Paynter is our resident iconoclast and cider maker. Sometimes he grows stuff at Yummyfruit.

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“We prepare our “Consumers are demanding a greater kids for a brutal connection with world instead of their food source. They teaching them need assurances not to be brutal.” about the quality, safety and Julie Hart, integrity of our products.”

Women’s Mike Petersen, Refuge New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy

Photograph Sarah Cates Florence Charvin Julie Hart. Photograph: 40 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Going for the Green Gold SARAH CATES

We all know an O’Rouke, O’Sullivan or a Fitzpatrick. In fact 600,000 Kiwis have our beginnings in the Emerald Isles. We share potatoes, St Paddy’s Day, beer, work ethics, digging the soil, milking cows, humour and music. We both export much of what we produce.

But, we differ. Ireland has Origin Green, we do not. Irish eyes were smiling as Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, recently announced the exceptional success of Origin Green – a first in the world, sustainability programme which is cooperatively leading Ireland’s food and beverage producers to become global leaders in the delivery of sustainably produced food and beverages.

Origin Green was established in 2012 as part of Ireland’s sustainability strategy of the time, Food Harvest 2020, which was set in place after a period of intense economic uncertainty, and financial crisis. The initiative was designed to help transform Ireland’s agri-food industry into one that capitalised on the growing global demand for high quality, safe and nutritious food.

Within three years 470 food and drink manufacturers, accounting for almost 95% of Ireland’s food and drink exports, and 55,000 Irish farms have registered to take part in the voluntary programme.

The prevailing goal of the programme is to have every farm and food manufacturing business demonstrate their commitment to operating in the most sustainable method possible. Credibility in the market place is critical. Each business must develop an individual, comprehensive plan with measurable targets, which incorporate all pillars of sustainability.

Progress is independently monitored, assessed, and verified annually, through Bord Bia’s existing rigorous quality assurance scheme. Becoming affiliated with Origin Green, verified members are able to differentiate their products with

“As Ireland gears up to double its dairy output by 50% to 7.5 billion litres annually by 2020, sustainable growth is seen as a vital ingredient. ” strong market branding. Consumers know they are buying a quality product, whilst demonstrating their commitment to sustainable farming practices throughout the entire supply chain.

The programme’s point of difference is the interdisciplinary approach it has taken to advance the credentials of the entire country’s agri-food industry. The programme utilises knowledge from organisations such as Teagasc (Ireland’s national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to agriculture and the food industry) to develop initiatives, such as the ‘Carbon Navigator’ to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from beef and dairy farms.

90% of Ireland’s beef producers are fully-verified members of the programme.

All of Ireland’s 18,000 dairy farms have implemented Carbon Navigator technology under the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme, which works closely with Origin Green. As Ireland gears up to double its dairy output by 50% to 7.5 billion litres annually by 2020, sustainable growth is seen as a vital ingredient.

Food Harvest 2020, of which Origin Green is an integral part, has seen food and drink exports follow a steady five year growth, faster than any other sector since the economic crash in 2008. In 2015 food and drink exports to 175 international markets increased 3% reaching a record of 10.5 billion euros.

This success is largely attributed to

Ireland’s ‘Green’ image, supported by favourable exchange rates. Exporters are aware that authenticating this image is the key to reaching new high-value, differentiated markets. One such market, with which Bord Bia has just signed a partnership, is SF Best, recognised as China’s leading e-commerce platform for imported premium food and drink, which operates 2,800 stores across China.

Humble beginnings

In 2008 Bord Bia in conjunction with PriceWaterhouseCooper, embarked on an aggressive international research campaign examining consumer perceptions around the sustainability credentials of Irish food and beverages. This research indicated consumers still perceived Ireland as being ‘Green’, but were suspicious. The consumers needed proof.

These findings, along with the developing ‘global middle class’ market, projected to rise from 1.8 billion consumers in 2009, to 3.2 billion in 2020, and the global healthy foods market, estimated to hit the US$1 trillion mark for the first time in 2017, offered potential as an engine of growth for Ireland. Building on an existing, but rocky ‘Green’ reputation they set about winning the trust of consumers and gaining premium positions in established markets.

Food Harvest 2020 set this in motion with a shift for the agri-food industry from its traditional focus on a commodities-based supply to one that was brand-centred and consumer-focused. With culture change gaining traction thoughout the industry, the new agri-food strategy – Food Wise 2025 – now supersedes Food Harvest 2020 and focuses on the increase of value and growth opportunities, over production.

Three major game-changers in the Irish economic environment – the abolition of milk quotas, a strong demand for protein SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 41

products, and differentiating customer demand, has shaped the aspirations of this new strategy. Its aims are to increase the value of agri-food exports by 85% to 19 billion euros, increase value-added to the sector by 70% to 13 billion euros, and increase the value of primary production by 65% to 10 billion euros. Achieving these targets is expected to deliver a further 23,000 jobs in the agri-food sector by 2025.

Ireland is determined to get this right and become the global leader within premium markets. With a strong agricultural heritage, and a high dependency upon a primary sector export base, should New Zealand be worried about such aggressive competition striving for the top spot?

Mike Petersen, New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy (SATE) and Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer, is exasperated. “I take my hat off to the Irish,” he comments. “When they put their minds to something there is no stopping them.

They are incredibly brave bringing the industry together. It will be fascinating to see how it evolves” He continues, “However, the fear is New Zealand will fall behind if we don’t proactively manage our international reputation. The time to move is now. It has never been more urgent! New Zealand will end up reactively responding to future challenges, always on the defensive, literally scrambling to get back ahead.”

Peterson is a strong advocate for the development of a new and coherent New Zealand ‘primary sector story’ to drive a higher value from consumer markets.

“Consumers are demanding a greater connection with their food source. They need assurances about the quality, safety and integrity of our products. The consumers are anxious about the environment, animal welfare and sustainability. There are

“ I truly believe there is an element of fear associated with change, predominantly within agriculture, where traditions have been built up over generations.”

Mike Petersen constant challenges to how we are perceived abroad, we live in a highly connected world.

It’s time to prove our credentials.”

His answer: “Our producers and exporters need to receive accreditation similar to that of ‘Origin Green’ but in a ‘New Zealand’ way. This needs to be a ‘ground up’ strategy, owned and operated by the primary sector participants with support from the government. We need to reach into the rich library of shared resources. This will ensure the ‘NZInc’ story develops and evolves into something of real value for those who choose to join the scheme.”

Collaboration has been a key element of the success of Origin Green. The sharing of knowledge and support throughout the entire Irish primary industry sector has encouraged all business owners to face the challenges of the future together, and it has given them the capacity to engage on many levels. This collaborative approach, which includes inputs from the academic and scientific communities, will essentially increase the chances of developing a longterm sustainable industry with greater value, increased resilience to variation, and credibility throughout the supply chain.

Julia Jones, KPMG’s Farm Enterprise Specialist and co-author of the 2015 Agribusiness Agenda thinks along the same lines as Petersen.

She remarks, “We cannot feed the world.

If we are to stay ahead New Zealand must shift its focus to feeding a proportion of the world’s most affluent and discerning people. The role of farmers has changed.

They have to think like the consumer, value begins inside the farm gate. We do not produce anything that cannot be replicated in other countries, therefore it is vital we differentiate our products, aim for the high-value markets, and change our farming behaviour accordingly. If we don’t make these changes we will become irrelevant.”

Jones says young agricultural leaders are increasingly frustrated with the slow up-take of change within New Zealand’s agri-food industry. “New Zealand is stuck in bad habits. It is time to stop working within a silo mentality. Our young farmers are eager to collaborate, build relationships, share resources, and information. I truly believe there is an element of fear associated with change, predominantly within agriculture, where traditions have been built up over generations. Historically, we have fought change, but it’s well past time to create something new. Something meaningful to us, and our consumers. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ system, but it is how we respond to potential threats, market gaps, and problems that will keep us at the forefront of the industry. ”It appears we have hit crunch time.

It’s a choice. Do we proceed along the unsustainable, low value, commodity route, or take the brave step, directing our efforts and resources into the expanding premium market? Will it take a major crisis to force significant change?

New Zealand has the natural assets, the knowledge and the people to become world leaders, but we need to leave old habits in the past, and “get out of the shed”.

Otherwise Origin Green will eat us alive!

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44 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Wealth Inequality …

The Asset Gap MARK SWEET

There have always been those at the top of the wealth pyramid and those at the bottom.

Early Hawke’s Bay settlers like Henry Tiffen and J.N. Williams amassed fortunes from fruit growing and processing. Meat baron William Nelson was so wealthy he built four grand houses for his four daughters; two remain, Mangapapa Hotel and Ormlie Lodge.

Today’s equivalents of the pioneer entrepreneurs could be categorised as those on the NBR Rich List, with Havelock North based technology entrepreneur, Rod Drury, at $500 million, heading the list in Hawke’s Bay. Individuals and families amassing enormous wealth is historical, and in most cases their enterprise provides employment and economic benefit. Their contribution is without doubt.

However, a disturbing trend has emerged that sees the gap in wealth between those at the top and those at the bottom growing rapidly.

From 2009 to 2016, the wealth of those in the NBR Rich List ($50m+) has grown by 40%, a greater increase than any other sixyear period since first published in 1986.

But it is not only the mega-rich whose share of the country’s wealth is increasing disproportionally.

Latest statistics, for the year ending June 2015, indicate that New Zealand’s wealthiest 10% - with net assets over $850,000 – own 60% of all wealth, up from 55% in 2010.

The poorest 10%, who have little or no assets, have seen their indebtedness increase 30%.

“In the thirty years, 1984-2014, adjusted for inflation, the incomes of the richest 1% have more than doubled, while incomes for the poorest 10% have remained static.”

Nearly half of the top 10% asset wealth is vested in property, with soaring house prices contributing significantly to the increase.

As a result, millennials (under 35) are being deprived of home ownership, especially in Auckland, where the median house price is $975,000 (July 2016).

And Hawke’s Bay is not immune. In Hastings house prices have increased 14% in the last year, in Napier, 15%. Good for those who own, but not so for those who don’t.

The income gap

The latest IRD statistics for income (from 2014) show that 50% of individuals earned less than $28,000, 10% earned over $80,000, 5% earned over $107,000, and the top 1%, $200,000 or more.

There has always been disparity in income, but as with asset wealth, the gap is widening rapidly.

Since 2007 the pre-tax income of households at the bottom 20th percentile have increased by $4,000 on average, while those at the top 20th percentile have increased on average by $43,000.

Another way to look at income disparity

is presented in Wealth and New Zealand by Max Rashbrooke (BWB Texts 2015).

In the thirty years, 1984-2014, adjusted for inflation, the incomes of the richest 1% have more than doubled, while incomes for the poorest 10% have remained static.

In Hawke’s Bay, an illustration of the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom is a caregiver in a rest-home paid $15.25 per hour gross, around $30,000 a year if employed full-time, while the CEO of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board is on a performance-related salary of $500,000 to $510,000.

Any argument that massively rewarding those at the top is balanced by the ‘trickle down’ effect has been soundly discredited. (see OECD: Focus on Inequality and Growth.

December 2014)

Why the widening gaps?

1986 is a good place to start in understanding what has happened in New Zealand.

Labour Party Finance Minister, Roger Douglas, initiated economic reforms loosely termed neo-liberal – privatisation, fiscal austerity, deregulation, and reduction in government spending, in order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy.

He was not alone. The same ‘free market’ policies were being pursued worldwide, the result being the globalisation of finance and trade.

The Rogernomic reforms were continued by the 1990 National Government. In the ‘mother of all budgets’, Finance Minister Ruth Richardson drastically reduced SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 45

unemployment, welfare, and sickness benefits (reduced by 30%). A year later the Employment Contracts Act replaced collective bargaining and compulsory union membership with individual employment contracts, effectively destroying the power of workers, driving down wages and conditions.

In New Zealand, neo-liberalism was a bonanza for some, most notably merchant bankers Fay and Richwhite, who advised the Government on the privatisation of the Bank of New Zealand, Tranz Rail, and Telecom.

Fay and Richwhite made hundreds of millions from their involvement. Accused of insider trading in the railways sale in 2007, they paid $20 million to the Securities Commission to settle the case.

Fay and Richwhite are cited because they represent the international 1% tycoons who have been the major beneficiaries of globalisation.

And as Branco Milanovic points out in his book Global Inequality (Belknap Press, 2016) other winners are the top 5% of developed countries, and the middle classes of emerging economies, China and India. The losers are the very poor in Africa, and the ‘citizens of rich countries with stagnating incomes’, like New Zealand.

For a short period, 2000-2008, the income gaps remained stable, as Max Rashbrooke points out, “thanks to policies

such as Working for Families and a much higher minimum wage”.

However, with a change of government, the disparity trend re-emerged and not surprisingly.

In 2014, the Washington-based Tax Foundation ranked New Zealand’s tax code the second most competitive in the OECD. By competitive they mean favourable to those with high incomes and assets.

As cited by the Tax Foundation, New Zealand has “multiple competitive features, including no inheritance tax, no general capital gains tax, and no payroll taxes”, and at 33%, the lowest top rate personal tax in the OECD. They praise “reformist” New Zealand for recognising: “In a world where businesses, people, and money can move with relative ease, having a competitive tax code has become even more important to economic success.”

However, downsides of the current Government’s liberal tax code is rampant speculation in the housing market and record immigration, and with an eroded tax base, budgets for social services, health, and education are suffering.

Consequences for Hawke’s Bay

When the 4th Labour Government came to power in 1984, they inherited policies that

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heavily subsidised agriculture, equivalent to 30% of total farming output. The subsidies, like supplementary minimum prices (SMP), were scrapped. With lower prices due to a high exchange rate, and difficulty securing markets, the sheep meat industry especially suffered.

As a consequence, in 1986, the biggest single local employer, The Hawke’s Bay Farmers Meat Company at Whakatu, closed with the loss of 1,600 jobs. Eight years later, in 1994, the Weddel Tomoana Freezing Works closed … 1,400 jobs were lost.

The majority of those who lost their jobs were Māori.

The workers were not to blame. Political and economic decision makers in Wellington were. No effort was made to prepare the workers for redundancy, and the Government offered little support afterwards.

Many, especially older workers, never found employment again, and the detrimental effects on their health, both physical and mental, are starkly documented in Mauri Mahi, Mauri Ora, a joint Otago University and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc research study.

From having steady employment with enough income to live decent lives, many families were reduced to poverty, and have never recovered. Inter-generation unemployment is a legacy of the closures of Tomoana and Whakatu.

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46 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

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“What would really change society is if the top 10% sent their kids to local schools, mixing higher and lower socio-economic families.”

Daniel Murfitt Principal of William Colenso College

Photograph: Tim Whittaker

Furthermore, younger workers left for Australia in droves, separating families, and Hawke’s Bay lost some of its brightest and best youth.

Is it fair?

Any chance of implementing solutions addressing wealth inequality must start with consensus that inequality is fundamentally unfair.

We must ask the questions: • Is it fair that a CEO is paid 10, 20, 50 times more than the person who cleans his/her office, mends the roads they drive on, and fills their car at the petrol pump?

• Is it fair that a working couple on the minimum wage ($15.25 per hour) will never be able to save enough to buy their own home?

• Is it fair that their children have less access to education, sport, culture, and recreation, than the children of the wealthy?

• Is it fair that the children of the wealthy can be gifted or inherit money and assets, unearned except by the good fortune of their birth circumstance, and share none of it with the less fortunate?

• Is it fair that housing speculators share

48 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

none of the capital gain they have done nothing to earn?

• Is it fair that children contract respiratory diseases and gut infections directly attributable to living in the cold damp houses the speculators are too mean to insulate and adequately heat?

• Is it fair to all New Zealanders that the current tax code favouring the wealthy is creating a divisive – them and us – grossly unequal society?

One would hope most Kiwis would answer, no, it’s not fair.

References

Statistics: Inland Revenue, Statistics New Zealand, OECD, CoreLogic NZ Ltd. Wealth and New Zealand by Max Rashbrooke (BWB Texts, 2015) Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis by Max Rashbooke (BWB Texts, 2013) Global Inequality by Branko Milanovic (Belknap Press, 2016) OECD: Focus on Inequality and Growth December 2014

OECD Key Findings

• The gap between rich and poor is now at • •

•

• •

•

its highest level in 30 years in most OECD countries.

This long-term trend increase in income inequality has curbed economic growth significantly.

While the overall increase in income inequality is also driven by the very rich 1% pulling away, what matters most for growth are families with lower incomes slipping behind.

This negative effect of inequality on growth is determined not just by the poorest income decile but actually by the bottom 40% of income earners.

This is because inter alia people from disadvantaged social backgrounds underinvest in their education.

Tackling inequality through tax and transfer policies does not harm growth, provided these policies are well designed and implemented.

In particular, redistribution efforts should focus on families with children and youth, as this is where key decisions on human capital investment are made and should promote skills development and learning across people’s lives.

“ The politicians? I don’t think they have any idea what it’s like in the real world.”

Maureen Mua, CEO Roopu a Iwi Trust

Photograph: Tim Whittaker

Local Voices on Inequality The Educationalist

Daniel Murfitt is Principal of William Colenso College. He lives in Haumoana.

“Wealth inequality means students of lower income families have less access to opportunities than those from higher income families.

Take sports for instance. To play hockey is $120, netball $100, basketball $90. Kids who play sport are more engaged in school, so it’s important to help. We charge $50, and students can play any sport they want, and as many as they want. It’s a detriment to our budget but we’re fortunate to have international students who provide extra income.

And consider access to music and culture.

The cost of learning an instrument is around $300 a year, so what happens is children from wealthier families get private tuition from a very early age, and have a huge advantage in theory and practice.

Often very talented students from poorer families don’t get the opportunity, and when they do, the catch-up needed is massive. Sadly, a great deal of talent falls through the gaps.

Another disadvantage for students from poorer families is having connections in the work force when they leave school. That transition between school and work is massively difficult if you don’t have connections.

Being able to give students a range of different work experiences as they go through school, with holiday work and paying them, would make a huge difference.

There’s resistance from employers with valid reasons not to, but the reasons to do so are longer term, because relationships are developed, and some students might end up as employees when they leave school.

Yes, we’ve transformed the expectations of Māori to achieve. Seven years ago Māori were 40% behind in NCEA rates, and now there is no difference. This has been achieved by putting the students at the centre and fostering professional development around culturally responsive relationships.

The challenge now is how do we transform

society’s thinking about these kids when they leave school.

What would really change society is if the top 10% sent their kids to local schools, mixing higher and lower socio-economic families.”

The Social Worker

Maureen Mua is CEO of Roopu a Iwi Trust.

She lives in Napier.

“Maraenui was a thriving community. It was a working class suburb and people had jobs at the freezing works, on the wharf, and other places.

All the shops were full. We had a butcher’s, a vege shop, a bookshop, a hairdresser’s.

People came from the countryside for work back in the 50s and 60s, then with the closures, and the changes, people were made redundant, and few new jobs replaced the old, and people ended up struggling. There is seasonal work, but that’s not the same as reliable full-time employment. What we need here is jobs.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 49

“ The way I see the future … there will be a coming together of working people, and I think that will be around environmental issues.”

Gren Christie

Photograph: Mark Sweet

Of course poverty can be degrading and demoralising. I had to drop something off at WINZ recently, and they only let so many people in at a time, so there was a queue outside, and it was cold, and there were kids with parents shivering with cold. It just isn’t right.

There is a growing gap. That’s obvious, but people here are resilient and resourceful. We have community vege gardens, and a Koha Shed with clothing, shoes, and so on, and there’s great goodwill, like a local motelier who was upgrading sheets and bedding and donated it all.

And there are some great things happening in the schools. The Community of Learning project is seven local schools collaborating and sharing resources. It’s about investing in our children’s education so they can live better lives.

I was talking to a woman who was chairperson of a private school, and she was excited about the Communities of Learning initiative, and she said she’d love to be included.

I said you’d have to take that back to your trust board and you’d have to deliver that to your parents, and there’s no way those parents who are spending so much money would want their kids mixing with kids from Maraenui. She agreed. That’s such a shame.

The politicians? I don’t think they have any idea what its like in the real world.”

The Unionist

Gren Christie was a member of the Rail and Maritime Union for over twenty years. He lives in Waipukurau.

“When I walked into the wharfies hall in Lyttelton there was a huge banner saying ‘United we stand divided we fall’, and at the other end another said, ‘People matter not money’. Workers knew about solidarity, and the concept that an injury to one is an injury to all. With the Employment Contracts Act and demise of the union movement those messages were lost, along with collective bargaining power for decent wages and conditions.

With the casualisation of much employment there are no guarantees. People don’t have continuity of work. They can’t plan their week, their social lives, and time spent with their families.

When I was young, a working class couple could buy an affordable new home with a State Advances loan, because the priority was for people to have the security of home ownership. Now we have the

working poor, who are either treading water or sinking, living in rented houses, without the prospect of ever owning their own home.

The neo-liberals have captured the narrative, and most people think we live in a democracy, but in reality most of the major decisions are made in the board rooms of the powerful.

The nature of capitalism is to squeeze every dollar in every way it can. That’s the nature of the beast. And when it’s given complete liberation, not only are people exploited, but there’s exploitation of resources, and devastating environmental damage. Whenever you see something that seems wrong, follow the trail, and you inevitably end up at some corporate capitalist enterprise.

The way I see the future … there will be a coming together of working people, and I think that will be around environmental issues. People are sick to death of seeing the environment trashed for the profit of the few.

I do have a little bit of optimism with Generation Zero, and the 1% Movement, and how we can all talk online … it’s going to be pick up your PCs, your Macs, and your sickle.”

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Cultivating Energy Savings in Farming KEITH NEWMAN PHOTOGRAPHS: TIM WHITTAKER

Scott Lawson, Lawson Organic Farms.

52 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“Hawke’s Bay has to be a high value-added food producing region; that’s where we’ve been in the past and where we need to go in the future.”

Scott Lawson To escape the clutches of commodity market economics, Hawke’s Bay farmers, orchardists and food processors are being challenged to work smarter across the value chain, and this includes improving their energy profile – using energy that’s cheaper, more efficiently.

With doubts about the long-term sustainability of pumping up productivity per hectare, or the return on investment for energy intensive management systems, many are wondering which way to turn.

Napier-based agricultural economist Barry Ridler argues that we need less energy-consuming farming, not more energy-intensive farming. He warns that we’re pushing our arable land well beyond what is sustainable and wasting energy and investment in the process.

“If you think that New Zealand can double its agricultural output between 2010 and 2025, you’re in dreamland … Nature doesn’t allow that.” Ridler calls it the Canute complex, believing that because something’s written down on paper, we can make it happen.

Ridler, a former senior lecturer at Massey University, says the only way to achieve the high productivity goals encouraged by government policy is through costly, energyconsuming ‘complex systems’.

He says New Zealand should be developing our own technology and world class “intellectual firepower” to farm and crop smarter, competing on quality rather than chasing commodity market demands.

“We’re like Wyle E Coyote, so intent on chasing a particular roadrunner that we’ve

gone over the cliff, getting further out and still not looking down.”

So, how might our farming sector move toward less costly and more efficient energy use?

Energy in the region

In recent Regional Council public consultation, energy use was identified as one of the ‘Big Six’ issues for the region in next decade. Council has begun to look at countering rising energy costs through a Regional Energy Strategy assessing options, opportunities and impacts of new technologies and alternative energy sources.

Any alternative energy business case will need to define current and future needs, develop more knowledge about biomass and biofuel from waste streams, and await wind and sun technology breakthroughs.

The MBIE Energy in New Zealand 2014 report targets 90% electricity generation from renewable sources by 2025, while acknowledging the importance of fossil fuels with “continued exploration and development…well aligned” with the Government’s broader agenda.

The 2013 data has the primary sector consuming less than one tenth of all business energy – agriculture, forestry and fishing use about 6%, with renewable energy comprising 38.2% of supply. About half of related businesses have energy saving and monitoring initiatives.

Diesel provides half of primary sector needs, two-thirds used off public roads, such SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 53

“Hawke’s Bay has to be a high value-added food producing region; that’s where we’ve been in the past and where we need to go in the future.”

Hugh Richie, Drumpeel Farms as on farms, fields, and around mines.

While Statistics NZ and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) regularly crunch national energy use numbers they’ve failed to deliver regional breakdowns.

George Hooper, a senior consultant with Advisian, a Worley Parsons company helping to assess Hawke’s Bay energy use, says data collection is expensive, not always accurate, but essential for year-on-year comparisons of what’s trending.

Where the primary sector falls down, he suggests, is maintaining and linking good data about energy efficiency across the entire value chain. “Without some form of measure you don’t know if you have a problem or what the problem is.”

He suggests taking a lead from forestry, an industry under extreme price and competitive pressure, with strengths in certification and management practices, including waste reuse and co-generation.

The Hawke’s Bay Energy Futures Regional Stocktake 2015 compiled by Worley Parsons, a first step in highlighting critical energy

issues, identifies primary and manufacturing industries as large users of thermal energy and petroleum fuels (including gas).

Energy Futures notes government interest in continuing oil and gas exploration and, while five wind farms west of Hastings have consents, they’re undeveloped because of “a national oversupply” of electricity.

Loosely, Hawke’s Bay’s generation capacity of 380 MW and demand of 300 MW mean “the region is essentially self-sufficient”.

Opportunities for solar are largely restricted to the electricity network, there’s little opportunity for geothermal beyond the Whirinaki plant, but potential exists for further hydro schemes, such via the Ruataniwha dam (although HBRIC has recently removed electricity generation from its plans).

Broader thinking and improved choices are urged, particularly around biofuels and other non-conventional renewable opportunities if we’re to have a sustainable “affordable and available energy supply”.

Hooper, who contributed to the report, sees energy use as “a system of systems”

starting with what international markets want from our produce or goods and then how we achieve that.

“The real killer is how we harvest, move and process our goods because we’re still so reliant on fossil fuels. Tractors, transport, shipping, cool stores – all the way down the value chain are energy factors that contribute to the overall cost of delivery.”

Solar solutions slow

Scott Lawson of Lawson Organic Farms, a major producer of certified organic berry fruit and vegetables, says alternative energies including biogas, biodiesel and solar are always on the radar, but more information and a collaborative approach are needed.

While biodiesel might be promoted as an alternative for farm vehicles and pumps, he says the latest diesel motors with electronic injection technology and emission controls are so efficient they restrict biodiesel use.

Lawson, actively involved in many farming groups and chairman of Hawke’s Bay Vegetable Growers, says solar is the low hanging fruit, but the challenge is in aligning

it with demand times.

“From a vegetable grower’s perspective there are issues with the cost of solar-powered pumps for supplementary irrigation when they sit idle for 8-10 months of the year.”

He doesn’t think solar technologies are marketed well. While they can supplement demand in cool store operations, the battery technology isn’t there yet … “that’s why many people go for diesel pumps”.

Hugh Ritchie of Drumpeel Farms also remains shy of solar and wind because of the high cost. “Unfortunately 70-80kw pumps place a big demand if you want to use solar and battery back-up; I’ve thought about solar for electric fences but the technology is not there yet.”

However, Waipawa-based Isaacs Electrical has found a solar niche with its industrial strength pump and controller for extracting water from streams, rivers and dams to water tanks and troughs.

They draw water to a height of 20 metres and pump 1,200 litres an hour over a kilometre during daylight hours. Once it’s in a tank, gravity takes care of the rest and a ballcock shuts supply once full.

“Landcorp like them because it’s often a 30-minute daily commute to refuel their pumps with 5 litres of gas. That’s a lot of man hours and fuel”, says Isaacs partner Gavin Steeter.

“Instead of letting cows walk into the

stream or river to drink you fence it off and pump the water,” says Streeter, whose company sold 60 units into Hawke’s Bay last summer and is now filling global orders.

Consultant George Hooper is convinced

In order to minimise energy use across his own operations, Lawson uses track and trace systems to monitor everything from seeds to harvest and retail sales. “We have to get smarter in how we complete that paddock to plate and back to the paddock cycle.” solar will be an important contributor to our energy future. He talks of high temperature solar thermal to make steam and of the R&D going into direct solar for chemical reactions … “processed heat as opposed to electrical energy”.

Waste re-generation

Scott Lawson wants more informed advice from councils on alternative energy use. He

commends Hastings District Council and others on research into primary production waste streams, including fertility recycling or turning vegetable waste back into the fields.

“It can be high energy use, but so is buying imported fertilisers.”

In order to minimise energy use across his own operations, he uses track and trace systems to monitor everything from seeds to harvest and retail sales. “We have to get smarter in how we complete that paddock to plate and back to the paddock cycle.”

Lawson cites Hastings-based Greenmount Foods, a major processor and exporter of vegetable ingredients, as a leader in waste stream use, producing biogas energy for its factory.

Hooper envisages new utilities bypassing the obstacles of seasonality, scale and perceived risk, using biomass, biogas and solar to on-sell steam and hot water.

The HBRC Stocktake commends precedent-setting Omarunui Landfill, run by Pioneer Energy with Hastings and Napier city councils, which creates enough electricity from methane in buried rubbish to power 1,000 households In the industrial suburb of Washdyke north of Timaru, Pioneer Energy uses coal and biomass to sell hot water, steam and electricity. “They take all the risk and responsibility delivering the right energy for the right purpose and managing all the

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The prototype ZEV 9000 has been in full commercial use by the Kapiti Coast District Council since 2013, achieving operating costs one-third of the equivalent diesel vehicle.

Xan Harding, Viticulturalist.

interactions,” says Hooper.

It’s all about fresh thinking and new arrangements that benefit everyone. “For Hawke’s Bay that might be an industry energy park bringing together different energy supply options to promote wise use and sustainability and how to de-carbonise the supply chain.”

Winemakers lead

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), a Crown Entity established in 2000, says overall energy use is growing about 2% annually, with potential to save about 20% or $2.4 billion a year through efficiencies and renewable resources.

That includes finding clever ways to use lower grade or waste heat, good engineering and process design, and optimising the heat balance around a plant.

Hooper says local winemakers have a good track record. Among the EECA case studies is Craggy Range winery which has offset electricity costs through good engineering and a heat recovery system.

The system takes waste heat from air compressors and refrigeration for heating water and cooling, reducing energy use by 13%, cutting CO2 emissions by 157 tonnes, and paid for itself in four years.

Viticulturalist Xan Harding of Grapeology, a representative on New Zealand Grapegrowers and Hawke’s Bay 56 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Hooper says local winemakers have a good track record.

Among the EECA case studies is Craggy Range winery which has offset electricity costs through good engineering and a heat recovery system.

Winegrowers, says most wineries are working to reduce power in refrigeration, lighting and processing.

He cites the new Delegats winery, northwest of Hastings, with its attention to energy-saving engineering design and processes. The company processes 20,000 tonnes of grapes annually in Hawke’s Bay and has sustainability measures in place from vineyard to bottle.

Harding says the industry, including around 254 vineyards in Hawke’s Bay covering 4,744 hectares, uses about half the pumped water of most other horticultural crops, and has relatively low input of fertiliser and pesticides.

Owners often work to reduce machinery passes by mowing and spraying at the same time, using sheep for summer leaf plucking and autumn and winter weed control.

Drought tolerant root stocks and imported strains requiring less intervention are being investigated.

Lifecycle energy costs are achieved through glass recycling, the use of lighter bottles and shipping wine in bulk for inmarket bottling.

On his own property, Harding uses 10kW from solar panels with a 3-phase grid-tied inverter feeding an 8.5kW submersible irrigation pump to bring up groundwater to match peak daily solar generation. Off peak it feeds domestic requirements with surplus going back into the grid.

Best practice benefits

Hugh Richie of Drumpeel Farms, never planned to be an energy-efficient farmer.

That result came through changing equipment, adopting better business practices and putting back whatever is taken out of the land.

The 2014 Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year, with influential roles in land and irrigation research groups, says reducing cultivation automatically improves soil quality and “the amount of diesel it takes to sow crops”.

While selecting new equipment based on fuel efficiency may look good on paper, “if you’re farming practices are inefficient, it’s not going to make much difference”.

For the past fifteen years he’s only cultivated a quarter of his acreage using

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a strip-till process, planting maize, corn, squash and beans in narrow strips (12cm wide, every 76cm).

“We use a direct seed drill for planting seed for wheat, barley, peas, grass, oats and other narrow row spacing crops, which is done in one pass over a paddock.”

Ritchie uses global positioning systems (GPS) to guide auto-steer equipment in straight lines so there’s no overlap for tilling, sowing, irrigation, fertiliser and weed spraying, which reduces water, fertiliser and chemical use.

Previously ploughing a 30 hectare maize block took 600 litres of diesel; using strip cultivation that’s down to 120 litres.

Scott Lawson commends the Landwise farming research group for its work in energy reduction, soil quality and productivity methods, including GPS ‘controlled traffic’ and strip cultivating.

However, he says only early adopters, around 10%, have taken it up. “There’s a lot of work to do yet … we need to grow the whole sustainability base and produce more with less input.”One of the obstacles is “our lack of knowledge and cohesion at a local and regional level and understanding the linkages”.

Lawson agrees growers should learn from dairying and avoid commodity production.

“Hawke’s Bay has to be a high value-added

food producing region; that’s where we’ve been in the past and where we need to go in the future.”

To achieve that “the processing guys” need to remain competitive internationally and come up with new ideas.

“This is part of the wider industry discussion we should be having, (including) the waste streams that could become energy streams. I don’t think we’ve spent enough time as a community looking at these things.”

Energy and irrigation

On his farms at Otane and Poukawa, Hugh Ritchie is exploring new technologies for pasture improvement in conjunction with

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AgResearch, including GM-type transgenic grasses that could double productivity for the same amount of water.

While water from the proposed Ruataniwha dam will be costly, Ritchie says it’ll make a huge difference, but the challenge remains to extract value while keeping costs down. Ritchie plans to use variable rate irrigation (VRI) to deliver water exactly where it’s needed using a 30-foot boom with pivotal and lateral arms and computer controlled solenoids for each nozzle. “You might end up using the same amount of water but the productivity output per unit of energy is more efficient with greater uniformity and less waste.”

According to Irrigation NZ (INZ), currently about 2.5% of the country’s electricity is used on pressurised spray systems covering 625,151 hectares; that could increase by 350,000 hectares over the next 20 years based on the Ruataniwha dam and other water storage proposals.

An INZ and EECA pilot programme with 12 farmers showed it was possible to save up to $7,444 a year by upgrading irrigation systems.

An average investment of $25,888 could achieve payback within three and a half years and reduce irrigation needs by 10-15 days over a six-month season.

INZ believes 10-20% of electricity – 110,000 to 220,000 megawatts a year – could be saved through more efficient systems, suggesting farmers constantly monitor water needs, improve systems hydraulically and mechanically, and know when to turn them off.

However, some irrigation systems burn so much energy that calculations on returns, suggests Barry Ridler, are “aspirational really … la la land … complex systems just gobble energy across the whole spectrum.”

Trying to get plants to double their photosynthetic rate is nonsense. “No

matter what you do in the Ruataniwha, it’s not going to grow more than 15,000 kilograms of dry matter per hectare” on the very best of soils, given colder climate and a shorter growing season.

Ridler suggests farmers ask why they have to spend $85,000 or $110,000 on electricity for running more sophisticated systems, or why experts need to come out to regularly reprogramme irrigation or GPS systems?

What if there are cheaper options than irrigation that use less energy? “We need to start thinking about simplicity and get back to

“From a vegetable grower’s perspective there are issues with the cost of solarpowered pumps for supplementary irrigation when they sit idle for 8-10 months of the year.”

Scott Lawson some of the basics, often hidden by numbers, programmes and complex systems.”

Ridler’s computer modelling asserts that beyond a certain number of animals per hectare you get a “parasitic herd” taking revenue from the profit making herd. If the natural capacity of a farm is 600 cows and the farmer adds irrigation and complex management to stretch that to 1000 cows, after five months you’ll need to buy in extra feed, possibly tonnes of palm kernel delivered from the port by 50 tonne trucks.

This new “production economics” doesn’t take into account the cost of importing feed, machinery to feed out or thousands of dollars

in electricity for irrigation and effluent systems.

Open to options

Our dependence on fossil fuels is unlikely to change in the short-term, even if resilient alternatives go mainstream. George Hooper says the best thing the primary sector can do is be open to alternatives to augment electricity, diesel, oil and gas for transport, farm and other machinery.

A plant in Auckland makes bio-diesel; Fonterra makes ethanol from whey; there are options for making methanol from wood; you can grow algae for fuel; and a range of technologies are being used in China, Europe and the US. “Those opportunities are an important part of the story.”

Hooper says it’s time for a serious conversation about the cost of energy to Hawke’s Bay’s mainstay sector, what the alternatives are and how to work more collaboratively “so we make the right decisions”.

“If we can create more value for our growers by adopting good practices right through the value chain we all win … what we don’t want is an energy infrastructure that is going to restrict that.”

Unison is pleased to sponsor robust examination of energy issues in Hawke’s Bay. This reporting is prepared by BayBuzz. Any editorial views expressed are those of the BayBuzz team.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 59

Boring into Gastrogate TOM BELFORD

Readers need little reminder of the impact of the campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North. The District Health Board estimated that more than 5,000 people, approximately one-third of the 14,000 residents of that community, and half of its households had been affected by the outbreak as of 31 August.

The full impact would be broader still, as those from elsewhere working, shopping, visiting in Havelock during the critical period would have been exposed to the bacteria. And of course the impacts ripple further still in the form of lost work 60 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“The District Health Board estimated that more than 5,000 people, approximately onethird of the 14,000 residents of that community, had been affected by the outbreak.”

and business income, and lost school days.

As I write, with incidences of gastro illness declining, the DHB is devoting more attention to the aftermath illnesses triggered by the campylobacter infection.

Some people who were infected can suffer from serious but treatable complications, some long-lasting.

Reactive arthritis is one of these – severe inflammation of joints, the urinary system and the eyes. Healthnavigator.org, the website DHB points to for credible information, notes that this condition “normally goes away on its own within

a few months without causing ongoing problems”. Comforting?

Guillain-Barre syndrome is another example, where the body’s immune system attacks the nervous system, causing muscle weakness, loss of reflexes and tingling in the arms, legs, face and other parts of the body (even paralysis in extreme cases). Worsening of this disease can continue for four weeks and there is a long recovery time thereafter.

Fortunatley, relatively few people should suffer these complcations. In addition, further testing is aimed at determining if two other bugs with longer incubation time than campylobacter – cryptosporidium and giardia – are present in the water. These would lead to gastro illness as well.

And finally, from the public health perspective, there’s the matter of what treatment should be given to our ‘pure’ aquifer-sourced drinking water in the future, if the source of contamination is assessed to be increasing and/or the future risk of protective infrastructure failure is unacceptable. Continuous chlorination, UV treatment, filtration – probably all with varying degrees of public resistance … and all with cost.

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, the incidence of campylobacter infections has fallen to nil, and we’ve returned to some DHB recommends this website, Our Health Hawke’s Bay, as the best ongoing source of health information with regard to the outbreak and its effects: www.ourhealthhb.nz/healthycommunities/public-healthwarnings-and-alerts/

semblance of health normalcy.

That will shift focus from immediate health care and recovery to the governance and regulatory realm. There, we still have far more questions than answers.

Probably first on everyone’s list is

“What treatment should be given to our ‘pure’ aquifer-sourced drinking water in the future ... if the future risk of protective infrastructure failure is unacceptable?”

simply, ‘How did this happen?’

What is the source of the contamination?

At this point, every potential source must be put under the microscope – from faecescontaminated surface water to polluted water recharged into the aquifer from the Tukituki.

In looking at possible sources, the investigation must consider both the most likely cause of this specific event, perhaps surface water contamination, and the longterm effects of land use around unprotected aquifers and the healthiness of the Tukituki as a recharge source for the aquifer. In other words, an unfortunate one-off episode or a portent of increasing risk?

Next on the question list is, “How did it infiltrate the groundwater from which Havelock’s drinking water was pumped (and now no longer is)?”

It would appear that serious questions must be examined with respect to HDC’s

management of these particular bores and their susceptibility to being compromised.

The possibility of other infrastructure defects in the more ageing parts of the distribution system must be examined as well. And if the Tuki recharge poses risk, do we know enough, monitor enough, to properly address that possibility?

Of course, with a view to moving forward, key questions are, “Could this have been prevented?” and “What measures will be taken to ensure drinking water safety in the future?”

Here again, more questions than current answers regarding monitoring and testing frequency and rigour, apparent absence of precautionary attention to weather events and likely impacts, jurisdictional issues as between the Hastings and Regional Councils and the DHB and Health Ministry. We call it ‘Gastrogate’.

No shortage of questions. A government inquiry into the matter, with implications for all NZ. Much more to come.

The next BayBuzz magazine will examine the situation in depth. Stay tuned.

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“We prepare our kids for a brutal world instead of teaching them not to be brutal.”

Julie Hart, Women’s Refuge

62 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Not in Front of the Children

Family violence in Hawke’s Bay

JESSICA SOUTAR BARRON PHOTOGRAPHY: FLORENCE CHARVIN

All Black Norm Hewitt used a recent NZ-on-Air documentary, Making Good Men, to unpack his violence and the day he unleashed the volcano inside and delivered a substantial pummelling to a classmate.

When Hewitt is just a small child in the story, he recounts hearing his mother being beaten by his father. It’s his mother’s voice that resonates. She says: “Not in front of the children.” He’s five. By nine he’s gone from witness to victim. At 14 he’s become the bully.

Telling the story that’s the crux of the film Hewitt says: “I lost so much control. It reminded me of what it was like looking into my father’s eyes when he was standing over me and I knew he couldn’t stop.”

In turn his father talks about his own childhood beatings at the hands of his father: “He pulled me out from under the bed and gave me such a thrashing I thought I was going to die,” he says. “I had no role model to show me it was different.”

A Hawke’s Bay story

Hewitt’s is a Hawke’s Bay story; he was born in Hastings, raised in Central Hawke’s Bay, schooled at Te Aute. His mother is Māori, his father Pākehā.

Early on, the film throws up a black and white still of Hewitt as a baby, a typical Hawke’s Bay baby in many ways, he’s not from a stereotypical ‘poverty’ household, he’s cradled in his mother’s arms, his father puts food on the table, there’s family around.

Let’s look at this baby: born with 50

born into a stressful situation you are still making connections but they are different: gratification needs to be immediate, there’s a strong flight or fight reflex, there’s no trust.

And that is hard-wired.”

Breaking the cycle

Source: Making Good Men, PrimeTV

“I lost so much control. It reminded me of what it was like looking into my father’s eyes when he was standing over me and I knew he couldn’t stop.”

Norm Hewitt million neurons, he will never produce any more. What he will do is grow neural pathways, and fast.

Paediatrician Dr Russell Wills explains the link between this and what happens next: “From 0 to 3 years you make millions of connections every minute. When needs are met promptly and appropriately we learn to trust, to delay gratification. If you are

Hewitt’s story happened 40 years ago, but elements of it are playing out through Hawke’s Bay every day. We have one of the highest rates of family violence in the country, and with much anecdotal evidence to say abused children – or even children who are simply witnessing family violence – grow up to abuse, it’s a vicious cycle.

Everyone, from the health sector to the Police to social services to Women’s Refuge accept this as fact, but there is very little long-term help. There are ‘bandaids’ and the allegorical ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, but no robust, on-going, governmentresourced assistance to help people ‘break the cycle’.

Size of the problem

Of the one million children in New Zealand, 90,000 have been the subject of a ‘report of concern’ to Child, Youth and Family (that’s 150,000 reports of concern a year). There are 50,000 investigations. “When you look at the growth of reporting, it has grown four times in a decade.” says Dr Russell Wills.

“All that growth is in children witnessing family violence.”

Māori represent 25% of all children, but 50% of CYF children and 60% of children in care.The statistics say 55,000 children SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 63

THE BEST:

Dr Russell Wills, Paediatrician.

are resident in a home where the Police have been called because of violence; that’s one in 20 children. But it’s estimated that only one in every seven incidents is reported. “While there is a massive increase in referrals, there is still under-reporting,” explains Wills.

The largest rate of family violence is in the eastern regions – that’s Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti.

“Ours is the only region with an increase in family violence,” says Wills. “In other regions there are lower rates and they are dropping. We have the busiest Police and the busiest Child, Youth and Family.”

Detective Sergeant Daryl Moore is the coordinator of the Police’s Family Violence Team in Hawke’s Bay. There are 5,500 FV incidents here a year, 15 every day; the figure has doubled in six years. The increase in incidents is coupled with an increase in reporting, “The message is getting out there, but also the tolerance for family violence is lower. People don’t want to get involved but they will call,” says Moore.

The statistics once the family is ‘in the system’ are startling too. More that 60% have been referred before and on average they have been referred 4.5 times.

“We have a massive issue with people being seen again and again and not being sorted,” says Wills. “So we are seeing them, but we are not stopping the violence.”

Service providers

In Hawke’s Bay there are a range of services whose job is to work with children and their families involved in family violence, but each initiative is underfunded, reactionary, limited to restrictive contracts, silo-based and short term. The individuals working within those services are pushing 64 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“If you are born into a stressful situation you are still making connections but they are different: gratification needs to be immediate, there’s a strong flight or fight reflex, there’s no trust.

And that is hard-wired.”

Dr Russell Wills hard to fix these issues, they step over the line, involve themselves and find essential additional funding (for many services government funding is known as Contributive Funding; for example, Women’s Refuge receives 36% of what they need from Ministry od Social Development).

Women’s Refuge is at the front line.

Alongside the Police and DOVE (who predominantly work with perpetrators of family violence), Women’s Refuge appears early in the response. Close to 100 women use their safe-house service a year and 2,500 access their 24-hour help desk. They run a 10-session programme for children involved in family violence, either as witness, victim or participant. This programme’s funding has recently been cut; only 15 spaces are available this year, with 56 in 2015.

Julie Hart, Hastings Women’s Refuge manager, explains the programme: “It’s for kids who’ve been in a home where violence is happening and where parents have addressed the violence. There are very few services for child victims of family violence. Once they’ve become an

offender there are programmes through youth justice.”

All the children participating in Women’s Refuge-run programmes are there because their mothers (generally speaking) have accessed Refuge services. The Refuge is unable to take referrals from other agencies due to funding cuts.

“It’s a broad range of women who come: from the first time [the violence] happens through to ‘Last night I thought I was going to die’,” says Hart. “The children have often bear silent witness. They have no power of decision making, they don’t have resources, they have to rely on adults. Often, the kids are just forgotten.”

Hart explains that the array of children’s responses to what they’re experiencing is diverse. “They can range from withdrawn and shy, to having no social boundaries, to kids who are ‘being the parents’ from as young as four. The most common thing is they are angry, frustrated and frightened.”

Julie Hart has worked within Women’s Refuge for 22 years. She says plans for proactive and positive programmes for young people are scuppered by lack of money.

“We keep putting our hope in MSD, but reality is showing us that it’s not going to happen,” says Hart. “We turn to philanthropics and socially-minded business groups.”

She says most programmes are limited.

“There’s very little value put on victims of family violence.”

DOVE works with children too, but principally their work is with perpetrators.

Malcolm Byford, DOVE general manager, explains: “We have two specific contracts working with children to help mitigate the impact on them and their future

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 65

development.” One programme is paid for

by Ministry of Social Development; it’s a self-referral programme, available on a one-to-one or sibling group basis. The same programme is offered, through Ministry of Justice funding, to children who are the subject of a protection order.

Malcolm Byford feels there’s a big gap in programmes for young people generally, although there is funding available for children who are acting out.

“You’ve got to get bad enough to get funding to do some programmes,” explains Byford. “But the effect for some children is to become depressed and quiet. It’s a case of the squeaky wheel.”

“There is more thought going into working with children and their anger,” he says. “I’m not sure if the ones who are affected more inwardly get the help they need.”

At the top of the cliff

Another part of the puzzle is the agencies who offer programmes in parenting, and, through schools, work with vulnerable children. Groups like Family Works in Hastings and Birthright in Napier.

If CYF is the proverbial ambulance at the bottom of the hill, then Family Works is part of the fence at the top. Rose Tweedie is a social worker by training and manager of Family Works, which is part of Presbyterian Support East Coast. The children and families her team works with are referred from a variety of sources – paediatricians, schools, Police, parents, even the children themselves.

A key contract for Family Works is as a provider of Social Workers In Schools or ‘Swissies’. There are ten Family Works Swissies in deciles 1-3 schools in Hastings and CHB. Each works in a number of schools.

“The children know the Swissies. But they are thinly spread,” says Tweedie. The affinity the Swissies have with the children in

“It’s really difficult. We have had to put referrals on hold.

Vulnerable children and families need to be seen quickly, not in six weeks.”

Rose Tweedie, Family Works their schools means they are often the first contact point for a child in need.

“There may be issues around truancy, inadequate clothing and food, aggression, changes in behaviour. Often there are multiple and complex needs and a whole box of problems.”

Swissies work with children at school, but also go into the home to complete an assessment that looks at the family’s strengths, needs and risks. This work can only happen if the parents give permission.

The number of children who would benefit from the work the Swissies do

exceeds the ability of Family Works to meet the need. “We’d love to be able to reduce the number of schools each Swissy looks after, and we could easily double the number of Swissies,” explains Tweedie.

Family Works does have other services including counselling, but the need is greater than the resources available.

Rose Tweedie: “It’s really difficult. We have had to put referrals on hold. Anything critical I take, but if there are options I refer on to other agencies. Vulnerable children and families need to be seen quickly, not in six weeks.”

The Family Works model means each family they take on has a key worker.

Incidents of family violence are rarely isolated and often entangled with a suite of issues from mental health to truancy, to poverty and addiction. Having one person to call when things derail can mean the issue is sorted before it escalates. But that’s an expensive model and resourcing is thin.

“People forming a trust with you is important to keep continuity, they don’t want to tell their whole story again and again,” explains Tweedie, who says having the will to change within the family is key.

Breaking down those boundaries between the family and social services is a necessary, but challenging, first step. “They can be reluctant to engage with professionals.

Sometimes they have been let down by others and there can be a strong distrust of strangers. The most important thing is to get the family on side.”

Protection orders

Few social service providers can get involved in a family in any significant way without the family first agreeing. Often one catalyst for this is when a protection order is filed. This sets off court-sanctioned events than can facilitate a family agreeing to assistance.

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When there has been an incident of family violence in a home, the victim can apply for a protection order. They then become ‘The Applicant’. The perpetrator of the violence is known as ‘The Respondent’.

There are two forms of protection order: On Notice and Without Notice. The latter is effective immediately and the respondent finds out about the order once it has already come into effect. This is seen by many agencies as the safest option for victims.

When an order is On Notice the respondent is warned it’s going to happen. There is a trend currently for the courts to decline applications for Without Notice orders in favour of On Notice.

Julie Hart from Women’s Refuge explains why this adds to the problem: “Women won’t do it then, because of what they see as the consequences of that. The protection order can become a danger element and the risk goes up.”

Respondents of protection orders must attend a compulsory sixteen week counselling course. DOVE runs these. Child victims can access a short term programme if their caregiver applies for it; there’s no compulsory requirement. Malcolm Byford agrees there is a gap for children who have witnessed violence in their home.

Byford says although the course makes a positive immediate impact some respondents find changing lifetime habits difficult. Once the course is complete there’s limited facility to keep working with the perpetrators.

“We have no capacity to do follow up work,” he says. “We’d like to follow up or have a peer support programme like AA. They do make behavioural change but it’s hard to sustain.”

Child, Youth and Family

Central to many family violence situations, especially critical incidents, is the Ministry of Social Development’s Child, Youth and Family service (CYF).

CYF becomes part of the equation either when they’re contacted by an agency or a member of the public with a report of concern, or when the Police is called to a family violence event where children are at immediate risk. Currently CYF is undergoing a massive rethink by central government which hints at the situation within the service. Many of the people spoken to for this story shared a frustration with the agency.

Julie Hart, Women’s Refuge: “Individual CYF workers have great love and want to do the right thing but the system doesn’t fit that kaupapa.”

CYF replied to a request for an interview for this story with a written response from their media office in Wellington. This was followed up with a brief telephone interview with Donna MacNichol,manager of the service in Hawke’s Bay, under strict conditions from a CYF public

relations adviser.

The CYF response to family violence focuses on involving the wider family.

MacNichol explains CYF is a reactionary service involved in crisis situations rather than preventative or long-term solutions.

“We’re a child protection organisation first and foremost, we’re good at assessing safety. If there’s ongoing family violence that’s affecting safety, then we go in.”

CYF then relies on family, community and community-based services like DOVE and Family Works to pick up the need.

“Let’s say we find scary things going on, then we bring in the wider family and look at whether family members will step up and take [the children] on,” says MacNichol. “It’s good to have family involved, even just in decision making. If they wish to be they can stay involved in decision-making even if they can’t take the child.”

CYF is notified of every incident of family violence. They will remove the child from the home only if there is immediate risk to that child. From there family is involved to look at what happens next. Then community-based agencies step in. Longterm assistance for family violence victims and witnesses is non-existent.

CYF relies heavily on service providers, but MSD, of which CYF is a part, fails to fund them to any credible level. Also, providers are constrained in their practice by their contracts for service, which often stifle a genuine, considered approach to creating solutions suited to the individual family.

Change ahead

One of the key issues with the system – within CYF and the support agencies – is the focus on the role of the victim. In many cases it is up to the victim to find the strength to get help; it’s seen as their responsibility to keep themselves safe.

Victims, most often women and their children, must actively seek protection through applying for protection orders.

Programmes for children, whether run by Women’s Refuge, Family Works or DOVE, focus on preparing ‘safety plans’ identifying what to do, where to go or who to turn to when the proverbial hits the fan.

Malcolm Byford believes the whole system needs a mind shift. “You don’t want the responsibility of the victim’s safety to sit with them. If we’re asking them to keep themselves safe, that’s a very vulnerable situation to be in. That’s something that needs to be changed.”

Julie Hart says her programme for children does have a number of elements requiring the child to identify their safety plan, but programmes for perpetrators of violence are just as crucial. “It takes work with the violent partner. The victim can’t do that. She doesn’t have the power to change that,” says Hart.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 67

Daryl Moore, Police Family Violence Team.

Future

Much work has been put into making the significant changes needed within the system for addressing family violence.

Paula Rebstock’s Modernising Child, Youth and Family report of a year ago kicked off a whole ‘about face’ for CYF. But seeing changes embed and begin to impact culture, society and the lives of individual families is a long way off and needs a lot of hard work.

The Police, Women’s Refuge and DOVE are three parts of the Family Violence Interagency Response System in Hawke’s Bay, which meets weekly to discuss incidents reported to the Police.

This coordinated, wrap-around approach signals the type of change all those involved hope to see more of, but it needs appropriate resourcing.

Malcolm Byford, DOVE: “We are still fragmented. We need a system that integrates responses to family violence … we’ll make best progress when all components are working in a good joined-up way. We are attempting to do that now but with slim funding and it’s off our own backs.

We need leadership around this stuff, from all levels.”

Many feel it’s vital to put in place preemptive programmes for pre-teens across all schools. Julie Hart at Women’s Refuge would like to see this made a priority; Malcolm Byford salutes the work of a few fledgling programmes that have started in schools already.

Daryl Moore of the Police agrees that starting young and working in a preventative way would help, “It’s about understanding power and control. We teach kids to read and write but not what they need to know 68 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

in terms of healthy relationships and knowing what bad and good look like.”

He continues, “In the past there’s been lots of bandaids on lots of cracks, so there’s this real push for a whole new system. The current process is not working, it’s broken and it needs to change.”

Dr Russell Wills agrees that getting in early is the key. “The most cost effective way is to identify the family before the baby is born and wrap around that family and child while parents’ own trauma is addressed and nurtured, then put support in place through the birth and on.”

Currently Hawke’s Bay has a Maternal Wellbeing Programme, led by DHB, that loops in midwives and agencies.

It’s the first in the country and so far there are high success rates. It’s a service focusing on specific women identified as vulnerable. About 20 women are discussed at each weekly meeting. Care continues until the baby is six weeks, but Wills says this will soon increase to two years old.

“Most parents want to change, most consent to receive help, most engage and most get better, which is an absolute joy,” says Wills.

Wills believes that multi-strand, robust training across the full ‘children’s workforce’ –370,000 people in New Zealand – is necessary.

“Clinicians are trained in family violence or mental health or addiction, but clients have issues in all three,” explains Wills. “The better trained we are, the better skilled we are to have the difficult conversations, the better we are at having trusting relationships as professionals, the fewer people will fall through the gaps.”

Ministry for Vulnerable Children Announced

Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley announced in August the formation of a new stand-alone ministry focusing on the care and protection of children and young people. The new department will be called the Ministry for Vulnerable Children and begin operating by April 2017.

“The new ministry, new name and completely new operating model reflects our determination to remain absolutely focused on the individual needs of each child,” said Mrs Tolley.

After a number of reports, reviews and reorganisations, the State Services Commission, Treasury and MSD have all recommended a stand-alone department which is most likely to provide a single point of accountability, clear organisational focus and the ability to attract strong leadership.

This reflects the advice given by the minister’s independent expert panel, and has been agreed by Cabinet.

The new ministry will be established in conjunction with wide-ranging reforms promising a replacement of the current crisis-management model CYF works under.

The new model will focus on short and longterm wellbeing of 'at risk children' through to adulthood.

MoVC will have five core focuses: prevention, intensive intervention, care support services, transition support and a youth justice service. The overhaul will receive $200 million of initial new investment, alongside normal CYF operations that have received an extra $144 million.At first blush, a welcome and overdue commitment to NZ’s children. Many eyes will be following its implementation, including BayBuzz.

TOM BELFORD FOR REGIONAL COUNCIL

Speaking up for YOU!

We Support Tom Belford David Trubridge I am very happy to endorse Tom as a candidate of rare integrity, the voice of conscience for HBRC, who has no personal agenda other than the good of the community and theenvironment.

Ngahiwi Tomoana A fighter for the people and the environment. He's a good man!

Brian Martin We need your insight, judgment and boldness to speak out on the issues we face as a region.

Liz Remmerswaal A constant voice for the environment and transparent process for the last decade. He is a tireless worker and a team player, with the intelligence to both understand the detail of an issue and to pose the right questions consistently.

Marie Dunningham Still a breath of fresh air in Hawke’s Bay. He makes his decisions on the evidence.

He is willing to challenge, he is willing to find out more. We are fortunate to have such a mind on this Council.

Doris & Urs Blum A very hard worker, keen to be well informed before making a decision.

And as evident in his BayBuzz magazine, Tom is one of the rare politically active people in the Bay who speaks out passionately about issues that lie at his heart.

Damon Harvey Many district and regional issues might not be put under the spotlight if it wasn't for Tom's passion and dedication to uncovering all the facts on behalf of the community. Tom won’t let anything get glossed over!

Hamish McHardy I support the nomination of Tom Belford and the other new councillors who have done terrific work, in the face of opposition from the old Guard, to continue the proper job of the Council to look after the environment.

Chris Perley The most recognised advocate for the environment sitting around the HB Regional Council table … an excellent record in highlighting the importance of quality governance and administration within our councils, and in raising debate within the Hawke's Bay populace.

Jacob Scott I see Tom Belford as a man I can trust.

While he has an eye on the bigger picture he seems to also understand and value the small things that can make a difference to our region and our world.

Roy Dunningham Tom has a very balanced and informed view of the environmental, business and cultural concerns of the community and his depth of knowledge on regional issues is quite exceptional.

Aki Paipper Tom is the real deal when it comes to the environment and when it comes to standing up for Maori kaitiakitanga.

Sarah Whiten & John Schiff A passionate advocate for the Bay – fighting for transparent decisionmaking and sensible environmental policies; and promoting creativity and healthy debate through BayBuzz magazine. We need more Regional Councillors like Tom to speak up for us!

Vaughan Cooper Without peer when it comes to ferreting out the facts. His BayBuzz background eminently suits him getting out the facts in support of a resilient economy in the Hawke’s Bay. Phyllis Tichinin The HBRC has a long way to go to put our water right again and we need Tom, the real deal for the environment, to be there – informed and dedicated – to stand up for us.

Des Ratima A certainty amongst uncertainty.

Trusted with the role of Kaitiaki, guardian of the aspirations of our people and their environment.

Henare O’Keefe I unequivocally support the nominations of Tom, Rex and Rick. Their genuine, sincere and total commitment to the wellbeing of the environment, for the people, of the people, by the people has impressed me hugely.

Please Join Us! Authorised by T Belford, 40 Raratu Road, Havelock North

ONLINE TRENDS

MATT MILLER

Social Media Despair The digital transformation enabled by high-speed broadband and smart devices continues to transform the way New Zealanders live, in nearly every aspect of our lives.

How we work to how we shop. How we consume news and entertainment; our social lives. How we meet potential mates, even to how we speak. How we are educated and how we access health care.

And, despite the stubborn refusal of voting to go online, the democratic process is undergoing radical changes brought about by the move to digital.

The numbers show that we are a highly connected nation. According to the UN Human Development Index, 85.5% of New Zealanders are Internet users and we have 112.1 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people.

Fully 88% of online New Zealanders use social media each month. Facebook and YouTube are the dominant networks.

Facebook is the most popular, with 75%, and YouTube is viewed by 61%. No other networks come close in popularity, with LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google+ around 20% usage. Twitter, for all its perceived influence, especially in the media, is used by only 17% of online Kiwis.

Despite its seemingly trivial nature, social media has had a significant impact on the political landscape in New Zealand.

A simple search of the petition website change.org for the phrase ‘new zealand’ brings up more than 23,000 results, and the first one is ‘Red Peak for New Zealand flag’, with more than 50,000 supporters.

The rise of social media, mobile screens and online video has also had a profound impact on traditional media consumption patterns. In the face of YouTube’s huge appeal to young people, traditional free-to-air TV continues to decline in popularity. We see a procession of news stories reporting TV newsreaders and executives being sacked (or jumping ship) 70 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

due to falling ratings.

Today’s TV newsreaders and current affairs presenters certainly do not command the veneration (and hopefully not the salaries) of those of a generation ago (think Paul Holmes and Judy Bailey).

Today we see the unedifying sight of TVNZ doubling down on the smug Mike Hosking to mitigate the threat of TV3’s unashamed shock-jock Paul Henry, who now appears – sadly – to be the most influential broadcaster in New Zealand.

Likewise, the traditional daily newspaper appears to be an endangered

“Most news content in the digital era sits somewhere on a spectrum between actual news created by professional journalists, PR-heavy ‘sponsored’ content, and at the other extreme, blatant clickbait.” species. Readership of Wellington’s Dominion Post and Auckland’s New Zealand Herald have been falling steadily at between 5% and 10% per annum for the last five years (NZ Audit Bureau of Circulation). And advertising revenue derived from the offline editions has been falling with it (TradeMe took their classified ads business years ago). In their place, news websites have become increasingly important. After all, why would you buy a newspaper with yesterday’s news in it when you can check the news throughout the day for real-time breaking stories?

Unfortunately, we don’t like paying to read our news online, but if you want high-quality professional journalism, someone has to pay the salaries of the newsroom. This means that mainstream news organisations are engaged in an increasingly desperate struggle to claw

dollars from their readers and advertisers.

The options in New Zealand range from paywalls (e.g. the National Business Review) to ad-supported sites (e.g. nzherald.co.nz and stuff.co.nz).

Most news content in the digital era sits somewhere on a spectrum between actual news created by professional journalists, PR-heavy ‘sponsored’ content, and at the other extreme, blatant clickbait. A quick scan of the headlines on major mainstream news sites throws up “Why Donald Trump avoids talking about his daughter Tiffany”, “Are your yoga pants totally see-through?” and “Trending now: Newsreader’s on-air death shocks”, an article which sounds like a breaking news story but is actually about a publicity piece about a new film based on the 1974 suicide of a newsreader.

Closer to home, the huge influence of digital on young people could be seen in July when Pokémon Go was released in selected countries on July 6, 2016. It has already been downloaded by 75 million people. In the game, players can ‘see’ virtual creatures called Pokémon that appear on the screen as if they were in the real world. They can then train their creatures and fight against other players’ virtual creatures.

The interesting thing about Pokémon Go is that New Zealand was chosen as one of the first countries in the world for its release. This is a far cry from my experiences as a child when the Muldoon Government’s import restrictions meant that hand-held electronic games were not available in New Zealand.

And talking about globalisation and digital trends, it’s important to note the growing disaffection among the parts of the population who feel they are missing out on the benefits brought by the digital transformation and the globalisation that goes with it.

These people are the digital ‘havenots’, the left-behind, and they are predominantly older, less affluent, and less educated. We are in a state of dislocation as profound as any in the history of human society, and in the coming years,

“The interesting thing about Pokémon Go is that New Zealand was chosen as one of the first countries in the world for its release.”

huge numbers of people will have their working lives completely transformed by automated processes. Many of these people will not be able to adapt, and will face a life of unemployment. The US presidential elections and the recent UK Brexit referendum have given us an inkling of the backlash that is on the horizon.

These political debacles have shown that the rise of social networks and the fragmentation of the mainstream media along political lines are having a seismic effect on world events. A growing feeling of

resentment and a polarised voting public, who are easily swayed by sound bites in this age of tiny attention spans, have ushered in an era of ‘post-factual’ politics, where candidates openly admit that their claims are not based on reality.

The Trump campaign and the Brexit referendum have been marked by this behaviour. “Let’s take the 350 million pounds we give to the EU every year and spend it on the NHS instead” or “We’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it” look great as GIFs on Facebook,

but it’s not a great look for the future of Western democracy when claims like this get people elected.

Let’s hope New Zealanders can learn from these unfortunate experiments in social media politics and make better decisions about our future, because we have some interesting times ahead.

Matt Miller co-owns web company Mogul Limited, based in Havelock North, but serving clients around the world, including BayBuzz.

His beat for BayBuzz is online trends and best practice.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 71

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

INDEX at HCAG Martin Poppelwell and the Hastings City Art Gallery team have collaborated to create a large show of the artist’s ceramics and works on paper, which together explore the art possibilities of the alphabet.

INDEX can be read in a way as a glossary of Poppelwell’s own motifs and terms built up over a career working in a range of media.

The project employs both English and Te Reo and offers viewers the challenge of decoding the relationships between word, image and meaning in a cross cultural context as they move between publication, object and painting.

The main gallery at HCAG has been redefined like never before, giving the feeling of a new space in a previously familiar room.

The gallery team are hoping to tour this exhibition of Hawke’s Bay’s best-known artist, but in the meantime you have until October 24 to check it out.

72 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

William Jameson

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 73

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Take a Peak Entries open this month for the seventh edition of the local race referred to as the “little event with the big heart”.

The Peak Trail Blazer, with a 12.8 kilometre Te Mata Peak trail and 3.5 kilometre Tainui trail, was dreamt up as a school fundraiser by parents from Havelock North Primary School. Well over 3,400 people have participated over the years, and raised over $108,000. Around $80,000 of that has gone to the school and the 74 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

remaining $28,000 has been given to other local causes.

“We said from the outset we wanted this to be a true community-focused event, not only when attracting entrants from all over Hawke’s Bay, but also by giving something positive back to the community that supports it,” says race director Jo Throp.

This year’s recipients alongside Havelock North Primary School will be Heart Kids Hawke’s Bay and the Hastings Giants

Boxing Academy who will each receive 20% of the funds raised from the 2016 event.

Ms Throp says it’s taken a lot of “hard graft and passion for the cause” by a core group of volunteer organisers, but the event is now firmly established on the local running calendar and managing to attract top runners, such as reigning champions Ruby Muir and Eric Speakman.

Raceday is November 20.

Find out more at peaktrailblazer.co.nz

BAY BUZZ OBRIENS.indd 1

30/08/16 12:14 PM

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Detail of this year's Wine Auction artwork: “painting for grown-ups - a meditation aid“ Gavin Chilcott

The Good Cause Every year Cranford Hospice provides palliative care for around 600 Hawke’s Bay people, helping them and their family members through the final period of life-limiting illness.

There are 60 staff and some 400 volunteers who keep the organisation ticking, and it’s almost become a cliché to comment that Cranford has touched and helped almost every family in the Bay. Seems mad then doesn’t it, that this essential health service isn’t fully funded, and needs $2 million annually from the community to make up the shortfall.

Members of the Hawke’s Bay community give time, money, goods and services to help Cranford continue their essential work – from bequests and public and private events to the Hospice Shops and the cattle scheme.

In November, three of Cranford’s larger fundraising projects take place within a week, all celebrating the work of the hospice and the bounty and creativity of this region. Together they look set to host around 9,000 visitors and donate over $400,000.

Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction

Started in 1991 by Alan Limmer, John Buck and 76 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Kate Radburnd, the wine auction is the country’s longest-surviving event of its kind. It was established back then to demonstrate the abilty for the local wine industry to be a contributing member of the community and to promote Hawke’s Bay wine to New Zealand.

Wineries donate unique auction lots, sponsors support the project financially so that it runs at a break-even budget, and wine lovers from around the country pour into the Opera House Plaza to bid on oenelogical treasures. In 2015 the event raised $141,000 for Cranford.

This year marks 25 years of the wine auction, and organiser Annabel Tapley-Smith comments that the wineries have stepped up their auction lots to celebrate and reflect that feat. Elephant Hill is offering a 25 year membership of their Reserve Wine Club, comprising of a yearly allocation of their reserve wines plus added wine club benefits.

Esk Valley has been producing fine wines of its Terraces Vineyard since 1991 – the same year as the first wine auction – and has put up a complete set of this acclaimed red.

Each year the auction features a renowned New Zealand artist, and in 2016 that’s Gavin Chilcott. “Gavin’s been incredibly generous,” says Annabel.

“He’s doing four strips of wallpaper along with the painting.” The auction painting is part of a new series called ‘paintings for grown-ups – a meditation aid’ and is of a stylized lotus flower hovering over a pool.

Annabel says the 25-year milestone is also being

marked with the Icons & Legends Workshop – a special session of sampling 25 years’ worth of Hawke’s Bay wines from Te Mata and Babich, hosted by John Buck and Joe Babich.

The organising team is also bringing in Australian Conrad Grah – the world’s most followed wine blogger – to experience the event and visit with wineries.

The Icons & Legends Workshop is sold out, but there is still time to snap up tickets to the auction itself on Saturday, November 12. hawkesbaywineauction.co.nz

Hospice Holly Trail

Every two years ten to twelve Hawke’s Bay homes and venues are opened up to 2,500 people to explore. Ranging from grand modern homes to cute cottages, the combination illustrates a breadth of home styling and design.

The theme is always Christmas in Hawke’s Bay, and each home is creatively decorated by different floral designers whose time is generously donated. The three day self-drive event is on November 10 – 12 and takes in 12 venues within a 20-25 kilometre radius of Havelock North village.

A Spring Fête (which is open to the public for a $5 donation on entry) is held in a central location on the Trail and features around 40 stalls. It also serves as the lunch venue.

This year is Holly Trail number 9, and chairperson KK Marffy says there’s a lot to look forward to and demand has been enthusiastic.

“The tickets sold out by the end of July,

Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition: The Angel of the East by William Jameson

which is a month earlier than ever before, and we’re really looking forward to having the fête at Craggy Range. In recent years it’s been at Birdwoods Gallery which has been wonderful, but of course we need to keep changing things up to keep people coming back for more.”

This is an ongoing challenge for the organisers – keeping the visitors returning.

Much of it comes down to the enjoyment people draw from supporting Cranford, and from spending a couple of days admiring and being inspired by the homes of others.

The homeowners are amazingly generous, says KK. “They’re just fabulous – the way they open their homes, and we always have an eye out for venues for the next one…”

In 2014 the Hospice Holly Trail donated $250,000 to Cranford at the end of the event, a massive achievement and a huge undertaking for the organisers, sponsors and the 300 volunteers. hollytrail.co.nz

Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition

The youngest of the three events is the Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition – a biennial show of large and small sculpture at Round Pond Garden, ten minutes south of Hastings.

Your writer will admit to a little bias as part of the organising team, but it’s a serious amount of fun for the whole family, whether you love or ignore art, whether you’re a garden enthusiast or “more into succulents”.

This five-day event kicked off in the spring of 2008 with the curatorial help of William

Jameson, Ricks Terstappen and Jacob Scott, and over four exhibitions the artwork has improved (there’s that bias again), the visitor numbers have climbed and we’ve tallied up a total donation figure of $151,000.

This year the exhibition launches with a Gala Opening on the evening of Tuesday, November 8 and continues through to the end of the weekend.

Sculpture from around 70 artists will be placed amidst the expanse of wildflowers (weather willing), manicured garden rooms and the landscaped paddock. A ten acre gallery is big, but then so is some of the artwork. Plus we need that space for guided walks and talks, high tea and other delicious refreshments (like Ngatarawa wines), landscape art projects and Wildflower Wearable Art by milliner Wendy Bongard and costumier Angela Elliot.

The sculptor list features some well-known names – Delicia Sampero, Jeff Thomson, Ema Scott and Graeme Hitchcock among them – alongside students and emerging artists. The exhibition will be made up of a mix of metal, wood, ceramic, glass, found material and stone.

One of the highlights of the project in 2014 was the Friday evening event, Wildflower Sculpture at Twilight. This is set to happen again, with braziers burning, food trucks and BBQ operating, and this time, a reunion of local favourites Mid Life Crisis on the stage.

You’ll find all the ticketing info online. wildflowersculptureexhibition.co.nz SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 77

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Nice One John

Glen Pickering

Fringe in the ‘Stings The Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival promises to provide some unforgettable entertainment this October, and now there’s going to be a fringe festival to offer even more.

Fringe is the brainchild of Hawke’s Bay exports Glen Pickering (recently returned to the Bay as new festival director at the Art Deco Trust) and Wellington-based Hannah Clarke (director of the New Zealand Fringe Festival), along with Andrea Taaffe and a Hastings-proud band of merrimakers. Fringe in the ‘Stings will present three days of offbeat fun and entertainment from October 13 to 15 (the last weekend of the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival).

So, what is Fringe? Glen Pickering says to him, a fringe show is “something that’s 78 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

high quality, in terms of the product, but low quality in terms of the production values, which make ticket prices really affordable.

Fringe festivals are also open access, which means anyone can be in them and often feature comedy, theatre, cabaret, circus and music. They are the best place to see new works and performers, and are usually in interesting, non traditional venues.

“As the festival director of the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch I got to experience and programme incredible fringe work all around the world. People love this kind of performance work because the shows are accessible, affordable and a bit different. You definitely won’t see your average theatre show! We knew that Hastings would be perfect to create a fringe festival and we’re excited to be getting more great work into our beautiful community.”

Keep an eye and an ear out for tickets by following Fringe in the ‘Stings on Facebook.

Congratulations to Hawke’s Bay horticultural leader John Paynter, who was in August awarded the Pipfruit industry's top honour - the New Zealand Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Pipfruit Industry.

Mr Paynter heads export business Johnny Appleseed Holdings and has served as a director of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, Napier Port, NZ Post, Plant and Food Research, New Zealand Kiwifruit Authority, and founding chairman of Zespri.

Pipfruit New Zealand's chief executive Alan Pollard said no one came close to Mr Paynter's achievements.

"John's vision, leadership and thirst for innovation has made one of the greatest impacts in shaping Hastings' landscape and the economy of Hawke's Bay, along with the ongoing success of New Zealand's horticultural industry."

Mr Paynter’s family (including our own BayBuzz iconoclast Paul Paynter) continue to grow and export pipfruit from Havelock North.

The Rabbit Room The roadworkers have left and the fences have come down in central Napier, and suddenly the Hastings Street/Tennyson Street end of town appears chock-full of art and culture.

One of the newish arrivals (along with Wardini Books and Bistronomy) is contemporary art gallery The Rabbit Room.

Run by Karin Strachan with a focus on nationally recognised artists, the gallery is currently showing new work by Peter Ireland.

Next up will be cult favourites the Raynor Brothers from Whanganui and then in February, tattoo photography by Richard Wotton.

The Rabbit Room is open Tuesday – Thursday, 1pm to 4pm.

Learn more at therabbitroom.nz.

Whanganui is big enough to entertain and small enough to keep it real.

Enjoy arts, music, the landscape and our rich heritage.

Spend a weekend.

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LOCAL GLOBAL PERSONAL

NEW LOOK SMALL IN NUMBERS, BIG IN SKILL SET AND EXPERIENCE From business and property related backgrounds, our offering is well-rounded.We listen, we think and we challenge the conventional way of doing things because when you entrust us to sell your property, you’re not looking for more of the same, you’re looking for a highly personalised approach with a local, national and global reach.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 79

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Greenhill Wins Gold The Raukawa Valley, just south of Hastings, is seriously on the luxury accommodation map now that Greenhill Lodge has won First Place in Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) "Commitment to Quality" Award.

The award recognises SLH member hotels that have gone above and beyond to provide the ultimate guest experience and exemplify the luxury brand’s ‘independently minded’ philosophy. Greenhill Lodge achieved a high score of 96/100 after a mystery inspection as part of SLH’s annual Quality Assurance programme. The detailed inspection, 80 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

John and Christine Dick with their Small Luxury Hotels of the World Award including 700 questions related to the quality of a hotel, checks close to 2,300 touch points regarding quality of service, product, guest experience, brand awareness and many other criteria.

For John and Christine Dick, owners of Greenhill Lodge, the award was a complete surprise and totally "blew us away" said Christine. "We're just doing what we love doing and to be judged by our peers in such

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John and Christine have owned Greenhill Lodge for four years. The homestead was designed by George Sollitt, a Yorkshire architect who practised in Hastings, and was built with no expense spared in 1898. Alfred Buxton, a notable landscape designer of the day, created gardens befitting the grand house.

Greenhill was owned by six generations of the same family up until 2001 when it changed hands and was painstakingly restored to its former elegance.

The French Correction In the the article Adding a little French flavour to the Bay in BayBuzz #30, we referred in the photo caption to the medal Franki James had received as the “Legion d’Honneur”.

Franki James’ award in fact is “Un Chevalier dans l”Ordre National du Mérite”(A Knight of the National Order of Merit).

We apologise for the mistake.

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Two Hats Off to Pacifica

MICHAL MCKAY PHOTOGRAPHS: TIM WHITTAKER

Multi award- winning restaurant PACIFICA has just scored a trifecta.

Last month for the second year running it was named Best Regional Restaurant in NZ at the Cuisine Good Food Awards 2016. And it gained another Hat, making it the only restaurant in Hawke’s Bay with two.

Jeremy Rameka, the wunderkind behind this culinary star, takes us on the sometimes rocky journey that has led to its triumph.

Hawke’s Bay is recognised on the world stage for its award-winning wines, and renowned as the ‘fruit bowl of the country’, where seasonal produce from the plains is sought by the rest of the country. Well-fed sheep and cattle roam the land. Fertility reigns.

Surprisingly, in a place offering such natural fodder for foodies to flock, it has taken some decades for the restaurant industry to capture the potential. Helping to close the gap is the talented Jeremy Rameka, who with his award-winning skills as a chef has placed Hawke’s Bay well and truly on the culinary map. His uniquely understated Pacifica is his platform.

Jeremy is the first to agree that New Zealand has taken its time to achieve any kind of cuisine identity. As a child growing up in a true Pacific māori style, food was the foundation of all family gatherings. His mother cooked, but it was his father who instilled a standard often refusing to dine should the meal not be up to scratch in his eyes. “Actually Dad was incredibly precise about everything,” laughs Jeremy, “if Mum mowed the lawn leaving tufts untouched, Dad would go over it with the scissors. I think she used to tease him and leave stray bits just to get his reaction.” However, he concedes it was that perfection which instilled in Jeremy the golden rule for his future.

Pacifica has garnered its fair share of awards, including Hawke’s Bay’s Restaurant of the Year four times; Best Chef four times (the latest earlier this year) plus best

signature dish. Nationally his accolades include finalist in Cuisine magazine’s Restaurant of the Year competition in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011; Runner-Up in Cuisine’s Smart Dining category, Best Regional Restaurant in the Cuisine NZ Good Food Awards in both 2015 and again this year 2016 (praised for his “artistry and passion” as well as the “professionalism” of his front of house team), gaining a Cuisine Hat in 2015 and just this past month the only restaurant in the Bay to win two Hats.

These Jeremy regards as his benchmark.

“They are awarded anonymously much the way that Michelin do theirs, so they are highly sought after and held in high esteem by the industry.” He relates that a few years back when renowned food writer Lauraine Jacobs (at the time senior food editor for Cuisine and herself a dab hand in culinary skills) first encountered his food, she was in a quandary as to where to place the restaurant. The magazine ended up opening a new category because of it – Smart Dining.

And that’s only part of the awards list. No small feat considering that Pacifica opened under Jeremy’s helm in 2008. He admits the first year was really tough. “I was the new kid on the block … no one knew me and it was hard getting the fresh produce from suppliers. I mean you couldn’t even get live oysters then! And forget mushrooms” (a friendship with Bruce Mackinnon of Hillcroft Mushrooms sorted that out).

He started his own garden as a result.

Nowadays he has a list of those he trusts to provide the freshest of the fresh, who call him when they have something special – “truffles were in last week”. And seafood of every possible variety – from reliable sources like HB Seafood, Oceans North, meat from the local butcher, even foraging himself. He is currently working with a friend to start another garden from which he will take the pick and his friend will then sell the rest.

It’s a reflection of another Jeremy attribute … “I hate wastage”. No doubt a well-earned dislike born from having originally run Pacifica with an à la carte menu, six chefs, six front of house and more besides. Two and a half years ago, when “it was either change or walk away”, he decided to create just two five-course Degustation menus. At $50 a head (selected wines to go with each course are a mild $100 a head), his chef friends thought he was crazy.

“But I knew what I was doing. One is devoted to Kaimoana, the other has a broader range. And it works. If I hadn’t I think I would have just gone. The stress was just too much. For the first six or seven years I was up at 6 a.m. and would not get to bed until 1 or 2 in the morning. You can’t focus on the details. 2013 and 2014 were the hardest financially and emotionally.

Something had to give.” His light-bulb moment happened when he was invited to participate in FAWC (the Hawke’s Bay Food And Wine Classic) in which “I did a tasting SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 83

menu. For a month. And then I just carried on with it.”

What he does now allows him freedom to use that which is available and his imagination. He starts at 10 a.m. having slotted in a stint at the gym or a ride on his bike. Stunning tattoos snaking around his very fit torso trace the story of his journey.

Running marathons and half marathons are also part of the regime – a routine he adheres to strictly, ensuring he keeps his life

in balance.

Entering Pacifica is a bit like walking into a foodie’s kitchen. Glass jars of herbs, spices and dry goods are lined up in shelves above the servery. Unpretentious and very inviting.

A vast gas stove above the oven is aflame with just Jeremy and his number two chef cooking. “I am now in control. I was always worrying about what the others were doing when I was simply not able to watch every move [hard with six chefs working]. When

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you rely on others who may not do it my way, there’s only so much yelling you can do,” he adds wryly. “It has meant I have been able to pare down my menus a lot and cut costs.”

He attributes this to experience. “As you gain more knowledge you gain confidence … know when to scale down not add. I am stripping away a lot of the extras now.” The result is manna for those fortunate enough to be one of the 35 diners Pacifica can seat at any one time. “I used to make a chicken liver

pâté in which I threw in everything; now it’s totally about refining, although I do like to add the unexpected. But that means you can actually taste it. Too many ingredients muddle the palate. My pâté now uses minimal but the best ingredients, and it’s probably the finest I have ever made.”

So how does a young boy from a small Māori community in the King Country escalate to such heights? “I was mischievous during school; spent more time doing art and music or riding. In fact I barely went to school. I thought I would focus on either art or music as a career. But I was pretty shy about playing in front of people. And I liked being in the kitchen.”

A move to Auckland saw him taken on at Bar 2 and 2 where he watched and helped with small plates. “I mucked around a bit, went to Queenstown and worked at the Park Royal and then at the Chateau on the Park in Christchurch where I really started taking an interest. And it came quite easily. I didn’t have a problem with getting on with it and keeping my mouth shut.”

Then a move to Australia really “opened my eyes to the cultural side of cuisine … And you know, I suddenly was introduced to real ethnicity. I had friends in Melbourne who were Greek, Italian, Turkish, Lebanese. I dined at their homes and I became aware of what New Zealand was missing. We never really had an authentic cuisine; there was always that emphasis on French food.”

After moving back and forth between NZ and Australia for another few years, he married and returned to NZ, “where the food was just the same stuff as when I left. If Pacifica had not come up for sale, I would have gone straight back.” Fortunately providence prevailed.

He also looked to his own heritage as a basis for his own culinary passage. “I couldn’t understand why we looked to a style of food which had no authenticity in our country. When you could see what was happening in places like Melbourne, which plumbed the ethnic heritage to build fabulous restaurants, why was it not happening here?”

Of Tuwharetoa and Ngapuhi descent, Jeremy is very aware what his Māori ancestry has taught him. “Our Māori culture is all about food. Friends and family visit.

There was and always is a meal.” He admits though, despite a distinct Pacific lean to his food, “it’s something that was just there rather than making it a stamp of my style.

I’ve never tried to make it a point. I’ve always wanted to be accepted as a chef first … one who happens to be a Māori .”

His food – widely acclaimed as being ‘delicious, daringly innovative’ – rests on subtle preparation of what he amusingly refers to as “bits and pieces”. Well they may be, but they are also such delicacies as greenlip mussels, kina, paua, muttonbird,

clams, lamb’s brains, sweetbreads and venison. Good Kiwi kai which is totally of his own technique; the freshest produce which truly showcases the best of the region. “I quite like making things up, then there will be something I recall from 20 years ago, but I put it together in my own way.”

He confesses vegetarian and vegan are a challenge, but “I’m getting better at it and preparing it in ways I really like. I have to enjoy the food, I won’t do it just because it’s the ‘in’ thing, so I am constantly finding ways of developing dishes. Seafood which I love is typical. The old expectancy used to be a big bowl of mussels if you offered a seafood platter. Customers have a lot more appreciation now when they are presented with something different.”

His brain is constantly in action. There are plans for a move in a few years. “Back to Kakahi. It’s a long term plan to get a small team together and open up there. I never ever thought I would go back home. But the town is dying, and it’s harder and harder for the people. Only some 50 or so now; there used to be four thousand in the sawmill days. And I want to help. It’s also a constant challenge to rely on people so we thought just the two of us (his partner Natalie Bulman, who is front of house and manages the restaurant) would work with the local youngsters and teach them a craft or trade.

There are a lot of B&Bs and lodges with a good tourism industry developing round the national park area.” So the potential is there.

Natalie is, as she admits, “the reluctant manager”. I do it for Jeremy to be supportive, but basically I am really shy. I come from a small town in Wales where I would hide away like a hermit.” She is also looking forward to a life that will allow her own creative streak more scope.

This is very evident in the highly original Pacifica bar, which she masterminded.

Not much has changed in the decor since Jeremy bought it from Mark Sweet (who then turned his hand to writing) until he discovered a beautiful woven mat decorating the ceiling which had been created by his aunt, and rocks outside that had come from the river at his home town. “It just felt right.

As if meant to be. We haven’t really changed it much at all, because it’s quite timeless.”

But they both felt the bar needed help.

“So,” says Natalie, “I enlisted the aid of Ken Sando who is a local artist and can pretty well lend his hand to anything, and he found the old bits and pieces of wood which make the front. People do make many comments about it; it really adds character in keeping with the rest of the house.”

It’s a welcoming invitation to “come inside and join the family”. For there’s no doubt Pacifica, with its typical villa-like appearance and bright blue frontage feels like home. And as they say, “the heart of the home is in the kitchen”.

WHAT'S HOT AT JARKs OUR TEAM: ThE KiTchEn sTAff Last month we invited the kitchen staff to come with us to the auckland food show. a fun day experiencing new products and ideas.

OUR fRiEnDs Lately one of the biggest compliments we’ve been having is customers being blown away by how buzzing Jarks is, but also the diverse customer range we have. something for everyone, that’s our aim!

OUR sPEciALs » $15 WeekdaY LUnCh MenU. the ever popular $15 weekday lunch menu continues 11am-3pm Monday to Friday. » Mon, tUe, Wed $15 eVening MeaL speCiaL. 1 meal per night $15 specials change weekly. » FUn FridaY MUsiC nights. Live music most Friday nights from 8ish til latish. no cover charge come party @ Jarks Bookings recommended to avoid disappointment.

118 Maraekakaho road hastings (old Corn exchange) phone: 06 870 8333 Check out our facebook page for up-to-date info weekly

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 85

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

BOOK REVIEWS

LOUISE WARD, WARDINI BOOKS breakdown as a result of trauma is a main theme, but relationships are central.

Her story charts her loneliness and isolation, her complex relationship with her father, her burgeoning friendships and her determination to solve the town’s mysteries. It’s a summer love story, a murder mystery, a drama, all told with Cassie’s own voice, which is full of selfdeprecating humour and wry observation.

The town comes to life in all its tawdry glory – the fun fair, her father’s restaurant, her therapy meetings and the ever present menace of a killer on the loose. Whisper To Me is an all-rounder of a book that does something a little different.

Whisper to Me Nick Lake (Bloomsbury, $18.99) Young Adult fiction often tackles the particular issues faced by our young people. Much has been written upon the subject of mental health: depression and suicide. The jury’s out on whether such literary discussion is a help or a hindrance – does it encourage our youth to reach out or does it give a terrifying, destructive illness a false glamour? Nick Lake’s Whisper To Me deals with a young person who hears voices.

Cassie has suffered great trauma, witnessing the violent death of her mother. Compounding that, she lives in a seaside town whose main claim to fame is that it harbours an undetected serial killer – occasionally young women go missing without a trace. The catalyst to her breakdown is her discovery of a shoe on the beach containing the foot, and nothing else, of its owner. It’s no surprise that Cassie is soon joined by an incorporeal voice that, for reasons that are discerned as the novel progresses, berates her, hates her and forces her to do harmful things.

The novel is written in the first person, a love letter from Cassie to a young man she has formed a connection with, and that she has betrayed. She hopes that by revealing the inner workings of her troubled mind that he may forgive her. This device enables Cassie to narrate without hindrance, and to give her honest account.

Cassie’s story has many facets: mental 86 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

The Great Kiwi ABC Book Donovan Bixley (Upstart Press, $19.99) This is a book for very young children that lives up to its name. The inimitable Donovan Bixley peppers each page with a riot of colour, Kiwiana, high frequency words and rich vocabulary. This is a book to encourage children to look, find and think; some of the words are pointed out but many are left for the reader to spot, making their own sound and language connections. Yes, E is indeed for ear, but on the same busy page there is also an elephant wearing a jumper embellished with an eel, and she’s eating an Easter egg. Add to that everyday te reo and a Kiwi to spot on each page and we have another winner for all Kiwi kids. I must mention that that on page 3 we have a cow driving a car – it’s a Cattleac. Genius.

The Wolf Road Beth Lewis (Harper Collins, $34.99) This debut novel is a literary thriller with intensity, menace and great pace. Elka is an orphan – her parents left years ago to seek their gold mining fortune and her grandmother disappears in a storm. There has been a devastating event known as the Damn Stupid that has set civilisation back;

we feel we are in Pioneer America. Elka is taken in by a trapper, Kreager Hallet, but this is no avuncular figure: he is harsh, silent, often absent. Elka craves and imagines love and affection and perhaps Trapper (as she thinks of him) offers it in his own way.

As Elka grows into a young adult, Trapper trusts her to venture into the nearest town.

When she sees his face on a wanted poster she quickly makes the connections that change everything she thought her life to have been.

Elka unwittingly leads the driven and vengeful Magistrate Lyon to their home and finds herself in a nightmare situation: Trapper believes she has betrayed him and Lyon believes Elka is complicit in Trapper’s crimes.

This is an extremely tense, edge of your seat read. Elka is in danger at every twist and turn as she runs, using the skill set of her childhood to track down her long lost parents, hunted by not only the authorities but by the man she thought of as her father.

Her journey exposes her naivety and her need to form meaningful relationships with those she meets – an instinct that occasionally puts her in further danger. Her confusion over her loyalty to Trapper is heartbreaking – she is terrified, in peril, but he is the only family she has ever known.

A great source of tension in the novel is how much Elka knew about Trapper’s deeds and how much she may have repressed or wilfully ignored. The relationship between the two is reminiscent of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter The Silence of the Lambs in its skin crawling see-saw between anathema and empathy. Gripping, atmospherically written, and not for the faint of heart.

Wine: Stories from Hawke’s Bay Mark Sweet Photographs Tim Whittaker $69 free shipping in nz

This book is a treasure … I love the photographs, both old and new … all my expectations were exceeded.

Tim Turvey, Clearview Estate Winery A must for those wishing to know more about the Hawke’s Bay wine industry – its history, wine pioneers and current producers and their outstanding wines.

Graeme Avery, Sileni Estates An engaging read that I heartily recommend for the depth and character it adds to the Hawke’s Bay wine experience.

Alwyn Corban, Ngatarawa Wines

A splendid new book … an extraordinary trove of images.

John Saker, Cuisine I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in a well-researched piece of important wine history, a glimpse into many of the characters who have helped build a thriving wine industry, a winemaker’s view of what makes the region and its wines special, or a beautifully illustrated adornment for a coffee table.

Bob Campbell, Master of Wine

Preview & Order your copy now at winestorieshb.co.nz

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Getting Back to Basics

Michal McKay, who has a preference for simple style (but always worn with a twist), takes a long hard look at what works best in wardrobe essentials.

As a veteran of the fashion fraternity it stands to reason I’ve had my fair share of wardrobe disasters. Most from following the latest trend and ignoring a fundamental fact: fashion followers don’t necessarily make the BestDressed List. The Style Set does.

In other words, it’s not the quantity of clothes in your wardrobe that counts, it’s the quality. My youthful enthusiasm for the very latest has long been tempered by an acquired wisdom of advancing years. A wisdom encapsulated by the doyenne – Diana Vreeland – who, when asked if designers dictated hemlines, responded with her typical acerbic wit – “only if you take dictation.”

After too many decades to contemplate, when my regular routine was doing fashion shoots, my own attitude to what I wore each day tended to take a back seat. Not that I wasn’t enchanted by what was new

and different – it was simply that the eureka moments of creativity tended to be for the camera rather than myself.

A uniform became my modus operandum – roll neck sweater (preferably cashmere) and a pair of pleated wool pants for winter (usually black) with a black leather jacket; white shirt (cotton or silk) and slender pants in forgiving stretch for summer with a cashmere cardigan draped for cooler moments.

I can’t claim it’s original. That guru of all things related to style, Grace Coddington, regularly wore a white shirt and slim black pants (albeit they were usually designer label); her rationale being when faced with producing mega fashion sets for VOGUE on a regular basis a certain ennui creeps in at the time it comes to your own attire. Under such circumstances, simple is best – a tacit philosophy.

But that does not mean boring! A spark of the unexpected to go with the classic.

A touch of wit to transform the basic into brilliant makes the difference. Chicly eccentric is the aim – and a certain degree of courage of your convictions to carry it off is a must.

So here’s my take on the essentials that will never go out of style, and ideas on how to elevate them into show-stoppers. Remember that the bones of your wardrobe are the fundamental staples that go with almost everything and are eternally elegant. They provide the canvas on which you can add that touch of wit and whimsy which will elevate your look from simply smart to that with unmissable panache.

The Basic White T: Can’t have too many of them. And go for the classic in finest white cotton/lycra knit or bamboo. The best are SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 89

Michal McKay at home. Photograph: Florence Charvin

super soft and skim the body for a relaxed fit.

Crew-neck cut is a no-brainer but a V is good for adding the extra dash of a necklace.

A Classic White Shirt: Never out of fashion – though the cut can vary according to the season and the years. Crisp white cotton with collar and cuffs, button down front, yoked back with centre pleat for working room is ideal. You can’t go wrong.

A Pair of Pleated Trousers: In black wool crepe for autumn/winter, double crepe de chine for spring/summer. Guaranteed to flatter any figure and go from morning well into the wee smalls without a blink.

Black/Blue Denim Skinny Jeans: a slightly high-rise style will immediately elongate and give an illusion of longer, slimmer legs.

Practical and always a la mode.

The High Heeled Pump: Sexy. I’ve yet to find a man who doesn’t drool over 90 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

that appeal of a high arched foot, shoe tantalisingly swinging from the toe over a discretely crossed leg. In a colour grab like wild marigold, even more provocative (I have proof!).

The Flat Ballerina: It’s all about the shape of the shoe, specially the heel and toe. Go to ground with a virtually invisible sole. Flats are wonderfully subtle, surprisingly stylish with tailored pants or stunning with something strapless. And there are moments when a high heel is not always practical.

The Cashmere Crew Neck Sweater or Polo: Or both! During those pesky trans-seasonal months these will be your best friends. Look luscious worn over a shirt and pants; cool and casual with jeans plus a T. Go for brilliant shades to give a blast of originality to your look. And there’s nothing like throwing on cashmere for that feeling of absolute luxe.

Biker Jacket: In leather preferably, though denim also works well. Splurge on this essential because it will last decades. And what’s more, works when worn over anything from jeans to evening attire.

The Ubiquitous Trench: Cinched at the waist it will lift a look ‘up there’ into the stratospheric echelons of Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo – magical women of mystery who had chic summed up every time they made an entrance … and they made many.

The Little Black Dress: I know. But it’s an oldie and a goodie and never fails when all else is looking definitely “not suitable”. An A shape with long sleeves and rounded neck that flares from the bust covering a multitude of sins will show off all the best bits, make you feel marvellous and is a guarantee to stop the crowd. The ultimate blank canvas.

If what you are looking for in a diamond is perfection then you can’t go past a Passion8 diamond Passion8 diamonds are cut to exact and perfect mathematical proportions, each perfectly cut facet acts like a mirror reflecting light in the perfect direction resulting in the ultimate light performance, when dirty every Passion8 diamond will perform 2-3 shades of colour whiter than an averagely cut diamond.

Every Passion8 diamond larger than a .30ct are GIA laser inscribed.

This independent assessment reports on the diamonds unique valuedetermining characteristics, like colour, clarity, carat weight and so on.

Every Passion8 diamond comes with an authenticity card, this is your guarantee that you have purchased a genuine Passion8 diamond from a genuine dealer.

Passion8 diamonds can take up to 10 times longer to cut with the visible result being maximum brightness and sparkle forever. What makes a Passion8 diamond even rarer is that less than a fraction of 1% of all diamonds manufactured meets Passion8’s highest quality standards.

Passion8 diamonds guarantee perfect hearts and arrows, the brightest diamond money can buy.

8 Perfect hearts, 8 Perfect arrows

When looked at through a viewer every round passion8 diamond exhibits the vivid and symmetrical pattern of eight perfect hearts and eight perfect arrows, the very hallmark which sets a Passion8 diamond apart from other round diamonds, and the reason why Passion8 diamonds visibly shine brighter forever.

Grieve Diamond Jeweller is proud to be the only stockist of Passion8 diamonds in Hawke’s Bay. We have a great range of rings, earrings, and pendants featuring Passion8 diamonds or you can design your own piece of bespoke jewellery and we can source that special Passion8 diamond to suit any budget.

Come in and view the hearts and arrows in our Passion8 diamonds and find out more about the perfect diamond.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 91

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Now comes crunch time - the difference between the basic (dare we say boring) and the brilliant. The secret lies in the extras – the unexpected flashes which transform function into fabulous.

1. A great bag in an attention-grabbing colour slung across the body packs a powerful punch. For all those times when a tote is too big and a clutch too small, bring out the flash and dash of this smart addition which will serve more than one purpose. Add pizzazz to your look yet still be practical – the card and keys have to be carried.

2. Rather than stepping out in a basic black ballerina or high-heeled pump, wear them in a wild purple or raging red, even snakeskin, with toe and heel of vibrant hue. Surprise 92 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

everyone who classes you as a classicist.

3. Wear an amazing wrap scarf or shawl.

I have one in acid green cut velvet and another in purple acquired in a Hong Kong haunt. Believe me, they never fail to turn heads and does that ever uplift the spirits?

4. Luxe jewels. This I share with that true arbiter of style, Karen Walker, who introduced a whole range of everyday luxury jewellery because she felt many of us loved to wear real gold and beautiful stones like diamonds with their jeans or simple everyday ensembles. The line is a hit - who doesn’t love a subtle show of glamour when the rest of you is pretty much an understatement?

5. A fedora – in panama or felt. Though a hat may not instantly spring to mind when

thinking of adding zap to your silhouette, this shape borrowed from the boys has definite sex appeal when doffed by a girl (note the June cover of British Vogue - for verification!).And it can go with anything from jeans and a T-shirt to a tailored trench.

6. A Beautiful Belt – anyone who has a waist should be making the most of it. A splash of bright suede, craftily woven leather of mixed palette or a wrap of rhinestones will transform any basic from daytime to readyfor-the-night.

The fact is, style is not about a credit card, but a wealth of courage and creativity. Basics the fundamentals may be, but it’s the putting together and the stunning extras that sift the followers from the real fashionistas.

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Buzz around the Bay Springtime is festival time in Hawke’s Bay: Blossom Festival / September 10

In recent years the Blossom Festival and Parade has come to represent spring and Hastings in all its diversity, colour and creativity. Secure your spot early in central Hastings to cheer on the cultural groups, dancers, artists, community organisations and local businesses aboard their unique floats. creativehastings.org.nz

Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival / October 2 – 16 New Zealand International Film Festival / September 1 - 18

Head to Cinema Gold in Havelock North or MTG Century Theatre in Napier for some of the finest international films of the year. nziff.co.nz

BOSTOCK New Zealand Spring Racing Festival / September 17 and October 1

If you haven’t made your bookings yet, do it now! You don’t want to miss out on the second HB Art Festival, which brings an exciting mix of international theatre, dance, music, cabaret, comedy, literature and more.

This year the action is in the Spiegeltent on the Havelock North Village Green, with additional venues in Napier, Hastings and Havelock North. hbaf.co.nz

Spring racing – frock up and head to the track for two major race days. The Livamol Classic on October 1 claims to be our most stylish spring event, so don’t disappoint the other punters. There’s a range of hospitality options on offer. hawkesbayracing.co.nz

Spring Fling / September 1 – October 29

Explore Central HB in the springtime with a series of 20 standout events across September and October. From history and homesteads to cycling, music, adventure, hunting, wine and dining, there’s something surprising for everyone. thespringfling.nz 94 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Fringe in the ‘Stings / October 14 – 16

Complement your HBAF experience with some ‘edge thinking’ as part of the Fringe Festival in the cool part of Hastings.

And other, non-festival events:

The 2016 Church Tour / September 20 at Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist

Legendary New Zealand songwriters, recording artists, and performers Sharon O’Neill, Shona Laing, Debbie Harwood & Hammond Gamble collaborate to present memorable music, plus stories and banter. civicevents.co.nz

Hawke’s Bay Home and Garden Show / September 16 – 18 at McLean Park

The Gruffalo / October 14 – 15 at Napier Municipal Theatre

Looking for interior or exterior inspiration? Check out the expo, experts, trends and prizes all under one roof. homeandgardenshow.co.nz

See the award winning picture book by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler come to life on the stage. eventfinda.co.nz

CMNZ Presents: QuintEssence / September 30 at MTG

The New Zealand String Quartet and Grammy-nominated American violist James Dunham come together for this special Brahms and Mozart concert. chambermusic.co.nz

Barnum – the Greatest Showman on Earth / Until September 17 at Tabard Theatre See Napier Operatic’s take on the Tony Award-winning musical, which follows the lives of Phineas Taylor Barnum and circus owner James Bailey as they create Barnum and Bailey Circus – “The Greatest Show on Earth”. napieroperatic.org.nz

2016 Royal A&P Show / October 19 – 21 at HB Showgrounds

Join 30,000 others at Hawke’s Bay’s largest gathering and check out the alpaca, beef cattle, dairy cattle, dog trials, equestrian, fleece wool, pigs, sheep, shearing, wood chopping, poultry and home industries competitions … WHEW! Plus 240 trade displays, Animal World, rides, sideshows and candyfloss!

LETTER from the COUNTRY

MARY KIPPENBERGER

I write this mid July and the rain has finally come. Little has quenched the land since January and our wetland had become cracked and sore. All but the ruru and the dancing pīwakawaka had given up in disgust, frogs hibernated ever deeper and climate change nodded smugly in the corner.

Today the raupo once again sways, reflected in a muddied mirror, aloof pūkeko have returned to pester my struggling vege patch and four paradise ducks made the morning roll call. All that’s missing is the solitary heron and the stampede of little grey quail with their chicks like walnuts on energizer legs.

This is my favourite part of the farm.

My garden lies under rocky cliffs, snuggled in a three-acre valley. I am completely alone here; nobody to raise an eyebrow as I chat happily to my veges, the fruit trees, admonish the blackberry; nobody to hear me gasp with pride as I dig the teaming compost.

I am the worst gardener, but I mean well.

With excitement I read gardening books and watch YouTube tutorials, but all the green fingers and thumbs had been taken by the time I got to the counter. I produce tiny potatoes that taste a million dollars and cost the same and I am yet to meet a cauliflower I recognise. I will improve.

Winter slumber at Te Rangi Farm is being replaced with a fever as Kate and Danny’s wedding fast approaches. We have till mid October, but oh you should see the list on the fridge. The whānau are pleased I’m sure; such a reasonable list. All I want is a fence taken out here, a fence put in there, a footbridge, scrub cleared, sliding door installed, a culvert, gate and track, storage room, walls, doors, ceilings painted, the list goes on ... and on.

Under an October sky, around a dancing bonfire, surrounded by people who love them, Peter will marry Kate and Danny. Married by your Dad. That works. There will be happy tears and weather fingers will be crossed.

And then I will be old, an OAP. It’s been a long time coming, but the evidence is piling in.

Hamish (nine years) said matter-of-factly to his mother, “Get Grandy to do it, she doesn’t 96 • BAYBUZZ • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

“Because you’re old and old people aren’t busy, they just watch television.” have anything to do, she’s not busy.”

I looked at him. “Why aren’t I busy?”

“Because you’re old and old people aren’t busy, they just watch television.”

This was closely followed by an encounter with Emily (six years).

Emily and I were wearing the same hat.

“Oh Emily, we are twins!” I exclaimed.

Emily looked at me sympathetically, “Grandy, we aren’t twins cause you’re old and I’m not and you wear glasses and I don’t.”

“How can you tell I’m old, Emily?”

“Because,” said Emily without malice just truth, “because your skin’s all wrinkly and so is your face.”

Peter fished, “Emily, how can you tell I’m old?”

To which Emily smiled and said, “Don’t be silly Grampy, you’re not old.” (And that’s why I killed him, your Honour!)

This week I received a large envelope in the post. Massey University smiled at me

and I smiled back. Maybe it was reunion time, maybe some exciting programs to pursue, I ripped it open.

“Dear Mary, you have been chosen to take part in a research program about ... ageing.”

I guess there’s no turning back; it’s official, I am old. I filled out the booklet. I counted my teeth because they wanted me to and in the end I counted my blessings. The booklet was comprehensive and anonymously intrusive.

As I delved into my life, how it had treated me, what I saw in the future and how I sat in the present I found myself ticking the ‘completely agree’ boxes.

I don’t feel old. I have tried to ignore the evidence. I’ve made jokes and bemoaned the wrinkles, but now I accept them.

Living an ordinary life is an extraordinary privilege.

Especially now.

Hands up for kindness and love, hands up for equality and humanity, hands up for inclusion and peace. Hands up for difference and acceptance. Hands up for sharing and community. Hands up for challenge. Hands up for the sharing of wealth and privilege and hands up for the planet.

Let’s fight to keep New Zealand extraordinarily ordinary.

The TEMPUR ZERO G bed system Discover weightless comfort at touch of one button

The Tempur ZERO-G Platinum It’s here, in Hastings, at Bedpost.

We are truly excited about this bed. A perfect balance of function, practicality, comfort and aesthetics. Whoever decided that beds were just for sleeping never had a Zero-G Adjustable Base. These are the ultimate in lifestyle enhancement. With the flick of a button the preset ZERO-G position transports you into the perfect relaxation zone.

Not only comfortable to sleep on; the Tempur ZERO-G Platinum is a state of the art piece of furniture.

When the spine is positioned at zero gravity, full body muscle tension is relieved and circulation improved. This can also assist your breathing as you sleep and allow you to find the perfect position for sleeping, relaxing or checking your email. Finding a perfect sleep position is one of the best things you can experience because it allows you to not only feel more relaxed, but also helps you to fall asleep quicker and enjoy a more rejuvenating sleep.

If you are struggling to get a good night’s sleep this may be the perfect solution, Tempur beds provide outstanding comfort and support for a feeling of instant relaxation. They come in a range of sizes and comfort options to accommodate your specific needs. The feedback from my clients has been amazing, often saying they will never go back to a conventional bed. I invite you to come into my store to test Tempur for yourself.

Michael White Owner

NEW LOCATION 630 Heretaunga Street West Hastings Ph (06) 870 9421