BBSEOOCT14_BayBuzz_LoRes

Issue No.19 • S EP/ OCT 2014 • $8.00 Including GST

Women of Influence

Hawke’s Bay’s Top 20 Andy Lowe’s Sanctuary for Species Who Really Owns Hawke’s Bay? 9 772253 262016

Where ARE the Jobs? • Across the USA On a Harley • Farming With Nature • Taste Cinque Terre

05

Showcasing the recently refurbished Napier Post Offi ce Building (built inin 1930).

Showcasing the recently refurbished Napier Post Offi ce Building (built 1930).

Showcasing the recently refurbished Napier Post Offi ce Building (built Showcasing the recently refurbished Napier Post Offi ce Building (built in 1930).

ATTN14GEM37

ATTN14GEM37 ATTN14GEM37

Survived the 1931 Napier earthquake and now strengthened Survived the 1931 Napier earthquake and now strengthened Survived the 1931 Napier earthquake and now strengthened Survived the 1931 Napier earthquake and now strengthened to proudly stand the test of time for many generations toto come. toto proudly stand the test ofof time for many generations come. proudly stand the test time for many generations to come. to proudly stand the test of time for many generations to come.

For leasing enquiries, please call 027 660 2033.

For leasing enquiries, please call 027 660 2033.

For leasing enquiries, please call 027 For leasing enquiries, please call 027 660 2033.

Issue No.19 • S EP/ OCT 2014

THIS monTH Twenty women with heaps of influence in Hawke’s Bay. What about foreign ownership in Hawke’s Bay? And where are the jobs in our region? look behind Andy lowe’s predator-proof fence. Plus dam politics, food, the arts scene, and Brendan’s humour.

FEATURES

20 WomEn oF InFlUEncE Jessica Soutar Barron Hawke’s Bay’s Top 20.

30 cAPE SAncTUARY Bridget Freeman-Rock cutting edge conservation.

38 BAY nEEdS BETTER WoRk SToRIES Keith Newman How do we get more jobs?

50 PolITIcAl BUzz Tom Belford What next on dam, amalgamation?

54 WHo oWnS US? Mark Sweet

overseas investment in Hawke’s Bay.

Page 1 • Issue 19 • Sep/oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Or hot Water

Issue No.19 • S EP/ OCT 2014

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

She also produces Fruit Bowl craft Jam.

Here

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.

BEE in the knoW 08 Super sculler. Hawke’s Bay Wellness Index. TAG oil.

Protecting aquifers. Tsumani earthquakes. coastal strategy. Best winery.

We can

Engineer awarded. Best home design. Book reviews. Elephants need you!

Emergency planning. Rare bird sighting. Events not to miss.

IdEAS & oPInIonS 64 WoRkInG SmARTER In THE HEAlTH SEcToR Adri Isbister

MARK SWEET napier-born, mark worked overseas in Hong kong and Scotland, before returning to Hawke’s Bay, and establishing Pacifica restaurant.

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

Help if you’ve

TOM BELFORD Tom’s past includes the carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organization, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major nonprofits and corporates.

Tom publishes BayBuzz, writes an acclaimed blog for professional nGo fundraisers and communicators in north America and Europe, and is a HB Regional councillor.

68 THE UnHolY AllIAncE Paul Paynter 70 FARmInG WITH nATURE mAkES PlAIn SEnSE Dan Elderkamp cUlTURE & lIFESTYlE 72 PUSHInG oUR cHIldREn oUTSIdE Damon Harvey 74 on THE RoAd: AcRoSS THE US oF A on A HARlEY Rick Barker 78 TASTE cInqUE TERRE Prue Barton

MANDY JENSEN mandy Jensen 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

82 FASHIon 88 ARTS Jessica Soutar Barron mTG growing pains. Summer sculpture at Birdwoods. Taonga on display.

Holiday fun. creative industry impact. clay heads. marty Smith.

Beverly Blogg. Spring clean at Hastings city Art Gallery. Blossom Parade.

96 THE oRAnGE ARmY Brendan Webb BayBuzz articles are archived 30 days after publication at: WWW.BAYBUzz.co.nz For editorial enquiries:editors@baybuzz.co.nz For advertising enquiries:mandy@baybuzz.co.nz

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

THE BAYBUzz TEAm EDITOR: Tom Belford. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jessica Soutar Barron. SENIOR wRITERS: Bridget Freeman-Rock; Jessica Soutar Barron; Keith Newman; Mark Sweet; Tom Belford. cOluMNISTS: Brendan webb; claire Hague; Damon Harvey; David Trubridge; Paul Paynter; Phyllis Tichinin; Prue Barton; Roy Dunningham; Sarah cates. EDITOR’S RIgHT HAND: Brooks Belford. PHOTOgRAPHy: Tim whittaker; Sarah cates.

IlluSTRATION & ART: Brett Monteith; Jason Juno. cREATIvE, DESIgN & PRODucTION: Max Parkes @ unit Design; Stefan Olsen @ Empire Design.

ADvERTISINg SAlES & DISTRIBuTION: Mandy Jensen. ONlINE: Mogul. BuSINESS MANAgER: Bernadette Magee. PRINTINg: Format Print.

Page 2 • Issue 19 • Sep/oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

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

We Can’t e r e h p l e h

...but we

can HELP if

You’ve got no power or no hot water

Call us first 0800 286 476

0800 2 UNISON

If you are one of our customers in the Napier or Hastings area, call us directly if your power or hot water has gone off unexpectedly.

A member of our fault response team will be sent out free of charge (in most cases) to check the power lines and fuses delivering electricity to your property for a problem, and repair any faults.

An electrician is unable to perform this check, and will likely charge a call out fee, even if the problem is on Unison’s network.

By giving us a call first, we may be able to help you avoid an unnecessary call out fee and get your services restored faster.

www.unison.co.nz

Quick Checks You Can Do First When you phone to let us know you have no hot water or power, we may ask you to perform a few simple checks to help us determine whether the problem is inside your home or business, or on the electricity network outside.

Before calling, it pays to:

1

Check if neighbouring properties have power.

2

Check the main switch is on at your switchboard.

3

Try and remember if you turned an appliance on prior to the power fault. If you did, turn off the appliance and check your switchboard fuses.

FROM THE EDITOR tom Belford

Make Civics Sexy Welcome to the ‘new, improved’ BayBuzz.

At least I hope it strikes you that way! And please let us know … one way or the other.

We’ve added more – and more diverse – content, while keeping the focus on issues and trend analysis. We’ve sliced and diced and re-formatted to make it all more reader-friendly. And, of course, BayBuzz is still all about Hawke’s Bay. We’ve come far from the days when BayBuzz was a 16-page newsprint tabloid.

That’s been possible, firstly, because of terrific support from a steadily growing band of advertisers, some of whom have supported us for years now.

Secondly, because of the consistent help of donors who have firmly believed Hawke’s Bay needs a publication that lifts public understanding and provokes debate around the key choices facing our region.

And thirdly, because all those involved in writing and producing BayBuzz have gone the extra mile, providing their services at budget rates and un-billed hours, and often, like myself, as volunteers. BayBuzz gives new meaning to ‘oily rag’.

But ultimately the success of BayBuzz is in the hands of you, our readers.

People who engage by weighing in with letters to the editor or comments on our website (or to other media). People who discuss and debate the issues raised with their friends and colleagues. People who sound off to their elected leaders.

And of course people who support BayBuzz financially by subscribing or buying it regularly at one of the dozens of shops and markets where it’s on offer (and thanks to them too!).

If you are not presently a subscriber, I hope you will linger over the sign-up form on page 16!

Page 4 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Truth be told, a publication like this is only sustainable if you make it so.

Publishing a printed magazine these days is a bit contrarian, after all. Aren’t we supposed to be ‘all digital’, all the time … communicating in text messages … watching videos on smartphones … getting our news flashes from tweets?

Well, you’ve read this far. So maybe you’re a contrarian too. Maybe you just have ‘a thing’ for paper!

My own commitment to publishing BayBuzz is unwavering.

I recently saw a TED video where the speaker (Eric Liu) was making an appeal to “make civics sexy”. His important point is that too many people are “illiterate about power”. And so the relatively few who understand power, specifically in the government/political realm, have increasingly disproportionate influence over public affairs, even in democratic settings.

I agree, and offer BayBuzz as a vehicle to lift public understanding of and engagement with the key issues and local government choices that will shape the quality of our lives here in our own small pond.

In doing so, yes, BayBuzz has an editorial tilt. Three ‘tilts’ as a matter of fact. And there’s nothing secret about them.

Hawke’s Bay should do a better job of protecting and enhancing our environment, and using our land and water sustainably.

Hawke’s Bay needs a more diversified, resilient, and higher income economy; meaning we cannot forever put all our eggs in the primary sector basket, as hugely important as it is.

And we think councils work for us, not vice versa, and must do so with much greater transparency and accountability.

When we don’t see those things happening, you can bet BayBuzz will sound

Publishing a printed magazine these days is a bit contrarian, after all.

Aren’t we supposed to be ‘all digital’, all the time? off and press for change. And along the way, we will continue, as we have, to give due respect and exposure to other points of view.

The goal is informed, robust debate, with plenty of people involved.

So that speaks to the serious side of BayBuzz.

But let me assure you, as you turn the paper pages that follow, we intend to lighten your day and entertain as well!

Introducing you to some of the most fascinating people, facts, happenings and accomplishments in our community.

We hope you will regard BayBuzz as your ‘must read’ source for discovering ‘the buzz’ around the Bay in all its aspects – issues, politics, business, arts & culture, lifestyle, personalities, events and just plain fun.

Please let us know if we are succeeding.

Write to: editors@baybuzz.co.nz

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BEACHAM.CO.NZ

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alex@beacham.co.nz alex@beacham.co.nz

Issue No.19 • SEP/ OCT 2014

LETTERS We encourage readers to criticize, expand upon or applaud our articles as they see fit. All of our magazine articles are published online – www.baybuzz.co.nz – where you can always comment … at any length and as often as you like.

But we are also happy to publish a limited number of readers’ letters here. You can email us at editors@baybuzz.co.nz or mail us at BayBuzz, PO Box 8322, Havelock North.

mysteries of the mausoleum by brendan webb People often asked me while in Auckland – what is it like living in Hawke’s Bay. Generally I was positive.

It was a great mistake then, to pick up BayBuzz on the day I returned and read the ‘amusing’ back page in its cod Roman guise. The subject was Mayor Yule’s visit to MTG Hawke’s Bay. I was dismayed at the homophobia involved in the thinly disguised portrayal of my partner, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, the director of the museum. Immediately my sense of the claustrophobic narrowness of Hawke’s Bay life presented itself to me.

I was also amazed at the constantly belittling ‘amusing’ comments about the Museum’s displays – regardless of the fact MTG Hawke’s Bay has won and continues to win national awards for its exhibitions.

I felt instantly depressed about life in Hawke’s Bay. I realised afresh the rancour that lies just below the surface in a region with stagnant population growth, bitter divisions and the way an extremely low self esteem leads people to attack anyone who stands out from the crowd, or attempts to do something broader than the confines of this distant, isolated region.

What a way to attract people to the place.

In the coming days I will try and imagine a broader, better world here, but I have to say I find the astounding nastiness which is a constant presence in ‘dialogue’ here infinitely depressing. At times Hawke’s Bay qualifies for the moniker: the ugly province.

Peter Wells M.N.Z.M

and from the baybuzz blog – murky waters Council staff should always provide the elected councillors with information relevant to council decisions. If such information has been requested, but not provided, the Chairman on behalf of all the councillors should direct the chief executive to disclose

Page 6 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

it, or provide a full written explanation why not. The template for Water User Agreements is an obvious case in point.

So far as I can judge from outside, HBRIC is now effectively running the Council, rather than the other way round. Yet the HBRIC members are not elected, and not directly accountable to ratepayers. Why is this travesty being allowed to continue?

As a former councillor (1992-5) I can state with certainty the council I was a member of, so capably led by the late Doug Walker, would never have permitted this situation to arise.

Bill Sutton I would be interested in reading the parallels between a failed investment institution’s early signs of disaster in the market, losing investors’ money, and the signals around the Ruataniwha Dam Scheme’s financial puddle.

We have put directors of failed schemes into prison for failing to adequately inform and adjust spending. We should be grateful to these four councillors who don’t want to be responsible for a disaster and so are still investigating and asking for the whole story.

Only when the whole story is out there can we honestly and safely move ahead.

Why does the CHBDC see this as a bad investment? Perhaps they are right to be cautious. So why, why, why would anyone agree to spend their money to benefit the very people who don’t want to pay for it because they think it is a bad investment?

That old adage ‘put your money where your mouth is’ has a certain resonance methinks.

Amanda Rowly Tom, I can´t see how this deal is going to be bankable unless there are sufficient iron-clad Water Use Agreements in place. I would also expect that lenders would be looking for some form of back-up guarantee from HBRC, or some other body with revenue-raising power, just in case some or all of the WUAs fall over.

The wording of the WUAs will be important. What happens if the farmer goes bankrupt? Are there any restrictions on sale of the property? It is possible that the reason that you have not been shown a WUA is that the wording is still subject to negotiation. To be fair to the farmers in the area, I don´t blame them for not rushing to sign up at this stage, given the likelihood of further developments.

Keep asking the questions – maximum sunlight is the best guarantee of a deal that is in everybody´s best interests.

Chris Robinson Who actually makes the decisions for Regional Council? It seems Newman and Pearce can determine what councillors can and cannot see (I wonder if this is all councillors, or just the ones they find annoying?)

HBRIC would have been well aware that a Resource Consent application for the extra 15 million cubes of water, identified by the BoI, was a major move and chose, along with staff, to keep this under-hand move in cover-up mode. Who makes these decisions? Who decides what councillors can and cannot have access to?

Fenton Wilson needs to take another look at the fiduciary responsibilities of elected councillors and indeed, his own role as chair. If his thinking is “don’t dig too deep in the weeds” then he may well need to give that a second thought.

Pauline Elliott

kudos Congratulations to all at BayBuzz for the very high standard of journalism and production quality in your magazine.

Long may it continue!

Tony Johnson Your magazine and its content is second to none in New Zealand. Your magazine is so good that it should be circulated further afield and eventually cover most of NZ. R Wooffindin

When you have better thi ngs to do wi th your time. . .

It's a Team Thing!

With over 70 years combined property management experience the team at Oxygen are the most experienced Property Management Company in the Hawkes Bay. With specialist roles and complementary skills Oxygen comes together to provide complete property management that can be tailored to meet each clients requirements.

Mark Purdy, Branch Manager leads from the front, an accomplished rugby player and coach he has worked in the Property Management industry for 25 years. He's heard every reason under the sun why rent hasn't been paid on time, and having previously owned his own property management company his extensive knowledge is augmented by supervising numerous property refurbishments for local and absentee owners.

As every seasoned landlord knows finding the right tenant is paramount, at Oxygen this is recognised by having a specialist Lettings role. Jamie Richardson, award winning Letting Manager, helps people find a place to call home. She meets all potential tenants, assessing their needs, shows them suitable properties and is able to provide reassurance to owners that a good match has been made by undertaking reference and credit checks.

Oxygen Property Managers Jo MacDonald, Katy Russell have many years experience, a strong understanding of tenancy law and are able to represent owners at tenancy disputes and tribunals. Dealing with the day to day property issues is their bread and butter, be it replacing a

blown fuses or managing a complete re-decoration, communication with tenants, owners and trades-people is key.

Keeping the home fires burning at the Oxygen base is the Receptionist Melissa Ellmers. A young property investor and aspiring Property Manager, Melissa co-ordinates the receipting of rent received into the Oxygen trust account - important in providing investors with the confidence that rent funds are securely held in an account that is externally audited.

Hawke's Bay owners and tenants alike can be reassured that Oxygen is available 24 hours a day 7 days week, with robust systems and processes that have been tried and tested and the ability to leverage infrastructure pro-offed by the Oxygen offices in Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Wellington.

Tai Kekena Property Management Consultant understands that for some people engaging a Property Manager may seem like an unnecessary overhead, but he also knows about the time and stresses that can be associated with personally managing a portfolio of properties. He sums up the role of a Property Management company quite simply "our job is to take away all the hassles".

If you're a property investor and would like more time to get on with the big picture of adding to your portfolio without the hassle of the day to day property management and administration call the Oxygen team today to find out how easy it is.

. . . call the most experienced Property Management team in the Hawke's Bay

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super sculler Hawke's Bay single sculler Emma Twigg, 27, has won all three rowing World Cup titles this year from Sydney, Aiguebelette and Lucerne. 2016's Rio de Janeiro Olympics is now Twigg's focus. However, Twigg is torn. She will spend 2015 studying overseas as part of the Fifa Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport programme and Rowing NZ has said they may cut her from their squad if she is unavailable for training over the next rowing season. One to watch.

Bee in the KNOW

Hawke's Bay Wellness Index Unemployment Rate

6.7 [May 2014]

%

Lamb price at Stortford

Exports via Napier Port [New Record Tonnage in 2014]

AVerAGe

3,450,000 $105.73 [July 30]

tonnes • up 15.8%

Visitor Spending

Dwelling Assualts

20,871

Discharges from HB Hospital, year to 17 Aug. [Down 754 from same period, 2013]

115

Retail Spending

Total Guest Nights

[Up 3.6% over the previous year]

[Year end April 2014]

105.8

$

Million [Paymark, June 2014]

Visitors to MTG

paid admissions, July

2,539

[Year end April 2014]

[Family violence indicator, May 2014]

457

$

MILLION

Burglaries [May 2014]

Commercial Accommodation

955,965 2,754,753 Private Households

51

downloaded in GB ...Juneof data by average NOW

Bay Espresso coffee sold [July 2014]

residential customers.

National average is 45GB.

845

kg

233 Giant jaffas given away by Pipi’s in Havelock North [Giant jaffas consumed in July2014]

2,444

What's Hot

What's Not

North Island robin

Feral cats

MTG $10

MTG $15

Mexican

Bland

ponytails on politicians

Yes, boss!

Taonga on display

Taonga in storage

pigs

pork

Municipal Theatre

Hawke's Bay Opera House

Farm environmental Management plans

Dump it in the river

Wayne Jack

Bill Dalton

page 9 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

BEE in the KNOW

TAG,you're it

TAG Oil has commenced drilling a serious exploration well – to a depth of 3,600 metres – north of Gisborne.TAG estimates that its various permitted areas, stretching from the Gisborne area to east of Dannevirke, could contain 14 billion barrels of oil on less than 20% of its permitted acreage. TAG recently applied to the HBRC for a resource consent to drill a similar exploratory well at Boar Hill, near Porangahau. Any oil and gas consents filed with HBRC can be found here: bit.ly/1u7TGUS

Hawke's Bay Aquifers Need Protecting In her recent report, Drilling for oil and gas in New Zealand, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment emphasizes that regional councils have a vital role to play in protecting environmental and public health in the event of oil and gas exploration and development. And she comments specifically on Hawke’s Bay with its likely use of fracking: “Hawke’s Bay … is drier and very reliant on two key aquifers. There are major known earthquake faults running through Hawke’s Bay, so wells may be more vulnerable to damage from seismic activity, and therefore more likely to leak into groundwater.

Page 10 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

"Increasingly, Hawke’s Bay identifies itself as a premium food and wine region, and there may be conflicts between this and a mushrooming oil and gas industry. "

"Oil and gas wells are not drilled in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, and landowners cannot legally prevent wells being drilled on their land.”

The Regional Council has allocated $200,000 to consult with the public in the

Photo courtesy of TAG Oil

coming year and prepare a Plan Change addressing oil and gas development, including management of fracking.

Here’s what the Commissioner recommends: “… regional councils need to assess potential well locations to prevent them being located in places that might lead to the contamination of surface water or groundwater. Regional councils should also ensure that oil and gas wells are not drilled near major faults, or within (or close to) valuable ecosystems.”

And: “In developing their plans, regional councils should also consider whether they need to prohibit drilling for oil and gas in particular areas.

One reason for such a prohibition might be the need to protect certain aquifers.

The Ruataniwha and Heretaunga aquifers in Hawke’s Bay are not protected in this way, despite popular belief.”

Tsunami Earthquakes Coming to Your Town?

Recently completed seismological studies warn that undersea volcanoes along the Hikurangi fault, off the coast of Gisborne, have the potential to unleash 10-metre-high tsunamis reaching the shoreline. This fault continues off the Hawke’s Bay coast and further south.

As the Pacific crust moves underneath the Australian plates, the extinct undersea volcanic mountains are sticking points, with huge energy released when they are finally crunched … which could be tomorrow or hundreds of thousands of years for now.

Researchers focused on the undersea volcanoes while trying to account for two significant tsunamis that struck Gisborne in 1947, one 10 metres and one 6 metres.

Meantime, the Komar Report on climate change and its effects on Hawke’s Bay beaches, completed for the Regional Council, also notes the the risk of earthquake-caused tsunamis: “Recent investigations by geologists and seismologists along the Hawke’s Bay coast have found evidence for past occurrences of major earthquakes and tsunami … sediment records demonstrate that such seismic events were accompanied by an abrupt subsidence of the Bay View and Haumoana Littoral Cells, immediately followed by major tsunami that inundated this shore.

Although rare in their occurrence, the repeat of such an extreme earthquake and tsunami represents the ultimate and greatest future hazard to the Hawke’s Bay coast.”

Less dramatic, the ongoing plate subduction is causing our shore to steadily subside, compounding Hawke’s Bay’s coastal vulnerability to the sea rise caused by global warming.

Have a good day!

Coastal Strategy High on Agenda In March, the Regional Council received a final report from US expert Paul Komar on the impact of climate change on Hawke’s Bay’s coast, with particular focus on the shoreline from Tangoio to Cape Kidnappers.

Komar embraces the scientific consensus that climate change will cause a 1 metre (or more) rise in average sea level, as well as more intense storm surges, tides and waves. Both will increase beach erosion and compromise the ability of our present barrier gravel ridges to protect low-lying areas along the entire shoreline.

Beach erosion is already occurring dramatically at Clifton, Haumoana and Westshore, but Komar’s analysis indicates worse is to come, with further erosion at Bay View estimated at 15-20 metres by 2100 and up to 30 metres around Haumoana.

In response, the HB Regional Council is spearheading an initiative that will include the Hastings and Napier City Councils to examine the full extent of our region’s

public safety and physical and economic vulnerability to these coastal climate effects, and the mitigation strategies that should be pursued.

The comprehensive study and policymaking process will ta ke two years or more. The potential impacts are huge and mitigation very costly over a long period, making an understanding of the Komar report, technical as it is, highly desirable.

The report can be downloaded from the HBRC website via this link: http://bit.ly/1nNM9JD In the meantime, the Komar Report strongly recommends, “…phasing out as soon as possible the commercial extraction of beach gravels, and exploring the possibility of measures taken in the rivers that would restore their capacities to again be significant sources of sand and gravel to the Hawke’s Bay beaches.”

Page 11 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Bee in the KNOW

Restaurant Manager Robert Ferbar and Head Chef Ashley Jones

Best Winery restaurant Kudos to Elephant Hill for winning the Best Winery Restaurant category in the Cuisine Good Food Awards, up against compatriot Craggy Range and four others from around the country. Judges, dining anonymously, found the restaurant, and the food of chef Ashley Jones, deserving of a 'Hat' by scoring it 15.5 out of an available 20 points.

Elephant Hill's Vince Labat says the win is good for Hawke's Bay: "With the FAWC events now gaining real momentum and our food, wine and cycle paths getting people out and about and attracting inbound visitors this award helps add real credibility to the quality in what we and Hawke’s Bay should celebrate and communicate."

Young engineer Wins Award Kudos to Unison's Dr Thahirah Jalal who has won the New Zealand Electricity Engineers Association Young Engineer of the Year Award. Unison's Chief Executive, Ken Sutherland, says Dr Jalal's work is instrumental in advancing smart technologies, specifically around the development of algorithms for power transformers. In November Dr Jalal will travel to Tokyo to represent New Zealand at the 2014 IEC Young Professionals Programme.

Kudos to Welch Builders and Construction for picking up seven awards at the East Coast Region Registered Master Builders 2014 House of the Year, including the Supreme Award. The win recognises Welch's work on a home built for two families on a tricky hill site in Havelock North.

page 12 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

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Bee in the KNOW

BOOK reVIeWs The neglect of children and the long-term effects of abuse are common themes in fiction, memoir and academic literature, such as the recent publication Child Poverty in New Zealand, by Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple. The books that follow discuss children's experiences through the filter of fiction and the stark experience of a New Zealand foster mother.

Title: Fourth of July Creek Author: Smith Henderson The writing in Fourth of July Creek is fresh, lyrical, harsh and descriptive. It begins in Montana where we become immediately immersed in the heat, the dust, the voices of the sheriff and the social worker comparing ID badges – ‘lookit mine’ – whilst dealing with a disturbed boy on a rooftop, intent upon murdering his abusive mother.

The novel is necessarily gritty and the descriptions of the psychological trauma endured by those in the social worker’s orbit are not for the faint of heart. There are messages of hope here, and some lessons are learned, but Henderson pulls no punches in his portrayal of a society struggling to provide for its most vulnerable.

Fourth of July Creek is provocative, challenging, beautifully rendered. If you need something different, something less formulaic, this could be the book for you.

Title: Another Mother’s Love (Non-fiction) Author: Karen Scott New Zealand mother of a blended family of six, Karen scott tells how she came to foster a five-year-old boy who soon exhibited deeply disturbing, manipulative behaviours. The family received no information from cYF on the child, James, and had 80 minutes notice of his arrival.

At times scott presents as naïve – she comments that she had no idea fostering would turn the household upside down – and I wondered what she expected of a child taken from an abusive or dangerous home. scott’s family love and accept James but when the family’s wellbeing is compromised they face heart-breaking decisions.

Title: If You Find Me (Young Adult) Author: Emily Murdoch carey narrates the story of how she and her little sister Jenessa were taken to live in the woods by their junkie mother.

Years later, the girls are found by their father and their rehabilitation into society is a joy to read – Jenessa’s first experiences of Teletubbies and ‘handburgers’ are beautifully described.

But be warned. Terrible things happened in the woods.

Child Poverty in New Zealand

Jonathan Boston & Simon Chapple Bridget Williams Books, 296 pages Published June 2014, RRP $49.99

Online: www.bwb.co.nz/books/ child-poverty-in-new-zealand

Reviewed by Dr Russell Wills, paediatrician, HBDHB and Children's Commissioner.

www.wardini.co.nz

Jonathan Boston and simon chapple's new book is a useful summary of the state of child poverty in New Zealand and some of the potential solutions. The language used is straightforward, and tables, graphs and a helpful glossary make the book accessible.

page 14 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

The authors demonstrate that child poverty is common in New Zealand. robust local and international research demonstrates short term and long term harms from exposure to poverty in childhood on physical and mental health, education, criminal justice outcomes and labour productivity. collectively these amount to 3-4% of gross domestic product, or $6-8 billion annually.

Boston and chapple argue that the short and long term costs of child poverty affect all of us, and so investment in children is in all of our interests. By outlining broad principles that all could agree with, they leave open policy choices for centre-left and centre-right governments that would make a significant impact.

The authors note that there is no single "magic bullet" solution to child poverty; solutions must be multi-faceted. Overall however, there needs to be a national plan, backed up by legislation that commits future governments to set targets and be accountable to the electorate for achieving those targets. The choices governments make will be contentious, with winners and losers, and so must have public support.

Few would argue that children should not have an adequate standard of living.

Boston and chapple argue that for this to be achieved, the tax and benefit systems need to be treated as one, for example, to address systemic barriers to re-entry to the workforce for beneficiary parents. A strong argument is made for social housing, education and health interventions and support for parenting.

These solutions will only become policy if there is strong public support for them. public debate needs to be informed. This book provides a solid base for that debate.

DON’T MIss THe BuZZ!

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suBscrIBe NOW& sAVe! Be sure to ‘bee in the know’ by getting Hawkes Bay’s hottest magazine delivered straight to your door… and save money too!

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

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

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

Just want to Gift a BayBuzz Subscription?

Gift subscriptions are a terrific way to help your friends understand the issues challenging our region and stay abreast of the ‘buzz’ around Hawke’s Bay. Until 31 October we are offering a special $20 introductory gift subscription in connection with the ‘re-launch’ of our new, bigger and better BayBuzz magazine.

Just fill out the adjoining Gift Form.

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

Bee in the KNOW

Emergency Planning Folks are being encouraged to take note of potential hazards in Hawke's Bay in a new region-wide civil defence plan that picks up on lessons learnt from Christchurch and other recent disasters.

Prepared with input from Hawke’s Bay’s five councils, emergency services, central government and non-government partners, like Red Cross, the plan is full of tables, graphs and interesting (and chilling) titbits.

Well worth a read, it can be found at:

elephants need you!

Today, the African elephant population is about 430,000. And declining.

As you’ve probably heard, the problem is ivory poaching. Most illegal ivory is sold in china, where the majority of consumers are unaware of the elephant poaching crisis.

A number of NGOs are working on this crisis. If you want to help, BayBuzz suggests you consider supporting The Nature conservancy’s programme – #saveelephants. They’re attacking the problem on the ground, from training and equipping wildlife rangers, to protecting habitat, to educating consumers. check out #saveelephants here: www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/ africa/elephants/index.htm

www.hbemergency.govt.nz

Top 10 Hazards in Hawke's Bay 1

Earthquake

2

Tsunami

3

Volcanic (ash fall)

4

Human Pandemic

5

Flood/Storm Event

6

Animal Epidemic, Plant/Animal Pests

7

Urban Fire (Multiple)

8

Lifeline Failure

9

Rural Fire

10

Hazardous Substance Event

exciting sighting There have been two exciting sightings of North Island robin in Te Mata park this year which have been absent from the area for decades. seeing a rare native species back at the park is testament to the benefits of good habitat management. planting efforts by the Te Mata Trust have been enhanced by a committed predator-control programme.

BEST TRAVEL TEAM have 286 worldwide Travel Experience Years at your service.

Call in and see us today at 104 Market St. South Hastings BEST TRAVEL Ph: (06) 876 5111 www.besttravel.co.nz www.bestcruise.co.nz page 17 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

The buzz around the bay Blossom Parade 13 september hastings

Beethoven Choral Symphony 18 october st paul's church, napier

With an earlier start time of 11am and a new route,the 2014 Hastings Blossom Parade is themed Spring: Back to the Future and will bring a contemporary twist to the magic of the parades of yesteryear.

Ode to Joy sung by Anna Pierard, Philip Griffin and Jared Holt.

Tour of the Bay 19 october eit, taradale A great way to experience the cycle trails of Hawke's Bay. Open to everyone with a bike!

Diwali 4 october soundshell, napier

Borodin Quartet 20 october mtg century theatre, napier

India's Festival of Lights: featuring cultural and Bollywood performances and Indian food stalls.

One of the world's greatest string quartets presents a Russian first half, followed by Beethoven's monumental Op. 130.

Neil Finn 18 september municipal theatre, napier

Topp Twins in the Grand Ole Topp'ry 22 october municipal theatre, napier

Bic Runga joins Neil Finn on a national tour performing many of his classics alongside songs from his latest album, Dizzy Heights.

Lynda and Jools Topp are back on the road paying homage to country music greats, and celebrating original Kiwi country music.

Eggner Trio & Amihai Grosz 20 september mtg century theatre, napier Family trio Eggner brothers are joined by Amihai Grosz, principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic and one of the founding members of the Jerusalem String Quartet.

JB Organics Spring Racing Carnival - Windsor Park Plate 20 september hawke's bay racecourse For those who want to witness the best quality racing New Zealand has to offer, this a day that should not be missed.

JB Organics Spring Racing Carnival - The Spring Classic 4 october hawke's bay racecourse Tradition, fashion, style and heart-stopping excitement all meet in a glorious setting at one of the most anticipated racedays on the calendar.

Cheesemaking Workshop 24 september farmhouse kitchen Inacio Guimares, award-winning cheesemaker at Hohepa, will take people through the making of feta and ricotta.

Mamma Mia! 27 september – 11 october municipal theatre Based on the songs of ABBA and good fun for all ages.

page 18 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Hawke's Bay Show 22-24 october a&p showgrounds Big bulls, lots of sheep and horses, fencing, wood chopping, candy floss, jams and preserves, terrier racing, singing and dancing, rides and sideshows, tractors, hot dogs and more.

Bee in the KNOW Summer FAWC 31 october – 9 november fawc.co.nz

Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition 5-9 november round pond garden, rosser rd

A consecutive ten-day affair, with over 70 individual events on offer, the food and wine classic takes place all over Hawke's Bay.

Twenty years ago Julie and Mike Russell began establishing what became Round Pond Garden at their property on Rosser Road, Bridge Pa. In those early days it was simply a bare field, but today it is a curated collection of planted hedges, garden rooms, perennial borders and rose plantings, and the setting of the bi-annual Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition.

Haumoana Market Day 2 november memorial park, haumoana A huge range of art and crafts, food and clothing stalls. Enjoy live music and entertainment.

Wildflowers had forty pieces in its first show

(2008) including works from Jacob Scott, Will Jameson and Ricks Terstappen. This year works by 70 artists will be in situ in the beautiful garden surroundings and a series of events run over six days will provide plenty of interest for visitors.

Organiser Lizzie Russell says she's looking forward to bringing even more colour, more ceramics and more series of multiples to the show. "Look out for Bird People, too!" she says. Proceeds go to Cranford Hospice, which has received $100,000 from the initiative since its inception.

Holly Hospice 6-8 november hollytrail.co.nz A showcase of gorgeous traditional, contemporary, large and small homes in and around Havelock North Village. This is an annual fixture in Hawke's Bay with lots to see and do. All the events held over the three days of the Holly Trail are in aid of Cranford Hospice. A particular highlight this year will be the Hospice Holly Trail Fete.

With 35 stalls featuring the best of treasures and treats from around New Zealand, it is a ‘must do’. Set in the gardens at Birdwoods Gallery, the Fete is open from 10am to 5pm with coffee and food available. Everyone is welcome – non-ticket holders are asked to make a donation to the Hospice.

Christmas at the Races 9 november hawke's bay racecourse Enjoy a relaxed Sunday afternoon with colleagues, friends and family.

It's an occasion that's not-to-be-missed, with live entertainment, fine food, thrilling thoroughbred action and all the joys of Christmas!

page 19 • Issue 19 • sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Women of Influence Hawke’s Bay’s Top 20 STORY JESSICA SOUTAR BARRON PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

D

r Adele Whyte drinks her tea from a large orange mug that says Born to be the Boss. She swears it’s a joke. “I’ve never seen myself as a leader.

What I have done is less about brains and more about tenacity.”

On the flip side of the coin Nicola Ngarewa was raised to take charge. “I’ve come from a background where my mother was the cleaner at the school where she later became the principal. She groomed me to change the status quo.”

Somewhere between them lies a picture of our female leaders. They are not all cut from the same cloth, but there are themes, and listening to them tell their own stories brings into focus a dynamic portrait of the women who lead in our community.

Pulling together any list like this is bound to spark dissent; it’s never going to be comprehensive or satisfy all perceptions. Ours is a snapshot of women in leadership roles now, across a range of sectors and levels of power.

Some influence through their positions, some seek out opportunities to contribute wherever they can. They work for the greater good, and the ripples caused by the waves they create are far-reaching.

There are commonalities, and things that set each apart. Some are leaders-rising, some have been in top positions for years. Many have studied, most believe learning is a lifelong pursuit. Most have children: many grown and flown, one still a babe-in-arms. Almost all are part of a strong marital relationship; half of those are with their second significant

Page 20 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

partner. Some are highly visible in our community. Others fly beneath the radar.

Collectively their influence in our region has breadth and longevity.

Introductions Heather Skipworth did her first Iron Man in 2009. Riding the adrenaline wave, she established her own version, Iron Maori, that same year. “I am a thinker. I can be exhausted but my head will tick for hours.

And I love making people feel good about themselves.”

Her background is far from privileged, but her leadership strengths are focused on raising up others.

ters degree when her girls were toddlers.

“You can juggle as many balls as you like.

Your job, education, even friends, those balls are rubber and they bounce. But your family and your health, those balls are glass, so don’t drop them.”

“The only person I ever compete with is me,” says Jacqui Grey, who’s been practising law with Gifford Devine since 1979; a partner since 1987. “If you’re working you have to be passionate about it.

It’s hard enough without fighting the fact that you don’t really want to be there.”

When Annie Dundas arrived four years ago, new to the region, to take up the top job at Tourism Hawke’s Bay she began construct-

“My story as a kid was being written as one of a cyclic life.

Once Were Warriors has nothing on the life we lived. I don’t resent it, I learnt from it,” Heather Skipworth “My story as a kid was being written as one of a cyclic life. Once Were Warriors has nothing on the life we lived. I don’t resent it, I learnt from it,” she says.

Jenny Yule is the founding director of PORSE, but says she never set out to run such a business. “I love babies and I’m outspoken in terms of saying that as a society we are over-institutionalising children. This work takes open-minded skills and an appreciation of personal growth.”

Liz Stockley is the chief executive of Health Hawke’s Bay. She completed her second mas-

ing a strong foundation. “I had to build up a confident and credible base in the Bay. You have to prove results,” says Annie. “I like to get things done and I’m action driven.”

“My philosophy is: be the best that I can be.” says Adele Whyte. She’s 35 with two young children, and bachelor, master and PhD level degrees. Now she is chief executive of Ngati Kahungnu Iwi Inc. “This role is part of who I am. It’s my whakapapa. I am so grateful for where I am. It’s a huge privilege.”

Roots have shaped Diane Vesty’s role too.

“I grew up on an orchard and my parents

cynthia bowers

annie dundas

jacqui grey

claire hague

adri isbister

diane joyce

tania kerr

tania kura

liz lambert

nicola ngarewa

sanja sajatovic-majstorovic

heather skipworth

liz stockley

tracee te huia

rebecca turner

diane vesty

claire vogtherr

sarah von dadelszen

dr adele whyte

jenny yule Page 21 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

“The most beautiful forms of leadership are in the most hidden places.

If you don’t keep your eyes out you’ll miss opportunities to change the world.”

NICOLA NGAREWA

were fruit growers,” she explains. As manager of Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers, and with the industry being a mainstay of Hawke’s Bay’s GDP, Diane’s role as facilitator and advocate is vital. “Fruit growers are tenacious people and they can stand a lot of adversity. They get back on their feet and find a way forward. I’m that kind of person too.”

As editor of the Hastings and the Napier Mail newspapers Diane Joyce brings together a long history in management and a shorter one as a journalist. “I’ve always fared better

progression. She is deputy chief executive of EIT. “In the past I have been the only woman around the table. It’s quite daunting initially. Now I don’t notice, but it did give me a taste of the fact that there is a gap.”

Adri Isbister has been working outside traditional lines since she was very young, and wearing a range of hats. She is chief executive of Radius Medical Group. “If you surround yourself with good people, you can do anything.”

“Women understand team,” suggested

“In the past I have been the only woman around the table.

It’s quite daunting initially. Now I don’t notice, but it did give me a taste of the fact that there is a gap.” Claire Hague in positions where I’ve been in sole charge or managing. Maybe it’s just that I don’t like being told what to do!”

As deputy mayor of Hastings District since 2001 Cynthia Bowers has held senior leadership positions in a range of areas. “Resilience is required for women. You do need to put a tough shell around yourself,” she explains. “I look at men and think ‘What do I have to do to be better than that?’”

Claire Vogtherr heads a family business that goes back four generations and 100 years. “The heritage is both a wonderful thing and something that makes you think about the decisions you make,” she says.”There’s a responsibility. You can’t very well blow it, can you?”

Claire Hague had what she describes as a conventional career path with rapid

Page 22 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Tracee Te Huia, general manager for Maori Health at the HBDHB. “We fit things in alongside our work, that are just as important, like the needs of our family.

And that seamlessness allows our professional lives to flourish.”

Tania Kura is the area commander of the police in Hawke’s Bay. She’s been with the service for 27 years. “An underlying thing for me is fulfilling potential. Whether you’re at home with kids or here at work, it’s about challenging ourselves to get out of our comfort zone.”

“On the farm, I think ‘This is my place.’

That’s where I am healthiest and happiest,” says Tania Kerr, farmer, Hastings District councillor and advocate for the farming community. “Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think you should treat people with respect,

from the cleaner to the mayor, respect who they are and what they bring.”

Sarah Von Dadelszen too comes from a farming community. Alongside her on-farm work she wears a number of off-farm leadership hats, adding value wherever she can. “I never envisaged myself doing the leadership stuff. Opportunities come up and people say, ‘Get involved, you’ll enjoy it.’”

Nicola Ngarewa is principal at Tamatea High School and while making massive inroads there has become a rising star of leadership.”Opportunities come and I have passion and drive and a way of thinking that means I take them. I think: ‘I can do that, why not?’”

“I’m a truth teller,” says Rebecca Turner.

With fingers in a number of pies Rebecca is making impacts across Hawke’s Bay, particularly in the areas of philanthropy and the amalgamation debate. “When change needs to happen I’m not scared of putting facts on the table. I do it because I can’t bear seeing people doing stuff for their own benefit rather than for the greater good.”

Leadership Is …

Liz Stockley could be called one of life’s accidental leaders, where some aim for greatness others slot in where they’re needed most. “I’ll fill a leadership void,but I won’t see it as a competition and step in where I’m not needed.”

“Everyone has their own leadership style,” says Adele Whyte. “One of the strongest characteristics I admire in a leader is communication, valuing those around you and knowing that everyone has a part to play.”

Nicola Ngarewa calls for a broad view on leadership. “We need a flexible and broadminded view of what leadership is.

The most beautiful forms of leadership are in the most hidden places. If you don’t keep your eyes out you’ll miss opportunities to change the world.”

Diane Joyce views leadership as fourfold. “The most important traits are calmness under pressure, the ability to prioritise, patience, and the realisation that the buck stops with you.”

Claire Vogtherr’s leadership style is intrinsically linked with her own personal and family values. “You need to work hard and earn respect, have honesty and integrity, and love what you do.”

Women leaders especially shine in specific areas, says Adri Isbister. “Building relationships, networking and most of all developing others.”

For Tracee Te Huia leaders need to be courageous, calculated and accountable. “And they need to allow people to grow without stifling them.”

“Leadership is a big responsibility,” says Tania Kura. “And when you see someone else’s perspective you’re a better leader. If you’ve had a go at being goal shoot and you’ve missed all the goals you’ll understand how hard it is to play that position.”

“Leadership is about influence, self awareness, cognitive ability and intelligence. People follow you because you can communicate.

Men do non-verbal communication really well; women use words,” says Tania.

For Claire Hague, strong leaders nurture leadership in others. “A key leadership skill is removing barriers for others to be leaders,” she explains. “I identify real leadership not necessarily in official leadership positions, but in people who are prepared to be innovative, do things differently, work through challenges, not simply conform to status quo.”

Good leaders “surround themselves with people cleverer, stronger and more innovative than they are,” Claire says.

“The ‘inspiration’ word is an important one,” says Annie Dundas. “A great leader is someone who brings a good team along with them.”

Leaders also need to have a view of the world bigger than themselves. “There’s a lot of people looking after their own patch, saying ‘What’s in it for me?’ That’s not leadership,” says SarahVon Dadelszen. “Leadership is thinking about the wider picture and what’s best for the industry, not the individual.”

Risk Takers and List Makers Their approach to risk is a key area where women take polar positions. Tracee Te Huia proudly says, “I am a risk taker. But I get a sense there’s gems on the other side of risk.

I don’t have a conversation about failure. I realise that a lot of my self-talk has kept me small in the past.”

Page 24 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Jenny Yule is a natural born risk taker, even though she describes her husband as risk averse having lost a farm in the crash of the 1980s. “I have lots of values – trust and respect – and an openness for learning, and I think ‘Just go for it’. I am non-compliant and not scared to take risks.”

Risk is a big part of Heather Skipworth’s picture also. “If I have an idea it’s got to start and I’ve got to keep moving until I reach the finish line. I push and push until I achieve it. It’s not that I get bored, but I do need a new challenge.”

“I take risks but they are well planned ones,” says Annie Dundas. “I’m an organised person but I do like to err on the side of taking risks. It’s a juggling act. You can’t be super woman, you’ve got to have balance.”

Adele Whyte is more used to analysing

“Men are more confident in their abilities and women tend to be quite self critical, says Claire.”I was a bit of a goody two shoes, but still if there was a job to be done I would wait to be nominated rather than put my hand up. I had the support of others and often it was a case of being in the right place at the right time, and over the years I grew my confidence.”

“Confidence is a huge part of leadership,” says Annie Dundas who suggests that if you don’t have it naturally you need to work on it.

“If you lead from the front then you’ve got to get on and do it with confidence, it’s essential.”

“Women have to overcome self doubt and shyness,” says Cynthia Bowers. “We carry quite a bit of guilt around with us. That doesn’t go away. Women still feel guilt about not being at home because as women we’ve

“Confidence is a huge part of leadership. If you lead from the front then you’ve got to get on and do it with confidence, it’s essential.” Annie Dundas process before taking risks, but her style of leadership is changing as she matures into her role. “I’m learning more to trust my gut reaction, figuring out the magnitude of risk, talking to people. I don’t tend to rush to make a decision.”

ClaireVogtherr’s attitude to risk has been built up over a number of years.”I do have a tolerance for risk, but I know you have to live by the decisions you make. Respect and integrity are everything. You earn it, you don’t command it, and you do that by working hard, and taking a risk or two.”

Rebecca Turner believes facing up to fear is the key to taking risks, “I have no fear. What is there to be afraid of? What is risk? Is it something that takes you out of your comfort zone? I don’t think: ‘I can’t do that’; I think, ‘How can I make that happen? How can I make that better?’”

Managing a farming operation through tough times has taught Tania Kerr to take risks. “We have learnt through farming in droughts, it’s not what we can’t do, it’s what we can that matters. You have to just keep making decisions. To balance it out I am definitely a list writer too!”

Confidence Tricks Many women are still butting heads with a mythical glass ceiling. It appears inability to climb to the top may not be the fault of the ladder, but a lack of confidence within the climbers themselves.

Claire Hague illustrates the issue using a job ad. “The ad lists eight competencies. A woman sees it and has five of those, she says, ‘I won’t apply, I can’t do the job’. A man sees it.

He may only have three of the competencies, he says ‘I’m perfect!’ What happens next? He gets the job. The woman didn’t even apply.”

been conditioned to be there.

It’s an inherent thought pattern. But if you are confident, you do your homework, you work hard, then you can compete with any man.”

In the farming community Sarah Von Dadelszen has seen both sides of confidence.

Where she herself respects it, others undermine it. “If someone’s willing to put their head above the parapet I admire that. It makes me grumpy that in New Zealand people put up their hand and someone else comes along and chops it off. Sometimes that puts me off and I think twice about getting involved,” she says. Although she also admits, “My problem is I become passionate and end up doing it any way.”

Jenny Yule has a broad outlook of the way her business faces the confidence issue. “Our model only works because we enable and empower all the women who work with us. A lot of what we do is about validating women.

All people need to be gainfully employed, for themselves and for their own mental health.”

Sometimes a lack of confidence can turn around at a pivotal moment. For Heather Skipworth it came when she participated in her first Iron Man. “I thought: If I can do that imagine what else I can do. When I was young I never felt satisfied that I’d reached my potential and it wasn’t what anyone else was saying, it was my own lack of confidence.”

“If it’s insecurity that holds you back in life, or your own doubts, you’re not helping anyone,” challenges Rebecca Turner, who is mindful that often the language used to describe assertive women does not help their cause. “Strong women are called tough, which is unfortunate. Because you are direct, you are perceived as tough. But directness is a lack of fear,” she says.

“As a mother I am not weighed down by guilt. I went back to work because I was bored, and because I did my kids are independent, able and organised.�

TANIA KURA

“If someone’s willing to put their head above the parapet I admire that. It makes me grumpy that in New Zealand people put up their hand and someone else comes along and chops it off.”

SARAH VON DADELSZEN

In Diane Vesty’s role she works closely with apprentices, and sees confidence grow in them in different ways.

“Education and training in general are very important, whatever your job prospects. Women in particular can be at risk of underestimating their own value and potential.”

Jacqui Grey has always had confidence in herself, even when statistics have not been stacked in her favour. “I came through my education at a time when the ‘Girls Can Do Anything’ approach was out there, but only 30% of law students were women. On the whole I think that sometimes women put up a lot of barriers for themselves. It is very easy to think ourselves out of doing things.”

The Kid Issue An oft-quoted challenge of working women is that of balancing a job with children. But many feel that in order to achieve a society with as many female leaders as male ones, the intention for change must come from employers.

“We are not good at finding ways around the kid issue. A business has to focus on being flexible,” says Jacqui Grey.”You’ve built this knowledge and these skills in these women and if you’re not flexible you lose them.”

“I am a better mother because I work, not in spite of it,” says Liz Stockley.

Tania Kura agrees. “As a mother I am not weighed down by guilt. I went back to work because I was bored, and because I

“It would drive me insane just being with the kids on the farm,” suggests Sarah Von Dadelszen. “I’ve always had an interest in what’s going on and I’ve always been politically aware.”

Even in the highest achieving women, Adri Isbister often sees a lack of confidence, and believes it’s the No.1 thing women in leadership roles need to succeed. “I meet so many competent and intelligent women that could do with a confidence boost.”

Tania Kura uses her role to model leadership for other women. “Often women haven’t had the confidence or the role models haven’t been there. Seeing someone like me do things is really important. I am a particularly resilient person and quite determined. When external voices say ‘You can’t do that’ I become stronger inside and say, ‘I can and I will’.”

Page 26 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

did my kids are independent, able and organised.” She also feels being a mother has influenced her leadership style. “There is a difference because I am a mother, rather than because I am a woman. I am far more tolerant and less judgemental than I was before kids.”

“It would drive me insane just being with the kids on the farm,” suggests Sarah Von Dadelszen. “I’ve always had an interest in what’s going on and I’ve always been politically aware.”

Nicola Ngarewa had leadership modelled for her by strong aunts and a mother who worked. She is now watching her teenage daughters grow into leadership positions.

“My first and most significant job is being a good mother and member of my family.

The cross over between personal and professional is seamless. I don’t take off one coat and put on another. Work and family are interwoven. I choose it to be that way.”

Nicola also reshapes the traditional way of seeing career progression as a climb up a ladder. “I think it is naive to think our journey is an accelerated incline up a hill. It’s a movement forward rather than a movement up,” she says, adding, “There are so many other diverse things in that journey.”

Learning Jenny Yule believes that life-long learning is integral to leadership, both through doing it yourself and through encouraging others to do it too.

“I encourage learning in my staff and this work can be life changing for them.

Personally, I believe I write my own script and I am in charge of my own destiny.”

Much of Jacqui Grey’s extended learning has come from years of participation on boards. “I have been practising law for a long time. You get to a point where you do need to extend your skills. If you’re not careful you can get tunnel vision, you have to get out there and see from others’ points of view.”

For Diane Joyce, ongoing study ensures leaders remain current and vital. “It plays a part in keeping someone in a leadership role up to date, interested and prepared to take on new ideas.”

“Every now and then we should all take stock,” says Claire Hague. “We should reflect, check out others, and ensure we’re on the right track.”

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“I’m a truth teller ... I do it because I can’t bear seeing people doing stuff for their own benefit rather than for the greater good.”

REBECCA TURNER

Reflections The women in top-level roles in our region are a diverse bunch, but their inner self-esteem, outward motivations and ongoing quest for betterment mean we are richer for their input in our lives.

They are a group who are open to seeing opportunities and audacious enough to take them, whether they were born to be the boss or not.

It’s a rare and wonderful treat spending time with many of the most distinguished women in our community over one single

Women of Influence Hawke’s Bay’s Top 20

month. Imagine them all in the same room! A boisterous and stimulating cocktail party; dinner with twenty influential women, and one humble writer.

There is mana in that room, experience and education, universal insight and personal reflection. And alongside that there’s refreshing and reassuring honesty, and some hard home truths. Hearing their stories makes it okay to pursue lofty goals. It is still possible to keep your feet flat on the earth. Balance is key: responsibilities, ambitions, successes,

moments of self doubt. Juggling is doable, as long as you only drop balls that bounce.

Editor’s Note: Few people play as critical a role in ensuring Hawke’s Bay’s environmental wellbeing as HBRC interim chief executive, Liz Lambert. Or in delivering vital social welfare programs for our region as Presbyterian Support’s chief executive, Sanja Sajatovic-Majstorovic.

Each in crucial roles, and so recognised on our list, but declining interviews.

Diane Joyce Editor, Hastings and Napier Mail Newspapers

Tracee Te Huia General Manager Maori Health, HBDHB

Tania Kerr Councillor, Hastings District Council; Chair, Finance and Monitoring Committee; Provincial Coordinator Federated Farmers Hawke’s Bay; Chair, Hastings District Holdings Ltd.

Rebecca Turner Chair, Hawke’s Bay Foundation and A Better Hawke’s Bay; Director, Youth Futures.

Diane Vesty General Manager, HB Fruitgrowers

Cynthia Bowers Deputy Mayor, Hastings District Council

Tania Kura Hawke’s Bay Area Commander, NZ Police

Annie Dundas General Manager, Hawke’s Bay Tourism

Liz Lambert Interim Chief Executive, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council

Claire Vogtherr Managing Director, Holly Bacon Company; Director, Etika Dairies NZ Ltd; Director, Hot Logic Ltd

Nicola Ngarewa Principal, Tamatea High School; Recipient, Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award

Sarah Von Dadelszen Farmer; Chair, CHB Power Trust; Trustee, AGMARDT; Trustee, Takapau Primary School

Sanja Sajatovic-Majstorovic Chief Executive, Presbyterian Support East Coast

Dr Adele Whyte Chief Executive, Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc.

Heather Skipworth QSM Founder, Iron Maori; Director, HBDHB

Jenny Yule Founding Director, PORSE; Director, Royston Hospital Trust Board; Director, Home Early Learning Organisation

Jacqui Grey Partner, Gifford Devine; Director, Acurity Health Group; Director, NZ Law Ltd; Chair, Royston Hospital Trust Board Claire Hague Deputy Chief Executive, EIT; Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM); Chair, Youth Futures.

Adri Isbister Chief Executive, Radius Medical Group; Director, Health Hawke’s Bay;

Page 28 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Liz Stockley Chief Executive, Health Hawke’s Bay

Hastings City Hastings is the place to be this spring with some exciting new season’s markets taking shape. September marks the beginning of Spring, which is also the start of the growing season, and a great reason to celebrate the launch of some new and returning city markets.

Blossom Breakfast Market To kick off the Hastings Blossom Festival on Saturday 13 September, local food vendors, growers and producers will set up along Heretaunga Street for the great Blossom Breakfast Market from 9-11am.

The Blossom Breakfast is the perfect precursor to the fabulous Blossom Parade which makes its way through the streets of Hastings from 11am.

There will be live music and entertainment, retail sales and fun activities taking place throughout the morning, so bring the whole family along for a great day out.

Hastings City Night Market The Hastings City Night Market had a roaring first season and, after a welldeserved break, is ready to return with the start of Daylight Savings. The weekly evening market will start up

Markets again on Thursday 2 October from 5-9pm, with a grand season opening to celebrate the longer days and warmer months ahead.

Located in the city centre by the fountain, this event is a coming together of local colour including artists, artisans, musicians and an abundance of fresh produce. It also offers an exciting mix of ethnic street food, perfect for grabbing dinner on the fly, rounding off an evening of shopping or fuelling up pre cinema.

The night market embraces key tourism and cultural events throughout the season. Some particular upcoming dates to note include the Diwali Night Market on Thursday 23 October, and the F.A.W.C Fiesta Night Market on Thursday 6 November.

The Night Market makes for a fabulous night out for the whole family, with nonstop free entertainment, sights, scents and flavours.

Hastings City Growers Market An exciting new initiative starting in early November is the Hastings City Growers Market. Located on Heretaunga Street East, this weekly street market is the perfect place to

grab some fruit, vegetables, and other fresh produce for the week ahead.

A range of growers and producers will bring their freshly gathered goods into the city from 7am–12pm on Saturday mornings to provide you with the freshest supplies for your pantry. Goods will be priced very competitively and you can be assured you will receive good quality locally grown and sourced produce every week.

Like the other Hastings City Markets, the Growers Market will feature live music and entertainment for all to enjoy.

After gathering your weekly supplies you can continue shopping in the local retail stores, or grab a coffee and bite to eat from the nearby cafĂŠs and restaurants.

There are so many fantastic reasons to visit the Hastings City Markets, making them perfect events for the whole family.

Hastings City Night Market HCNightMarket www.hastingscitymarkets.co.nz

Cape Sanctuary: Cutting Edge Conservation

On a Saturday morning, the sky still soft and pink, I drive to the Haupauri gates on Ocean Beach Road to join a fleet of volunteers with decent 4x4 vehicles (unlike my own, which promptly gets stuck in a puddle) and spades. We drive through farmland to the beach, and into Cape Sanctuary, making sure, of course, to close the gate.

STORY BRIDGET FREEMAN-ROCK PHOTOGRAPHS SARAH CATES

DOC identifies the dunes as one of New Zealand’s top 50 Natural Heritage sites

Cape Sanctuary is the largest privately owned and funded wildlife restoration project in New Zealand, encompassing 2,500 hectares of multi-use land at the tip of the Cape Kidnappers Peninsula, and bounded by a 10.6 kilometre stainless-steel predatorproof fence. The sanctuary was established in 2006 on properties owned by the Robertson, Lowe and Hansen families, and now has the largest abundance of biodiversity in any one site in the North Island.

E

cologist Dr John McLennan has been involved in the conceptualising and planning of the project since 2003; the sanctuary is managed by Tamsin Ward-Smith (Msc Ecology). Department of Conservation’s Dave Carlton describes the work being undertaken as “visionary and cutting edge”, but for most people, what goes on there is a bit of a mystery.

Ocean Beach dune restoration I’m with Ben Doggett, who’s employed to restore the sand dunes, a job that demands intensive ongoing weed control through targeted handgun spraying. The biggest undertaking, he tells me, is “conquering 9km of marram”, a dominant rhizomatous grass (think convolvulus) introduced originally to stabilise the sand dunes. Dunes are a mobile landscape, and by reducing this mobility marram inhibits the entire expression of an eco-system. He’s replanting them with pingao (used traditionally in weaving) and sand tussock – spinifex takes off on its own. The chief threat to this restoration, says Ben, are “weekend cowboys on motorbikes, who can rip up 10 years’ work in an afternoon.”

Today we’re planting sand tussock, largely extinct in the region. The plants have been grown by Plant Hawke’s Bay Ltd using seed sourced from Portland Island (Mahia) and Castlepoint. Marie Taylor explains that the aim of her business is to grow rare and uncommon local plants and “get them back into the landscape.” The sanctuary provides that opportunity, though she’d like to see the scope broaden.

As the plants are off-loaded from the trailer, Ben discovers cat prints in the sand, and promptly organises for traps to be laid.

“You’ve got to be careful talking about

cats, people get upset, but Gareth Morgan has a point.” Feral cats are the sanctuary’s “biggest murderers” and a harbinger of disease. Since 2007, they’ve caught approximately 1,000. The predator-proof fence is a ‘leaky system’ and by the dunes where the fence peters out, cats (and other vermin) find their way around.

800 plants, 30 volunteers – it takes less than an hour. People rest up by the hut in the dunes (it has basic facilities and bunk beds) – a gesture of thanks from Cape Sanctuary to its volunteers, who need only phone in to book. “It’s magic, “says a man, gesturing to the ocean. “Anywhere else in the world you’d pay to see this.”

Muckboots and lippy With her stylish sun-glasses and lipstick, landowner Liz Lowe makes conservation look glamourous. But what is tangibly evident is her passion for the work itself – “This is about us giving back to New Zealand.” She’s on the ground 40 hours a week (unpaid) at the Cape, planting trees, checking bait stations, monitoring birds, and today acting as our tour guide. “Write that down in your article,” she says as she shifts gear up the rough track to the Seabirds Site. “We’re planting a million trees over 10 years; we’ve planted 300,000 already.”

We pass a stand of manuka saplings and stop at the takahe enclosure. We’ve come empty-handed but the pair of plump birds eye us up expectantly from behind the scrub, keeping a shy distance as the camera clicks.

A little further on, we come to a beautiful carved pou with its own tiny whare looking out to the ocean in honour of the late Paratene Te Huia (Ngati Mihiroa), who played an integral role in the establishment of the sanctuary. I am told the relationship between the Maori landowners of Ocean Beach and the Lowe family in particular is a close one, and Ngati Mihiroa, supportive of the project, are consulted every step of the way.

Speaking with Lily and David Stone later at Mihiroa Marae, I hear the story of their tipuna, Pukepuke Tangiora, and of their role at the sanctuary. Elders formally receive all translocated species from the iwi gifting them, “giving the karakia” before handing them over to the Cape.

The Seabirds Site The Seabirds Site sits as a microsanctuary within the sanctuary, and within this, like a babushka doll, an enclosure with built-in burrows for petrels and habitat for reptiles. I get to meet a handsome old tuatara, eye to beady eye – he’s lethargic with the cold and allows us time to admire him before scuttling off through the grass. Tuatara, various skinks and geckos, and colonies of burrowing

Page 31 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

“This is about us giving back to New Zealand.

We’re planting a million trees over 10 years; we’ve planted 300,000 already.”

LIZ LOWE seabirds were once a teeming part of the landscape here, and now in this little pocket of the Bay there’s a taste of what was and what could be.

Liz shows us Burrow 104, where the first pair of grey-faced petrels have returned to nest … “the best news we’ve ever had.” It takes 5-7 years for greyfaced petrels to reach maturity, and until now there’s been no guarantee that the intensive work involved in hand-rearing chicks (the first translocation was in 2008) would bring any return.

The outlook is breath-taking. From the vibrant green of native vegetation, in contrast to the bare, eroded hills further south, we look down across the undulating dunes towards Ocean Beach, the volunteer hut a speck in the sand. This is one of the largest dune systems on the East Coast, and of national significance, historically and ecologically (hundreds of midden heaps among the dunes and flats showcase human settlement spanning 650 years, and include such archeological goodies as moa shell). Seeing it in a nearnatural state of restoration is persuasive, and I don’t know if it’s vertigo or the ions in the fresh salt air, but from this vantage point everything seems possible.

Access and education Liz takes us on a detour via the dune lakes (what will eventually be freshwater oases) back to the ‘day house’, south of

Page 32 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

the fence where our cars are parked. This is where the Lowes envision creating a museum and education centre in the nottoo-distant future.

Already the Cape operates as a hub for scholarship, with postgraduate students from around the country conducting research on the various restoration projects. The Cape provides students with accommodation and full access to relevant sites. They have also partnered with a local primary school, and work is happening to develop education programmes, but currently there is not the infrastructure and time-resources to enable access to all schools and the wider public. The other aspect, of course, is that the sanctuary is on property that is also an operative farm, a world-class golf course and high-end tourism venture, and many of its conservation programmes are still in their nascence. However, there are plans in the pipeline for more ready-access and ecotourism, such as the establishment of a ‘bugpark’ (watch this space!).

For most people, the path to the sanctuary is through the volunteer register or groups such as Forest & Bird.

Says Vaughn Cooper, chairman of the local branch: “We’ve been given good access to the place. We’ve taken our Kiwi Conservation Club [for kids] there multiple times, and some of our members are involved in the dune restoration and the feeding of petrels.”

DOC contributes resources through staff time and technical support, for example, bird translocations are often jointly undertaken. This year DOC is looking to the Rough Block (remnant coastal forest, mainly kanuka) and Ranaikka Beach (where the dunes begin): doing extensive planting restoration and weed control, and, together with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, funding a stock fence to protect the dunes. These sites have been identified by DOC as being among the top-50 NHMS sites in New Zealand – the acronym stands for Natural Heritage Management System, representing key ecosystems regardless of the land they’re on.

Another day, another tour This time we are taken via the Clifton entrance up a winding private road through mature pine plantation. We come to the predator fence with its unclimbable curved top, a sliding electric gate to let us through – it’s like entering a compound, you almost expect guards. And of course it is guarded: 1,200 traps, 3,400 rat-bait stations. Later, driving out along the fingers of the dramatic cliffs that make the cape, we meet Will, whose job it is to check the traps and bait lines in the steeply dangerous gullies.

But for now we’re still among the pines, home to brown kiwi. The habitat’s been so successful the Cape even runs a crèche: juvenile kiwi, more resilient than those

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Tuatara making a comeback

John Berry volunteers 30 or so days a year

Predator-proof fence cost $2 million plus

Volunteers of all ages help re-plant dunes

A portion of the 10.6 kilometre predator-proof fence

Regenerating kanuka forest where kakariki free-range

raised in captivity, are later released back into their communities in the wider Hawke’s Bay and beyond.

We visit the aviary in the Rough Block, where the sanctuary has a breeding programme for kaka and kakariki. The captive kaka, Ned and Ngaio, have just been flown to Auckland Zoo as a display pair, in exchange for WildOne and Mia, who will bring genetic diversity to the Cape. We are witness to the flurry of activity around settling them in and the excitement of new acquaintance. Caring for the parrots appears to be not so much about ‘saving species’ but engaging with ‘personalities’, and that brings a whole other level of commitment, as evidenced by the substantial distances some volunteers will travel to feed them on a daily basis.

People power Volunteers are the sanctuary’s lifeblood – it is largely due to their enthusiastic gifting of time and initiative that the original restoration plan is two years’ ahead of schedule. Kahori Nakagawa, who works in species restoration, and manager Tamsin Ward-Smith work hard to match the right task with the right person, and to ensure, above all, that people have fun and a sense of ownership over what they do.

There are over 500 people on their volunteer register and 30-100 dedicated volunteers involved in projects at any one time: feeding the parrots, helping out with pest control, cleaning seabird burrows, planting, etc. They’re mostly retired people who are keen to have hands-on contact in conservation, often highly skilled and experts in their own right. A big drawcard, of course, is proximity – quick accessibility to a large urban population – and the cape being such an iconic place.

Volunteer and ‘bush carpenter’ John Berry has been involved from early on, making trap boxes, running bait lines and

helping with some of the offshore island translocations; he gifts 30 or so days a year between the different projects. His love is bush birds, and as we speak, he affectionately raises a fist at the free-flying kakariki who have knocked all the lids off his nesting boxes in the kanuka grove. For John, this is an exciting project to be part of, but the simple pleasure comes down to connectivity: “It’s nice to have a community project – I don’t know if that was intended, but that’s what it’s become. There’s something for everybody to do out here.”

For Kahori, who worked previously as a DOC ranger and at Boundry Stream, private funding drives a faster, more ambitious pace.

“We’re taking more risks than many publicrun projects, which puts us on the frontier, a scary but amazing place to be.”

“I’m a big believer in proving by doing. I like to sit below the radar and just get on with it. And we have shown what’s possible.”

Mainland sanctuaries versus islands?

Kahori responds: “Offshore islands – who can enjoy or see them? They’re great for certain very endangered species, but experience with conservation is the key to bringing people on board – as a whole restoration project, the communityinvolved approach certainly works.”

Beyond the fence Vaughn Cooper sees a major benefit to Hawke’s Bay is increased native birdlife in people’s gardens: “We’re going to see more and more bird outflow, but this outflow will only become of lasting benefit if there’s a sustained effort from the community and council to keep the stoats,

rats and cats down, this side of the fence.”

[Editor: meaning, outside the sanctuary.]

For Dave Carlton, the onus is on Regional Council and DOC to look at ways to link up the different conservation activities in the region to create corridors for biodiversity. With possums in Hawke’s Bay relatively under control, he says the council is looking to redirect funds to extend 2,200 hectares of wide-scale predator control out from the sanctuary perimeter. The Cape to City project is still in the pipeline, but if it goes ahead it will go a huge way towards creating a safe environment beyond the sanctuary for native fauna. Already kakariki are being regularly seen in Clifton-Haumoana, a pair of saddleback were found in Te Awanga and recently a North Island robin was sighted at Te Mata Peak.

“I really think we’ve got to get past the stage of just trying to protect and hold onto the tiny remnants of our ecosystems and biodiversity that we have. We’ve got to look at ways how we can actually grow the habitat and make it safe.” Dave hopes that in due course, instead of people going to the wildlife, the wildlife will come to them. “I look forward to the day when people ring me up to complain that kiwi are keeping them awake at night – wouldn’t that be a great problem to have?”

On the subject of private-public partnerships, Vaughn reflects: “Ecological restoration has mostly been through private efforts, and on the way statutory bodies have contributed, become involved.

The reality is, big money does big projects, but in the end, a lot will come down to individuals doing their little bit.”

Clearly big money is involved here – the cost of the fence alone is reportedly over $2 million, and then there is the cost of employing five full-time and several parttime staff, the expensive translocations, infrastructure such as roading, to name

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Page 35 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Andy Lowe: project ‘enabler’ “Let’s keep it simple,” Andy says when I speak with him at his Lowe Corporation office in Hastings. “What Cape Sanctuary is about, is endangered species coexisting with human habitation, food production and recreation.”

He speaks in a matter-of-fact tone as if what he’s saying is simply common sense, and yet, it’s quickly clear that Andy’s vision for the sanctuary is audacious in its ambition. “We’re conducting a scientific experiment in a little corner of the country for New Zealand Inc. Our vision is to roll this out across the whole of New Zealand.”

Andy, a keen hunter, had witnessed the bush becoming increasingly, disturbingly quiet over the years and was motivated by the urgent need for action and “a passion for finding a cost-effective solution to save our endangered species.”

Andy aims to merge the values of industry and conservation in a nonconfrontational way where no one loses their rights: “We’ve got to find a way where we can all participate.” As he sees it, this is not about returning New Zealand to a primeval state of purity; it’s about being pragmatic and working with what we’ve got.

“We’re researching where the breakpoints are for our endangered species, and we’re looking to find a holding pattern to save these species until we have the necessary technological advances and knowledge. We’re showing that you don’t need to be pest-free; you can be on a farm

Page 36 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

growing food, you can have surfers and golf and people enjoying the place, and still do conservation.”

Andy is quick to assert that Cape Sanctuary is not about an individual vision but a team effort in partnership with iwi, DOC, government and volunteers. “I’m a big believer in proving by doing. I like to sit below the radar and just get on with it. And we have shown what’s possible.” He points to the success with introducing pateke (brown teal duck). “Everyone said it couldn’t be done, the Cape was too dry etc, and now we’ve increased global numbers by 10%.”

Kiwi have claimed the pine stand for their habitat; speckled skink, last seen in 1975 in the region are suddenly thriving; the Hawke’s Bay tree weta has ‘popped up’ and the sanctuary is seeing selfintroductions of NZ dotteral, reef herron, red-billed gull, amongst others.

“We’re going to have failures, we’re going to have critics, but you learn more from failure than from success.

Conservation tends to be conservative, but it’s not getting us anywhere. We’re about learning and experimenting, finding new ways.”

High on Andy’s priority list is reintroducing a sustainable population of NZ shore plover. “Look at this,” says Andy, pointing to a picture of a pretty coastal bird. “They’re about to become extinct - there are only 120 left in the world. If you know this, how can you not do something to save it?”

The Lowes and Julian Robertson fund the work at the sanctuary and will continue doing so. Andy says: “It is important to remember that this is a privately owned and funded initiative and nothing is guaranteed forever … I intend to be around for awhile; I am passionate about the Sanctuary and my aim is to develop the Sanctuary over time to ensure its long-term sustainability.”

He assures me baseline funding has been secured indefinitely for vermin control, and that the project is not operating on a 20 or 50-year plan, but 100-years plus.

Asked who will front replacement of the costly predator-proof fence in 30 years’ time, Andy replies that his ambition is that no fence will be needed; it’s not an end in itself. “We’re moving away from the concept of locking away land. Down the track this will all be self-sustaining.”

the more obvious. But I am equally struck by the inspired, proactive individuals I met at the Cape, each doing more than just ‘their bit’. In an age of environmental woes and anxiety, the opportunities here feel refreshingly positive.

Cape Sanctuary has almost completed its original restoration plan. Over the next five years there’ll be an increased emphasis on planting as part of their ecosystem restoration programme, and potential leadership roles in shore plover, penguin and albatross recovery. In a report produced in December last year, John McLennan concludes: “Cape Sanctuary’s coastal location will increasingly define its role in conservation, in particular its potential to re-establish links between the land and the sea. The gannets are just one element of what will eventually become an enduring theme.”

Captive breeding kakariki at the aviary - the young are ‘softreleased’ into the sanctuary.

Burrow 104, a nest for the first returning pair of grey-faced petrels

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Bay Needs Better Work Stories

What it will take to align the goals of local businesses and the agendas of disparate groups tasked with growing the economy and creating new jobs?

STORY KEITH NEWMAN PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

Job growth remains a distant blip on the radar as Hawke’s Bay continues its economic backslide and the various bodies tasked with growing the region struggle to get around the same table or even agree on a common agenda.

While there’s a raft of work going on to improve education and workforce training, the business community seems distant from the discussion, perhaps expecting some other economic miracle will save the day for the Bay. Apart from the 5,000 or so involved in seasonal or part-time work and those already creaming it or comfortable with the status quo, it seems we’re badly in need of better work stories.

For many, the big pie in the sky when it gets dry is Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Ruataniwha Dam project, designed to reinvigorate the rural economy and allegedly create thousands of jobs.

HBRC’s February 2014 Butcher Partners Report suggests the creation of up to 4,700 job-years of work over 12 years in the construction side. 1,310 ongoing jobs are projected on farms, orchards, vineyards and support roles, as well as 1,210 in processing and support, altogether injecting an estimated $250 million annually into the local economy.

Without a full work up it’s impossible to determine specifics as horticulture and other diversification doesn’t stack up as well against more intensive dairying to pay for what’s likely to be the most expensive water in the country.

The downstream numbers including processing are a moving feast. Watties in its HBRC dam submission didn’t expect

significant benefits as most of its producers were on the Heretaunga Plains.

Oil and gas is touted as another big employer, but no commitment has been made, there’s strong opposition, and uncertainty around how many jobs would actually be available for locals.

Call centre needs answers Hawke’s Bay’s thought leaders who continue to talk up the “possibilities” and “potential” for economic development and job creation were no doubt relieved

by Kiwibank’s decision to relocate from earthquake prone premises in Wellington to the old Farmers building in central Hastings.

The prospect of 100 jobs and the potential

“There’s a lack of really good proactive, productive, focused leaders and managers. They’re very few and far between.” to double that was a positive adjustment to the employment swings and roundabouts which concurrently saw 23 jobs go on the closure of Napier’s Bunnings Warehouse, 15 from the Hastings Opera House and losses at Postie Plus and other retailers.

Once we’ve proven we have the infrastructure and job candidates with the right skills, it’s hoped other government departments and large corporates might follow Kiwibank in decentralising their core infrastructure and services to the region.

There’s even talk of creating a cluster of call centres, but in some quarters concern about why Hastings and Napier made separate bids for Kiwibank rather than working together to promote the potential of the region.

And while Business Hawke’s Bay, EIT, Hastings Council and others are working to prequalify potential candidates,

Leanne Welsh of Boss Recruitment and others wonder how many Kiwibank jobs will actually go to locals?

“You may find general telephone answerers, but it’ll be minimum wage … they’re going to have to import call centre managers.”

Beyond the comfort zone Rather than waiting on new business to come to the Bay, there’s huge scope to improve what we already have, says business improvement specialist Glenn Manahi, as the region has everything at its fingertips for job creation and value.

We have a port, infrastructure, rail, a learning institute, lifestyle and a labour force — all that’s needed is to connect the dots.

That starts with a willingness to change, to “work smarter”, ditch out-dated systems, remove waste from processes and look at synergies with other businesses.

Asked what his priorities would be if Hawke’s Bay was a client looking to create employment, Manahi says leadership would be top of the pops. “There’s a lack of really good proactive, productive, focused leaders and managers. They’re very few and far between.”

The tick list includes a good grasp of the business numbers; profit and loss and performance measures, along with an awareness of staff skills, capability and attitude, and the ability to think creatively.

The biggest obstacle to growth, innovation and jobs, he says, is getting access to knowledge, knowing how to use it, and the “fear of giving it a crack”.

According to the 2013 McGredy Winder report there are 18,000 businesses in Hawke’s Bay, 62% run by self-employed shareholders with only 234 employing more than 50 staff.

While some businesses are in recovery, others continue to struggle. Job growth overall is slow and patchy with many employers simply happy to take a wage, says Boss Recruitment chief, Leanne Welsh.

Page 39 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

There’s “a real sense of complacency” and many are only in business to pay themselves a wage. To even get a foot in the door, those pushing for economic innovation and job creation schemes have to get past the “Oh no, we’re okay … We don’t need to … We’re doing just fine” syndrome.

A shake-up might be needed, suggests Welsh, perhaps a series of “mergers and takeovers to promote growth and fundamentally change the way businesses and the economy operate.”

Headlights to high beam To spur growth and employment, Business Hawke’s Bay CEO Susan White says, owner-operators may need an outside perspective, “people in the governance space who can act as advisors; people with their headlights on high beam.”

Growing small to medium businesses into bigger ones has been Business HB’s objective in hosting the High Performance Work (HPW) programme for the past two years and urging mentoring group The Icehouse to locate here.

Both groups focus on aspects of getting companies match-fit for growth. Having worked with 175 local companies in its first year, Icehouse Hawke’s Bay regional manager MichaelaVodanovich, says 65% have taken on one or more full-time staff.

One company had planned to lay off six staff, but ended up employing an extra two after exploring growth opportunities; another took on six during July and one is looking to add up to 40 local staff through expansion of its services beyond Hawke’s Bay. HPW is engaged in improving the processes, capabilities and efficiencies of local manufacturing, engineering and now food and beverage businesses.

Project manager, Glenn Manahi, says growing the economy and jobs is not just about putting more cattle on the field, more sheep in the paddock or more fruit in the orchards.

“It’s doing those things but a hell of a lot smarter and it starts with knowing who fig 1 :

“... some projects that have been racing around for the past 10-15 years need to come together and unite.”

GLENN MANAHI the customers are, where the value is in our products and services and making that flow through the business.”

He says we need to stop talking about the seasonal nature of the economy as a problem.

“Some larger operations are realising core activities can be controlled and improved through being proactive rather than reactive so there’s no real off-season.”

By working smarter there are new opportunities to be busy all year round.

“Instead of letting go of temporary staff, other markets can be developed, for example using different waste streams.”

Manahi describes the region as having “a lot of small fish, who feed middle-sized businesses, who feed big businesses … it’s that whole supply chain thing.”

Hawke’s Bay Work & Labour Force

He suggests there’s plenty of scope for businesses to cooperate around common goals or contracts, to win and service export opportunities, and even for those who are technically competitors to be part of a supply chain.

“If you think about some of the contracts that are coming from China, one small business can’t effectively supply that market, but three or five together with some specialist skills, could make a big impact.”

If Hawke’s Bay was a company, the waste would be huge, with much to be gained by reducing errors and duplication and getting the right information to where it is needed at the right time, whether that’s reporting, planning, project management, compliance or communication.

2013 Census

Employed full-time

Employed part-time

Total people employed

Unemployed

Total people in labour force

Not in labour force

15-29 Years

9,093

3,870

12,960

2,538

15,495

8,115

30–39 Years

8,988

2,316

11,304

846

12,147

3,114

40–49 Years

12,951

3,177

16,125

822

16,950

2,901

50–59 Years

13,095

3,129

16,227

615

16,842

3,207

60–69 Years

6,930

2,823

9,747

291

10,038

6,924

903

1,335

2,238

39

2,280

14,568

51,960

16,647

68,610

5,148

73,758

38,832

Age Groups

70+ Years Total people Source: Statistics New Zealand

Page 40 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

It’s about people Shane Pugh is someone you may already know.

For 30 years a Hospitality Personality in many of the Bay’s best dining establishments, Shane has met, and tended to, a lot of Hawke’s Bay people.

From time to time he still pops up serving wine and seating diners at restaurants around the Bay. Shane loves people and that’s a huge benefit to his career in residential real estate with Property Brokers; like hospitality, it’s all about the people.

“The attributes and skills I have gained in hospitality have crossed over into real estate. I’m a good listener and I’m genuine,” Shane says. “I want to find out what you want and then find you the perfect match.”

Shane has been matching people with their new home for two and a half years now – and he loves what he’s doing.

“I believe that every property, every vendor and every potential buyer is important. My passion is for people.

I have the ability to get along with anyone. My instincts and empathetic nature enable me to quickly determine the needs of my clients, ensuring that each transaction is as successful as it is enjoyable,” explains Shane.

He laughs when it’s suggested he’s the ‘nice guy’ of Hawke’s Bay real estate.

Shane Pugh E: shane@propertybrokers.co.nz M: 027 704 8845 DDI: 06 872 7059 W: shanepugh.co.nz

Being part of Property Brokers means Shane has great support and experienced people around him. It also helps that Property Brokers has the biggest market share in Hawke’s Bay. “We can put your property in front of more buyers,” explains Shane, “and ‘Team’ is a big part of the way we work – the way I have always worked.”

Shane’s combined enthusiasm, energy and knowledge of Hawke’s Bay have contributed to his early success in real estate.

Re-examining these processes to focus on what customers actually want and reallocating people where they’re actually needed, opens up new opportunities for employment, says Manahi.

He claims local bodies in Hawke’s Bay are now realising their customers are local businesses and without sharp processes they become frustrated. While they may have been slow to the game, he says local businesses have also been reluctant to change until the past three years.

To ensure we have the right skills to support growth he says things need to be “coordinated a bit better”. Like others spoken to

by BayBuzz, he observes that “some projects that have been racing around for the past 1015 years need to come together and unite.”

Training for uncertainty The education and training sector is among the largest employers in Hawke’s Bay having grown 15% to around 5,673 since 2013, fig 2 :

“Currently only 30% of students go to university or to degree-based study and locally it’s even less than that. The Ministry of Education wants to know what’s happening to the other 70%?”

PAUL HURSTHOUSE

Hawke’s Bay Employment by Industry Total People 2006 Census

Total People 2013 Census

Percentage Change

9,222

8,193

-11.2%

87

102

17.2%

9,822

8,787

-10.5%

327

408

24.8%

Construction

5,274

4,542

-13.9%

Wholesale Trade

2,697

2,634

-2.3%

Retail Trade

7,233

6,297

-12.9%

Accommodation and food services

3,552

3,216

-9.5%

Transport, Postal and Warehousing

2,580

2,532

-1.9%

information Media and Telecommunications

633

573

-9.5%

financial and insurance services

1,314

1,215

-7.5%

Rental, Hiring and Real estate services

1,848

1,671

-9.6%

Professional, scientific and Technical services

3,471

3,780

8.9%

Administrative and support services

2,277

2,217

-2.6%

Public Administration and safety

2,358

2,715

15.1%

education and Training

4,935

5,673

15.0%

Health Care and social Assistance

6,306

7,566

20.0%

Arts and Recreation services

849

951

12.0%

Other services

2,775

2,523

-9.1%

Total people stated(3)

67,554

65,598

-2.9%

not elsewhere included(4)

5,619

3,009

-46.4%

Total people, Hawke's Bay Region

73,173

68,610

-6.2%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing Mining Manufacturing electricity, gas, Water and Waste services

Source: Statistics New Zealand Page 42 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

although aligning outputs with actual jobs remains a challenge.

EIT’s business relationship manager, Paul Hursthouse, is tasked with making sense of that precarious balancing act, and like others believes employers need to take more responsibility and “broaden their horizons” about who they will and won’t take on board.

EIT sees itself simply as a service provider working through its Trades Academy in partnership with 14 secondary schools and programmes, and alongside local councils, government agencies and other initiatives to boost regional capability.

It’s doing what it can within its budget and capabilities to offer relevant courses, currently training 3,500 students and offering twelve degree and Masters programmes, and examining every opportunity to meet market needs.

Ultimately, however, says Hursthouse, “industry has to be in a position to employ them.”

Local Careers NZ manager, Leslie Leech, agrees there’s “a disconnect” between training and job availability and a need to generate “genuine employment opportunities” so people want to stay and work, or come back if they’ve been away.

One of the challenges is to get beyond the personal or organisational agendas for greater sharing of resources and to have accurate information about the market, industry needs, job opportunities and

training requirements.

One of the main goals of the recently formed HB Connect group is to identify barriers to job development and growth.

Stakeholders include Careers NZ, Business HB, EIT, the Secondary Schools Principals’ Association, Youth Futures Trust, Ngati Kahungunu Inc, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and representatives from Napier, Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa councils.

Its objectives align well with the McGredy Winder report recommending a 3-5 year government-led strategy as the lowest cost, highest return option to meet employment deficits and better target regional spending on raising education and skill levels.

The report claimed an “interdependence of initiatives” could establish “a virtual spiral of development” but would not succeed unless there was buy in from the business community.

Businesses needed to identify opportunities for training and labour force development including “an appropriate cultural context” for the region’s young and growing Maori population. If training wasn’t aligned with new jobs the credibility of any strategy would be undermined.

Leech, a member of HB Connect, is concerned that there’s been little employer engagement other than through The Icehouse and economic development consultancy, Game Changer.

Leslie Leech

It wants to work alongside network-based groups like the Chamber of Commerce, but finds most are socially based, profit driven and operate on a “what’s in it for them” basis.

Despite public sector groups, including Careers NZ, being driven by national targets and agendas with limited funding and resources, she’s convinced HB Connect is now achieving “a helpful degree of honesty about the real issues”.

Members are asking what difference they are making, having more open conversations and prepared to challenge one another’s national and regional agendas, which Leech says is finally breaking down the barriers of perception.

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Page 43 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Slow growth, unemployment underpin regional challenges It’s been a rough ride for Hawke’s Bay economy.

Most businesses have had to tighten the belt due to the global meltdown, with ‘recovery’ still under a shadow and key sectors typically relied on for economic growth and jobs struggling or in decline.

Hawke’s Bay’s performance in the regional growth stakes remains worryingly low, with an average growth of 0.7% over the past decade relegating us to the “economic doldrums” unless something shifts drastically in the near future.

The July report from the new Zealand institute of economic Research (nZieR) reiterates reports from the past two decades: our aging population, slow job growth and poor economic performance are keeping us near the bottom of the regional pile. sean Bevan of economic solutions, in breaking down the seven year gisborne-Hawke’s Bay Household Labour force data, overlays it with the 2006-2013 census data of employment by industry sector, then attributes 74% to Hawke’s Bay to make sense of the local numbers.

On that basis, an average of 75,000 people have been employed in the wider Hawke’s Bay region — from Waipukurau to Wairoa — over the past seven years (2006-2013), 24% of them part timers.

Total employment in the region grew steadily between 2001 and 2005 to peak at over 80,000 then headed into gradual decline.

Although the five-year period to March 2014 indicated an increase of 2% or 2,000 people in employment, that’s no game changer.

Rough ride not over Bright spots include growing demand for a mixed bag of skilled tradespeople and labourers, caregivers and administrators, teachers and tutors, creatives, and highly qualified professionals including lawyers,

Page 44 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

accountants, technicians and researchers.

While growth and decline seesaws across sectors, the largest employer is manufacturing, employing 8,787 people, followed by agriculture, forestry, fishing and primary production with 8,193 jobs, all of which shrunk around 10% over 2013 numbers. farming, one of the biggest regional sectors, typically employs only two or three people apart from seasonal increases like shearing and processing, and an increasing number of tasks are now highly mechanised.

Retailing, trade, wholesale, transport, postal and warehousing, essentially the supply chain and customer service industries, account for around 11,000 local jobs, an area that remains stagnant or in slow decline.

The Hawke’s Bay construction industry, typically a good indicator of wider growth, is also in serious decline. Builders, plumbers, electricians, labourers and other trades engaged in domestic, commercial and industrial building may be in less demand as consents slow here, but their skills are certainly sought after elsewhere.

Many local businesses were reliant on a pool of semi-skilled and skilled tradespeople, short-term contractors or odd-jobbers, but the pool is rapidly emptying.

“There used to be a lot of skills available in the trade market; electricians, builders and painters but that’s really dried up,” says Boss Recruitment owner Leanne Welsh.

When it comes to more skilled trades work, some employers are forced to source offshore.

The big demand is for engineers, particularly structural design engineers for building and earthquake design and testing. “There’s no point in advertising in new Zealand. Look in the engineering magazines, there’s always about 30-40 vacancies.”

Health not about wealth One of the largest areas of employment growth is health care and social assistance with over 7,500 people. The HB District Health Board is the biggest employer. However, as economist sean Bevan says, work in the public sector is population driven and not a generator of wealth.

The Mcgredy Winder report, which he contributed to, highlights our rapidly ageing

population, the high average age of farmers and other professionals and the relatively low skills of a large group of school leavers as a growing issue.

With the high levels of “deep seated unemployment” and the continued “outmigration” of young people seeking higher qualifications, the report said “the region faces a potential tipping point where it … cannot attract the labour that it needs to thrive.”

Maori unemployment was a concern, giving rise to a “significant underclass of people who are not effectively engaged in the economy”.

Our ageing population and the significant workforce engaged in health and welfare support looking after the elderly, the retired and “those who can’t look after themselves” presents a real challenge. in fact, concedes Bevan, this could be our growth industry, if we don’t counter it with something that’s a bit more entrepreneurial.

Unemployment here to stay? in the meantime, statistics nZ reports there are around 5,916 unemployed in Hawke’s Bay, including 2,500 on some form of the unemployment benefit, slightly less than in 2012. for general low-skilled labouring jobs like digging holes, the Boss agency gets an average of 100 applications; for administrative roles it’s normal for 50 to 60, “a lot to weed through,” says owner Leanne Welsh. for those with no skills, times are tough. even a simple thing like not having a driver’s licence can severely limit your options. she feels desperately sorry for people with poor literacy, because even basic skills are required for labouring, requiring forms to be filled in.

“There’s always going to be a sector of the community that moves in and out of employment for various reasons and a core who are unemployable,” says Welsh. “if you’re stuffing around and have a poor work ethic, Hawke’s Bay is such a small place, everybody knows everybody, and you’ll soon get a reputation.”

The hard reality is that Hawke’s Bay may have to live with around 6% unemployment rate; “it’s not all that high, even in the flush economic times it’s never been lower than 4-5%,” says Welsh.

Of great assistance would be better communication between at last seven groups who appear to be working on some form of economic development or assessment for “their council…their area of interest or business sector,” says Leech.

Meanwhile HB Connect wants to make better sense of the fragmented data sets describing the job market. For example, Statistics NZ mixing Gisborne with Hawke’s Bay isn’t seen as helpful.

It’s working on a more dynamic model to better identify available jobs and skills and fill the gaps with more targeted training to assist potential employers.

Coordinating crosstalk Business Hawke’s Bay CEO Susan White agrees there needs to be greater clarity about who’s doing what and better regional cooperation. “Business HB has its own advisory group which meets monthly but we need more engagement at the regional governance level with the people who hold the resources.”

Business HB, charged with coordinating or being “the glue” for regional development, agrees whatever the outcome it must relate to job creation. “There is money being spent on some sort of economic development activity in each of the councils so it’s not that the resource isn’t there,” says White.

She’s only been in her role for a year but has attended numerous meetings involving local and central government and business

fig 3 :

Hawke’s Bay Employment Trends 2005-2014

inCLuDing gisBORne

Persons Employed in Labour Force (000s)

Persons Unemployed in Labour Force (000s)

Unemployment Rate (%)

2005

100

5.1

4.9

2006

104.2

5.6

5.1

2007

99.1

4.7

4.6

2008

98.7

5.2

5

2009

100.7

6.7

6.3

2010

99.2

8.8

8.1

2011

99.7

8.3

7.6

2012

98

8

7.5

2013

102.5

9

8

2014

101.2

8.7

6.7

Figures as of 07 May 2014 – Source: Statistics New Zealand

chief executives around business attraction, economic development and job creation.

At a recent CEO Inter-sectoral Forum Group, still another strategy was being mapped out where she suggested again that everyone should be working on a single regional approach.

Perhaps that will come about through the current review of the HBRC-driven Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS)

and greater participation by a wider group of stakeholders, she suggests.

White has been greatly encouraged that Business HB, in its latest funding round has managed to double support from HBRC and Hastings councils to $100,000 annually and for the first time got Napier on board.

She sees that as a vote of confidence as she looks to add a second staff member and ramp up her liaison role to ensure parties tasked

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Page 45 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Jobs for the boys The widely held view that the best jobs in Hawke’s Bay go to “those in the know” has negatively skewed the perception of the region as a low paid, seasonal economy with few skilled job opportunities, suggests local Careers NZ manager, Leslie Leech.

Although there are talented people looking for work, the public generally don’t get to hear about many skilled and highly paid job opportunities “filled internally, by word of mouth or through peer groups” or as “jobs for the boys”, says Leech.

This has helped create the impression that everything is low paid, seasonal or in horticulture, agriculture and elsewhere in the primary sector. “I think there’s a lot more going on, but it’s very difficult to find out if you only read the newspapers.”

Business HB CEO, Susan White, says many people hold on to their existing jobs for as long as they can and are reluctant to retire or move on, resulting in an aging employment base inhibiting new blood moving into companies and reducing opportunities for younger people.

Boss Recruitment owner Leanne Welsh confirms the impression that “it’s a merrygo-round” for some of the best jobs – when people move there’s usually someone else waiting to fill that seat.

Meanwhile, many talented people still fly out of Hawke’s Bay on Monday and return on Friday.

Welsh admits she was a commuter for two years while waiting for a suitable local job.

“We have a lot of people who commute to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch because we don’t have those high level, high paid jobs.”

To generate economic growth and improve skilled employment options, she says the complexity of jobs needs to increase. By that she means smaller companies – those with 20 or more staff – are going to need a financial controller or an HR manager to get the next level of growth.

The region’s lack of head offices for major corporates has been cited as an obstacle to high level jobs, however Smarter, Better Faster manager Glen Manahi, believes there are plenty of opportunities for those looking to gain experience.

He says many owner-operator businesses are starting to look around for managers so they can take things to the next level, giving those aspiring to senior management a chance to cut their teeth.

“Stepping up as general manager of a small to medium sized business is good grounding for those who might eventually be seeking international experience or a large CEO position.”

Page 46 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Susan White with growing the economy are more closely aligned in their goals and outputs.

In the mix is a plan for a regional business hub where matters of this magnitude might be better mediated.

This shared premises, with training and meeting rooms, video conferencing and other hi-tech facilities, even a café-bar, would make it easier for businesses to engage with Business HB, each other and with clients and advisors.

Business HB would act as a catalyst for collaborative economic development and job creation efforts with advice for startup businesses or those looking to grow, export or relocate to Hawke’s Bay. White says employment and economic growth depends on the value proposition of the region. “If businesses are resilient and have great plans that’s a better environment for employment.”

So what’s going to incentivise businesses designing and manufacturing for the agricultural sector to move here from Auckland, for example, when they already have their supply chain sorted and an employment pool? “We have to look at the obstacles….and how to get people excited about coming here.”

Breaking tradition Among the long-term obstacles facing this and other regions are the shrinking population, the greying of the workforce and the growing number of youth who do not have the adequate skills or literacy to take up the limited jobs that are on offer.

EIT business development manager Paul Hursthouse says because schools are measured on their high performing students – who’s going to become doctors, lawyers or a judge – that’s where they focus their resources.

“Currently only 30% of students

go to university or to degree-based study and locally it’s even less than that. The Ministry of Education wants to know what’s happening to the other 70%?”

It is trying to address that imbalance by working with schools, other government agencies and EIT on Vocational Pathways.

“The Hawke’s Bay Schools Trades Academy and EIT are recognised as a New Zealand leader in that initiative,” says Hursthouse.

Careers NZ local manager Leslie Leech says there’s a real need to break down the barriers that prevent young people from having careers or even being interested in one. “Those looking for employment solutions in Hawke’s Bay need to start thinking outside of the square.”

“If businesses are resilient and have great plans that’s a better environment for employment.”

If we’re seriously interested in getting more youth into employment, she says we should look to the example set by Otorohanga mayor Dale Williams, a former motorcycle mechanic, who effectively eliminated youth unemployment by championing business-led trades training.

His flexible approach to workplace experience and apprenticeships challenged local businesses to “man-up” and take responsibility … alongside a tertiary provider he changed the way skills were developed in the community.

Leech says local councils could play a pivotal role in encouraging employers to provide work experience. “(Dale Williams) made a huge difference … and an awful lot of spin-offs came from that … He was an absolute catalyst … We could do with one of those in Hawke’s Bay.”

political buzz Leaving aside parliamentary elections, the dam, amalgamation and various council meltdowns have dominated Hawke’s Bay political news lately.

STORY tom Belford

The Dam Legal appeals to the High Court challenging the final decision of the Board of Inquiry (BOI) have placed the Ruataniwha dam proposal in limbo.

The appeals have been filed by Fish & Game and Forest & Bird. The Environmental Defence Society has indicated they will support the challenges as well. These groups argue that in modifying (some would use the term “softening”) its stance from its draft decision, largely in response to HBRC/ HBRIC objections, the BOI acted improperly in view of the legislation governing its process.

At the centre of dispute is whether farmers – and the dam — would indeed be held accountable for meeting nitrogen (DIN) limits in the catchment, and thereby give effect to national water quality objectives. The BOI appeared to say ‘Yes’ in its draft decision, but ‘No’ in its final decision.

In predictable style, the Regional Council’s publication, Our Place, minimised the situation, reporting “the appeals are only expected to take a few days in court”. That disingenuous formulation might accurately state the Lawrence Yule

Page 50 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

actual court time involved. However, the reality is that, given the High Court’s schedule, the appeals are not expected to be heard until November at best, and possibly not until next year.

The effects of that schedule are serious.

Bill Dalton Perhaps most important, since the outcome will determine the toughness of water quality standards for the Tukituki catchment, farmers in the Central Hawke’s Bay footprint of the proposed water storage scheme will be skittish about signing the 35-year water purchase agreements required for the dam to proceed.

As of this writing, no CHB farmer has publicly indicated they have signed a water agreement. And while it says farmers are indeed signing up, HBRIC has not confirmed any specifics to regional councillors. A minimum of 40% of the dam’s water must be contracted, unconditionally, as a key prerequisite of HBRC approving the project.

Without evidence of firm farmer commitments, HBRIC’s quest for private investors and a government loan is placed in suspense as well.

Speaking of investors … the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council (CHBDC) will NOT be bringing any money to the

table. CHBDC voted against making a $5 million investment in the dam, responding to CHB ratepayers’ lack of appetite for the additional council borrowing that would be required.

As reported by Hawke’s Bay Today, Stuart Nash Councillor Mark Williams said it all: “I think I can say this council is unreservedly in favour of the dam going ahead but somewhat divided about the investment. We should not be borrowing money to invest in the dam – if it was such a good investment I would have considered it, but I have been convinced by submitters it’s not a good investment.”

In other words, wishful thinking and rally speeches are in ample supply in CHB; real cash is not.

And finally, if the legal dispute is not resolved until next year, and these other conditions are not met until thereafter, actual construction would be pushed back a year, requiring re-negotiation – and perhaps re-pricing – of the construction contract.

Another legal hurdle Meantime, HBRIC managed to step into more poo, when it quickly filed a pre-emptive (i.e., first come, first served)

Board of Inquiry plan for Tukituki challenged in High Court consent application to take for itself all additional 15 million cubic metres of water authorized by the Board of Inquiry to be extracted from the Ruataniwha aquifer. In other words, cornering the market … pre-empting all other potential users of additional aquifer water.

This consent application was filed 17 May. Councillors only found out about it in mid-July – not from HBRIC, not from HBRC staff – but only ‘through the grapevine’. Since then, JB Bostock has filed a consent application for some of the aquifer water.

The HBRIC application will go before an independent hearings panel, which will be confronted as well with the Bostock and potentially other consent applications and/or opposing submissions. Clearly another extended legal brouhaha is in the making.

Until this matter is resolved, and access to the aquifer water awarded, the final water delivery strategy for the storage scheme cannot be budgeted or implemented.

As legal costs mount and delays occur, there are other financial implications.

Understandings with earlier investors, now departed, allowed these development

costs of the project to be treated as part of HBRC/HBRIC’s capital investment in the scheme. It’s not clear that any new investor would agree to those terms.

And in any event, as the development costs increase (now in excess of $16 million), they eat into the $80 million

“We should not be borrowing money to invest in the dam – if it was such a good investment I would have considered it, but I have been convinced by submitters it’s not a good investment. ” that has been allocated as the topline investment HBRC is considering, leaving less money for construction.

Finally, while HBRC awaits these outcomes, the expensive secondment of Andrew Newman to HBRIC as its chief executive continues, with only ‘interim’ leadership at the Regional Council.

All in all, a murky business.

Amalgamation on simmer By comparison, the pathway for an amalgamation decision seems crystal clear.

The Local Government Commission (LGC) has reported it is working on boundary definitions (related to water catchment management and the Taupo and Rangitikei districts adjoining Hawke’s Bay) and further consultation on Maori representation issues.

With the general election imminent, the LGC issued a “stocktake” indicating: “The Commission will avoid issuing any proposal, either final or draft, during the regulated period for the 2014 general election. It wishes to minimise the risk of voter confusion if the general election and a local government reorganisation poll were conducted in close proximity to each other.

“In addition, the Commission is concerned to avoid possible ambiguity or uncertainty over the rules for advertising and expenses if a local poll was conducted during the general election campaign period.”

It is now anticipated that the LGC would issue its final reorganisation proposal for Hawke’s Bay after the election and before year’s end. If they do so, a 60-day window occurs during which voters can petition for a region-wide poll on the recommended plan.

Page 51 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

“I think there are a few people within council who should be embarrassed with the situation they’ve allowed the aquatic centre to get to over the last 15 years.”

(HBT, 06/08/14).”

MAlcolM Dixon

Assuming such a petition succeeds (highly likely since all parties support a poll), the popular vote could occur in the late February or March window.

At present, most of the political ‘noise’ surrounding amalgamation emanates from the Napier constituency campaign of Stuart Nash, for whom the issue is defining, and the occasional clash of letters to the editor. If Nash is elected, perhaps his focus will shift to parliamentary business and national affairs, with Bill Dalton reasserting himself as the champion of local antiamalgamation advocates.

Mayor Dalton and others recently raised a fuss at Local Government NZ, succeeding in getting that organization to endorse revising the legislation that currently requires polls on local government reorganisation to be decided by region-wide majority (as opposed to giving veto to any affected district).

If a National-led government returns to power, such a revision is very unlikely.

Assuming Hawke’s Bay votes on a reorganisation plan next year, you can bet the ranch that the outcome will be decided by region-wide majority.

And where are the voters? Mayor Dalton has touted a Napier City Councilcommissioned survey of Napier residents which found that 68% of respondents

Page 52 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Frimley pool in Hastings has seen better days opposed amalgamation and 20% supported, with 12% undecided.

Mayor Yule has noted with bravado that, “The final vote on the detailed proposal is the only poll that matters” (DomPost, 16/08/14), but it’s fair to say that positions have hardened for many residents, at least in Napier where, since the October 2013 local elections, a succession of candidates have steadily whipped up anti-amalgamation fears.

Reorg issues When the final reorg proposal is on the table and the real campaign begins, two issues are likely to dominate – local identity/authority and debt burdens.

In July legislation was approved that empowers the LGC to include more robust local boards as a second tier of governance to any unitary authorities they might recommend. The LGC has signalled that is their intent as they move to a final reorganisation proposal for Hawke’s Bay. Residents eager to retain local authority over close-to-home decisions may conclude that local boards, with jurisdiction over most of the nonregulatory matters territorial councils now control, will address their concern.

As for potential debt shifting, which seems to preoccupy many in Napier, the

latest Annual Plans of Hastings and Napier for 2014/15 are instructive and definitive.

In that fiscal year, Hastings will take in just shy of $66 million in rates revenue, and pay $4,455,000 of that to service debt.

Thus 6.75% of Hastings ratepayers’ rates payments will go to interest repayment.

With 30,211 rateable properties, this means the average Hastings ratepayer is paying $147.46 for HDC interest.

By comparison, Napier will take in a bit more than $47 million, of which $3,860,642 will service debt. Thus 8.2% of Napier ratepayers’ rates payments will go to interest repayment. With 24,858 rateable properties, the average Napier ratepayer is paying $155.31 for NCC interest. $147 versus $155. Sooner rather than later, one hopes, voters will get it straight.

Debt disparity is a bogus issue.

What’s $1 million here and there?

But don’t look for accuracy in numbers from Mayor Dalton anytime soon.

As finance chairman in the Arnott dynasty, one assumes the councillor would have been deeply inquisitive about plans for the district’s most visible (and second most expensive) project, the overhaul of the museum.

But apparently that wasn’t the case.

Or at least Mayor Dalton has done his best to distance himself from the major

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And the space foul-up has led to a frantic search for a Plan B. However, that search seems overtaken by Ngati Kahungunu Inc’s proposal that they could do a much better job hosting and displaying, not storing away, Maori taonga in a Hastings-based cultural centre.

And then there’s the Art Deco bus fiasco – $1.1 million to establish the service, 99 passengers on average per week, a $250,000 operating loss in 2013/14, sold for $50,000. “Our critics are climbing all over us on the loss of something a little over $1 million”, complains Mayor Dalton (HBT,07/08/14).

Again, vastly unrealistic patronage assumptions. Who at the Napier City Council comes up with these estimates? And are they still there, plotting the Council’s next commercial adventure?!

Arguably, at the time these grossly wrong museum and bus estimates were made, Dalton and fellow councillors didn’t actually get anything wrong; rather, they simply dozed through the entire Mayor Arnott and Chief Executive Neil Taylor reign.

Not that things have gone better at the Hastings Council.

There, the latest $1 million bungle seems to be the Frimley swimming pool. The aquatic centre has been allowed to deteriorate, despite funding set aside in 2012 for upgrading.

Said councillor Malcolm Dixon: “I think there are a few people within council who should be embarrassed with the situation they’ve allowed the aquatic centre to get to over the last 15 years.” (HBT, 06/08/14) Mayor Yule’s explanation is that spending priorities have necessarily shifted, given the cost and urgency of paying for the earthquake strengthening newly discovered to be required for the Opera House. But that’s another story.

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Page 53 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Who Owns Us?

Forty years ago, when Hastings was The Fruit Bowl of New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay’s undisputed king of commerce was Sir James Wattie, and he drove a silver Bentley between his stately home, Mangapapa, and the food processing factory that bore his name.

STORY MARK SWEET PHOTOGRAPHS TIM WHITTAKER

American Warren Buffett now oversees James Wattie’s legacy

and building supply merchants established in Napier in 1872. Today Pan Pac is 100% owned by Oji. Exemplifying the complexity of corporate exchanges, the once family owned Carter Holt Harvey, with extensive forestry interests in Hawke’s Bay, was purchased by Graeme Hart’s Rank Group for $3.3 billion in 2006. He sold off the forestry to US-based Hancock Group in 2007, and on 1st August 2014, the Commerce Commission gave clearance for Oji Oceania Management (NZ) Limited, owners of Pan Pac, to acquire up to 100% of the shares in Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper Limited, which own the Tasman (Kawerau) and Kinleith (Tokoroa) mills.

The Commission considered whether Oji would be able to depress the prices it pays to current Carter Holt Harvey log suppliers. They decided it would not.

Time will tell. But the nature of monopoly is to reduce competition.

When asked about the vulnerability of

McCain is Canadian owned

“Hawke’s Bay’s only daily newspaper is owned by Australians, as are all the major banks and our five biggest insurance companies.”

Today, the owners of HeinzWattie are Americans, Mangapapa is a boutique hotel owned by Japanese, and Bentley, once a hallmark of the best of British, is now part of the German-controlled Volkswagen Group.

globalization of commerce, which for New Zealand began with the free-market monetarist policies of the 1984 Labour Government, and has continued unabated to this day.

In Hawke’s Bay, the deregulation of the financial markets and removal of foreign exchange controls has seen the takeover of some of our biggest companies by foreign interests, and overseas acquisition of our land and property.

these off-shore owned operations, Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said, “I think the new owners of Heinz-Wattie will cut costs and improve the balance sheet and perhaps sell bits off, but I’m hopeful it’s secure. Same with McCains (Canadian owned). They’ve made considerable recent investments and I can’t see them moving, and Pan Pac has just spent $76 million on new technology. They wouldn’t have made that investment unless they were sure about their future here.”

The newspaper Sir James would have read in the evenings was The Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune, owned by a group of local farmers and businessmen, and his choice of banking and insurance was from New Zealand companies.

If he watched the All Blacks on TV, then unpaid amateurs, there was only one channel financed by license fees with no advertising.

Now, Hawke’s Bay’s only daily newspaper is owned by Australians, as are all the major banks and our five biggest insurance companies, except for AIG, which is American, and the major sponsor to the highly-paid professional All Blacks, and there are dozens of TV channels in multiple local and overseas ownership.

That the AIG logo sits alongside the Silver Fern is a powerful symbol of the

Processing

Apples

J Wattie Food Ltd was bought by H J Heinz in 1992, which in turn was acquired last year by US investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital for a total of US$23.2 billion.

Buffett usually acts alone in his takeovers, but with the Heinz acquisition he has handed the operation over to 3G to run. 3G also owns Burger King and has a reputation for ruthless cost cutting. How this impacts on Heinz-Wattie in Hastings has yet to be seen, but major departmental re-structuring is underway.

Pan Pac began in 1971 as an international joint venture between newly merged Carter Holt Harvey (60%) and Japanese companies Oji Paper and Kokusaku Pulp (40%). Robert Holt & Sons were timber

Hawke’s Bay has 64% of New Zealand’s productive apple land and apples have long underpinned the local economy.

David Cranwell has been involved in the industry all his life. His great-grandfather partnered in establishing one of the first apple orchards in the country; 500 acres in Henderson in the 1890’s.

Over time, Cranwell has seen the once family-owned orchards decreasing, “Either by selling out, or entering into leases with the larger pack-house coldstore, owner operators.”

He points out that corporate pip fruit horticulture commenced in the early to mid 1980’s, and in Hawke’s Bay, through a complex series of mergers and acquisitions, two major corporates now control the bulk of the industry.

Page 56 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

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Steve Smith Scales Corporation, with a diverse portfolio in agribusiness, and 2013 turnover of $278 million, listed on the New Zealand stock exchange in June. It owns Mr Apple, New Zealand’s largest apple exporter, producing around 4 million cartons a year from over 1,000 hectares of plantings in Hawke’s Bay. The other big player is BayWa, a German company, which operates in the agriculture, building materials, and energy sectors in 14 countries, with annual revenue over $10 billion. They now control, once New Zealand-owned and operated, ENZA, Turners and Growers, and Apollo Apples.

The Enzafoods factory in Hastings processes a wide range of fruits into premium juice concentrates, and other food products for the export market, and Apollo Apples has over 500 hectares in production.

Although important to the Hawke’s Bay economy, David Cranwell points out that New Zealand lies 27th in world apple production with around 500,000 tonnes, compared to top producer China at 35 million tonnes.

He doesn’t see overseas investors “breaking their necks to invest in New Zealand orchards or buying land to plant new orchards.” But he does see a future with some exciting new varieties in the pipeline, and he praises energetic, young, owner-operators like John Bostock, who has carved a niche and respected reputation with JB Organics.

Viticulture Sir James Wattie was known to enjoy ‘a tipple’, and over dinner it’s likely he appreciated Tom MacDonald’s 1965 Cabernet Sauvignon, described by UK wine writer Frank Thorpy as, “The finest commercial red wine ever produced in New Zealand”.

MacDonald’s was one of a handful of Hawke’s Bay wineries; all in private ownership. Today, Hawke’s Bay has over 100

Page 58 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

“Holy shit, I’ve paid $3 million for a desert.”

Terry Peabody, first time he saw the Gimblett Gravels land he purchased on Steve Smith’s advice for Craggy Range. vineyards, and over 80 wineries, many small family concerns, but volume in the industry is dominated by corporations.

Tom MacDonald’s Church Road winery is now owned by giant French beverage company Pernod Ricard, whose other New Zealand wine brands include Montana, Brancott, Corbans, and Lindauer. Their international liquor brands include Absolut vodka, Jameson whiskey, Havana Club rum, and Kahlua.

Another corporate giant, Constellation Brands, based in New York, with an annual turnover of nearly US$5 billion, has acquired New Zealand wine brands Selak, Nobilo, Kim Crawford, Drylands, and Monkey Bay.

“Within my life time I want what we do to be recognized alongside the great wine estates of the world.”

Their ‘Corner 50’ winery on Mangaroa Road, Hastings, was commissioned in 2005 and processes the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne crops from their own holdings and contracted growers.

David Cranwell points out that, “Corporate interest in the wine industry is similar to that of apples. Many small family vineyards started in the early 1900’s. Now the move is toward purchase or lease of small blocks to give the (corporate) winery the required critical mass, ensuring consistency and the ability to supply all market segments from entry level to top end.”

When asked about foreign investment in the wine industry Lawrence Yule said, “We wouldn’t have Craggy Range or Elephant Hill without it.”

Elephant Hill in Te Awanga was established by German couple, RalfRoger and Reydan Weiss, in 2003, and

already, with young vines, the winery has achieved outstanding success in competitions, the latest being Champion Wine of the Show at the Spiegelau International Wine Awards for their 2013 syrah. (August 2014) Susan White of Business Hawke’s Bay signals Elephant Hill as a prime example of the type of foreign investment positive for Hawke’s Bay, because (the owners), “Coming from Europe understand the European market. It’s not just that they’ve established a great winery here, it’s their knowledge and access to the German market.”

Craggy Range is owned by the Australian-based Peabody family, whose patriarch, Terry, teamed up with New Zealand Master of Wine, Steve Smith, to create a world-class winery. Peabody had the money and Smith “provided the wine industry expertise and experience”.

From the outset, Peabody was clear in his intentions, telling Smith, “Within my life time I want what we do to be recognized alongside the great wine estates of the world”, and together they are well on their way to achieving that ambition.

In a blind tasting of Bordeaux-style wines in San Francisco, Craggy’s Gimblett Gravels 2007 ‘Sofia’ was placed first alongside twelve world-class wineries. As Wine Spectator writer Harvey Steiman noted, “The folks who make wines from Merlot and Cabernet in New Zealand’s Gimblett Gravels district proved that they belong on the same table as those from big-name Bordeaux châteaux”. (MoutonRothschild, Pavie, and L’Evangile.)

It was on Steve Smith’s advice that Terry Peabody purchased the Gimblett Gravels land, site unseen, and when Peabody first visited Hawke’s Bay in March 1998 he turned to Smith, and said, “Holy shit, I’ve paid $3 million for a desert”. Stoney and parched is what makes the land so good for grape growing, and it’s arguable that without overseas money the phenomena of the Gimblett success may have taken many more years to mature, if at all.

Terry Peabody’s wealth comes from vehicle distribution and waste disposal.

His company, Transpacific Holdings, sold it’s New Zealand operation in March 2014 for $950 million.

The buyer was Beijing Capital Group, a top 500 Chinese company with total assets and revenues exceeding US$21 billion and US$3.7 billion, respectively.

When mentioned to Lawrence Yule, he said, “I met the owner in Shanghai.

He told me he was buying it. His same company owns a vineyard in Crownthorpe.

He was quite excited and showed me where the land was on a map.”

China When Sir James Wattie relaxed after dinner he may have read in The Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune about the turmoils in China; the cultural revolution, the gang of four, and the struggle for succession after Mao Zedong.

He didn’t live long enough to witness the rise to power of Deng Xiaoping, who can be credited with laying the foundations of modern China. Deng was a pragmatist and his philosophy for economic expansion is aptly expressed by his oft-repeated mantra, “It doesn’t matter what colour the cat, as long as it catches mice.”

Lawrence Yule has visited China 26 times over the past decade, making contacts, and encouraging investment.

He said, “Many people in China, when they get to a certain level, don’t trust the regime, and they look at minimizing their risks by putting assets and their family overseas.” But Yule is clear he doesn’t want Chinese people buying property in Hawke’s Bay simply to get residency.

“The investments I’ve been looking for are the more prolonged type of investment.

There may be residency tied up there, but more importantly it’s about using their resources to add value to our products, that they can then market through their own chains and contacts. A little bit of investment here opens up a whole suite of connections in China.”

“Allowing offshore buyers to purchase the freehold to New Zealand productive farm land, returning the profits made to their country of origin, is nothing if not short sighted and stupid.”

DAVID CRANWELL

Business Hawke’s Bay’s Susan White is on the same page as Yule, and says, “Overseas investment should lead to jobs, and added value to food and beverage. We’re building a value-added proposition in Hawke’s Bay as part of the country wide effort.”

David Cranwell first visited China on business in 1985, and thereafter every year, until his last visit in 2007. He said, “In this period I observed massive changes … I was there a week after the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising … saw students virtually working in chain gangs … have spoken at length to people who went through the Cultural Revolution. What they endured

must have been appalling, but what amazed me is not one held a grudge. They were all positive about China and where they could help take it.”

The positivity of the Chinese people and their business acumen now sees their country as the second biggest economy in the world, and in 2013, China surpassed Australia as New Zealand’s largest trading partner.

Perhaps because China is a late starter in international commerce, they sit 12th as foreign owners of New Zealand assets, behind, in decreasing order: Australia, USA, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Cayman

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2014, “The bank was keen to get exposure to primary industries including forestry, fishing, agriculture, and potentially exploration, (and Shipley) said, ‘It would have to fit our appetite and criteria, but we are very much open to significant transactions’.”

Who owns us?

Foreign ownership of New Zealand companies has increased tenfold since the reforms of the 1980’s, and at March 2013 stood at $101.4 billion, which as a

Hawke’s Bay ‘Ambassador’ Yule with Mrs. Wang Ying, president of Shandong Lon TV Media Group and Mr. Jiang Dianchang, vice chairman of NZ-China Food Safety Association.

Islands, Canada, and Switzerland.

Now, as the economic might of China intensifies, we are seeing them acquiring assets globally, and New Zealand is no exception. While there was no reaction to the purchase of Peabody’s Transpacific Holdings, there is objection to their acquisition of our farmland.

Food security With a population of 1.4 billion, and a growing middle class hungry for premium foods, “The Chinese government is planning for any future eventualities that may affect their ability to feed their people, hence their worldwide interest in buying land,” said David Cranwell.

Lawrence Yule identified the key issue.

“If you look at the macro geo-politics of the world we are short of food. There’s an insatiable demand for protein.” And as Cranwell points out, “The Chinese Government and private investors are scouring the world to secure food production bases that will prevent any home shortfall.”

Chinese acquisition of New Zealand land came to the fore last year with the controversial purchase of the Crafar farms

by Shanghai Pengxin for $200 million (8,000 hectares carrying 16,000 cows). Now that Pengxin seek to add Lochinver Station to their portfolio, overseas purchase of our land has become an election issue.

About 21% of Lochinver is in Hawke’s Bay, sitting alongside tributaries to the Mohaka River. So if the intention is to establish intensive dairying on the flat land, it is of concern to the health of an iconic Hawke’s Bay river.

Of concern to David Cranwell and many other astute observers is ‘vertical integration’, where farmland is used “to produce protein for shipment back to their country with minimal New Zealand input and little, if any, financial return for New

Page 60 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Zealand.” And that appears to be Shanghai Pengxin’s intention.

A Hong Kong website states: “6000 hectares of land (will be) converted into cow pastures, (and it) is expected to need to buy 12,000 cows … that through this acquisition, the company will form a milk self-sufficiency, to get rid of dependence on third-party supply for the company to build a line from ‘pasture to table’, a complete industrial chain closed loop.”

Shanghai Pengxin also owns dairy farms in the South Island and a string of processing and marketing companies. It does not supply Fonterra or any other New Zealand milk processor. (A director on Synlait Milk, the South Island company, is former finance minister, Ruth Richardson.)

While Steven Joyce may accuse critics of Chinese land purchases as ‘xenophobic’, the real issue is not who is buying land, but what they’re doing with the produce. As David Cranwell points out, “Allowing offshore buyers to purchase the freehold to New Zealand productive farm land, returning the profits made to their country of origin, is nothing if not short sighted and stupid.”

Supporters of Chinese acquisition of New Zealand land have claimed, “Fonterra has been buying land in China …” (NZ Herald, 5 August, 2014). This is untrue. Fonterra has entered joint ventures and leases land, but it cannot own freehold in China, as Shanghai Pengxin can in New Zealand.

John Key is “comfortable” with the current land purchase policy. Interestingly, the person who headhunted Key to enter politics, former prime minister Jenny Shipley, is at the forefront of Chinese investment in New Zealand. She chairs CCB New Zealand, a fully-owned subsidiary of the state-controlled China Construction Bank, one of the biggest banks in the world, with a pre-tax profit in 2013 of US$45.85 billion.

The Dominion Post reported on 16 July

“The Chinese Government and private investors are scouring the world to secure food production bases that will prevent any home shortfall.” proportion of Gross Domestic Product is 48%, up from 14% in 1989.

In the year ending March 2013, corporate profits and investment portfolio income of $15.5 billion left New Zealand (45% from the banking sector). That’s nearly as much as our $15.8 billion of dairy and forestry product exports.

Foreign owners now control 33% of the share market, up from 19% in 1989.

Statistics on land sales to overseas interests are poorly recorded and incomplete, but at least 8.7% of New Zealand farmland including forestry, or 1.3 million hectares, is foreign owned and controlled.

(Source: Statistics New Zealand, Overseas Investment Office, Overseas Investment Commission, via CAFCA Press Release, 7 January 2014) We don’t know what Sir James Wattie would make of today’s economic climate, but we do know he is quoted as saying, “In unity there is security as well as strength.”

By any definition, selling too many of our assets and land to foreigners, who have no loyalty to New Zealand, carries significant risks. It weakens our economic power and increases our economic vulnerability … consider the number of Hawke’s Bay jobs and incomes beholden to foreign owners.

It diminishes our security and arouses disagreement and conflict.

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NZ For Sale The ‘hot potato’ foreign investment of the day is the proposed purchase of Lochinver, a 13,800 hectare station on the Napier-Taupo road, by Shanghai Pengxin. If approved, the second largest foreign acquisition of NZ land.

So, what are the rules anyway?

The regulations around foreigners acquiring significant business assets or sensitive land in New Zealand are contained in the Overseas Investment Act 2005, and the Overseas Investments Regulation Act 2005. The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) is responsible for approving applications and administering the conditions attached to the approvals.

An ‘overseas person’ is someone who is not a New Zealand citizen or resident, or a company or entity that is 25% (or more) owned or controlled by an overseas person or persons. An overseas person must obtain consent before acquiring business assets over $100 million ($477 million for Australians) fishing quotas, or sensitive land.

‘Sensitive land’ includes any non-urban land over five hectares, and land set aside for conservation, reserves, recreation or heritage.

The Overseas Investments Regulation Act requires the OIO to be satisfied the transaction brings substantial and identifiable benefit to New Zealand in line with the following criteria: • the introduction of new technology or business skills; • increased export receipts or exporters; • added market competition, greater efficiency or productivity, or enhanced domestic services; • introduction of additional investment for development purposes; • increased processing of primary products; • assisting to maintain New Zealand control of strategically important infrastructure on sensitive land; • New Zealand economic interests being adequately safeguarded and promoted; • oversight and participation by New Zealanders.

Recent approvals from the OIO affecting Hawke’s Bay illustrate the criteria applied.

$1.25 million between (vendor) JP & HA Nelson Partnership, New Zealand (100%), and Turners & Growers Ltd, Germany (73%) and New Zealand (27%) In its decision the OIO cited jobs creation and greater efficiency as benefits, and was satisfied with oversight and participation by New Zealanders.

21 February 2013: ‘Sensitive land’, which included 262.3 hectares at Tutira for $4.26 million between (vendor) Roger Dickie Developments, New Zealand (100%), and Ingolte Investments (40%), Italian Public (31%) and various overseas persons (29%).

The benefits OIO cited were job creation, increased export receipts, added productivity, additional investment, increased processing, enhanced indigenous vegetation/fauna, and enhanced walking access.

21 April 2013: ‘Sensitive land’, which included 866 hectares at Te Haroto, and ‘the consideration of which exceeds $100 million’.

This application illustrates the complexity of some transactions. It involved the sale of 51% of Harvard College Fund (USA) shares in Kaingaroa Timberlands Partnership (KTP) to the Treasury Board of Canada and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

The sale price was confidential, but an idea of scale is that KTP is New Zealand’s second largest forestry asset owner, after US-based Hancock Natural Resources, and the NZ Super Fund’s 40% shareholding in KTP is its biggest single investment.

Records indicate that meeting the requirements of the Overseas Investment Office isn’t hard, as less than 5% of applications are turned down.

And Public Opinion?

What does the public think about foreign investment in New Zealand?

Here’s a snapshot. According a recent Stuff.co.nz/Ipsos national poll, 74% say the government should make it harder for foreign investors to buy large amounts of productive farmland.

However, just slightly more than half (52%) agree that ‘too much’ productive farmland has already been sold into foreign ownership.

And a larger number (64%) think New Zealand’s economy benefits from more foreign investment.

19 June 2014: ‘Sensitive land’, being 8.82 hectares at 210 Ruapare Road, Twyford, for

Page 62 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Photo courtesy of Craggy Range

Photo courtesy of Elephant Hill

Hawke’s Bay wineries are a favourite for overseas investors. Top: Elephant Hill, German-owned; Bottom: Craggy Range, Australian-owned

Adri Isbister

I see three major challenges or opportunities in the health sector in Hawke’s Bay. Happily, all three are being addressed by our lead sector organisations, the DHB and Health Hawke’s Bay (our local PHO).

BY adri isbister PHOTOGRAPH tiM WHittaKer

T

here’s a perception that New Zealand has one of the better healthcare systems and services in the world. I’ve recently been on a General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) master class integrated study tour to the UK, Brussels and the Netherlands.

This was an opportunity to attend a conference on integrated health care, and to have conversations with healthcare professionals within their work environment at medical practices in the UK and the Netherlands. These doctors working in their communities appeared very interested in NZ and spoke about

Page 64 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • baY bUZZ

how they’ve heard from colleagues that we have a well-functioning health system.

Health literacy So our first major challenge begs the question: if we have such a wellfunctioning health system, then why are our health statistics not improving? Many issues in the media focus on health issues and outcomes that are perceived to be in the individual’s control. We know issues such as obesity, smoking, and diabetes can have better outcomes with behaviour changes such as moderate alcohol consumption, and ensuring the right

Working smarter in the health sector amount of exercise, and we can all aspire to this. We in the Bay face the same issues the health sector faces globally.

Our challenge is to focus on how we continue to provide high quality healthcare which is easily accessible to the community. This goes hand in hand with health workforce development; clinicians, doctors and nurses working to the top of their scope. To me clinical leadership is vital: who better to lead or provide governance in a sector that provides medical care within the community?

Solutions can also be found within our communities. When pondering the health of our communities and individuals, I think the last decade in NZ has shown us as a society we’re open and we’ve got our heads around important issues such as gay marriage, so why can’t we as communities and individuals get our heads around individual responsibilities for health and what inhibits people from caring about their health outcomes?

We know the demographics. In Hawke’s Bay we serve a population of 155,000 people. The next 25 years will see a growth

in Maori and Pacific populations and a substantial growth in the numbers of older people. Maori and Pacific people have worse health outcomes across many areas when compared to New Zealand European. People living in deprived areas also tend to have worse health outcomes than those living in less deprived areas. In Hawke’s Bay, 26% of our population live in areas with the highest deprivation. So we face some serious challenges.

However, what is heartening from my perspective is the focus on health literacy coming from the Hawke’s Bay DHB and Health Hawke’s Bay. Accurate and understandable information delivered in an environment that is safe and friendly, has the potential to make a difference to choices people make about their lifestyle.

Preventative, proactive measures such as this are hard to measure, but there must be a start somewhere. We have such a fine example of positive strategies in Iron Maori; what positive role modelling happens there.

This can change people’s lives.

‘Joined up’ services Our second major challenge and opportunity is working towards more ‘joined up’ service provision: finding ways for health professionals and allied sectors such as social welfare to work together is paramount to better service delivery. In Hawke’s Bay we are privileged to have a health system that works together to address the challenges of socio-economic conditions that continue to drive high health need and inequalities, particularly in our most vulnerable and deprived communities.

A lot of coalface activity is happening in our region. The Hawke’s Bay health sector is moving forward; it is becoming more effective in improving health and ensuring that its services are clinically and financially viable. Both DHB and the PHO are working together to address needs and enhance the opportunities and strengths we have in our community.

They also ensure coalface involvement and have formal relationships with local

iwi and Pasifika. Involving the people and communities with the most health challenges will create health leaders who will become the champions of change.

Sharing a common vision and working together and in collaboration with organisations that serve the same communities will protect scarce health resources from becoming even more diluted.

“In Hawke’s Bay we are privileged to have a health system that works together to address the challenges of socio-economic conditions that continue to drive high health need and inequalities, particularly in our most vulnerable and deprived communities. ” This collaboration breaks down barriers and will reduce duplication. Within Radius we have a model that supports the business side of general practice and offers many resources including policies and procedures, clinical leadership, access to HR support plus a raft of other specialised support that’s needed in general practice today. Initiatives are also underway in collaboration with pharmacy and home healthcare.

Changing primary care The third challenge and opportunity is to the actual model of healthcare service delivery. This does need to change in very incremental ways. In designing the way forward, we must not only understand the issues, but also ask the person at the centre of the system, the patient, what they expect.

Some of the work we (Radius Medical Group) have been doing lately responds to people’s expectation of a primary care system that encompasses technology, such as shared patient management

systems, online scripts and appointments and same-day appointments, to name just a few. People expect that all their health professionals have access to their health information and are often surprised at the amount of time they need to repeat themselves. Patients are frustrated by fragmentation. When integration appears seamless, patients are more satisfied.

However, in other ways, the feedback we receive from patients points to the need for a change in some expectations. For example, we may be able to provide people with same day appointments, but this may not be with your usual doctor; however it will take care of your immediate health need. With a looming demographic gap in GP and nurse numbers, building a new culture, new ways of thinking, new core competencies, and coalitions of the willing are fundamental to the success of our health system in an environment with higher health needs. Clinical leadership and appealing to professionalism of clinicians will assist and is vital to achieving better outcomes for patients.

From my perspective working in primary care we have to think differently and apply our skills and collaborate as providers to meet demographic demands.

We know that the Emergency Department at our hospital is often at capacity. I believe the primary care community has the opportunity to support our hospitals. People need to be confident that their urgent healthcare needs can in many cases be met by their local general practice. There is a piece of work currently happening between the DHB and Health Hawke’s Bay that supports this shift which requires our communities to think differently.

Given limited health dollars and the demographics, as a health sector and as communities, we have to work smarter and together.

Adri Isbister serves on the board of Health Hawke’s Bay and is chief executive of Radius Medical Group. These are her personal views.

Page 65 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • baY bUZZ

New Zealand Independent Funeral Homes

Setting the Standard in Hawke’s Bay

www.tlas.co.nz

www.tongandperyer.co.nz

New Zealand Independent Funeral Homes (NZIFH) is an association of funeral homes throughout New Zealand.

NZIFH was formed to promote amongst

Hawke’s Bay NZIFH is represented by Terry Longley

its members the highest standards of

& Son and Tong & Peryer.

professionalism, integrity and service and all NZIFH Funeral Homes are independently family

Tong and Peryer is a long established Hastings

owned and operated with no overseas or

funeral company that has been providing the local

corporate connections.

community with a high standard of care and service ‘since 1878’. Tong and Peryer changed ownership

Staff employed by NZIFH member firms hold a wide

from the Peryer Family in 2007 and is committed

range of different qualifications and experiences.

to continuing its reputation as a quality funeral

NZIFH believes in ongoing education for all staff. In

provider. They have new premises in Queen St

From left to right: Monique Longley-Funeral Director/Manger, Shann Longley-Company Director, Terry Longley (Jnr)-Multimedia, Steve Hibberd-Funeral Director, Emma Cowan-Office Manager, John Healey-Funeral Director, Tonya Miles-Office Manager, Ethan Bauckham-Trainee Funeral Director, Angus McKinlay-Funeral Director, Peter Bell-Funeral Director, Glenn Furniss-Funeral Director, Anne Fortune-Celebrant, Michael Bates-Funeral Director

West, in Hastings which offer a very high standard

The majority of funeral services they conduct are

of arrangement and visitation lounges.

traditional funerals, however over the past few years societal influences have meant that families

Terry Longley and Son is a family business

need greater choice and involvement in the funeral

with a proud tradition of dignity. Terry Longley

process and so therefore they can provide many

the founding principal of the company (now retired)

different options to reflect the wishes of

has over 50 years of funeral directing experience in

the families they serve.

Hawkes Bay. Shann joined the family business in 1986 and now runs the businesses, along with his

They know how to care for you and your family,

wife Monique who is also a qualified funeral director.

while still allowing you to be in control of the process that suits you best.

Both companies bring experience and a reputation for providing Hawkes Bay families with a dignified,

Another aspect of the funeral industry Shann

caring, honest and professional service of the

and Monique have seen grow is the area of pre-

highest standard.

planning and pre-payment.

Terry, Shann and their staff have seen many changes

“Our experience shows us that pre-planned and

over the last 25 years and there are more options

personalised funeral services bring great comfort to

now available when arranging a funeral service.

families, reassured with the knowledge that they are fulfilling a loved one’s wishes.”

Families need to feel confident that their wishes and needs are being met with care and dignity.

For anyone interested in pre-arranging and planning

The funeral directors on staff are able to guide you

this is a free service available from both companies

through all aspects of what is required.

to families in Hawke’s Bay.

Terry Longley & Son Funeral Services

Tong & Peryer Funeral Directors

19 Cooper Street, Havelock North, Phone 877 7873

509 Queen Street West, Hastings, Phone 878 5149

www.nzifh.org.nz

The Unholy AlliAnce BY paul paynter PHOTOGRAPH tIM WHIttaKer

Napier Port is HBRC’s prime business

H

ave you noticed how politicians have this icky desire to be at the centre of anything popular or successful? They hope people will subconsciously associate them with success and boost their poll ratings and egos.

The ickiest example of this was when the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup and, just as the trophy was being handed over, John Key snaked in between Richie McCaw and IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset for a nauseating three-way handshake.

Sport is high on their priority list as it presents lots of feel good moments and it can stir the hearts of a nation. Politicians particularly like to fund elite athletes in sports like rowing and track cycling, where we can safely price the Kenyans and Ethiopians out of the game. This strategy has kept our collective noses ahead of Belarus and Turkey on the Olympic medal table. Sport provides the best political bangs for bucks.

Another critical area that politicians focus on is economic prosperity, by which they mean jobs and incomes. “It’s the economy, stupid” is the political catch cry that is so often rehashed. The truth is that politicians can really only pull the underpinning

Page 68 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • Bay BuZZ

levers of the economy: company tax rates, immigration policy, free trade agreements, employment law, etc. For the most part they can’t be active participants in the business world – or can they?

Over the last 20 years, so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s) have arisen.

The most common PPP form is where central or local governments invest with private companies in major infrastructure projects. This has happened in NZ with schools (Hobsonville Point), prisons (Paremoremo upgrade) and roads (Transmission Gully).

The theory of PPP’s is that the private sector is more competent and more efficient than government and so will manage things better. The private companies also stump up with most of the money, which is a relief to government and councils, who are already running thumping deficits.

All this sounds perfectly rational and it should work very well. Both the public and private sectors wax lyrical about the benefits of PPP’s, but, as you’d expect, there are a few fishhooks which don’t get such a good airing.

Treasury reviewed PPP’s in 2006 and

concluded that “there is little reliable empirical evidence about the costs and benefits of PPPs.” They go on to identify the substantial negotiation costs for such projects. If you are signing up to build and operate a prison for, say 30 years, you need a detailed and comprehensive contract; even allowing for a new government giving the private turkeys the heave ho.

Treasury also identifies that once a company has secured a long-term contract, the pressure is off. If a private company fails to perform years down the track, what can you do? Hitting them with huge penalty payments and driving them towards bankruptcy isn’t helpful, and getting rid of them entirely often isn’t a realistic option.

P

PP’s also have proven a great mechanism for governments of all types to veil their debts and obligations. PPP’s tend to compromise transparency and accountability and kick the obligation can down the road.

They are particularly good at hiding the total cost of a project. The troubled PPP upgrade of the Sydney rail system was purported to be worth $3.6 billion, but

the Sydney Morning Herald tallied up all the financing and maintenance costs and came up with a total of $9.5 billion.

The nature of many PPP projects means they’re one-offs, and as such they’re difficult to price with accuracy. It’s no surprise then that private companies build in a bit of a margin and this is typically 50-100% of the estimated building cost.

There are usually a very small number of companies with the appropriate credentials for a major PPP project, so the price competition might not be that great.

I’m left to conclude that there is little doubt PPP’s are politically convenient, but quite a lot of doubt over whether they are cheaper and more efficient than the two obvious alternatives – the project could be managed by either the public sector or the private sector in its entirety. I don’t mind public and I don’t mind private – it’s the unholy alliance of partnership that worries me.

P

olitical objectives can so easily pollute and undermine profit objectives. I suspect we can see this with our own PPP, the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS). The private sector funders seem to have disappeared, which is a sure sign the numbers don’t stack up. This is despite using a common PPP practice where public investors accept a lower rate of return, effectively subsidising private profiteers in order to keep them happy.

Besides poor returns, the other thing that scares off private investors is future uncertainty. What happens if people don’t sign up for the water at the anticipated rate? Almost all of those who lodged expressions of interest in the RWSS will need to sign up to long term contracts in order to make it viable. Given many of them are older farmers who lack the capital and investment horizon to take advantage of the water, this looks implausible. It’s quite likely there never was, and never will be, enough people willing to sign up to make the RWSS stack up at the outset.

‘Build it and they will come’ is a fair

enough alternative strategy, but the only way you’ll get the private sector to sign up to that is to guarantee their returns for a decade or so. This is another often-used PPP trick and one I’m certain ratepayers are uncomfortable with. The RWSS scheme looks to me like a political objective without financial legs. That’s a shame as water storage in CHB is conceptually a good idea.

The corollary is also true. Profit motives often pollute and undermine the very purpose of government.

Governments are there for public good purposes and not to make money.

“Business and the state should be as separate as the church and the state. When the private and public get too close, the winner is always the profiteers and the loser is good government. ” Locally we can see these problems arising with Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC), who own Napier Port. The primary objective of HBRIC is to ensure “growth in shareholder value”. That’s accountant speak for ‘make money’. But if the port is only there to make money, then we should flog it off to the private sector.

Most oppose that on the basis that it’s a strategic regional asset and a natural monopoly. The port should stay in public hands, and it should exist primarily for the public good. That is, it should seek to serve the needs of the exporters whose meat, logs, apples, squash and wine, drive our economy. If you ask them how the port is performing, they’ll complain about the appalling queues of trucks trying to get in the gate.

Similarly, profit is polluting public good down in CHB. The HBRC find they

have an extra 15 million cubic metres of water in the aquifers down there.

And what becomes of this public good resource? Their profit making subsidiary HBRIC applies for the lot. Unless there is a secret plan for HBRIC to begin farming on a large scale in CHB, this is a shameful manoeuvre.

B

usiness and the state should be as separate as the church and the state. When the private and public get too close, the winner is always the profiteers and the loser is good government. You can see this in America where corporations have worked out they can vote themselves heaps of money.

Corporations and industries spend vast sums on Washington lobbyists and many key personnel move through revolving doors between government departments and private sector companies.

China is a step further down the track. There, it’s hard to make any real progress in big business without government endorsement.

Many argue that these economies are very successful and I shouldn’t be so cynical. It’s perfectly true that if you merge the power of both companies and government you have a powerful force. If the referee wears the same jersey as the players you can expect a lot of calls to go your way. The problem is that the merging of big business and the state has a name – it’s called fascism. China is as close to a fascist state as exists today.

What’s the solution to all of this? I’d say ditch the PPP’s and let the regulators return to their core functions; to protect the public good, mostly by appropriately regulating the private sector. And let the private sector pursue whatever it is they fancy.

Our port should be run efficiently and by business people, but with public good and customer service objectives made paramount. Therefore, let the Dr Jekyll council dispose of their HBRIC Mr Hyde and move their assets one step closer to the community they purport to serve.

Founded in 2007 MOGUL IS

HOMEGROWN and proudly independent

Page 69 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • Bay BuZZ

Farming with nature makes plain economic sense

F

rom reading both national farming publications and local newspapers, it seems that the Ruataniwha Dam is seen as the all-encompassing solution to Central Hawke’s Bay’s economic woes.

It is further described as the main measure which will drought-proof the region’s agricultural industry, and as such is an absolute necessity.

These views are, in my humble opinion, both short-sighted and blinkered, and don’t, or refuse to, take into account other options that are available to lift economic performance and growth for the district.

They also conveniently omit dealing with the causes of the economic decline, and attempt, as so many other of these ‘think-big’ type schemes do, to treat the symptoms, i.e. the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, rather than the fence at the top.

Page 70 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

It is further an attempt to farm against nature, rather than with it. The scheme is further touted as creating an additional 2,000 to 2,500 new jobs – can anyone please explain how this figure was arrived at, and how sustainable it is?

To look at some of the causes of economic decline, increased droughts can partly be blamed, but to anyone with a modicum of economic knowledge it is clear that the main reasons were as a result of the decline, for many reasons, in the wool and meat industries. These issues resulted in the closure of many freezing works and processing plants across NZ, as well as a huge reduction in the numbers of sheep over the last 20 years. Remember the days when up to 40,000 sheep were offered at the sale yards (long since closed) in Waipukurau?

BY DAN ELDERKAMP Hence a reduction in available jobs across the sectors, and the ensuing reduction in the populations of many rural towns.

Fortunately the latest MIE and wool initiatives are attempting to reverse this situation, and I wish them every success.

C

oming back to droughts, many farmers have not kept pace with the changing climate, and as a result have been caught out during the last two droughts in our region. This resulted in many having to dump stock onto an overheated market, resulting in an oversupply situation and the resulting crash in prices, both for farmers as well as the meat processors attempting to sell the glut on overseas markets.

This was followed by a year in which, naturally, stock numbers available for

slaughter were considerably reduced, resulting in a boom year for farmers with enough stock left to sell, and a record lossmaking year for the main meat processors.

Other causes include the ever-increasing size of farms, and more people moving off the land as a result. Farms are becoming ever dearer and less affordable – how can we expect aspirant young farmers to raise huge loans in order to afford their first farm?

Is there a realistic alternative to the dam?

I believe there is, and it will be a lot more cost-effective, as well as increase employment – apropos Marlborough farmer Doug Avery’s recent “Beyond a reasonable drought” road show. His very informative and encouraging talk saw the Waipawa venue packed to the hilt.

Doug is living proof that your farm can be drought-proofed without irrigation by planting lucerne and other drought-tolerant pasture species. From being on the point of walking off the farm, with one employee, to becoming a thriving enterprise with six employees seems pretty convincing stuff to me. And this in an area with an average annual rainfall of 650 mm – approx. 150 mm less pe annum than the part of Central Hawke’s Bay I live in.

It just takes a few sums and some lateral thought to figure this out, and it would be plain dumb not to consider what Doug did as a very viable alternative to irrigation – for sheep and beef farmers anyway.*

Farming with nature makes plain economic sense, and racking up further debt in order to buy into the scheme, not to mention installing the infrastructure, in an increasing interest rate economy seems too much like a risky gamble to me.

On-farm water storage is, in my view, a sounder investment, more environmentally sustainable, as well as

“On-farm water storage is, in my view, a sounder investment, more environmentally sustainable, as well as more acceptable to a society of consumers which is becoming ever more aware of the environmental impacts of farming..” more acceptable to a society of consumers which is becoming ever more aware of the environmental impacts of farming.

S

o why is there such huge pressure to build this dam? I suspect that, firstly, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, wittingly or otherwise, overallocated irrigation consents, forcing them

to consider a scheme such as Ruataniwha, as withdrawing or reducing consents to farmers now hooked on irrigation water, with large debts to pay off, would be unthinkable without a readily available alternative source to migrate to.

Secondly, there are many vested interests that will do very well out of the scheme, including banks, irrigation retailers and installers, and those looking forward to a handsome capital gain as a result of increasing land values.

Is the dam the only way to droughtproof the district’s farms, and revive the district’s economy? To those who can think outside the conventional square, the answer is obvious.

Dan Elderkamp is a Waipukurau sheep and beef farmer, and chairman of Forest and Bird’s Central Hawke’s Bay branch. *[Editor’s note: Indeed, according to evidence Beef & Lamb NZ gave to the recent Board of Inquiry, “The [HBRIC] plan assumes that irrigation is essential to increased production from dryland sheep and beef farming. This is not altogether correct, as the recent development of lucerne grazing and other novel forages and feed sources has demonstrated. Recent work in this area has shown that equivalent levels of production can be achieved on dryland lucerne as are achieved from irrigated pasture.”]

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Page 71 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Pushing Our Children Outside

BY DAMON HARVEY PHOTOGRAPH TIM WHITTAKER

Damon and daughter

New bike rider, Livia Harvey

A

m I succeeding as a parent and providing opportunities for our children to develop their interest and ability in sport and recreational activities?

I have to put my hand up and admit I’m unsure.

Our youngest daughter recently turned five and I wanted to make sure she could ride a two-wheeled bike prior to this milestone. I failed!

I tried everything, including the old incentive of ice creams and lollies, but to no avail. I struggled to get her to enjoy riding her bike.

In the end I blamed it on the type of bike, so I went to Revolution Cycles in Havelock North and purchased a new bike for her fifth birthday. I was told that it was a bike that is very easy to learn on, so with fingers crossed, I presented it to her, as the last of gifts on the day.

She was excited with the bike, but not too enthusiastic about it having just two wheels.

Anyway I managed to convince her to give it a go, and within two attempts she was able to ride for a small distance.

It was a big sigh of relief and I no longer felt like a failure. Over the next couple of months we went to the bike park at the Regional Sports Park to hone her skills in preparation for a holiday to Rotorua and the kid-friendly mountain bike park.

Every trip to the sports park ended with a visit to the local dairy for an ice cream as a reward for her great efforts. On her last ride prior to Rotorua, she was able to ride unaided for many laps.

It got me thinking about my own childhood and the fun I used to have with my mates in Flaxmere as we explored the further reaches of the new residential development. It felt like we would bike miles; but I think as we headed west, we probably got nowhere near what is now the Fernhill vineyards.

“We have moved so far away from pushing our children outside and letting them do their own exploring, creating their own characters in their heads and having some genuine ‘free’ fun.”

In those days as a seven year old, I would wave good-bye to my parents on a Friday afternoon and ride to my grandmother’s house in Williams Street, Hastings. I would arrive safely and, at the end of the weekend, would return home.

F

ast forward to 2014 and I’m attending a presentation by young entrepreneurs with great ideas that they want to turn into reality.

One of the ideas was a virtual experience that ‘got kids outside’ and enjoying a natural environment. The virtual experience, using a tablet or a smart phone, created characters that ‘lived’ in the environment and we were told that it would increase kids’ experience of parks like Te Mata Peak.

It was a light bulb moment for me – we have moved so far away from pushing our children outside and letting them do their own exploring, creating their own characters in their heads and having some genuine ‘free’ fun.

“What has the world come to?” I could hear myself saying. “Isn’t the natural environment and a child’s own imagination good enough?”

In my view, it is. Our children should be given every opportunity to explore, create and have the odd fall or minor accident.

We need to teach them to create their own barriers at a young age, so that they know when it’s likely that, if they push it, there could be a little bit of pain and/or further gain.

I often see children being molly coddled by their parents, who sigh or whimper, well before their child does, when something is about to go wrong.

Instead, children need to be given every opportunity to learn their own barriers early.

To fall, trip, get hit by a ball – whatever it may be – and to get up, brush themselves off and move on.

It’s our role to provide support, be there for them and to pat them on the back when they win or lose. We also need to try and get outside more often with them to play … just like we did.

Lets go!

Top 5 Local Bike Rides for Kids & Parents 1

Eskdale mountain bike park

2

Bike Parks at Regional Sports Ground and Marine Parade

3

Rotary Pathway loop from Pettigrew-Green Arena to Puketapu and return

4

Park Island, Napier

5

Cornwall Park, Hastings

Call 0800 SPEEDY today! hastings@speedysigns.co.nz 903 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings

Page 73 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Biker mates Rick Barker and John Coleman (JC) with Congressional Medal of Honor holder, John Baca

On the ROad… acROss the ‘Us Of a’ On a haRley “Ride safe, ride free!” were Dave Barr’s final words to the daily trip briefing. I was on a ride across the US of A, with veterans fundraising for after-service care.

STORY rick BArker

I

first met Dave when he came to New Zealand 2006, supporting aVietnam Veterans fundraising ride. He is remarkable for many things, a veteran of a number of conflicts suffering the loss of one leg below the knee and the other above. With two prostheses he learned to ride a bike again.

He said it was helpful when riding across Russia in the winter, he didn’t get cold feet.

When Dave organised a fundraiser ride in 2009 from Boston to Los Angeles for US veterans, John Coleman (JC), also a NZ Vietnam vet, and I decided to return the favour.

I hired a Harley Davidson in Boston. It had to be a Harley; this lifetime Triumph rider took some adjusting, but at the handing back in Los Angles there was some sentiment. It had carried me across a continent hassle free.

On from Boston it was the Big Apple. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway into New York

Page 74 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

must be in the top ten of world’s worst roads, jammed with cars, trucks and taxis, my bike hit one of many potholes, sending the GPS into a spin. When it had recalculated I had missed the crucial turn and was heading into the Bronx with the towers of Manhattan shrinking in the rear-view mirror.

Breaking all the rules, it was a U-turn and simply point the bike at the towers and ride ignoring honks and gestures. Finding a park for the bike in the concrete and glass towers was next to impossible. Travellers … take a train, car anything to NY, but not a motorbike. The ride out of NY was exciting.

The GPS took me a most unexpected route and to this day I have no idea where I went, swapping freeways, parkways and the like.

But trust in the machine saw me, tanks of fuel, gallons of cold drink and four and half hours of riding later, deposited outside the designated hotel in DC. Remarkable.

I headed to the bar expecting to see ex-

service men bikers, settling the thirst with a beer. After two lonely beers I left. Dave explained. The guys were in two groups.

Those who had tried alcohol to solve their issues, survived that, and didn’t drink.

The others were on serious medication and couldn’t. It was to be a remarkably dry 2,900 mile (4,600 km) ride.

Military precision The ride started with a ceremony at the ‘Wall’ – the Vietnam War Memorial – and headed across the States on a northerly route through Kansas, Denver, Utah and down into Los Angles. We were supported by the fire fighters motorcycle club, Wind and Fire, local police escorts and veteran’s organisations. One police escort took us into town at such a fast clip I commented, “That’s the fastest I had ever come into town where the flashing lights weren’t behind me!” I got looks for that.

Things were organised, the NCO’s saw to that; and I have never ridden with so many polished boots. Every ride had a briefing at 6:45 a.m. It was ‘stands up’ at seven exactly and off. The ride had a set order, two by two everywhere, tight formation and no kiwi style single line. Behind the Road Captain and Dave up front were riders designated to ride ahead where necessary to hold traffic up for

the ride. They exuded authority, not to be messed with and halted minis to Mack trucks.

They also marked the route changes and planned fuel and food stops.

There was only one foul-up when a road guard was caught short and, while relieving himself, the ride passed missing the turn.

200-plus bikes snaked and turned in utter confusion around the short narrow streets of the town. Eventually we got sorted. That night the review panel sacked him and he was despatched to the back of the ride.

We rode up to 400 miles a day, at a steady 75 mph. Riding two abreast meant that passing rigs would slide past about a foot (10cm) from your handle bars. You got used to it as the truckers ran straight and true. I thought I could hear the drivers say, “Don’t worry, I got you buddy”. In some states the safety rules are lax. Seeing bikers fly past in jandles, shorts, t-shirt and no helmet made me feel overdressed in my leathers and full face.

Kansas is flat, flat. I remarked to a local that I had ridden six hours at 75 mph and never saw a bridge. He replied, “Well sir, the route you are taking I guess it will be another four hours before you do.” Ten hours riding and no bridges, this wasn’t En Zed. We stopped at some unusual places. One was Kearney Missouri, the home of Jessie James. The equivalent of the RSA was in the old railway station. I was told this was the site of the station when Jessie was alive. My

bike boots had to walk the platform. And you knew you were in the US of A when a midwest motel guest information listed more local gun shops than churches. Dave was a torrent of advice and humour – in the desert areas we were told to cover up … “You don’t see an Arab in a t-shirt.”

Money for veterans Each day included fundraisers. These were often lead by a former US Marine drill sergeant aptly called Monsoon. Wider than tall, his gravelly cigar smoking voice got people to bid for what they didn’t want and be pleased to overbid themselves. Monsoon was often assisted by John Baca, who won a Congressional Medal of Honor for putting his helmet and then himself over a grenade saving eight lives. You wouldn’t wish to see his stomach twice. A hero.

John volunteered around military hospitals offering support to the wounded and their families. He was supported by a team of dedicated volunteers. When he thought help was required he asked his supporters for the necessary money. They simply gave it to him; that was their support for a man holding the Medal of Honor. When I asked if there were lists of names and receipts they were perplexed. John’s word was it; there was no need for an accounting system. The gold standard in commitment and trust. I was deeply impressed.

Everywhere we went the Stars and

Stripes fluttered. All were proud of their service men and women. They stood up for them and they got priority. America is deeply patriotic. The wellspring of support for veterans was deep and strong; I had experienced nothing like it.

Part of the reason for the ride was to get a better understanding of veteran’s issues. As a former Minister of Veterans’ Affairs I wanted this experience to help inform what we were doing here. People were open and frank with their personal experiences. The US has more experience of veterans and the issues, it was enlightening and informed my work on the updating of our veterans legislation. I made many good friends as well.

The 200 riders who made the coast-tocoast were swelled to over 3,000 in LA. So many bikes the police required the ride to be broken up into pulses or we would have jammed LA’s freeways.

As I rode solo again to the bike drop off

by LAX, still at a steady 75 mph, I was a slow vehicle in the six lane 65 mph zone and was overtaken by a drop-top VW in which the woman driver was using the rear view mirror to fix her make-up. Ah, the land of the free!

Editor’s note: This is the first of our On the Road series. Do you have a trip you’d like to share with BayBuzz readers?

Email editors@baybuzz.co.nz

Pick one, pay for it, put it to work

When you need to add a vehicle or mobile plant to your fleet, call the people who are investing NZ money in NZ business.

Call: 0274558588

email: john@hbfinance.co.nz

Page 75 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

getting

Off The Track

Neatly tucked half way between Hastings and Havelock North and sitting on an acre of land with sweeping views of Te Mata Peak, is the aptly named café and restaurant, Off The Track.

Hospitality veterans Rob and Anette Hulman bought the restaurant with family just over five years ago, as the perfect setting to indulge their culinary passion and create an iconic Hawke’s Bay dining experience.

“We saw the restaurant’s location as the perfect place people could literally step away from the hustle of

life and get ‘off the track’. We loved its potential. And the amazing views and privacy were a huge attraction – so relaxing and peaceful,” says Anette.

The restaurant’s impressive size has given the couple scope to develop both group and intimate dining areas.

Singles, couples or larger parties can all be hosted simultaneously with ease, and it is a great place for families.

Great local produce

owners Anette and Rob Hulman

Off The Track is known for its large menu, and that reflects Rob’s desire to offer a wide range of dishes suiting all tastes and budgets.

“People can come in for coffee and cake, drinks and nibbles or a three-course lunch or dinner.

There is literally something for everyone

a view of the outside playground, where kids can be kids

to enjoy,” says Rob. “We offer honest cuisine with a modern twist, served by professional and personable staff in a warm, cosy environment.”

made in-house: pork sausages, bacon and smoked salmon

Hawke’s Bay is renowned for its boutique producers and much of what the region has to offer features heavily on the menu.

“We have one of the best wine lists in Hawke’s Bay, featuring many of our prominent local wineries,” he says. “Our coffee is locally roasted and prepared by some of the best baristas around, and we like to showcase some of our local brewers.”

The restaurant also offers menus for vegetarian and gluten-free dining.

make our own beef patties for the huge range of hamburger meals on the menu and our own brine recipe for our bacon. We love the fact that so many of our menu’s ingredients are made by us right here in the kitchen.”

A great place for kids Seeing a gap in the market for family dining, Rob and Anette developed one of Off The Track’s most characteristic features — the outside surf & turf made with aged playground. Set in a large Hereford prime fillet grassed area separate from diners, it offers kids the chance to be kids while parents relax with a meal or a coffee inside the window-lined restaurant or outside on the deck. It’s a move that has found huge favour with families and proved incredibly popular with the kids.

Situated close enough to enable watchful eyes, but far enough away so that children can enjoy their playtime out of earshot of diners, the playground provides kids with their own space and it works brilliantly.

Businesses are welcome, too

Making it themselves It’s important to the Hulmans that as much of the menu as possible is created on site. On any given day you might find Rob and his team, all qualified chefs, in the kitchen curing and smoking their own bacon or making pure pork sausages flavoured with fresh herbs straight out of the restaurant’s garden.

They make their own bread for the breakfast dishes and sandwiches, and Rob smokes his own salmon.

“Cold smoking the salmon means it turns out the way I like it. We also

Off The Track hosts several business and networking groups, and this year Rob and Anette are introducing business lunches, a smaller menu designed for a quick ‘eat’ within a lunch hour. Increasingly finding favour are the after work gatherings, usually held in the new glassed conservatory.

“Every customer is different, and it matters to us that we take good care of them and create experiences they enjoy and remember,” the Hulmans say.

Whether it’s family get-togethers, special celebrations, business or casual dining, Rob and Anette are definitely on the right track with their restaurant.

still popular, the baked Alaska

open daiLy from 10am

Read more or sign up for news and events at www.offthetrack.co.nz Like us on Facebook G/offthetrack1 grilled lamb cutlets with dukkah

114 Havelock Road

BooK noW: 877 0008 www.off thetrack.co.nz

Taste Cinque Terre

BY PRUE BARTOn

Our resident foodie eats her way through five villages in Italy.

Portovenere

A colleague of mine told me that when hiring a car in Italy, always think ‘right’. Heading north from Florence, this advice certainly comes into action.

H

ugging cliff-top roads, dodging precarious Fiat-driving Italians and honking horns, we venture into the port town of Portovenere. This is the beginning of the Cinque Terre, unofficially called the ‘sixth village’, and it is here that we will spend five glorious days exploring and relaxing. Our local accommodation boasts seaviews, mussel farms, the island of Palmeria and the Ligurian Sea. Venturing into the centre, the town’s medieval lanes burst with local produce, pretty boutiques and stalls selling various artworks and clothes. Soaring high above the village are the ruins of an ancient castle and the old church of St Lorenzo that was built in 1130.

At the top of the village and surrounded on all sides by the sea is the church of San Pietro, built in 1277 on foundations dating from the 6th century.

Rocky terraces make it possible to climb down and sunbathe and swim off the rocks into what can only be described as picture postcard scenery. A grotto dedicated to the memory of Byron who famously swam from Portovenere to Lerici is located here.

A climb around the castle reveals wild herbs of the ‘garrigue’ such as thyme, rosemary and marjoram. A condiment of sea salt and dried herbs with chilli is sold in the local delicatessen and this is used as a seasoning on almost anything from fish, chicken to a Florentine steak.

Another specialty of the area is testaroli, a thick pancake that is sliced and served

with pesto, the famous sauce made of fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and pecorino cheese. Testaroli are usually first cooked in a special flat pan called a ‘testo’ and then boiled in salted water.

This was also the time of year for the prized porcini; a season that spans from June and tails off in September and October. Luckily for us we had our fair share of fresh porcini and found them most delicious just simply pan-fried.

“A condiment of sea salt and dried herbs, with chilli is sold in the local delicatessen and this is used as a seasoning on almost anything from fish, chicken to a Florentine steak.”

The Cinque Terre’s five mountain towns perch high over the clear blue Mediterranean and the coastline is dotted with fishing villages and steeply terraced cliffs. Colourful fishing boats bob in the sea and in the evening nets are laid out along the promenade. Shore side restaurants offer the freshest of seafood with sardines, clams, mussels, octopus, seabass, prawns and shrimps on offer. Seabass (branzino) is prized for its delicate white flesh and is generally sold and cooked whole.

On recommendation I ordered branzino at Iseo, one of the most popular waterfront restaurants clearly frequented by yachties.

It came simply prepared, roasted whole, with tomatoes and olives. Mister D ordered a seafood soup of scampi, prawns and mussels. It translated as more of a stew with dried bread in the base of the bowl, with lots of garlic and parsley, fresh tomatoes, olive oil and white wine.

Nowadays, most Italian blue-lipped mussels are farmed by the ‘bouchot’ method on ropes attached to long stakes set in pure seawater, which keeps the mollusks clean and healthy, free from grit and sand. We look straight onto the mussel beds from our hotel balcony, the water pristine and briny. Hungry, we head down for a huge platter of these little beauties cooked steamed with onion, garlic, parsley and white wine and devoured with a bottle of the local wine – a cool crisp vermentino.

Setting off to explore one of the coastal walks we catch the ferry to Vernazza with the aim of walking to Monterosso.

Vernazza’s small Mediterranean harbour is perhaps the quaintest of the five villages. It is overseen by a ruined castle and an old church. There is a tiny sandy beach so swimming is possible, and with the temperature in the mid thirties it is tempting; however hiking is our aim today.

V

ernazza is lined with little cafes and narrow lanes (caruggi). Tourists flock to eat large slices of Liguria’s famous bread (focaccia) made with olive oil and flavourings such as cheese, onions, rosemary, olives and salt, and traditional pizza slices. Seafoods and fresh anchovies marinated in lemon juice and pastas are also on offer at the few harbourside trattorias.

The start of the walk heads straight up the cliff and then traverses around with out of this world views of the ocean. I am interested in this particular stretch of the coast, as closer to Monterosso tiny vineyards dot the coast with breakneck slopes.

Stopping to take in the view it is here that I spy a minute vineyard called Vetua.

Attempting to find out more about this wine with the man in the local wine shop, and speaking very little Italian, I purchase the rather expensive bottle of vermentino, or pigato as it is primarily

Page 79 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

“Local specialties are prepared by the owner Giuseppe Basso and his team and an abundance of fresh fish, grillled mixed seafood, lobster and prawn salads are on offer.

We begin with a traditional antipasta, followed by two pasta dishes, and then the my favourite roasted branzino.” called in Liguria. This light-skinned white wine grape variety thrives grown on slopes facing the sea and its wonderful bouquet hints of fresh herbs and flowers.

Clambering down at least a thousand steps we arrive into Monterosso parched and overheated. It is really a ‘no brainer’ at this point to find the closest beach trattoria and purchase a cold beverage. Checking out the casual menu we order a couple of bruschettas, one with freshly chopped tomatoes and the other with pesto. Tucking in we agree that they translate as simple beach fare at its very best. It’s hard to put into words how delicious these Italian tomatoes taste. Monterosso is the Cinque Terre’s only resort town and it comes with cars, rentable beach umbrellas and crowds.

T

he wines of Cinque Terre require a great amount of effort to produce and hence they are relatively expensive to buy. Grapes are collected by hand and placed in small baskets and carried directly to wineries by the workers. A delicate straw-coloured DOC white wine called Bianco delle Cinque Terre is made by using the native grapes of Albarola, Bosco and Vermentino. When these grapes are dried, a 17% sweet wine called Sciacchetra is made.

The final day trip of our stay at Portovenere is to take the ferry out to the island of Palmaria, where we have booked my very special birthday lunch at the famous Locanda Lorena. Set in a beautiful building overlooking the sea, the Locanda Lorena is a gem amongst 19 for the healthy Italian restaurants food and the beauty of the surrounding landscape, with the blue sea of Palmeria and the view of Portovenere across the water. Reaching the Locanda is also spectacular, as mooring space is provided 19 for those who wish to use the ‘tender’ of their own private yacht!!

Local specialties are prepared by the owner Giuseppe19 Basso and his team and an abundance of fresh fish, grilled mixed seafood, lobster and prawn salads are on offer. We begin with a traditional antipasta, followed by two pasta dishes, and then my favourite, roasted branzino.

A truly memorable lunch on an idyllic Mediterranean Island.

After five days it is now time to leave this Mediterranean paradise. The proprietor of our hotel pours us two final glasses of prosecco and calls out, “Arrivederci, a presto”. It is time to pack the car and head off to the Lunigiana, our next destination. Why did I ever question my European driving skills?

Reflecting on our trip it is clear to me that the food and wine produced in the Hawke’s Bay stands up proudly to any of the produce that we sampled in Italy. Of course there are regional specialties that apply to any country that are unique which makes travelling so inspirational.

Buon Appetito

19

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At St Georges, almost ninety percent of our produce is grown, nurtured, handpicked and creatively prepared by our award winning Chef, Francky Godinho.

in of the city. Try 08 the 47heart Tennyson Street their injectable P (06)famous 835 5022 doughnuts. “Just one year old www.misterd.co.nz Mister D has quickly become the place to eat in Napier.”

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452 St Georges Rd, Havelock North • 06 877 5356 info@stgeorgesrestaurant.co.nz • stgeorgesrestaurant.co.nz facebook.com/stgeorgesrestaurant

Page 81 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

SPRInG IS In! Time to bring some new season’s styling to your life.

Freshen up your beauty regime, get a great do to carry you through to summer, and spring clean your wardrobe so you’ve got the ‘must haves’ covered.

Thorps Fashions says the look for spring is natural fibres, perfect for Hawke’s Bay’s spring sunshine. Linen dresses and a French look in cottons or silks are great staples. Their pick for a ‘must have’ is a twin set in beautiful spring colours.

Papillion says this spring will be a season of “anything goes” although sports luxe continues to be hot. The skinny pant is still in but wide leg trousers are on the cards too. The spring palette is all about pastels. Your essential item this season has got to be a perfect crisp white shirt.

Goia suggests a Moss Spy dress is the must have for the season with a matchy-matchy look being bang on trend. From jewellery to shoes, match everything says Goia. And if you purchase just one staple, make it a casual cropped jacket.

Jewellers Monique Therese say this season’s ‘must have’ is gorgeous diamond earrings.

Champagne and soft coloured gems and rose gold are a perfect match for spring.

For Heards Jewellers the season won’t be complete without pearl studs. This spring is all about turquoise and make sure you have a plain bangle in your arsenal.

Hair for spring is low ponytails, mermaid waves and grown out pixies. Andrea’s says the ‘must have’ for fine hair is Kerastase

Peak Appearance 35 Napier Rd, Havelock North p 06 877 4450 e peakappearance@xtra.co.nz FASHION MAY COME AND GO, BUT CONFIDENCE IS FOREVER. We invite you to look and feel your best, ready to face the world with new found confidence.

We will work with you to address your skin concerns, refresh your appearance and leave you positively glowing and gorgeous.

You’re in safe hands with our friendly team of qualified professionals who can reverse “I have always believed that fashion was not many of the harsh and aging effects of only to make women more beautiful, but the environment with a range of safe also to reassure them, give them confidence.” and effective non-surgical appearance Yves Saint Laurent medicine treatments including Botox®, dermal fillers and light therapies.

Densifique, and Redken Iron Shape 11 thermal finishing spray is a great choice for use with irons as it protects hair from heat damage.

In the make-up department Fingers and Toes says lip gloss is essential and shellac polish is a great asset to your beauty routine.

Bright brights and white denims will make a showing this season and with nails, think nail art and be creative: no two fingers the same makes a bold spring statement.

Skin specialists Peak Appearance say this season is all about a look that’s fresh and natural. They recommend vitamin C serum to stimulate cell repair, and a positive attitude to get you through the rest of the chilly weather.

Monique Thérèse Manufacturing Jeweller 6 Havelock Rd, Havelock North p 06 877 9851 w creatifdesign.co.nz 3ct Peridot in 9ct Rose Gold 50ct F Colour Diamond in 18ct Rose and White Gold

Gioia Boutique 232 Heretaunga St, Hastings p 06 876 2249

Fingers & Toes 615 York Street, Mahora p 876 3424 c 021 267 0534 e fingersandtoesnz@gmail.com Appointments Necessary • Pedicures • Manicures • Spray Tans • Shellac & OPI • Waxing • Tinting / Lashes

S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

Papillon Shop 5, 11 Joll Road, Havelock North p 06 8770355 e sales@papillonclothing.co.nz f facebook.com/PapillonClothing w papillonclothing.co.nz hours Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 4pm Sunday 10am - 2pm

Thorps 12 Te Mata Rd, Havelock North p 06 877 8347

Thorps

MTG Exhibits Growing Pains In its first re-opened year, the MTG has had some dramatic highs and lows.

NCC is proud to have collected ‘Best Project’ at the 2014 NZ Museums Awards, but there's also been negative reviews, a restructure, redundancies, and announcement of the year-end resignation of museum director Douglas Lloyd Jenkins.

Crystallising all is a review from McDermott Miller Strategies (MMS). The report (available online at napier.govt.nz) suggests necessary changes at the museum to keep it running. A chief observation is the MTG's current focus on the supply side of the exchange, with limited attention to audience demand.

Snippets from the report: “MTG Hawke’s Bay is too focused on product and places little or no value on the market. (It) assumes: its product is inherently desirable, audience research is unnecessary, marketing equates to promotion. This orientation puts MTG Hawke’s Bay at risk of market failure and, in the longer term, its future existence.”

The report suggests an “enigmatic minimalism prevails” within the MTG and this does not create a setting conducive to satisfying visitor need.

“Interiors are treated as exemplars of architectural design rather than working galleries” and “the style and presentation of the collections in the present exhibitions are exercises in connoisseurship”.

In particular, MMS argues this approach does not fit with current expectations around how taonga should be presented.

“A transition has occurred from an approach which either recognised the ethnographic significance of collection items or celebrated their aesthetic qualities, to one which also contextualised taonga so their role and function in traditional Maori

Page 88 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

culture and the relationships among them could be understood.”

MMS surmises NKII's move towards finding a new home for taonga may be a reflection of this. “Tangata whenua seeing the current exhibitions must feel that they have gone backwards.”

It also says: “A spokesman for the iwi described the MTG Hawke’s Bay as ‘an aquarium where you can’t see the fish’. Iwi members are also disinclined to pay $15 for the privilege of seeing artefacts they themselves own.”

The report suggests the focus on the 1931 earthquake may paint a rather monocular view of Hawke's Bay's history.

“A viewer might be excused for thinking the earthquake destroyed all life and society in Hawke’s Bay since there is no evidence in the museum of a continuing culture, economy or society. Within the region there are rich narratives which are totally absent.”

In terms of staffing, the report suggests a major restructure (currently underway) with an emphasis on marketing, addressing a need to shift focus to demand rather than supply of exhibitions and displays.

"The museum team cannot be faulted for productivity; but the programme needs more balance and market awareness."

Has McDermott Miller been too harsh in criticising MTG's offerings? Only one way to answer that. Read the report, visit MTG, decide for yourself. After all, you are the market!

In terms of attendance records the report notes: “MTG Hawke’s Bay has gathered no systematic data on audience reaction to the door charge, but according to MTG Hawke’s Bay’s own records, 92,000 people have entered the building in the current period.

Significantly, only around one third of these decide to pay the entry fee to see the exhibits.”

The MTG team have determined a set of principles to guide their work. It is to be “ideas led, collections based, design focused and globally connected.”

Emphasizing the demand side of the equation, MMS suggests, “demand led, audience focused and commercially positive” are commitments which should find a place in the MTG mission.

MMS also use the report to propose a new vision for MTG: “A museum that brings our family together, a gallery that opens our eyes to the new, and a theatre that is a home to discussions about our past and our future.”

Responding to the report, the Napier Council has said it will focus on relocating archives, finding additional storage space, and introducing a new pricing schedule. Now, however, replacing Lloyd Jenkins and finding a complementary deputy director will rise to the top of their 'to do' list. One hopes over the next year MTG takes robust lessons from the review, bringing about a “home for our stories” we can all visit and enjoy.

ARTS and CULTURE

Summer Sculpture Holiday at Birdwoods Gallery Fun The beautiful gardens at Birdwoods will have a new addition this summer – a stunning 26 metre reflection pond complete with fountains. The Sculpture Walk area has been extended over the winter and, with the addition of the pond and a pergola, it will provide a wonderful

setting for the new collection of stone and metal sculpture on display from Labour Weekend. Birdwoods is a stunning backdrop for tea under a tree with the family, and caters to a whole range of needs. They also have the most wonderful WC in the Bay!

School holidays start again at the end of September. Here are a few ideas for entertaining the little nippers: Farmhouse Kitchen farmhousekitchen.co.nz

Taonga on Display?

Almost half the region's art and artifacts collection is Maori taonga and Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc (NKII) is looking at building a new space for them in the middle of Hastings. NKII has been talking about a centre for Maori art and innovation for many years and now conversations with Hastings District Council and within the iwi have ramped up with sights set on the Civic Square outside the library and art gallery.

HDC's revamp plans for the Civic Square started with a hiss and a roar a couple of years ago when they ran an international design competition to draw out potential concepts. Since then only the stunning collection of pou has been erected (mid 2013). An injection from NKII and the fall-out from the MTG raucous may be just what HDC needs to get some real movement on the high-profile site.

100% hands-on cooking classes give kids the full gourmand experience when they spend the day at Farmhouse Kitchen.

From harvesting veges from the Kitchen garden through preparing, cooking, artistic garnishing and finally feasting, this is a great way to spend the holidays. There are different themes every day including pasta making, Asian cuisine and baking. Parents, eat your hearts out!

MakePlace - makeplace.co.nz Always a fun and fascinating place to be, MakePlace won't disappoint for school holiday fun. Although the holiday programme isn't set yet, hints suggest it will include: Minecraft 3D printing, Arduino programming, stop motion movie making, laser cutting, and a collaboration project with Jambo hobbies.

Waipukurau Civic Theatre, The Snug - civictheatre.net.nz An adorable treat and well worth the drive, Waipukurau boasts the cosiest movie experience in the Bay. The Snug is kitted out with a flock of large comfy couches, free tea, coffee and milo, and some sweet films too, including the delightful Ernest and Celestine.

With new owners on board the Civic looks like it's heading into a bright new era.

Page 89 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Summary ARTS and CULTURE

Price Waterhouse Cooper has released a report with the snappy title: Employment and national GDP impacts of music, book publishing and film and television in New Zealand.

It tells us that these industries play an important role in the New Zealand economy, supporting the employment of more than 30,000 people, including direct employees, suppliers to these industries or through the expenditure of employees in the general economy.

In the sector, 21,000 work in film and tv, 5,000 in book publishing and 4,000 in the music industry.

BayBuzz asked our three arts trusts what their views were on the report and any plans to carry out similar research in Hawke's Bay. Creative Napier's manager Christine Heaney: “Artists know that we have a huge impact in our community, but the Arts are never truly valued by that community at large. Studies like this one go some way to redressing perceptions, but not outcomes.”

Creative Hastings' manager Pitsch Leiser: “I definitely think we should have a good think about how we could produce a report here that would really highlight the impact of the creative industries on the Hawke's Bay economy. I’m not sure how impressive it would be at first glance, but I am sure it would highlight that it is a growing sector n New Zealand, including music, book publishing and and worth nurturing time. Just look as at re important components of New over Zealand’s culture what has developed in the creative sectors in towards selling New Zealand overseas.

Additionally, Auckland and over the last 10-15 es contribute significantly toWellington New Zealand’s national years. It is an indication of what will happen nt. here in the future as more people move out of the big smoke to follow the lifestyle option whilst publishing still doing the creative mpact of music, and work.” film and

mary

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obs

ry

Roger King, chairman of Creative Hawke’s Bay, adds: “I think it’s important that Total we allimpact recognise this is purely music, book publishing and film/tv. That's only a part of the picture as the creative FTEs industries include architecture, software development, visual arts, advertising and so on. For some time now Creative 4,124 jobs Hawke's Bay has been talking about a more comprehensive research project across the whole of the ‘creative sector’ within the region. We want to5,160 keep ajobs conversation going about how artists add value to our communities, and pulling together a regionalised report like this one would be an excellent next step.”

30,599

Page 90 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

21,315 jobs

G

Di

Creative industries in New Zealand, including music, book publishing and film and television are important components of New Zealand’s culture as well as contributing towards selling New Zealand overseas. Additionally, these three industries contribute significantly to New Zealand’s national GDP and employment.

1

Creative Industry Impact Employment impact of music, publishing and film and television Direct impact

D

Total impact

30,599 FTEs

14,918 FTEs Music industry

1,694 jobs

4,124 jobs

Book publishing industry

2,940 jobs

5,160 jobs

Film & TV industry

10,284 jobs 21,315 jobs

= 500 FTE staff GDP impacts by industry 1. Book publishing and music are presented for 2012 years however film is presented for 2011 which is

Directtheimpact most up to date report.

1,642

Total impact

3,597 million NZ$

2. The total GDP and employment impacts could have a small upward bias as it is possible that some million direct impacts in one NZ$ industry may be captured and double counted in the total impacts of another industry. This possibility is not likely to be material. $200m

$434m

$160m

$382m $2,781m

$1,282m

Direct GDP contribution

Direct employment contribution 1,694, 11%

$200m, 12% $160m, 10%

2,940, 20% $1,282m, 78% 10,284, 69%

Music industry

Book publishing industry

Film & TV industry

ARTS and CULTURE

YOU CAN! T DO I

The Creative Arts Napier Centre, CAN, will open in November so it's full steam ahead with fundraising initiatives.

Creative Napier needs to find $100,000 for the fit-out of the old Napier Borough Council Chambers, a block from the MTG. The trust was awarded $300,000 from the Lotteries Commission last December and from this December they will be ready for people to start using the CAN. Bookings for the various spaces can be made now by contacting the Creative Napier office, 833-5891.

Clay Heads Clay Bodies is a workshop series focusing on creating a likeness in clay, and its offering on 20-21 September focuses on the head and face. It'll be held in the retreat-like venue of Keirunga Gardens by figurative ceramic artist, Kay Bazzard.

Participants are shown how to place the clay to form the neck, head and the facial features using a photograph for reference.

The workshop is open to all participants whether experienced or newbies. To attend and for more info see kaybazzard.co.nz

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Page 91 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and CULTURE

Hawke's Bay poet Marty Smith's Horse with Hat has just won the Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry, awarded by the NZ Society of Authors.

It's also a finalist in the NZ Post Book Awards.

Conversation with Marty Smith

Marty has lived in Hawke's Bay since 1978 and teaches at Taradale High School.

Q: What inspires and informs your work?

The speech patterns and attitudes of the people of my parents’ generation. They were tough, because they suffered The Depression and the war. I’m also very interested in the racing fraternity. Same reasons, I guess. I want to record people in their own words.

Q: Why poetry?

Jane Pierard asked me to have a go at writing one, for her daughter (opera singer Anna Pierard). Anna wanted to have a song of her own to sing, and Ross Harris set it to music for her. Jane arranged it into a stunning choral piece for her Taradale High School choir.

I wrote an early version of Horse with Hat as my project for my Masters in Creative Writing. My supervisor told me I was really a prose writer. I’ve always thought I was writing poetry while I was getting up to being a prose writer. I told him that recently and he was astounded. Then he laughed.

Q: Does living in HB feed you at all as a writer?

Hat

Not as yet, but it’s about to be absolutely central to my next project. I do find the collaborative projects I do with my colleagues sustaining. John Goodhind takes my author photos, which we like to make outrageously comical. The odd touches are all John’s brilliant arrangements. Sometimes I perform multiple voice pieces with Jane Pierard, always an inspiration.

Dad wouldn’t be seen dead without a hat.

Farm hat, summer hat, town hat even when he had hair.

My website is the whole concoction.

There are audios on there of some poems recorded for National Radio. There’s an unusual sound poem performed with Maude Morris and a photo gallery my learned friend described as ‘rural weird’.

The best thing is a three-person sound piece with Billy Belcher, myself and Jane Pierard. It’s called Billy, me and Mrs. P. It's worth listening to more than once. www.martysmithpoet.com Page 92 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

Hat on angle, hat on horse, hat in the truck with dogs.

We fished by stealth stalked trout with a spear and a light.

He wore his hat in the dark.

She came out as if by accident.

Hand frail, and clasping the front of her coat, she gave a coy look from the bags of her bloodhound eyes— the whole air stopped he raised his hat, went past.

Speed

A mile away by metal road my grandmother lived on her half of the farm.

No chance meetings, not even a skyline sighting.

White-knuckled, he gripped the wheel of our Falcon 500, juggling cigarette boxes and matches, smoke in his mouth light in his steering hand bent his head right to the wheel to strike cornering, roared out to pass we were always waiting to die

She lay in wait in town watched from the haberdashery as he walked up the street.

comes my grandmother in her Cortina sliding slightly in the loose gravel Christ! he hissed, Look at the mad bitch!

ARTS and CULTURE

A Moment in Time

September sees Hastings Community Art Centre showcasing twenty years of works

by Beverly Blogg. Not one to claim the spotlight, it's taken Beverly a long time to muster up the courage and to exhibit her own work. She's far more used to pulling together exhibitions by others, a task she's been doing at the Gallery for two decades.

Beverly’s show, RE:QUEST, will fill the Gallery 3-27 September.

Of the experience of curating a show of her own, Beverly says, “I was feeling disconnected from my art - life becomes so busy - but once I stood amongst them, the feelings returned”.

Beverly has painted all her life. She's self-taught, not wanting to be influenced by anybody.

"My art is my form of expression, words cannot explain how I feel, and I think fewer words are better anyway”.

Using line, movement, spatial feel, and atmosphere, Beverly’s art expresses a moment in time.

Over twenty years Beverly has seen hundreds of exhibitions come and go.

Unable to exhibit her work at home, she's going to cherish every second of having her art all around her.

For more information visit www.creativehastings.org.nz

Page 93 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

ARTS and CULTURE

Spring Clean at the Gallery Hastings City Art Gallery is welcoming the spring with new shows, a new website and some new, but familiar faces.

Kath Purchase has moved into the role of Gallery Director with Lizzie Russell back on board as communications officer.

Glen Pickering has moved over from the 'temporarily' closed Opera House, with a new title as Arts Development Officer. The developing he will be doing is mainly around public programmes and getting community groups engaged with the Gallery. One new face joins the team. Kirsten Kelly has

come from Wellington to be Exhibitions Coordinator, back filling the hole left by Kath's role change. Kirsten has experience managing theatre and dance companies.

Lizzie Russell says of the new direction for the Gallery: “We've got a focus on kids, interaction and participation. It's about providing more access and proving more ways for people to get into the shows. Art for all is what we want to say. All seasons, all

tastes, all times of day, all people.”

Two shows to see … Who Am I? a touring show from The Dowse in Wellington, aimed at kids and on til 27 October. And The Album from the F4 Artist Collective runs til the end of November. The project, developed especially for the Hastings City Art Gallery, sees Susan Jowsey and Marcus Williams explore their unique family dynamic using photography.

Blossom Parade hits the streets of Hastings in early September and this year the theme is ‘Back to the Future’. Adding to many stalwarts of the parade, including the perennial favourite The Foam Canon, there'll be a few new twists.

A group of local artists have been invited to create ‘mini-floats’ to help bring a contemporary art edge to the fixture. Built on small trailers, cleverly engineered by a local artist, the floats will be pulled behind bicycles. At the end of the parade the mixed media artworks will be exhibited in the Hastings City Art Gallery foyer.

BLOOMING PARADE Page 94 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

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e stood rigidly to attention in front of the bridge, his helmet wedged firmly on his head, jacket securely fastened. His troops were lined up behind him in two ranks. Some had gashes, scars and grazes from past battles and were having trouble staying upright. He wondered how many of them would still be standing by the end of the day.

Turning for a final troop inspection, his eyes narrowed. Cone number 67 was sticking out of line. Worse, number 92 was already down, lying motionless on the cold, hard ground.

The foreman shook his head in annoyance. Setting up the two rows of cones on the bridge was critical to his ambush plan. He realised it had been a

hold up the biggest queue of traffic for the longest time. Dave currently held the record – 36 vehicles held up for 17 minutes north of Clive, on Waitangi Day 2011. His own personal best was 27 vehicles, including five campervans, two buses and an ambulance.

The others in the gang were standing around the truck discussing an early smoko. They had been on the job since 6am, but the truck with the sandbags, cones and signs had arrived late, putting them under pressure.

The pimply youth was complaining that the cones weighed 1.5 kilos each and even though he was hopeless at maths – his specialty was drawing fantasy action figures – he reckoned he had carried the weight of a small family hatchback in the past

He flinched as the hot breath of its radiator wafted across his face. The driver leaned out of the cab and looked at the raised STOP sign. Then he looked at the empty bridge ahead.

The foreman swung around and also surveyed the road behind him.

He murmured into his walkie-talkie, distracting Dave from the pukeko. Then he reversed his sign. The truck driver said something but his words were drowned by the bellow of the engine. As his heavily laden truck crawled past the cones, he looked down at the workmen. Some were leaning against an empty truck. Two were using a Men At Work sign as a bench seat. A pimply-faced youth with a plastic helmet shielding his face was lying on the

“The tattooing assistant’s job he’d seen advertised at Gothic Graffix while he was getting a dragon tattooed on the back of his head would be better than this.” mistake to give the job to the acne-faced youth he’d taken on last week. Placing 112 orange cones in two rows along a 30m stretch of roadway was obviously a task beyond the talents of the hoodie-wearing, tattooed hunchback.

The foreman marched along the bridge.

He tapped cone number 67 back into line with the toe of his boot; then gently lifted number 92 upright. He stood back, nodding with satisfaction as his eye traced an imaginary straight line to the horizon.

Beyond the cones, stretching far into the distance, were sandbagged signs exactly 10 metres apart along both approaches to the bridge. He’d used every sign he could find at the depot. You couldn’t have too many warning signs on a main road.

Dave, his second-in-command, was holding a walkie-talkie at the far end of the bridge. He was watching a pukeko in the swamp below the bridge. The foreman had a $20 bet with Dave to see who could

Page 96 • Issue 19 • Sep/Oct 2014 • BAY BUZZ

quarter of an hour. He wanted to lie down.

The tattooing assistant’s job he’d seen advertised at Gothic Graffix while he was getting a dragon tattooed on the back of his head would be better than this.

There was a rumble in the distance. All heads turned to the far end of the straight.

A gleaming logging truck, clouds of diesel belching from its exhaust stacks, was thundering towards them.

The foreman was the first to react. His heart pounded as he sprinted to the truck and grabbed a sign on a pole. The truck was closing fast as he ran back to the front line.

He waited until it was just 30m away, then raised his STOP sign.

For a second or two nothing happened, then the truck began slowing, its air brakes hissing furiously as it came to a shuddering halt just in front of him. The name Terminator was emblazoned across its bonnet in black lettering, its huge grille baring its chrome teeth in an angry snarl.

grass, apparently asleep. The truck driver checked his rearview mirrors. Six cones lay on the roadway in his wake. Two had been completely flattened by his trailer unit. He gave a satisfied grunt.

The foreman stared grimly at the fallen cones. Four of them might be saved, but nothing could be done for the two crushed bodies lying on the tarseal. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he resumed his position at the head of his orange army just as a silver Falcon, a Toyota ute, an electrician’s van and three hatchbacks roared into view. The charge of the commuters had started. He gripped his STOP sign firmly and began to raise it.

Behind him, the other workers were still staring at the logging truck disappearing down the road, its engine note rising and falling as the driver worked through multiple gear changes. “Man, cushy job driving one of those all day,” murmured the pimply youth. The others nodded.

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