BayBuzz Magazine - May/Jun 2013

HAWKE’S

BAY’S

HORSE CULTURE

WHY NO HAWKE’s bay

MAY / JUN 2013

JUST FIVE BUCKS!

UNIVERSITY?

Who’s Minding

HB BUSINESS? te aute COLLEGE

MANA or MOA? VOICES Ngãti Kahungunu, Paul Paynter Brendan Webb, Keith Newman Mark Sweet, Claire Hague, Anthony Vile Kay Bazzard, Jessica Soutar Barron Lizzie Russell, Phyllis Tichinin

03

Dam Moving too fast?

Water quality and financial issues loom

9

772253

262009

by tom belford

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FROM THE EDITOR

Start paying attention!

BY ~ tom belford

This year’s local council elections seem far off at this point, but the key issues are already shaping up quite clearly. [The voting window is 20 September to 12 October.]

In fact, 2013 will be a defining election year, with decisions looming that will shape the direction of Hawke’s Bay for a long time to come …

• Will we change our form of governance?

• Will we make a $600 million dam investment?

• Will we demand improved water quality throughout the Bay? • Will we be properly protected if oil and gas development, including fracking, occurs?

• Will we adopt a GE Free policy for Hawke’s Bay? • Will we protect the quality of our health care in the face of diminishing resources and sharply increasing demand?

And a swirl of more localized, but still very aggravating, issues – from fluoride in Hastings drinking water to truck traffic on Marine Parade to beach/property protection at Haumoana and Westshore.

Only one of these matters, Hastings fluoride, will actually be on a ballot this year, but of course we should be expecting candidates to address all such issues explicitly and with clarity as to where they stand.

Candidates can officially start declaring their intentions to stand on 26 July, and then voters – those paying attention – can begin to establish the links between individuals and issues.

Some voters won’t pay much attention until they are confronted in September by a postal ballot.

And even then, a large percentage will vote merely on the basis of name recognition and personal familiarity – he’s a cousin, she has a great singing voice, we’re mates from school days, he goes to my church. Criteria increasingly unreliable for picking those to guide us through increasingly difficult public issues and choices.

Another group, unfortunately a majority of eligible voters in Hawke’s Bay, won’t bother to vote at all.

Ambitiously, this edition of BayBuzz is aimed at all of these groups.

We aspire to interest and engage all potential voters in the issues now, and throughout the election window.

As Pollyannaish as it might be, we’d like to see an election driven by issues, with informed voters deciding who will guide the Bay into the future.

So in these pages you’ll find the pros and cons of fluoride reported, two views on whether there’s a place for GE growing in Hawke’s Bay, the latest on where our business leaders would like to take the region, and an update on the Regional Council’s dam scheme, which is becoming worrisome to more and more of the region’s leaders.

Leaders. That’s the key, isn’t it?

As the next months unfold, all voters should be on the watch for leaders … and leadership. As we see critical issues debated, like dams and amalgamation, who is speaking up, taking a stand, informing the discussion, offering wisdom or fresh thinking?

And who is ducking for cover, keeping their head down, ‘keeping their options open’, or just praying that their name recognition will suffice for ‘just one more’ visit to the trough?

Some, looking ahead to the prospect of reorganisation might regard the 2013 elections as insignificant or a distraction, with the main events being a presumed referendum on governance in 2014, followed (if reorganisation is approved) by election of candidates to the new body (ies).

But underestimating the importance of the 2013 elections would be a mistake.

Most obviously, because reorganisation cannot be taken for granted. Those elected in October may shape our future for three very important years.

And second, the October outcome will be regarded, even unofficially, as a referendum on at least two key choices before the region – amalgamation and the dam.

So, I urge you to start paying close attention now. Follow the issues. Get informed.

And don’t fall for this ‘play the ball not the man’ bunkum.

True, referenda are about issues. But candidate elections are about people – their values and foresight, where those specific people will take us, and how responsive those specific people will be to us. They’re about connecting candidates to issues.

Hopefully, when October arrives, the choices will be clear to you.

ISSUE No.12 : MAY / JUN 2013

THIS MONTH Inside the Bay’s thriving horse culture.

Is the $600 million dam project moving too fast? Are Hawke’s Bay business groups emerging from growing pains?

Why no university in HB? Will Te Aute College survive? Should Hawke’s Bay remain GE Free? Should Hastings be fluoride free?

FEATURES 28

‘CALL-IN’ VERSUS ‘TIME OUT’ ON DAM

By Tom Belford

6 A horse is a horse, of course

Mark Sweet takes an inside look at Hawke’s Bay’s horse culture

More voices join effort to slow down the Council’s process in the interest of environmental and financial prudence.

34

COUNCILS SET ANNUAL BUDGETS

By Jessica Soutar Barron What projects determine what your rates will be next year?

36

INSIDE HAWKE’S BAY POLITICS, CIRCA MAY

By Tom Belford

Candidates emerging. Tickets too.

38

fighting talk

By Keith Newman

14

Chamber Challenged To Get Back To Basics Keith Newman discovers HB’s business leader groups get taste of own medicine

NOW, Hawke’s Bay telco challenges big duopoly.

46

‘RE-GROOVING’ the agri MAFIA

By Phyllis Tichinin If you want more productive farming, love your microbes.

This publication uses vegetable based inks and environmentally responsible papers. The document is printed throughout on Sumo K Matt, which is FSC® certified and from responsible souces, manufactured under ISO 14001 Environmental management Systems.

22

Land Issues Undermine Te Aute Learning Legacy Keith Newman asks if Te Aute College can recover its financial, moral and academic mana

may/ jun 2013

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

She also produces Fruit Bowl Craft Jam and Pecha Kucha in the Bay.

IDEAS & OPINIONS

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

30

54

KO AU TE AWA KO TE AWA KO AU Ngãti Kahungunu

42

BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES Kay Bazzard

56

the 'f' word

The Hawke’s Bay House …

Just Another Open Home?

Jessica Soutar Barron

Anthony Vile

48

58

out, damned spot Paul Paynter

50

GMOs … LIKE POSSUMS, RABBITS AND GORSE Pure Hawke’s Bay

52

WHY DOESN’T HAWKE’S BAY HAVE A UNIVERSITY? Claire Hague

KING OF THE BLOCKHEADS PROPELLED TO GAME FAME Keith Newman

60

HAWKE’S BAY’S LITERARY PURSUITS Lizzie Russell

64

GOING TO PLAN Brendan Webb

ISSN 2253-2625 (Print) ISSN 2253-2633 (Online)

THE BAYBUZZ TEAM > EDITOR Tom Belford Senior writers Jessica Soutar Barron, Keith Newman, Mark Sweet, Tom Belford columnists Antony Vile, Brendan Webb, Claire Hague, David Trubridge, Des Ratima, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Elizabeth Sisson, Kay Bazzard, Lizzie Russell, Paul Paynter, Phyllis Tichinin, Roy Dunningham, Tim Gilbertson editor’s right hand Brooks Belford photographyTim Whittaker creative, design & production Steff @ Ed art assistant Julia Jameson advertising sales & distribution Tracy Pope & Trevor Howes Online Mogul business manager Bernadette Magee printing Format Print

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.

LIZZIE RUSSELL Lizzie grew up in Hawke’s Bay, and returned in 2010 after stints in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Wellington, Te Awamutu and Tokyo. She works at Hastings City Art Gallery and as a freelance writer, and is co-organiser of the Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition and the HB Readers and Writers Festival.

MARK SWEET Napier-born, Mark worked overseas in Hong Kong and Scotland, but returned to Hawke’s Bay, launching Pacifica restaurant.

Selected for the Mãori Literature Trust’s Te Papa Tupu programme where he was mentored in refining his just-released novel, Zhu Mao. He’s published Portrait & Opinion with Richard Brimmer.

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 and writes an acclaimed blog for professional NGO fundraisers and communicators in North America and Europe.

Letters to the Editor We encourage readers to criticize, expand upon or applaud our articles as you see fit.

Each of our magazine articles is 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.

Beware of Witches Paul Paynter’s feelings about what he loosely labels “witches” (ie. any person or field of practice/philosophy operating outside the walls of his own personal doctrine) are just that: feelings. That’s OK, but not scientific.

Paul’s gold standard is corrupt.

The issue is not about truth and accountability; it is about faith. Paul places his faith in corporate labs in which the priests of materiality publish truths according to the rabid greed of their shareholders, the PR interpreters and their political stooges, then package it as creed for the likes of Paul.

A couple of facts: No one has ever died as a direct response to herbal medicine in NZ. Pharmaceutical drugs and medical errors are the third biggest killer in NZ, Australia and the US.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

4

The Church 500 years ago took the same position on dissenters as Mainstream Medical Science takes today. Then we had the Inquisition.

Today we have Medsafe, Annette King, Nikki Turner, the Codex Alimentarius and Paul Paynter. Yet herbalists, homeopaths, naturopaths, acupuncturists etc quietly go on healing and cleaning up the mess left by vaccines, antibiotics and a shonky, money-driven comprehension of the human immune system.

We all know that the efficacy of the above would be confirmed in an instant if the information could be appropriated and patented by the likes of Merck or Johnson & Johnson.

Modern Medical Science at best is OK at alleviating the acute situation and fixing obviously broken things, but utterly shite at the chronic situation.

Witches are not the enemy Paul; never have been.

Yours sincerely, Kate White

It’s Official …

The Amalgamation Debate Has Begun So you think it is a “game”, Tom. That probably explains the misrepresentation, obfuscation, and downright lies that have been a characteristic of the politicking of some amalgamation supporters.

Be careful, democracy is not just a “game”, wars have been fought and many have died to give us the “right” to select our own leaders. Any group that thinks it can change the rules and disenfranchise opposition to suit its own ends is indeed placing itself at risk. There are examples in plenty throughout the world to show what may happen to those whose desire for power and control over their fellow citizens makes them disregard the basic principles of democracy and accountability.

Ian McIntosh

Kudos Thanks so much for putting together such a great, engaging magazine ... Also very inspired by your membership offers! Allowing people to give what they have is the way forward. Hopefully some financially fit folks will send in heaps for their memberships!

Setha Davenport

Kudos I am spreading the word and trying to get people to commit to a subscription as I feel it is a most worthy cause!

Julie Blasconi

Beware of Witches I would like to take issue with Paul Paynter for his portrayal of Witches.

Just how many traditional Witches does he know? I’m not talking here about young people who get spurious degrees from the Internet, but lifetime followers of the Old Religion.

What makes him think that we believe that nature is only benevolent? We honour nature in all its guises and give thanks for its bounty where appropriate and in due season.

The illustrations for the article are misleading and sensationalist.

Pandering to the old biblical belief that Witches are evil. The majority of us are not, but as in the general population, there are good and bad. We get our children vaccinated like everybody else and as for equating us with the “uber clean’, that is ridiculous.

We use herbal remedies along with conventional medicine, as do a great many people. We do not boil up potions and please be aware that “eye of newt” and “adders tongue” etc are simply Old English names for common field herbs.

I am outraged that Mr Paynter should consider a reverence and awe of nature and the seasons, as practicing the dark arts. We do not “preach” harmony and balance, but like all religions, we “pray” for peace, harmony and balance in all things. What is wrong with that?

Rowena, High Priestess [Please do not print my real name as that would leave me open to abuse and persecution by the ignorant.]

Kudos I think it is fantastic that you go for the jugular and ask the hard questions.

Barbara Cassidy

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A horse is a horse of course BY ~ MARK SWEET

tim.co.nz

HORSES

30,000 years ago our human forebears painted pictures of horses on the walls of caves, and the images clearly demonstrate a close relationship.

For the cave painters, horses were as wild as they were, with horses having a speed advantage to escape the predators they shared – the saber-toothed tiger and other huge felines – and only when the horses foaled, or were wounded, would humans have a chance to prey on them.

And we did, armed with flint-tipped spears, and we ate their meat.

“But we decided an awful long time ago that horses were more useful as working animals than they were as food animals,” says Ruth Holmes, programme coordinator at Riding for the Disabled in Hastings.

Ruth gives a brief history in horse evolution. “Horses developed themselves from a very small animal about the size of a fox to a small sturdy thing like Przewakski’s horse or the Mongolian ponies.”

And when humans stopped being nomadic hunter-food gatherers, and settled down, around 10,000 years ago, we made horses settle down too. “These sturdy horses were useful as pack animals carrying coal, or salt, and then we got on them, and hitched them to ploughs and carts, and we rode them into battle, and so it developed. The horse has served us incredibly well through industry and war.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

8

Horse therapy Ruth is right. Without the horse we wouldn’t have got far. Horses have galloped with us every step of the way in our evolution. And that horses are now used as therapy shows they are keeping pace.

“Riding recreates the movement of walking in the human body,” says Ruth pointing to a chestnut mare carrying a boy with spinal problems through a series of exercises. “See how the horses back leg comes underneath the rider. What it does is it brings the rider forward, then lifts them up, then it lets them down, which is recreating the walk stride we do. So for kids with limited mobility it stimulates walking patterns.”

A group arrive from Kowhai School, and each child is assigned a horse and handlers, who are volunteers. “What we have to find are happy, healthy, sound horses, and ponies, who will work in this environment and enjoy it, which is hard,” says Ruth.

Kowhai School kids at Riding for the Disabled “Our horses have to be the right size, and they have to be able to take part. It takes about three years for the younger horses to learn it all, and accept it all, but older horses who’ve been well cared for by previous owners, and have been out, and seen and done a lot, can sometimes learn quite quickly.”

At The Leg Up Trust, children are often referred to Ros Rowe and her team from Child Youth and Family, and other agencies working with problem children.

“For some kids their first experience of unconditional acceptance is through a horse,” says Ros. “Some come here to deal with anger issues, communication problems, and low confidence, which is all done through the horses.”

A group of excited children arrive, and one by one they greet Ros with a hug, before sitting in a circle for introductions, and a discussion about the qualities needed to ensure a healthy home environment. “Kindness,” a girl offers. “Responsibility,” says another, and all the children contribute with ease …

“Trust, respect, caring, friendliness.”

The group have been chosen by their teachers at Flaxmere Primary as showing leadership potential. “Leadership qualities like being assertive, but not aggressive, can be taught through working with the horse,” says Ros, “And we match horses to the children.”

Ros guides me to a pen where a boy is grooming his horse. “Stevie here has a strong character, but can be a bit impulsive, so I’ve put him with Ronnie who’s strong willed and stubborn.”

Ronnie is scratching his chin on a post, and Stevie seems hesitant brushing his rump.

“You have to show Ronnie strong leadership or he’ll give you a kick,” Ros tells Stevie. “He already has,” Stevie replies coyly.

“What do you think Ronnie wants you to do for him now?” Ros asks. “Scratch him.”

“Good, so you scratch him where he’s itching, and he will love you.” Stevie does as he’s asked, and Ronnie rolls his eyes.

“The level of observation needed from the kids is high, because the horse is watching them all the time, watching for body language, and signs.”

The horse, constantly vigilant, watching for signs of danger, is a remnant of their wild herd days as beasts of prey. And other characteristics of their survival mechanisms still persist today.

“Horses are incredibly good at compensation,” says physiotherapist, Sarah Massingham. “So if they’ve got a sore spot they will off-load to the furthest possible area. If the right hind is sore, they’ll off-load to the front fore.”

Sarah served 10 years in the Royal Air Force where she completed a Masters degree in Manipulative Physiotherapy.

Later she graduated with a Masters in Veterinary Physiotherapy from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London.

“In the wild, horses had to keep moving, and not be seen to be injured by predators, or by other members of the herd, because that meant losing a place in the hierarchy.”

As she digs her fingers deep in to the groin of a big grey gelding, Sarah says, “Ra’s a very good communicator. If I’m not in the right spot, if I’m not quite doing it right, he positions himself. He’s very in tune.”

HORSES

“Horses are incredibly good at compensation. So if they’ve got a sore spot they will off-load to the furthest possible area. If the right hind is sore, they’ll off-load to the front fore.” sarah massingham

Sarah Massingham, HuRa, Robbie Greenslade HuRa’s owner, Robbie Greenslade, attends the treatments, and explains: “He’s not built for dressage, conformationally; it’s something he should find really hard but he’s got an incredible work ethic. He’s been trained through to Grand Prix level. He’ll never be competitive at that level, but he tries his heart out.”

On her first treatment, Sarah says, “Ra didn’t want anything to do with me, but the next day he was really lame, so the little bit of treatment shifted something that he’d been compensating.”

Robbie Greenslade is grateful for Sarah’s skills. “Ra has a high profile, and is well known in dressage circles. He’s much loved because he’s such a character, and people,

some of the top people in the sport, have commented how different he is, and that’s from the treatment.”

Ra has moved his haunch and is presenting another sore spot for Sarah to massage, and as his lips curl up quivering, Robbie says, “As well as all the qualifications and experience, Sarah has a really intuitive understanding of where the pain might be coming from.”

Sarah is modest. “I do feel heat or energy, but a lot is the horse’s reaction to the touch, reading their body language.

Horses mask pain, but they can get to a certain stage where they are so sore they can’t off-load anymore. They get to a point where they can’t physically keep going, and that’s when you’ll see them bucking and off seating riders. The Continued on Page 10

» Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

9

horses

Jason Fleming

“In the past the vision for racing has been about horses and gambling, but a lot of people don’t attach to that. Our vision is celebrating horses and having fun.”

The Sport of Kings The thoroughbred industry contributes over $30 million annually to the Hawke’s Bay economy. That includes breeding and training stables, feed and hay merchants, vets and blacksmiths … but at the heart of the racing industry is the track.

In Hastings, the Hawke’s Bay Racing club occupies 15 hectares close to the CBD, and in 2016 it will be 150 years since the course was established.

But the racing industry is struggling, and adapting to changing circumstances is a challenge for Jason Fleming, general manager of Hawke’s Bay Racing.

“When racing had its heyday in the 40s, 50s, 60s there wasn’t much else to do. New Zealand was very much Monday to Friday, shutdown Saturday, come from country to town, go to the races.

If you wanted to have a flutter there were only horses. Now the gambling dollar is shared with lotto, pokies, sports betting of all sorts, and there’s internet so people don’t have to leave home.”

And gambling revenue is only 8% of your $4 million revenue?

“That’s right. Racing is our knitting, if you like, but with such a significant asset we have to develop other revenue streams.

The clubs surviving are the one’s that have alternative usage, like Ellerslie in Auckland, which owns land with a hospital, and a hotel, and they have conference facilities with over 1,000 events a year. Their diversity sustains them.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

10

There are 16 race days on the Hastings track, which leaves 349 days of alternative opportunity.

“As you see we have a dog show on this weekend which brings in a bit of rental, but also it’s a connect with the community.”

So where’s the disconnect?

“The bell curve for racing’s weighted towards older people, so the disconnect is with the X and Y generations. We want to move the product to those people, and we now know twilight meetings are successful.

We had one over Christmas and it was outstanding. It was a very easy sell, and with a band and dancing afterwards, it was great fun.”

Adapting to the market, and product placement, is familiar language of business.

And branding?

jason fleming

“One of the problems is that racing hasn’t had a clear brand, and any product that doesn’t have a clear brand, finds it hard to impose the vision. In the past the vision for racing has been about horses and gambling, but a lot of people don’t attach to that. Our vision is celebrating horses and having fun. “ But sitting on such valuable land.

What about selling and setting up somewhere else?

“There were discussions in 2004/5 about the possibility of re-locating.

Fundamentally, it would be a move which would merge a lot of sector interests. The reality of today is that multi-use facilities are the best use of public and private money, and any future discussion about strategic use of land and facilities will include us (racing), and other equestrian interests, like A&P, and polo.

“There was an initial feasibility study around moving, but one of the problems is that nobody’s built a race track from scratch in the last 60 years.

“Joining the dots around what’s functional, what’s optimal, what’s desirable is difficult in terms of getting exact figures. In the last cycle, the idea that the land could be subdivided, and the numbers would be appealing, didn’t meet the desired level. But it is in our thought processes as governors of the land, and in the short medium term we need to define our future.

“We’ve got dated facilities, and there’s a lot of pressure with the new earthquake standards. When you have a building pre1920 the weighting is such that it’s almost impossible to get the 33% compliance. So we’ve got a few issues within the next 5 to 10 years.

“My opinion is that any re-location decision should be done offensively, on our own terms, rather than having to, because we have no other option.”

horses are shouting at that stage.”

The survival instinct of horses is something Ruth Holmes admires, “We have our amazing old girls who get to great ages, and they have things wrong with them, but they would rather get up in the morning, and go to work, than stay out in the field. They’re not doing it to please, they’re doing it to survive.”

But horses seem so willing to please, and when Ra nuzzles Robbie affectionately, there’s no doubting the depth of relationship between horse and rider.

“To have a good relationship with horses what you have to be is a good herd leader,” explains Ruth. “If you provide food, water, shelter and safety, and an interesting life, they’ll accept you as herd leader.”

And those old mares, who’d rather get up and at it, than stay in bed? “They want to interact with us because they include us as part of the herd.”

The leadership class at the Leg Up Trust is coming to an end, and on the final walk past, Ronnie spots a tasty tuft of grass, and Stevie gives in to the determined pony, who pulls him along in his quest for a feed.

“Ronnie’s a stroppy little horse,” says Ros, “He doesn’t like being groomed and he’ll bare his teeth and snarl, and kick.

If the kid takes a step back he’s won, but if the kid stands his ground, Ronnie accepts he’s got a leader, and settles down.” It would appear Ronnie has decided he wants to be the boss today, although Ros says, “We would never say, ‘show the horse who’s boss’ … That’s bullying language.”

Ros Rowe’s determination to utilize horses as therapy took a novel twist when she came up with the idea of giving troubled teens the opportunity of learning to play polo. Now in its third year, the program is run by Richard Kettle at his Birchleigh Polo Club in Paki Paki.

“With the boys from Flaxmere, the first things that wins them over is the horse.

They come in all tough, but when they handle the horses, they change. They quickly learn that if you give a bit to a horse,

horses

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My horse is faster “Of course, at some stage,” says Ruth Holmes in her history lesson of the horse, “someone would have said, ‘my horse is faster than yours’, and we also decided they look good too, and could look even better.”

Today, in Hawke’s Bay, ‘my horse is faster’ is played out on the race course, and, ‘look good’ finds its pinnacle in Horse of the Year, held annually at the Show Grounds in Hastings.

As Jason Fleming, General Manager of Hawke’s Bay Racing says, “There is nothing more majestic than a horse in full flight. Seeing and experiencing the race horse in all its glory; the crack of the whip, the ground shaking, and the roar of the crowd. It’s a great experience.”

Hawke’s Bay Racing’s income in 2012 was $4 million, and Jason Fleming says, “Fifteen hundred people depend on racing for their livelihood in Hawke’s Bay, and racing generates $32 million to the local economy.”

The six-day Horse of the Year spectacle of show jumping and dressage had an impact of $14.1 million on the Hawke’s Bay economy in 2013, and under Kevin Hansen’s stewardship, the event now attracts over 2,500 horses, with mind boggling organisational logistics. And signs are the event will get bigger and better each year.

Robbie Greenslade competed at the Horse of the Year with HuRa, and although the big event is over, horse and rider are athletes, who must keep up their schedule.

Three days after his physio session HuRa is competing on a Sunday afternoon at the Continued on Page 12

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

the horse will give a lot more back. Show care and respect and the horse responds.”

Richard Kettle is keen to see a Flaxmere Secondary Schools polo club formed, and will give it his full support.

“A lot of the boys are naturals,” says Richard. “They’re good with the horses, and have great eye-ball coordination skills. And when I take them away to play other club beginners they kick arse. We took them down to Rangetiki to play the Otaki Pony Club polo team. These were privileged kids, and our boys beat them, 8 - nil.”

There’s no disguising Richard’s pleasure in giving boys from difficult backgrounds the opportunity to play polo, and his club is open to anyone who’s keen to learn.

“What we’re doing is making polo accessible to people who want to play, but don’t come from traditional polo backgrounds. We’ve around 80% women at the moment. They’ve generally ridden as teenagers, and now reached a stage where their children are at school, and they don’t want to just ride around a paddock, so they come to polo. They’re good riders, and some have the means to get a pony for playing in tournaments.”

Out in a field, showing fragile signs of recovering from drought, a herd of horses are loosely bunched. “I’ve got 20 horses,” says Richard, “Some are trusty old mares you could put a baby on, and then there’re the keen young horses we take away to tournaments.” The horses are lean and well muscled, and with their short-cropped manes look like the punks of the breed.

“I tend to get my horses off the race track,” says Richard. “Well-bred little mares that have big hearts but are too slow. Being thoroughbreds they want to win, and part of the game is riding a

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“One of the features of Horse of the Year is that it’s unique to Hawke’s Bay. It’s not done anywhere else in the world.”

Andrew & Kevin Hansen

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Celebrating Horses Over 15 years Horse of the Year has evolved into the biggest equestrian event in Australasia, and in doing so, has become Hawke’s Bay’s biggest ‘event’ earner – $14.1 million in 2013.

So, what has made HoY so successful?

Show director Kevin Hansen is quick to recognize the invaluable contribution of volunteers.

“Without the volunteers we wouldn’t have a show. They come from all over the country. There were 420 this year.

Each sport brings their own volunteers and they’re passionately involved in one of the 18 different equestrian sports we put on.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

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Now working along side his father, Marketing and Event Management graduate Andrew Hansen points out: “One of the features of Horse of the Year is that it’s unique to Hawke’s Bay. It’s not done anywhere else in the world.

Nowhere else do you see little Sally on her pony riding next to Olympians. The mass participation is what keeps the show going and makes it so special.”

But therein lies a problem. Kevin reflects: “In 2000 we termed the show, ‘a celebration of all things equestrian’, and we said it was, ‘a show for everyone’, but we now have to temper that, ‘show for everyone’. It’s been growing like crazy, and now we’re at absolute max.”

With a new partnership between Hastings District Council, Equestrian NZ, and Show Jumping HB, plans are developed to ensure continued success.

“The real impact of Horse of the Year as a hub for equestrian sports in Hawke’s Bay won’t be felt until we improve the facilities at the Show Grounds. When that work happens in the next 3/4 years, we’ll be able to bring the top trainers in the world for dressage and eventing.”

And the planning seems sound.

“The new company signed an agreement to hold the show for 15 years. That’s a lifetime. It gives surety to the event, and the sponsors, and money can be spent on upgrading.”

In the meantime Andrew is keen to expand other aspects of the event. “We got 73,000 spectators and there’s no reason that can’t increase. The Asian equestrian market is booming. The interest is huge. It’s our job to attract that market as visitors to the show.

And we can grow the non-horse world spectators as well, by promoting it as an event for all … when you walk in you’ll be entertained and you’ll see things you’ve never seen before.”

Exciting prospects lie ahead for the Hansens, as their expertise has been commissioned over the Tasman, to develop an equestrian event facility in Sydney.

“We’re starting from scratch on 1800 acres of bare land … We’re targeting 1600 horses, which will make it the 2nd largest event in Australasia.”

But what about Hastings?

“Don’t worry, we’re flat out working on 2014.”

Hawke’s Bay Equestrian Park in Bridge Pa. He and Robbie perform a series of passes and turns to commands called out by a woman at the side of the dressage pen. “Turn left. Turn right. Three flying changes every third stride,” she says, and the judges sit in their cars, marking each movement out of ten.

“We managed a really good score and came second to a very smart horse that has been competing at that level for quite some time, so I am thrilled,” says Robbie.

A romantic might muse that the horse is living its Golden Age, where their qualities are positively resourced, be they for entertainment, sport, or as therapy. The skeptic might suggest we still ruthlessly exploit the horses’ willingness to please and be protected.

But as Ros Rowe pointed out, “We can learn a lot about ourselves through horses.”

Domesticated as long, and still preserving the raw herd instinct, comes to mind. And still looking for strong leaders to protect us, and lead us to food and shelter. Just like horses.

“In the wild they look for a strong leader, and it’s always a wise old mare,” says Ros Rowe. “It’s the same here.” Her laughter seals the truth of her joke.

And who is the leader of Richard Kettle’s herd? “That old mare scratching herself on a branch,” he says.

Jason Fleming compares race horses to top athletes. “Some top athletes are the most boring people you come across, but on game day they take on another persona, because they know they’re among the best.”

For Sarah Massingham, “Horses have taught me a huge amount about human physiology. When a person’s back is sore, I now know that might not be where the problem lies.”

And Ruth Holmes shares a profound parallel between the lives of horses and humans. “You find horses who’ve had horrendous lives, hard lives, but still give.

Then other horses, who’ve had a hard time, might have completely lost trust.

Some seem able to forgive whatever happened in the past and start a new life, but others can’t.”

ChambeR Challenged to get back to basics Keith Newman discovers two groups charged with gearing up regional businesses for efficiency and growth have been getting a taste of their own medicine.

tim.co.nz

Physician, heal thyself The Chamber of Commerce and Business HB took their own medicine, putting themselves through an independent business assessment, with world-recognised business mentoring group The ICEHOUSE, which officially launched its Hawke’s Bay presence in the midst of the churn.

A peaceful passage through sensitive territory was negotiated with ICEHOUSE regional manager Peter Wogan, ahead of sorting out the terms of Business HB’s independence, including what level of financial support or sharing of resources would remain when it left the nest.

Chamber president Katja Williams says ICEHOUSE was a great facilitator, helping analyse strategic drivers and management structures and sorting out both agencies in a kind of ‘due diligence’.

For all the tension, the split is being touted as amicable allowing both parties

“Huge global businesses [are] operating under the radar ... we need to create some raving fans for the region and celebrate success.” wayne walford to re-envision their own destinies. Business HB chairman Stuart McLauchlan says, his group couldn’t continue under the wing of the Chamber and needed to be in a complementary peer relationship to deliver the best for the Bay. New CEO steps up In the midst of its own review process, the Chamber announced – from an initial pool of 18 candidates – the appointment of Hastings-born Walford as its new CEO. He was still house hunting in preparation for his return after 25-years away from the Bay when BayBuzz caught up with him. His stated priority was to grasp the ‘nuances’ of what makes us tick – listening, connecting and consulting – before applying his own experience and systems.

He’d worked in the Whakatu freezing works computer department before running a motor camp in Tauranga, heading the Tauranga Community Arts Council, taking on regional development contracts and then for four years was chief executive of Waikato Chamber of Commerce.

As a new boy to the hot seat, Walford sees opportunity everywhere, including “huge global businesses operating under the radar”.

There are exciting prospects to inspire people about living, working and playing in the Bay. “We need to create some raving fans for the region and celebrate success,” says Walford.

The tall, confident, pony-tailed networker of Maori and Italian extraction has creative, technological and business nous and is a welcome arrival for the previously headless organisation. He joins his wider whãnau still living in Hawke’s Bay and was reminded during interviews earlier in the year of “the summers I used to have”.

Williams likes his enthusiastic personality, impressive networking skills and open engagement, which she says, people in Hawke’s Bay will appreciate.

His biggest challenge will be to connect quickly with stakeholders, get traction with members, understand the need for change, and discover how to best use his voice for lobbying.

Continued on Page 16

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

The shake-up at the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce that resulted in its feisty offspring Business Hawke’s Bay leaving the fold earlier this year, has forced both parties to lift their game in supporting regional businesses and growing the economy.

Business HB, hamstrung by the Chamber’s governance structure, including a single chief executive officer (CEO) across both organisations, was by Christmas 2012 planning an exit strategy so it could more effectively carry out its role as Hawke’s Bay’s de facto economic development agency.

The 18-month-old group, formed as an arms-length Chamber committee, had operated for six months without a CEO, and in April during independence discussions it was conceded the joint CEO role was too much for one person.

The man who had successfully bid for the role, former Waikato Chamber of Commerce CEO Wayne Walford, was informed the job was now simply CEO of the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce.

These and other internal wrangles played out during the last days of a severe drought, in the aftermath of grim unemployment statistics and the release of the McGredy Winder report, which confirmed Hawke’s Bay desperately needed unity, clear direction and strong political and business leadership.

The two key players had been distracted from giving their full attention to some of the region’s biggest issues – the proposed Ruataniwha water storage project, oil and gas exploration, better access to rail and air transportation and input into the potential shape of council amalgamation.

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HB BIZ Bill English, finance minister and deputy prime minister

“The prospects are fantastic for uncovering gems and influencing a sense of pride in the region and what it’s doing commercially.”

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influencing a sense of pride in the region and what it’s doing commercially.”

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Value proposition The need to improve “the value proposition”, a term used in Williams’ and Walford’s press releases, should be the mantra of every membership organisation, says Williams. The Chamber could do a much better job of making members feel more empowered through feedback and forums. “To justify the cost of membership there has to be a return on investment.”

The fact that up to 30 people have been turned away from Business After 5 events suggests there’s a strong demand for networking, but the value has to be greater than nibbles, a glass of wine and meeting a few people. It should be an opportunity for discussion and for people to have a voice.

Walford says any Chamber of Commerce needs to have a credible voice and members who feel they’re listened to. He sees value in the Chamber and Business HB working collaboratively to grow the region with plenty of room for cross-referrals and connections.

Value might also mean buying power with alliance partners, events, mentoring, networking functions that inspire and influence young business people, ways to encourage the wider business community to get involved and the ability to connect with 22,000 other Chambers across the world.

He says he’s here to help make Hawke’s Bay the best it can be without forcing anything. “The prospects are fantastic for uncovering gems and

Glue for new agenda Walford needs to be the glue that binds the fractured Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce together and drives a new agenda for the 20-year-old, 500-member group, formed in May 1993 from a merger of the Napier Chamber (1883) and the Hastings Chamber (1907).

The Chamber has a critical function to bring cohesion to the region’s businesses if it’s to gain the traction needed in the next few years, as well as fill an administrative role in issuing export documentation. The good news is that free trade (FTA) export certifications reached 822 for the year to mid-April, a number not achieved until June the previous year.

It will run the 16th annual Westpac Hawke’s Bay Business Awards in June, and collaborate with the Hawke’s Bay Mãori Business Network, the Enterprise for Education (E4E) programme in schools and the Young Enterprise (YES) scheme. Its Hothouse programme helps businesses refine their skills and performance.

The Chamber has a track record of supporting proposals likely to enhance or assist business growth in Hawke’s Bay. Recently that’s meant plans by entrepreneur Rod Drury and Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule to court contact centres and consult around the future of the Hastings CBD. Beyond cosmetic changes, Chamber president Katja Williams wants a strong plan to make the CBD more economically viable, even suggesting an entertainment focused 24-hour destination where people can live and play.

She also wants to see the Chamber take the lead in revisiting viability of the Gisborne to Hawke’s Bay railway line, shut down by NZ Rail last year, and pushing for the expansion of the Hawke’s Bay Airport, both of which she believes could be game changers for business in the region.

HB BIZ

Business HB freed to focus on regional development vision Business Hawke’s Bay’s declaration of independence from the Chamber of Commerce is not a snub to the group that nurtured it, but an attempt to grab the reins of uncoordinated regional potential and make up for over a decade of failed economic development efforts.

If sufficiently resourced, Business HB believes it can coordinate disparate agendas, reduce duplication of resources and ensure Hawke’s Bay gets “the best bang for its buck” from economic development money being invested across the region.

Chairman Stuart McLauchlan says an independent Business HB, guided by its advisory group and tightly linked with business mentoring group The ICEHOUSE, could become a regional hub with everyone sharing ideas under the same roof, including council economic development people.

Business HB board member Hamish Whyte, managing director of Furnware,

says it’s time for honesty about what’s really going to work for the region rather than different parties running around like chooks with their heads cut off.

He says Business HB has taken a good hard look at its own processes and will be more selective about its projects and the outcomes expected. That will mean clarifying opportunities and placing responsibility back on industry sectors and businesses to evaluate their own readiness before seeking help.

Rather than “throwing money at things or chasing rainbows”, board member Robert Darroch, managing director of Future Products Group, says disparate efforts need to be prioritised and coordinated, particularly across the region’s councils.

Template for success Business HB has developed a new template to help identify business

capabilities and opportunities for growth, particularly around exporting. “If we see the value — good management, structure and strategies — it won’t be just another talkfest.”

Trade and Enterprise New Zealand for example has two people in Hawke’s Bay and 22 customers when they need 60.

“They’ll work with us and the Chamber and we’ll co-ordinate so they get the best out of everyone,” says Darroch.

Once the basics are sorted, business mentoring group, The ICEHOUSE can help them tick all the boxes. He says the relationship with the Chamber of Commerce is pivotal, “we need their membership to be involved, in fact we need them to double or treble their membership.”

Business HB takes its main lead from the Business Hawke’s Bay Advisory Group, which helps to deliver the region’s economic development strategy.

The group includes representatives from the five councils, Hawke’s Bay Tourism, the Chamber of Commerce, the wine industry, Food Hawke’s Bay, EIT, Hawke’s Bay Airport, Ngãti Kahungunu, the Ministry of Social Development, Export New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE).

Business HB also has strong links with the Pan Sector Leadership Group, Continued on Page 18

» Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

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Global giant ABB kicks off the big plan for Hawke’s Bay Airport’s business park

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specifically assisting Food Hawke’s Bay build relationships and add value to the supply chain.

Much of the big picture thinking is around identifying opportunities and preparing business to get involved, whether that’s the water storage project, oil and gas exploration, aviation, information technology and communications (ICT) clustering, adding value to primary produce, or evaluating the region’s export capabilities, with an initial focus on China.

From a BayBuzz reader:

“Congrats on publishing such an informative and valuable publication.

We would still be in the dark on so many of the issues and decisions made by our many councillors if it was not for your dedicated work.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

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BayBuzz is available on annual subscription or for $5 per issue. Subscribe now at www.baybuzz.co.nz!

Uneasy inheritance Business Hawke’s Bay came into being around 18 months ago, but its potential as a full-fledged economic development agency (EDA) was only recognised by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) late last year.

Its predecessor Venture Hawke’s Bay, a fully staffed and resourced unit of HBRC with a dual tourism mandate, was phased out over three years ago after an embarrassing budget blow-out. That capped off close to 15 years of council attempts to showcase and expand the region’s capabilities.

Earlier iterations – Vision 2020 and Hawke’s Bay Inc – also failed to deliver the promised benefits to a region desperate for traction in shaky economic times.

On the demise of Venture HB, tourism responsibilities were passed to Hawke’s Bay Tourism, a partnership between the private Wine Country group and the HBRC, and economic development was taken back in-house.

Critics blamed weak business foundations, a strategy that delivered little more than research and development, rebranding and piles of reports, and a failure to engage with the commercial sector and complementary agencies.

It was the desire to rescue this pivotal role from council bureaucracy that led businessfocused folk at the Chamber of Commerce, under the guidance of then CEO Murray Douglas, to form Business Hawke’s Bay. Running on oily rag It wasn’t until late in 2012, that HBRC began referring almost affectionately to Business HB as a partner and independent facilitator of relationships between businesses, industry sectors, government agencies and local authorities.

There remains mute embarrassment that HBRC still stumps up close to a million dollars annually for HB Tourism while its de facto EDA, as Darroch says, “runs on the smell of an oily rag”.

In the 2013-2014 annual plan budgets, HBRC is expected to firm up its annual $100,000 commitment, Hastings up to $50,000 and Napier, other than approved

projects, zero. With an additional $240,000 from the private sector, Business HB’s current budget is around $390,000.

It’s hoped that by adding value to the 3,000 businesses on its database and tapping other sources it may become selfsupporting within two to three years.

Meanwhile both Darroch and Whyte are clearly tired of their companies being singled out as Hawke’s Bay business success stories; they want to see 50 more companies the media can talk about.

“We’re not here to be puppets; we want to see local businesses enabled and getting some traction,” says Darroch.

They want to help businesses become financially stronger, more stable, sell more and employ more. Even if only 10% of those evaluated through the Chamber’s Hothouse or the ICEHOUSE process are able to export and avoid making bad decisions, that’ll be reason enough to crack open the champagne, says Whyte.

The China Syndrome The first major challenge for an independent Business Hawke’s Bay will be to determine if there’s any substance to claims the region can export ship loads of product and produce to China.

Hamish Whyte, whose company Furnware is already selling container loads of chairs to Shanghai, now heads a steering committee to determine if we’re up to the China challenge and coordinate any export efforts alongside New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) and key stakeholders.

“We need a new mindset. People in China don’t want copies, they want the real thing, particularly with food, where the New Zealand brand means something. We have the facilities, we just need to know who’s exporting, who’s ready to export and look at their capabilities.”

While various councils have had sister city relationships with China for over 20 years, Business HB wants to know about the business connections and isn’t concerned who takes the lead, as long as it’s co-ordinated. “There’s no point opening a door unless you know you have companies that can go through it,” says Whyte.

The recently created Business HB template will be a good place to start enabling potential exporters to evaluate their readiness through a checklist, ahead of working with NZTE and the Ministry of Science and Innovation and The ICEHOUSE.

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Business HB chairman Stuart McLauchlan

Chamber chaos contained after CEO, board challenges Power struggles, tensions in the boardroom, a raft of resignations, a presidential coup and conflicting media reports have given the impression over the past year that the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce is a hotbed of conspiracy rather than the driver of ‘business vitality’.

Katja Williams, the German-born ‘change agent’ at the centre of the storm, admits she faced a “curve ball” with the loss of two consecutive CEOs and in hindsight could have handled things better as she picked up the reins and tried to keep moving forward.

Williams, agricultural and commercial relationships manager at the National Bank, saw a shift coming after the resignation of five-year Chamber CEO, Murray Douglas, and

the opportunity to change direction and reduce confusion.

With the CEO responsible for both the Chamber and Business Hawke’s Bay and Napier lawyer Stuart McLauchlan as Chamber president chairing both boards, it was “impossible for outsiders to understand who was doing what,” she says.

McLauchlan was planning to step down from one of those roles when vice president Williams staged her coup.

She insists her bid to oust the fourtermer, backed by proxy votes and giving less than a day’s notice, was within Chamber rules.

Those rules, which enabled all Chamber members to vote for the president and vice president, were immediately changed. “I’ve always said … the Chamber Board [needs to] elect its president because they’re the ones who know what value each member Continued on Page 20

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

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hb biz Katja Williams, Chamber president, with Wayne Walford.

“I’ve always said … the Chamber Board [needs to] elect its president because they’re the ones who know what value each member delivers. Every corporate does it like that.” katja williams

delivers. Every corporate does it like that.”

The role of president, says Williams, required someone who was mentally robust and available and could be calm in a storm. “I’ve done that.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

20

Leadership clash The drama began to unfold on the departure of Douglas, the vocal CEO and driver behind Business HB, who announced his retirement in July and was gone by September. Although Business HB was seeking more autonomy, any clarity around this was overshadowed when Gavin Bush signed on as new CEO in early October.

Within weeks rumours were flying, and after a string of denials, Bush’s resignation was confirmed after he failed to show at the prestigious Chamber-run Westpac Hawke’s Bay Business Awards in November.

Conflicting media reports said he’d quit after staff threatened: ‘it’s us or him’, while Williams cited ‘urgent family reasons’. Bush claimed “philosophical difference”; later there were suggestions the Chamber struggled with funding, which Williams denies.

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Then Lynn Bevan’s appointment as food facilitator was announced

by Williams and debated in the newspapers before either the boards or Food Hawke’s Bay staff knew a thing. Further embarrassment came when Williams was rejected after going cap in hand to the three local councils for additional funding for the Business HB CEO role.

With no chief to keep things in line and internal and external critics becoming more vocal it appeared the Chamber was in crisis, although Williams insists her supporters knew what was going on.

One observer insists “errors of judgement” and a “lack of transparency” left the Chamber of Commerce looking more like a “chamber of comedy”.

Resignation road bumps Just before Christmas the mess hit the fan; after allegedly being denied the opportunity to discuss ‘leadership issues’, Business HB chairman Stuart McLauchlan, nine-year board member Anna Lorck, and Andrew Bayly who’d been on board 18 months, resigned.

Then McLauchlan had a change of

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heart, agreeing to stay on with Business HB, fearing the group may lose momentum if left leaderless.

Now Williams’ change management efforts were more about holding things together. “A road bump hits you and you handle it as best you can, tying down the luggage and keeping things moving forward.”

She attempted to communicate with board members at the same time she was getting calls from newspapers and radio wanting comment and she claims things were “misinterpreted and taken out of context.”

What matters, says Williams, is that the Chamber continued operating within its brief. She’s still not sure whether she ended up with the raw end of the deal or whether this was the right environment to manage change.

She acknowledges it was a tough time for herself and McLauchlan who both juggle their volunteer Chamber responsibilities with full-time jobs.

“I know that I’m not going to be everybody’s friend; some people don’t like it but down the track when the new model is bedded down, they might say, that was a good job well done.”

As for her future, Williams imagines a new skill set will be needed within two years. “I will have passed my use-by date and it will be time to move on.”

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Land issues undermine Te Aute learning legacy Keith Newman asks if Te Aute College, south of Hastings, can recover its financial, moral and academic mana to equip a new generation of Mãori leaders … or whether it’s an educational moa in the 21st century. needs to be recognised, others may need to find “another waka to jump on.”

The ancient root of Te Aute’s modern day problems rests in the transference of endowment land, set aside 160 years ago for the long-term support of Te Aute College, to in-perpetuity or ‘Glasgow leases’.

Ngai Te Whatuiapiti chiefs gifted (4,273 acres/ 1,729 ha) and the Crown (4,014 acres/1,624 ha) to entice missionary and fluent Mãori speaker Samuel Williams to Hawke’s Bay in 1853 to build the school at Pukehou and act as peacemaker between settlers and Mãori.

However, in 1916, the TATB; at the insistence of a 1906 Commission of Inquiry, broke the endowment into 23 smaller blocks and leased it to farmers at rates that could only be reviewed every 21 years.

Te Aute College was left with 758 acres (307 ha) for its own purposes and while the value of leased land escalated rapidly over the decades, the revenues never kept pace with market rates. This is at the root of a Treaty of Waitangi claim by the hapü (sub-tribe) who insist their gift has been mismanaged.

Dr Graham says Te Aute should be one of the richest schools in the land, but the management of the leases has made it one of the poorest, often returning less than 5% of the land value.

Mãori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples, another Te Aute old boy and Ngai Te Whatuiapiti descendant, claims the Glasgow leases “are one of the most criminal things invented”, having been used to accommodate colonisation by giving farmers security of tenure.

Any attempt to buy it back would include Continued on Page 24

»

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Te Aute College, the historic school that equipped young Mãori men for mainstream leadership roles at the turn of the 20th century, is battling for survival as it weighs up commitments to church and State, the bank, and a vision statement promising to once again change the face of Mãori education.

The school has much to prove as it emerges from a decade of crisis and adjusts to a new student-driven curriculum, a fresh board of trustees, the resignation of principal Piripi Blake and the exit of a Ministry of Education commissioner who’s had oversight for two and a half years.

Although Te Aute is again reporting academic achievements well above the national average for Mãori boys and has just logged on to ultra-fast broadband, it still carries a horrendous debt, needs to increase its roll from 83 to around 120 and get multiple stakeholders heading in the same direction.

Invested parties include the Anglican Church; the Crown; land donors Ngai Te Whatuiapiti; the Te Aute Trust Board (TATB); responsible for its assets and those of sister school Hukarere Girls’ College; the Te Aute Board of Trustees; parents; farmers who lease school-owned land; and mortgagee, the BNZ. Dr James Graham, a former Te Aute dux, educational advisor and member of Te Whatuiapiti hapü, says it’s time everyone agreed on a collective vision for the recovery, management and governance of the school.

He quotes a whakataukí (proverb): “He totara wahirua he rua kai na te ahi — the totara log split in two is food for the fire”.

While some people have authority that

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Dr James Graham, a former Te Aute dux

the cost of expensive improvements, putting it out of Te Aute’s reach. “They made the area rich at the cost of making the school poor.”

Separate to the Treaty claim, Dr Sharples says attorney general Chris Finlayson is reviewing the leases and considering a new endowment to compensate the school.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

24

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The reputation rap Te Aute’s honourable reputation began unravelling around the same time St Stephen’s College in Auckland was shut down in 2000, and for similar reasons – financial difficulties and behavioural issues that had some students and even teachers fearing for their safety.

Some of the challenges stem from October 1975 when Te Aute became ‘state integrated’ with pressure to accept troubled ‘social welfare’ or Child Youth and Family Services (CYFS) students, often expelled from other schools.

Investigations began in 2002, and a July 2005 school newsletter confirmed that bullying, drugs and theft “continued to be a problem”. The Education Review Office (ERO) reported unfavourable 2003 – 2007 NCEA results and in December 2008 it raised further concerns for the health and safety of students and staff.

It said “hostel and educational effectiveness” had at times “overwhelmed a succession of boards, staff and school leaders” and was adversely affecting student achievements.

The arrival of principal Blake in 2009 resulted in a stronger stand against bullying and violent behavior with repeat offenders removed as a counter to the “entrenched negative boarding school traditions”.

Blake told BayBuzz that having about ten CYFs boarders was a recipe for mayhem.

“Those boys needed a whole different support mechanism for their education. We are now very careful about who we take.”

Only three were selected to attend Te Aute for the 2013 year.

Under Blake’s guidance the ERO reported fewer incidents of “poorer behaviour” and pastoral care and student

Piripi Blake, departing principal

welfare issues were being addressed. He says Mãori boarding schools are under a lot of pressure to not only educate, but also mentor and work through a range of sociological issues students bring into the 24-hour living environment.

Te Aute’s decade of behavioural difficulty was a sharp contrast to the school memories of Dr Pita Sharples who admits nearly being kicked out in the late 1950s, until he was inspired by the stories of old boys who went on to do great things. This instilled a sense of pride and a desire to give something back to his people.

Dr James Graham says his Te Aute days in the early 80s were marked by a strong sense of leadership and camaraderie.

Whanaungatanga – being linked together as a family with a common purpose – and pride in “knowing who you are as a Mãori and as a person” permeated the culture.

“While you were encouraged to rise to your full potential there was also a sense of obligation that your skills and talents should not be wasted then or later in life.”

A legacy of debt Just as Te Aute was getting on top of its morality issues, a financial burden that overshadowed even the Glasgow leases came to light – the purchase of a second Woodville dairy unit, adjoining one gifted to Te Aute by an old boy.

Sources claim government ministers assured the TATB during a 2006 visit that millions of dollars would be available to them, resulting in a loan being arranged with the Bank of New Zealand. Ministerial officials then allegedly vetoed the offer.

Dr Graham says those who advised the TATB should have been sacked.

“Irrespective of the intentions of those on the board at the time, some of the professional advice they received, including from the bank, was not the best.”

It wasn’t until around May 2010 that the Anglican bishops, to whom the TATB is accountable, first learned of the transaction.

“No one knew they were in such a mess,” says a source involved in the Church’s oversight of Te Aute.

Continued on Page 25

»

te aute

Rethinking Mãori boarding schools tim.co.nz

Despite falling rolls and financial struggles, Mãori leaders, the Anglican Church and the Government appear to be taking a fresh look at the role of Mãori boarding schools.

A decade of declining attendance has been blamed on parents wanting to keep their rangatahi (youth) at home, competition from mainstream Mãorifocused schools, a lack of inspiring curriculum content and high cost.

While Auckland’s St Stephen’s in Bombay and Queen Victoria in Parnell closed at

Mãori Affairs and associate education minister Pita Sharples gave his vote of confidence in December, announcing 15 full scholarships for five years plus expenses for each of the remaining six Mãori boarding schools, starting in 2014.

Hukarere Girls’ College acting principal, Leslie Pearcey, claims a growing interest in boarding placements due to improved NCEA results and a desire for broader connections to culture. Retiring Te Aute principal Piripi Blake agrees, Mãori boarding schools help young people achieve by recognising “the value of culture”.

Accentuate the positive Today the talk is mainly positive. In 2011, NCEA results were considered “a triumph” with students achieving well above the national mean for Mãori students. At the end of 2012 the Minister of Education commended Te Aute on achievements at twice the national average for Mãori boys and the best in Hawke’s Bay. Continued on Page 26

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Fees of around $13,000 to $15,000 a year have kept many away, particularly in Hawke’s Bay, since the mass factory and works closures of the 1980s.

the turn of the millennium, the Anglican Church is now investigating whether to re-open them.

The TATB was sacked, the church stepped up with $2 million to help stabilise things.

Although details of the debt were kept under wraps, a ‘secret’ Te Puni Kõkiri report finally disclosed the damage. In the 2010 financial year TATB lost $2.18 million; Te Aute was bleeding $750,000 a year and bank debts and overdrafts with the BNZ were approaching $11 million.

Attempts to work out a deal with the bank were floundering when lawyer Patsy Reedy stepped up and unsuccessfully urged the government to raise Te Aute funding to the same level as state schools. The board of trustees resigned and following a request to the Ministry of Education, Commissioner Elizabeth Ellis moved in to run the school ahead of the 2011 year.

The financial affairs and running of the school and hostel came under intense scrutiny. Only when Hukarere’s Eskdale property was put up as security for the BNZ did other creditors back off. By late 2012 the overall debt had been reduced to $8.4 million.

Robin Hapi, co-chairman of the most recent version of the TATB, says it’s still working things through. “There’s still a long way to go. The farm at Te Aute is returning a substantial dividend to the board but the dairy farm in Woodville, while performing well, is depressing the overall operation.”

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te aute

Dr Pita Sharples, Te Aute old boy

Prominent Te Aute old boys Sir Apirana Ngata First Mãori university graduate, lawyer, politician, co-founder of the Young Mãori Party Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) First Mãori medical doctor, anthropologist, director of Bernice Bishop Museum in Hawaii Sir Maui Pomare Prominent doctor, statesman and Minister of Health Te Moana nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu Posthumously awarded Victoria Cross in 1943 Sir Charles Bennett DSO, high commissioner to Malaya, first Mãori Labour Party president Sir Howard Morrison Singer, entertainer Sir Edward Durie Retired High Court judge Sir Mason Durie Retired Massey University professor and assistant Vice-Chancellor Pita Sharples Mãori Affairs Minister, co-leader of the Mãori Party William Turei Anglican Bishop Sandy Adsett

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

26

Contemporary artist Norm Hewitt & Piri Weepu All Blacks However, 2012 was a disruptive year with the loss of Tiwha Blake the deputy principal, head of Mãori language and wife of principal Blake, who passed away suddenly on the last day of the second term.

“She had a huge input with the boys, it really knocked me and the students around,” says Blake who brought in a relief teacher with less experience. “We are always above the national average for Mãori boys and while we achieved that for 2012, it was still our worst year.”

Blake, in announcing his retirement to BayBuzz, believes his legacy would be

the change of culture at the school and overseeing, with Commissioner Ellis, the introduction of the new Tõku Moemoeã (My Dream) curriculum. Students can now learn at their own pace, based on their abilities, career aspirations and interests.

Blake says Te Aute is the only school fully embracing the programme, which he believes is the best model for improving achievement among Mãori boys.

Commissioner Ellis says emphasising Mãori visual and performing arts and kapa haka alongside literacy, numeracy and agricultural science, is “revolutionary and will make Te Aute College a leader in Aotearoa.”

Dr Graham agrees it could help break the cycle of appalling educational statistics; one in two Mãori boys were destined to fail in education or exit school without qualifications in 2012. “There’s millions of dollars being pumped into the mainstream system that’s not conducive to all Mãoridom.

It’s worse than it’s ever been, so why would you close schools that have done well for Mãori on a per capita basis?”

The new approach is a major step toward realising Vision 2035, developed in 2009 by the Te Aute Futures Group headed by old boy Sir Mason Durie, highlighting the need to differentiate by specialising in applied sciences, economics, the arts and sports.

Robin Hapi says the school needs to continue making changes so it can develop leadership in agri-business and agri-science, something that’s “not happening with any gusto” currently.

He’s confident it will become part of the strategic direction, once the TATB is in a better position to support such initiatives in a sustainable way. “We have our own farm, a deep rooted history in agriculture, associations with local iwi and are in close proximity to the likes of Brownrigg Agriculture.”

Dr Sharples has been working with Taratahi Agricultural Training School, which has two major farms in Masterton, to create new courses for Te Aute in 2014. “We’ve got to lift the attainment level. Mãori farms that win agricultural awards every year often don’t have a Mãori manager and there are opportunities there.”

There’s also an anticipated need for skilled Mãori to manage land, forests and fishing allocations following Treaty settlements.

Cynicism remains Although around $2 million from the Anglican Church kept Te Aute limping through its darkest days, it’s suggested there’ll be no more cash unless “certain milestones and accountabilities are met”.

Within Te Pïhopatanga o Aotearoa – the Mãori arm of the Anglican Church – there’s a certain cynicism around Vision 2035 and

whether Te Aute can pull out of its nosedive.

“We’ve heard it so many times before but we don’t see any progress,” says a source with a 40-year involvement.

Dr Graham, who helped develop Vision 2035, admits there’s an element of dreaming but says that’s what a vision is. “It’s a dream and from that you realise it’s a process around which you can strategise. It’s like climbing a mountain, there’s a lot of work and preparation required to get to the top.”

He says many dedicated people are working hard to restore the right kind of management and governance. “I’m getting on board with that, and yes, I will send my two sons there to climb that mountain if I know the foundation for the vision is well established.”

The Te Aute Trust Board has rejected some of the options put by the Anglican Church, including separate administrative and governing entities for Te Aute and Hukarere, and working with the boards of St Stephen’s and Queen Victoria which still manage assets and investments despite their closure.

Instead the TATB wants legislative changes to give “better effect to the intentions and expectations” implicit in the original endowment while “modernising its own structure to become more sustainable,” says Hapi.

A report to the Anglican Synod in 2012, claims the Crown failed to give “proper effect” to the role of the TATB, that the original 1853 arrangement was “not adequately completed” and the Whatuiapiti endowment imperfectly recognised. This “legacy of justified grievance” forms part of the Treaty of Waitangi claim.

Church input challenged Commissioner Ellis believes greater cooperation between Church and State is needed to move things forward. Another source in leadership at Te Aute says, as an Anglican school, the Church should have more input into the “spiritual and moral” wellbeing of the students.

A strategic plan of guidance to help young people make the right choices about ways of

te aute

Commissioner Elizabeth Ellis

living in society would be welcomed. While a range of secular services were called in to address behavioural issues in the decade from 2000, the source suggests greater support and assistance should have been evident from the Anglicans at the “special character Christian school”.

Dr James Graham also believes the connection forged with Ngai Te Whatuiapiti chiefs in 1853 implies a greater obligation and responsibility. “Some would argue that in nearly 160 years … the Anglican Church has not been as strong a partner as the original agreement suggested.”

Consequently, a cheeky challenge was put to the Anglican General Synod meeting in Fiji in July 2012, when former TATB member Professor Whatarangi Winiata, proposed it hand over half of the $315 million in the St John’s College Trust Fund to its Mãori arm.

He suggested this would be in line with the church constitution and could be used for Mãori educational needs, including rescuing Anglican Mãori boarding schools like Te Aute. A small working party is currently looking into this, according to the Anglican general secretary, Michael Hughes.

While the agreement to consult was applauded as “historic” and “ground breaking”, another motion from Professor Winiata, asking for an advance to help save Te Aute College was declined. Archbishop David Moxon said “material uncertainties” about the prospects of Te Aute College made the decision difficult.

If there’s no progress at the July 2014 General Synod meeting, a resolution is certainly promised in time for the 2014 Synod at Paihia, near Waitangi, possibly as part of the 200th anniversary of Rev. Samuel Marsden’s first sermon on New Zealand soil.

Some believe it would be appropriate for the church to make a generous show of solidarity to its Mãori arm with a literal transfer of funds and management rights; others suggest that’s unlikely.

Hope for the future A lot rests on promised financial relief from the Treaty claim, government compensation for the lease losses and the veiled offer from the Anglican Church.

While managing its existing debt burden, Te Aute will need to add at least as much as

it owes on facilities and new classrooms to cater for the expansion implicit in a more specialised curriculum.

Although the threat of closure is receding along with concerns about student behaviour and achievement, Te Aute will need robust leadership and stakeholder agreement around common goals to keep it moving forward.

Even Vision 2035 concedes it may be 2016 before parents see the kind of track record from Te Aute College that will once again inspire them to put their sons on a waiting list. Dr Graham says the same resilience that got Te Aute through its turbulent past is needed today. “The essence or ethos of Te Aute is enduring; we have to respond the way they did back then by doing the mahi (work).”

Meanwhile Dr Pita Sharples remains in bat for his old college, challenging iwi around the country to set up their own scholarships, alongside the new government offerings, so Mãori youth with leadership potential get the same chance as their ancestors to become Te Aute history makers.

Additional Sources: The Te Aute Trust Board (TATB) report to the Anglican General Synod, March 2012 The Te Aute Endowment, a chapter in the Opening The Gate by Hugh McBain

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‘Call-in’ versus ‘Time Out’ on Dam

by ~ tom belford

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

28

The HB Regional Council is plowing ahead with its $600 million dam scheme, even as more voices join those who have been trying to slow down the Council’s process in the interest of environmental and financial prudence.

If HBRC sticks to its stated plan, by the time you are reading this article, HBRC’s investment company (HB Regional Investment Company – HBRIC) will have formally requested the Environment Minister to ‘call-in’ its various consent applications to proceed with the CHB dam. In tandem, HBRC itself will officially ‘notify’ its water quality and allocation plan for the Tukituki, and then ask for that plan to be ‘called-in’ as well.

A ‘call-in’ means that the Environment Minister determines that these matters should be decided by (in this case) an appointed Board of Inquiry as opposed to going through the normal local submission, hearings and (if needed)

Environment Court appeal process.

These two inter-related initiatives, if approved by the Board of Inquiry, will set the course for the Tukituki catchment for decades.

Many in the community argue that these proposals are moving too fast, and have not been properly presented to the people of Hawke’s Bay, who will need to live with the financial and environmental consequences of this scheme, before handing off key decisions to Wellington.

For example, businessman Colin Crombie, writing recently in Hawke’s Bay Today on behalf of Friends of the Tukituki, called for a ‘time out’ in the process.

He argued: “Throughout the so-called collaborative process, HBRC has failed to provide pertinent science and economic information in a complete or timely fashion. And as information does trickle out, the questions and doubts multiply, as faulty assumptions become apparent.

Instead of genuine consultation, the regional council has rushed to meet an arbitrary schedule that belies the environmental and financial intricacies of a projected $600 million scheme – the biggest infrastructure investment our region has ever contemplated.

“Perhaps the proposed scheme might ultimately meet objectives that all parties could endorse. However, today, with all the uncertainties that persist, no reasonable person in Hawke’s Bay can make that judgment.

“A scheme of this magnitude and potential significance must have a clear mandate from the ratepayers and voters of Hawke’s Bay. It must not be fast-tracked to avoid probing scrutiny.”

Others support ‘time out’ Also seeking a ‘time out’ are HB Fish & Game (requesting a three month pause) and the region’s iwi voice, Ngãti Kahungunu (requesting a six-month pause).

In addition, Transparent Hawke’s Bay (THB, of which I am a member), with the assistance of Wellington law firm Chen Palmer, has filed two actions.

First, THB has asked the Auditor-General to investigate what we regard as a failure on the part of the Regional Council to properly consult, as required by the Local Government Act, on its 2012-22 Long Term Plan. This LTP is the only ‘authority’ by which HBRC may commit funds to the dam project – $80 million is signaled; however, we argue this figure grossly understates the

What to expect?

If a ‘time out’ is called …

THB argues that a ‘time out’ should be used to enable independent review of key science and economic assumptions by experts with no stake in the outcome.

With all facts on the table, full public consultation should follow, including a hearing process monitored by observers from EPA and the Ministry for Primary Industries (HBRC’s source of funding support for scheme development).

Only after this robust process can ratepayers in Hawke’s Bay make an informed decision about giving a mandate to this huge project.

If the call-in proceeds as HBRC hopes …

Environment Minister Amy Adams would agree in early June to accept the ‘call-in’ applications, consider the request within days and, assuming her approval, move quickly to appoint the Board of Inquiry.

From that point the Board of Inquiry would take over, conducting its own investigation of the environmental issues only (it has no responsibility to evaluate the scheme’s financial viability or risks), including public consultation in its review.

The Board is required to make its decision within nine months from appointment.

The Regional Council has budgeted $9 million (including $3 million from MPI) to progress its water storage scheme in 2013-14, including shepherding the proposal through the Board of Inquiry process. Advocates of a ‘time out’ argue that those funds should not be committed until full public scrutiny has occurred.

If the project does not survive closer scrutiny right here in Hawke’s Bay, ratepayers and taxpayers would be spared much of that $9 million expense.

If a Board of Inquiry process is launched, Hawke’s Bay Fish & Game has indicated that it will present a substantial science-based case challenging the key underpinnings of the Regional Council’s too weak water quality proposals.

Transparent Hawke’s Bay Transparent Hawke’s Bay, an incorporated society, is focused exclusively on open processes, reliable information, and public involvement in councils’ decision-making. For now, THB is concentrating on the decisionmaking process for the Ruataniwha water storage scheme.

Pulling together and advancing THB’s case for a ‘time out’ requires huge effort on the part of a very committed volunteer team. In addition to their efforts, presenting our case in Wellington effectively requires capable legal counsel, and that means money is required, even though our legal team is delivering ‘above and beyond’.

Bottom line: We need your help with contributions.

If you would like to support THB’s efforts to ensure an informed review of the dam project, please send your contribution to: Transparent Hawke’s Bay PO Box 821, Napier Or you can deposit directly to the Transparent Hawke’s Bay bank account at ASB Napier: 12-3144-0245035-00 Founding THB members are ordinary citizens: Pauline Elliott (Chair), Sharleen Baird, Jessica Barron, Brooks Belford, Tom Belford, Gail Cheyne, John Cheyne, Grenville Christie, Heath Elliott, Marie Elliott, Stefan Olsen, Meg Rose, Chris Ryan, Phyllis Tichinin, and Tessa Tylee. With many more supporters in the wings.

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

financial implications and ratepayer risks of the scheme.

Announcing the appeal to the AuditorGeneral, THB chair Pauline Elliott said: “Cost estimates for the dam itself increased by $60 million after public submissions closed, and no mention was made of even greater on-farm costs; the strongly indicated intention of the Regional Council to retain 51% equity in ownership is now fudged, and perhaps impossible to secure; other cost factors, such as stricter environmental mitigation measures, and dependencies have not been disclosed.”

Responding to the THB announcement, a supporter from Waipukurau emailed: “We all know that historically these sort of schemes tend to be used as political leveraging by the privileged few, and the public is only fed very minimal slanted information. And the ‘estimates’ that are used to sell the idea tend to massively balloon out of control as soon as the scheme is passed, and the ratepayer is forced to pay. And only when it’s too late, do some things tend to be disclosed.

“As a ratepayer, and one of those who will ultimately be expected to help pay, surely we are entitled to have ALL the facts before rushing into a decision. After all, can our elected representatives seriously argue that by prudently doing a thorough due diligence, the entire scheme will be disastrously compromised by a delay?

What’s the rush?”

In addition, THB has submitted a brief to the Minister for the Environment arguing that a ‘call-in’ of this project absent genuine consultation would be premature and imprudent at best, and in fact is legally challengeable.

Both of these requests are now sitting with the officials involved, although by the time you are reading this, their decisions on how or whether to proceed should have been made. For its part, THB has indicated it will seek court review of the HBRC’s process if a voluntary ‘time out’ is not forthcoming.

29

Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au

I am the river and the river is me Editor’s Note ...

Water is an integral, defining part of Mãori self-identity. And here in Hawke’s Bay, Ngãti Kahungunu, the country’s thirdlargest iwi, has begun to flex its muscles as a more active voice in water issues.

In particular, the proposed Ruataniwha dam has drawn the attention of NKII, the organization responsible for the iwi’s development. As reported in the DomPost (24 Apr 2013), NKII chairman, Ngahiwi Tomoana has complained that the iwi has

not been properly consulted on the dam.

Consequently, Mr Tomoana has asked the HB Regional Council for a six-month delay in further processing of the dam proposal.

He has written in Hawke’s Bay Today (6 Feb 2013): “…this iwi has alternative suggestions to water storage and economic development that need further examination and conversations rather than us all being chained to such an expensive idea of a super dam.”

And contrary to impressions promoted

by HBRC that Mãori are presumptive investors in the scheme, Mr Tomoana says in the DomPost: “They [council] seem to have just assumed we will invest … Those other iwi have come to us to ask for our position. We’ve said we are not investing and explained why and they’ve said they won’t invest unless Ngãti Kahungunu takes the lead.”

The values and worldview underpinning of the iwi’s position on this and other water issues is well-presented in the following article prepared by Ngãti Kahungunu.

Ngã wai a te ao Mãori, a Ngãti Kahungunu The waterways of Ngãti Kahungunu

Ngahiwi Tomoana

Water claim lodged In September 2012, Ngãti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated lodged a contemporary water claim with the Waitangi Tribunal.

The claim is to protect the interests of Ngãti Kahungunu whãnau and hapü to their lakes, swamps, aquifers, springs, rivers and other waterways.

Ngãti Kahungunu has commissioned a range of research to strengthen and support our claim: • Cultural research demonstrating our extensive history and links with waterways in our region; • Economic research that conservatively estimates the contribution that key waterways (including the Heretaunga and Ruataniwha aquifers) make to the economy in this region – $311 million per annum; • Political and legal advice to determine the best approach to settle this claim with the Crown. Direct negotiation with the Crown is the preferred approach of Ngãti Kahungunu.

Ngãti Kahungunu have proposed a range of remedies. These include: establishing a Kahungunu Iwi Water Authority (KIWA), water royalties, and commercial use water levies.

Key points moving ahead: • Ngãti Kahungunu hapü have proprietary rights in a Mãori system of tenure.

• Ngãti Kahungunu seeks to acknowledge and define ngã hapü o Ngãti Kahungunu ‘proprietary rights and interest to water’ in support of sustainable environmental and economic development in our region.

• NKII can lead this kaupapa on behalf of our region.

Why should you subscribe to BayBuzz?

BayBuzz delivers depth. With insider perspectives. Range of viewpoints, strongly presented. Issues and topics that matter.

Ngãti Kahungunu iwi Ngãti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII) is the mandated iwi authority responsible for all aspects of Ngãti Kahungunu development.

Ngãti Kahungunu has the third largest iwi population (55,946) and the second largest tribal rohe and coastline, from Paritu and extending inland across the Wharerata Ranges in the north to Turakirae in the southern Wairarapa.

The iwi authority maintains an independent position to advocate for the interests and rights, including values, beliefs and practices of all Ngãti Kahungunu tãngata whenua, whãnau, hapü and iwi. Tãngata whenua hold significant cultural, social, economic and spiritual connection to the natural environment and have rights and interests to its resources.

From a BayBuzz reader:

“Articles are always well presented, clearly articulated and carry a substance that is refreshing.”

BayBuzz is only available on annual subscription or for $5 per issue. Subscribe now at www.baybuzz.co.nz!

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Ngãti Kahungunu lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, foreshore and sea have always been an integral part of our existence, supporting and providing sustenance for our Taha Hinengaro (psychological), Taha Tinana (physical), Taha Wairua (spiritual) and Taha Whãnau (family) well-being and health.

Our marae were always situated strategically near waterways which provided mahinga kai (e.g. tuna/eels, pãtiki/flounder, mullet, kakahi/mussels, watercress) and were also the ‘highways’ of the past, linking distant settlements together.

When introducing ourselves to others, our awa (river) or wai (lake) is an important part of our mihi (greeting) alongside our maunga (mountain) and Tipuna (ancestors).

Thus, in this way, waterways are intrinsically linked to our whakapapa (geneology), giving rise to the Mãori whakatauki (proverb): Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au – I am the river and the river is me.

With the natural environment being vital to human survival, we are all charged to preserve and protect our air, water and lands and the resources within for the benefit and survival of ourselves and our mokopuna (grandchildren).

Mãori have always considered that the waterways in our rohe (region) are ‘ours’ in a collective sense, so it should’ve come as no surprise that when the National Government announced what amounts to the privatisation of our water, that Mãori would want some definitions around “Mãori rights in interests to water”.

In Ngãti Kahungunu the iwi has been very active in this space, holding numerous wãnanga (learning workshops) and hui (meetings) with our whãnau and hapü (groupings of whãnau) over the past four years to develop an iwi-wide view on water.

More recently hui have also been held with key stakeholders in the community (from Wairoa to Wairarapa – the Ngãti

Kahungunu rohe/region), including mayors and high-volume water users. The purpose of these hui is to determine a regionally appropriate solution to the complexity of water management (win-win scenarios).

31

Councils Setting Annual Budgets by ~ JESSICA SOUTAR BARROn

tim.co.nz

Every three years councils set out work programmes and budget priorities in their Long Term Plans (LTP). Then every year they tweak it and ask the folks at home what they think before adopting that year’s official Annual Plan.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

34

HBRC Highlights With its key responsibility being the environment, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is pushing its water storage project: the Ruataniwha dam and associated Tukituki catchment plan change. HBRC calls this its “key means to improve summer flows and water quality, enhance water security for users and provide for sustainable economic development.”

In terms of air, clean heat is the main focus through the Heat Smart programme, which encourages the installation of clean heat appliances in Napier and Hastings.

“We experienced a great result last winter with the Napier ‘airshed’ recording no Councils have just released their draft exceedances of the national air quality Annual Plans and people have until midstandards for the first time,” says HBRC’s Liz May to get in their submissions.

Lambert, General Manager (Operations).

The bottom line most people await each Transport across the region also falls year is the rates increase. This is signalled in under the remit of HBRC. The Annual the LTP but only confirmed in the Annual Plan highlights this in two ways. The urban Plans, and it’s the bit that hits the pockets of bus service run by HBRC has increased in everyone who pays rates. popularity with 18% more passenger trips This year Hastings District has proposed a rates increase of 2.8%, Napier City 1.2% and than in the previous year, a satisfying result and something the Council hopes to build Hawke’s Bay Regional Council 4.5%. It’s on. Cycle trails throughout the Bay are also always seen as a balance between keeping a win for HBRC, a project that ties in with costs down and delivery of services up, and HDC work along a similar vein. this is the opportunity people have to let ‘Strategic Alliances’ are also a key feature councils know if they have that balance right. of the plan for Lambert who says: “Pleasing The Annual Plan process also gives progress has been made in this area on councils a chance to do a bit of public relations on the projects they are particularly several fronts.” A Regional Planning Committee, made up of elected councillors proud of, or want community support for.

and treaty claimant group representatives, is up and running and making policy development decisions, and a working party with the Department of Conservation and two other regional councils is underway.

HBRC is also hosting a Massey University business development manager, whose role is to enhance opportunities for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council by providing a portal into Massey research services.

Another area where HBRC is looking at how it delivers its services, rather than the services themselves, is its participation in the Better Administrative Support Systems (BASS) process. This lets HBRC compare its performance and efficiency against six other regional councils and is designed to provide information to improve transparency and scrutiny, and to help identify opportunities for improvement and savings.

In the HBRC plan, some work signalled in the LTP will be put back, or canned completely. A decision on fracking is being delayed while the Council waits for a report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and a feasibility study on Ngaruroro water storage is being delayed so resources can be committed to the Ruataniwha dam. The Hill Country Afforestation project, which was going to tap into international carbon trading, has been abandoned because of the collapse of the carbon market.

council budgets

NCC Highlights Much of the focus of the Napier City Council plan is on public amenities and attractions that will entice visitors and engage locals, supporting the city’s tourism initiatives.

Mayor Barbara Arnott says that the development of Marine Parade is a priority for the city. “Currently the junior cycle track is being constructed and landscaping from that point to the aquarium, with barbeques and seating, will follow this winter.”

In the plan the NCC states it will be working with its local arts community to make use of the old council chambers.

If funding is secured the building will become a home for Creative Napier and a venue for exhibitions and community arts programmes. Alongside this, work continues on the Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum with completion and an opening set for this financial year.

“The plan also outlines the upgrade of Hershell Street, truly making it a cultural precinct,” says Arnott.

A lynchpin for locals and tourists is the long awaited central bus shelter. NCC has committed to this in its draft plan and is approaching commercial bus companies to contribute financially.

“The community has asked loud and clear for a bus park for inter-city travel and the council has responded with funds for this facility close to Clive Square,” says Arnott.

Other ongoing projects due to be completed within this financial year are construction of the city’s waste water plant, additional storm water capacity on Tennyson St – these two projects alone account for about $40 million – upgrading Clive Square community rooms and starting development on the Park Island strategic plan.

HDC Highlights For Hastings District Council the focus is on the economy – jobs, attracting business – and on facilities and services for the youngest and oldest members of the population. Housing and emergency management are also key features.

HDC cites the squeeze from increased insurance costs as a financial concern, as does NCC, but both councils have managed to put forth a plan full of development and growth in spite of that.

In Hastings there are a number of projects already started that will continue over the next year, and beyond. With so much in the pipelines Hastings will be one to watch in terms of delivery on time and to budget.

The Model Communities walking and cycling project, known locally as iWay, will continue with connectivity improvements planned, as well as further on- and off-road tracks. Public information campaigns will also continue, with much

of this financially supported by the New Zealand Transport Authority.

Construction work is planned across the district, from the proposed Te Mata Park Centre in Havelock North and continued development at the Regional Sports Park to building works at Clive Pool to improvements at Flaxmere Park.

William Nelson Park is also a major development for this financial year and will include green space, a playground and a skate park.

The Hastings plan also includes two significant environmental issues. One is the proposal to convert gas generated by landfill into energy, with the aim to power homes in the future. The other is the issue of erosion currently threatening the Clifton campground and boat ramp.

You have until 10 May to submit in writing on the Regional Council and Napier plans, and until 13 May on the Hastings plan, and can, if you wish, speak to your submissions in June. The final Annual Plans will be ready in late June.

For more information visit: Hawke’s Bay Regional Council:

www.hbrc.govt.nz Napier City Council:

www.napier.govt.nz Hastings District Council:

www.hastingsdc.govt.nz

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

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35

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Inside Hawke’s Bay Politics, circa May by ~ TOM BELFORD

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First contenders announcing

Politics 2013 is already getting quite complicated for the casual bystander.

A stunning retirement in Napier. Continuing meltdown at the Regional Council. Boundary realignment in Hastings.

Wairoa and CHB – everyone, for that matter – dancing around the amalgamation issue.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

36

A big chunk of the population seems to think that reorganisation doesn’t matter, especially if the same folks get re-elected.

Another big chunk says it doesn’t matter who gets elected, ‘they’re all the same’ anyway (which generally seems to translate to: oblivious to ratepayers or uninspiring).

So many of that group, about 56% of all HB electors in 2010, don’t bother voting at all).

Here’s one view of the Hawke’s Bay political landscape, circa May. Napier Napier has been in a deep political stupor, given the dominance of Mayor Arnott, apart from the occasional antiamalgamation burp from Councillor Dalton and the ‘will he or won’t he’ mayoral flirtations of Stuart Nash. With Nash redeclaring his parliamentary ambitions, we had all settled down for a long winter’s nap.

But then the Mayor dropped ice cubes down everyone’s back by announcing her electoral retirement. And now candidates are proliferating.

As I write, Councillor and previous mayoral candidate Michelle Pyke (4,476 votes to Arnott’s 13,515 in 2010) and

Councillor John Cocking have indicated an intention to stand for mayor. Lawyer and Business Hawke’s Bay chairman Stuart McLauchlan is considering the run. And Councillor Dalton can’t be far behind, no doubt claiming ‘public clamour’ to do so.

Many Napier business leaders stoutly criticise the Arnott/CEO Taylor regime behind closed doors, and both Cocking and Dalton would be perceived as representing ‘business as usual’. If McLauchlan enters the race, he would be the most likely favourite of the business community.

While there are many unhappy with ‘business as usual’ in Napier local government, that discontent does not necessarily translate into support for reorganisation. McLauchlan, as a founding member of pro-amalgamation A Better Hawke’s Bay, would need to overcome amalgamation resistance.

In a scenario where there might be several candidates vying for 20,000 or so votes – Cocking and Dalton (business as usual), Pyke (protest vote), and McLauchlan (‘fresh face’ but proamalgamation) voice – who might win?

I haven’t a clue, but the winner – lucky indeed to win 40% of the votes – may have little or no clear mandate.

Hastings The big non-surprise in Hastings is that Lawrence Yule is standing for a fifth term as mayor. Talk about playing it safe! In my book, a missed opportunity to shed his Hastings focus and baggage, and instead of assigning CBD parking spaces, articulate the regional vision he insists must inspire amalgamation.

So the only issue in Hastings is who gets to lose to Yule. For whatever reason, Councillor Simon Nixon is determined to prove he can lose three times, instead of graciously passing the baton to Councillor Wayne Bradshaw, who might prove equally un-electable, but as an independent voice and community do-er deserves a clean shot at the post.

Collapsing of the presently separate Havelock North and Hastings wards into one ward throws seven incumbents (Councillor Margaret Twigg not standing) into one pot, vying for eight seats in an area that holds 58% of the entire district’s population. If they compete for council seats, this will present a challenge to Councillors Bradshaw and Henderson, who previously ran in a much smaller Havelock North ward.

The unknown variable in Hastings in 2013 will be the fluoride ballot measure. There’s no doubt that a fervent constituency wants fluoride removed from Hastings drinking water, and they will turn out their vote. For many of those voters, candidates’ positions on the referendum will be defining – i.e., they will vote against pro-fluoride candidates. How many of these ‘anti-fluoridistas’ are there?!

I suspect some interested party will commission a professional survey on this issue before election time!

Regional Council During the last campaign, Regional Councillors Kevin Rose and Christine Scott declared their 2010 races to be their final ones. Watch for memory loss in both cases.

Councillor Liz Remmerswaal has indicated she will not stand again. Councillor Tim Gilbertson has been coy about his reelection plans, sometimes suggesting that two new children might be enough to keep him busy.

But most likely, we’re looking at 8 out of 9 regional councillors seeking re-election.

Those incumbent councillors will probably face the toughest challenges of any races in Hawke’s Bay in 2013. Here is a group embarrassed most recently by: • A leaky roof on its headquarters building, costing $2 million to repair; • Dead dogs after exposure to the Tukituki, with hazardous health (human & animal) warnings posted along the river;

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• Still polluting poo ponds in Waipukurau and Waipawa; • A deteriorating relationship with the region’s primary iwi, Ngãti Kahungunu; • Directors of its holding company seeking major increases in fees, on the back of ‘recommendations’ not reviewed

by HBRC’s chief financial officer (despite his signature appearing on the recommendation memo); • A webcasting system that fails to record the meeting where the directors’ fees debacle occurs.

All on top of public alarm at the council’s speed, lack of informed consultation and – given the above circumstances – perhaps competence to manage its $600 million dam scheme.

A number of challengers are tipped to stand against the HBRC incumbents – myself, Pauline Elliott of Transparent Hawke’s Bay, Chris Perley (former HBRC employee specializing in land use), and Paul Bailey of the Green Party. All of these are outspoken critics of the HBRC’s handling of the dam process. No doubt other contenders will put themselves forward.

Candidate tickets At least two groups have been discussing formation of candidate tickets for 2013 – A Better Hawke’s Bay, focused on amalgamation; and Fresh Thinking, defined by a statement of core values.

If an ABHB ticket emerges, its candidates will be united by their pro-amalgamation

stance, whatever else they individually espouse. Presumably, such candidates would be recruited to some extent for each council.

Fresh Thinking has embraced more of a ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ approach.

This group has developed a one-page manifesto, framed around values like sustainability, resilience, inter-generational responsibility, openness, diversity, equity, and integrity. Candidates who embrace these values would be suitable ‘Fresh Thinking’ candidates.

The difficulty with this approach is that it may be virtually impossible to find a candidate – including every incumbent officeholder in Hawke’s Bay – who does not profess to share these values. The one thing a ticket must do is clearly differentiate its candidates from ‘the others’.

That said, Fresh Thinking will prove valuable if it can marshal and target resources – people power for door-knocking, signage, social media buzz, money – in support of at least some candidates.

Apart from these two groups, those candidates especially focused on environmental issues will most likely pool resources and outreach efforts as well. They will advance a common message that more specifically points out the failures and misdirection of the Regional Council and its incumbents.

More clarity around who is standing will soon emerge. In the next edition of BayBuzz, we’ll tackle the questions: Is change seriously in the air? Can it be delivered by the same faces getting re-elected again?

For more information:

A Better Hawke’s Bay www.abetterhb.co.nz Fresh Thinking HB: www.facebook.com/ Freshthinkinghawkesbay DAD HB: www.dadhb.co.nz

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Amalgamation adds a twist Cross-cutting all the more councilspecific issues and personality politics in the region is the issue of amalgamation.

Polling conducted by A Better Hawke’s Bay (ABHB) indicates that voter majorities in Napier, Hastings, CHB and Wairoa favor some form of reorganisation. But until the Local Government Commission (LGC) puts forward a ‘preferred alternative’ (to the status quo) around the end of June, it is difficult to gauge where the public might stand, or how their views might shift as candidates and lobby groups like ABHB and DAD (Dedicated and Democratic HB) make their cases.

Importantly, although the ABHB ‘One Council’ proposal has been accepted by the LGC as a starting point, it is only the starting point. Other alternatives will be

considered by the Commission, including the ‘Super-sized’ Regional Council, extending from Wairoa to the Wairarapa, that sprang un-researched from the head of HBRC Chairman Fenton Wilson, if it survives final HBRC consideration.

The Hastings Council has offered an alternative based on the ABHB plan, but with two more councillors representing rural areas around Hastings and Napier. Its plan (18 councillors in total), endorsing ABHB’s recommendation of two seats for CHB and Wairoa, is an attempt to strengthen the case for rural representation, given the importance of the region’s farming economy.

Anti-amalgamation forces centered in Napier have yet to propose an alternative.

With a majority of CHB councillors favouring some form of reorganisation, Mayor Peter Butler says he will personally propose that the LGC retain the status quo.

The Wairoa Council may propose simply that they be left out of any amalgamation.

These and any other parties must have acted by 3 May.

By July, the LGC will eventually proffer whatever plan it deems best for initial public consultation in Hawke’s Bay. Then the gloves will come off! The public will debate the LGC’s preferred alternative, then by early September the LGC will notify its official recommendation, and the debate will carry on through the election campaign window.

Surely, each candidate in Hawke’s Bay in 2013 will be expected to have a view on amalgamation – the LGC’s preferred alternative versus the status quo. Which raises the prospect of candidate tickets.

37

Fighting Talk by ~ KEITH NEWMAN

Hawke’s Bay telco challenges big duopoly

Keith Newman talks to the executive team at feisty local telco NOW about humble beginnings and getting match fit to take on the Goliaths of the communications world.

A flyweight wireless internet provider that began life in a Hastings laundry a decade ago has morphed into a muscular full-service challenger, in training to take on heavyweights Vodafone and Telecom across the middle and lower North Island.

Onekawa-based NOW, with a local

track record for innovation in wireless internet, broadband over copper and fibre optic-based business solutions, wants to step into the ring and duke it out for a bigger slice of the $5 billion prize money.

Chief executive Hamish White is bullish and verging on bolshy when he talks about his home-grown telco contesting the 81% market share of incumbent duopoly Telecom and Vodafone.

The company which changed hands, beefed up its systems and capitalised for growth a year ago, wants a larger slice of annual Kiwi spend of $3 billion on fixed line and $2 billion on mobile services.

White insists the old world Goliaths built on analogue foundations have way too many employees and overheads and “are headed for a train wreck” at a time

when the business and regulatory stars are lining up for a new wave of competition.

Because Telecom no longer own the infrastructure, it’s subject to the same constraints and gross margins as its competitors. That makes it more vulnerable to nimble players like NOW with its fully scaleable digital platform and focus on fibre.

White suggests the DNA of incumbents is to preserve existing revenues and margins. “We’re already bringing down the price; when we offer services and slash 20% off the bottom line they’ll have to follow kicking and screaming.”

NOW will firm up its mobile offerings this year with value-added deals for businesses, and ultimately domestic customers, reselling the services of Vodafone or Telecom.

Hamish White and Ben Deller

tim.co.nz

Humble beginnings NOW had its genesis in June 2002 when technical director and 20% shareholder Sam Deller; inventor, visionary and self-taught telco whiz, returned from working with MCI WorldCom in London, and saw a yawning gap in the local market.

Along with his own innovations he sourced leading-edge technology to build a scaleable IP-based network ahead of launching wireless internet provider Airnet. Brother Ben Deller, involved in sales and marketing from day one, says Sam is without peer in voice and telco engineering and could see where the industry was heading.

With a group of backers, Airnet took on its first customers and moved into premises at Whakatu, guaranteeing

4Mbit/sec speeds to businesses, some rural customers, and those Telecom couldn’t reach with its copper-line digital subscriber line (DSL) service.

Connecting wireless customers was expensive and time consuming but the Dellers had their eye on a bigger picture, the transition to full telecommunications carrier.

However, playing with the big boys isn’t for the faint-hearted. For a start, says Ben Deller, the bar is set very high to achieve permission to connect (PTC), with contenders typically spending tens of millions of dollars on consulting and engineering.

Airnet jumped straight to home base. “Sam developed the voice interconnection technology himself and just rocked up with a box under his

arm; within a week it was done. He had built the technology that differentiates resellers from phone companies.”

Mini milestone met From June 2010, Airnet could install equipment directly into telephone exchanges and deliver national voice and broadband data services. In the first month it added 100 new customers to its 500 user base, a milestone that created a great deal of excitement.

However, it soon became clear it didn’t have the customer service staff and technology to cope. Local IT entrepreneur Rod Drury, aware of their dilemma, suggested they meet with former Telecom marketing man, Hamish White at Tank.

“Hamish clearly understood the market Continued on Page 40

»

Fighting talk

so we engaged him to work up a concept of what the company could look like in the future and a strategy to get us there,” says Deller.

Ahead of joining the Airnet board, White pitched a re-brand … ‘Airnet – it’s sorted’ … which resonated with everyone.

However the next step, investment in new technology, plus sales and marketing and customer service systems, raised eyebrows.

In order to grow, the company needed to build credibility and robustness, but the board resisted. White offered to resign in January 2011, believing he could no longer add value in this uneasy limbo.

“The reality is you don’t go acquiring all this upstream national and international bandwidth capability unless you’re going to use it.”

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

40

Day and night traffic He says Airnet needed to increase the number of business customers during the day and domestic users active in the evening, “otherwise economically you’re screwed”.

Confident the company had the right ingredients, White, after doing a full work-up on the regulatory, technical and economic drivers, staged what amounted to a takeover.

From Nov 2011 he acquired 65% of the shares, contingent on finding the necessary funding to finance growth and clear existing debt, and began bringing together a star line-up of business savvy board members including Napier businessman Neville Smith, Furnware’s Hamish Whyte and insurance heavyweight Colin Crombie to move the company forward.

After six months of hard slog, they took the kernel of the business and all of its smart technology from Whakatu to larger premises in Onekawa, Napier, and in April 2012 re-branded as NOW. Under new ownership and with sufficient funding to grow to a methodical business plan they began adding to the 1,000-strong customer base.

Investing for service All the company’s voice and data systems are now industry standard; after initially working with Juniper it’s also bought in technology from Alcatel-Lucent.

“We’ve invested seven figures behind the scenes on enterprise grade network infrastructure and redundancy to ensure we’re rigorous and robust,” says White.

NOW has three levels of support, “all the technical and administrative functions you’d find in any telco,” says Deller. It has 25 staff and expects to grow organically to 45, including call centre staff, by early 2014. The original plan of 200 staff within five years, now seems modest.

White’s so confident in the customer service experience that he refuses to sign people up for contracts on anything other than hardware. “It’s a fool’s paradise if you’re locking people into contracts, if you don’t provide the service they will leave you anyway.”

While the company has the potential to be in profit today, it has chosen to continue investing in emerging opportunities. To do anything less, suggests White, would be to “short change shareholders”.

Handbrake released Businesses across the Bay are now paying far more attention and teams of door knockers are adding to the domestic uptake, “there’s a buzz and a hum every day,” says Deller.

At times it’s felt like the handbrake is on, now it’s being released slowly. “When we came back after Christmas we found our sales levels for January-February alone were the equivalent of the entire previous year.”

While that blew everyone away, he says the company has to remain focused, and keep “looking 50 miles down the road”.

A close watch is kept on all the metrics including the structure of voice and data plans. “We have a preoccupation with numbers, everything is measured every day,” says Deller.

NOW’s salespeople are business consultants who understand the alphabet soup of ITC acronyms; IP, VoIP, cloud services, next generation telephony and data services, and know how to solve problems.

This year is about product development, working collaboratively with PBX and IT integrators and educating businesses to redesign around fibre to become more efficient and responsive to their customers and suppliers.

Typically that might mean pulling satellite offices into a central hub for data and aggregating phone lines into a single

“When we came back after Christmas we found our sales levels for January-February alone were the equivalent of the entire previous year.” ben deller fibre connection, something, most telcos avoid because they lose monthly line rentals, says White.

NOW has had some impressive wins – Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, Pan Pac, and Vet Services (Hawke’s Bay ‘business of the year’); a pervasive presence in the education sector; and relative dominance in the region’s real estate market.

Beyond the Bay NOW recently went live with First National Real Estate in Rotorua, signalling an important shift. It’s clear the upstart telco is not satisfied with targeting the 3% of the national population that reside in Hawke’s Bay or taking that to 5% by targeting Rotorua. “Why not go for third of the population?” asks White.

He reckons the company will have around 14% of Hawke’s Bay businesses and 10% of the domestic market by the end of 2013 and can double that within five years. “We believe we can attract a 20% market share in any market we choose to contest.”

NOW is currently discussing an accelerated but carefully managed and funded growth plan, for an assault on points south and west, including offices in Tauranga, Rotorua and Wellington within 12 months.

It is already providing voice over fibre services to its local customers and looking to capitalise on the massive awareness of fibre products created by Telecom in the lead up to the Government’s Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) deadline in April.

While the delivery of voice over IP down the fibre is something NOW has mastered, Telecom is still dependent on the old copper lines for voice services. That, says White, with disbelief, has created a problem for 30% of the country, because the resource consent for delivery of cable over the power poles is mostly for one service only.

White is full of fighting talk as he prepares NOW to go beyond the Bay, and confront the incumbents … “They’re inefficient, fat beasts...We don’t have that baggage and legacy, we’re a lean machine.”

Anti-fluoride campaigners Angela Hair & Dr Paul Connett

WORD

tim.co.nz

THE

by ~ JESSICA SOUTAR BARROn

In October people living in Hastings, Flaxmere and Havelock North will have the chance to vote on whether fluoride belongs in their drinking water.

Jessica Soutar Barron reports two views.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

42

Dr Paul Connett, author of The Case Against Fluoride and director of the Fluoride Action Network in the US visited Hastings earlier this year hosted

by Fluoride Free Hastings. Connett holds a bachelor degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and a PhD in chemistry (completed at Dartmouth). He taught at St Lawrence University in New York for 23 years.

The Hawke’s Bay DHB’s campaign supporting fluoride will be led by Dr Robin Whyman, Clinical Director of Oral Health Services. Whyman is a dentist who trained at Otago University’s school of dentistry.

The issue of choice For many, the issue with community water fluoridation is that it takes away an individual’s right to choose whether or not to consume fluoride.

They see fluroide as a medication, a drug, even a poison, and so it follows that imposing those things on the population through something as sacred as water supply is unethical.

“Fluoride is a medicine and dosing up the public without any thought for dosage violates the principles, practices and ethics of modern medicine. Doctors should be ashamed to support fluoride.

You are doing to everyone what no individual doctor should do to anyone,” says Dr Paul Connett.

But for the District Health Board, oral health specialists and the National Fluoride Information Service (NFIS) fluoride is a mineral and a nutrient.

All claims of mass-medication and administering drugs un-consented go out the window. They see fluoridation as a decision made by informed public officials for the greater good.

“You can choose to buy bottled water.

You can choose to buy a filter to take the fluoride out,” says Dr Whyman. “You’re trading that off against the fact that there’s a benefit to the health of the population.”

Connett believes that low income communities are “trapped”. “They can’t buy filters or bottled water, and toxicity is worse with poor diet.”

Connett’s plea is that we “protect the most sensitive person in a large

population” – those who have particular sensitivities to fluoride, those with ailing kidneys (as half the fluoride we drink leaves our bodies every day through our urine), diabetics, bottle-fed babies.

Paradoxically Whyman’s argument is the same, that through fluoride we protect our most vulnerable, those who eat sugary refined foods and don’t brush their teeth.

Connett calls for the battles against decay and obesity to be combined, and such a joint approach appeals to Whyman too.

Apart from the moral dilemma about forced intake of chemicals and a lack of choice, the fluoride argument revolves around competing claims about the efficacy of delivering fluoride to the ‘patient’s’ teeth via drinking water and the potentially harmful side effects of fluoride in the body.

It is hard to get inside the scientific and medical bumf.

Topical application On one matter both parties agree: fluoride works topically rather than systemically, you need to apply it directly to the teeth for it to have an effect on them.

“The understanding of how fluoride now works is that the vast and predominant effect is a topical one.” Says Dr Robin Whyman. “There is believed

to be some residual effect from fluoride being incorporated in the enamel as the tooth develops but everyone’s of the agreement this is minor and most of the effect is day-to-day topical exposure of the tooth to fluoride.”

Dr Paul Connett: “Once you say it works topically then you have no right to enforce it on the whole body or on the people who don’t want it. It works topically so why put it in the water? That is the equivalent of swallowing suntan lotion.”

Connett proposes alternatives such as xylitol and giving free toothbrushes and paste to low-income families. He says that if you want fluoride, use fluoridated toothpaste (96% of toothpaste sold in NZ is fluoridated).

If drinking fluoride does help teeth, it only helps marginally by fluoridating saliva, which goes on to topically apply that fluoride to the teeth. Brushing and healthy eating are far more effective.

The big question is rather than being good for not much, once it is in the body is it in fact doing some harm?

Dr Whyman says no; Dr Connett says, “You won’t find what you’re not looking for”.

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Connett: “A child drinking two litres of water at 1ppm would get a higher dose(2 mg/day) than one of the children drinking one litre of water at 1.9 ppm (1.9 mg/day).”

Dr Robin Whyman counters: “When you start to look at the range of other issues – neuro toxicity, cancer – the reports are consistently coming back and saying ‘No, there does not appear to be an effect associated with fluoride at the levels of community water fluoridation’.

There is no doubt that you can get adverse health effects if you’re talking about people who have been exposed to higher levels of fluoride, either because the water that they’re drinking contains much more than that or because they’ve had industrial exposure, but that’s a completely different context.”

No one disputes that fluoride can cause dental fluorosis in children and skeletal fluorosis in adults.

Continued on Page 44

»

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Side effects New Zealand studies on the effects of fluoride on the rest of the body are minimal.

“A lot of work to be done in that space is ongoing and there are a lot of health claims or concerns that have been made about whether health generally is affected by community water fluoridation,” Whyman says. “(All the studies published internationally over the last ten years) say there are ongoing questions around some of the health issues raised, and there are

quite a number. The only consistently known health effect, and there is debate about whether you call this a health effect, is dental fluorosis.” [Dental fluorosis is staining and, in extreme cases, pitting of the teeth’s enamel.]

Health effects of fluoride can be seen in other scenarios though. For example fluoride tablets have traditionally been given to people with hyperthyroid conditions. Give fluoride to a ‘normal’ thyroid and it stands to reason it will tend towards hypoactivity, and this can lead to lethargy, tiredness, fatigue, depression, obesity.

Connett is concerned with the effects of fluoride on the rest of the body, including the thyroid, brain and connective tissue. As he says “We are more than just teeth.” He quotes authoritative overseas reports that say fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain and that fluoride exposure is associated with lowered IQ. But cause-and-effect thinking like this needs to account for the different types and concentration of fluoride in drinking water. Some of the research Connett cites looks at toxic effects from fluoride entering drinking water through runoff from fluoride that naturally occurs in rocks and soils, rather than fluoride deliberately added to water supply.

One of the pinch points in the debate is around dose, and the importance of differentiating between dose and concentration. Of course ‘dose’ suggests medicines and drugs, not ‘nutrients’.

One quoted study from China (2003) puts the threshold for lowering IQ at 1.9 ppm. Water in Hastings is fluoridated at between 0.7 and 1 ppm. That’s the concentration. Dosage is different for everyone because it depends on how much water you drink.

43

FLUORIDE

Dr Robin Whyman, DHB

“There is believed to be some residual effect from fluoride being incorporated in the enamel as the tooth develops but everyone’s of the agreement this is minor and most of the effect is day-to-day topical exposure of the tooth to fluoride.”

A brief history of fluoride In the 1950s when fluoride was first considered for Hastings there was a call for a referendum, but the mayor of the time deemed this “an unsuitable method of settling a highly technical, complex matter.”

So, in 1954, Hastings was the first city in NZ to introduce fluoride to its drinking water.

dr robin whyman, dhb “In adults fluorosis can present as pain in connective tissues, pains in joints and bones,” explains Connett. “In the US where 200 million people drink fluoridated water, 1 in 3 adults has arthritis and it’s on the increase. That at least deserves investigation.”

Whyman says there has been no evidence of the skeletal fluorosis in New Zealand. Of dental fluorosis he says: “From a patient point of view, most of the studies that have been done show that unless you are talking about severe fluorosis then the assessments of those teeth by people is they actually look better than completely normal teeth.”

Regarding bottle-fed babies, Whyman says the Ministry of Health and food standards in New Zealand state it’s safe to make up infant formula using

fluoridated water. But Connett counters this: “You don’t want fluoride anywhere near your baby. When you bottle feed your baby in Hastings you are giving them 175 times more fluoride than mother nature intended.”

The debate over fluoride in Hastings’ drinking water will continue in BayBuzz.

In the meantime, you can consult these sources for more information.

National Fluoride Information Service:

www.rph.org.nz

Fluoride Free Hastings:

www.fluoridefree.co.nz Fluoride Action Network NZ:

www.fannz.org.nz

More from our readers.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

44

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Three years earlier the Hawke’s Bay branch of the New Zealand Dental Association had approached Hastings Council to ask them to consider acting as a test site for fluoridated drinking water.The original intention was to compare the effect of community water fluoridation on tooth decay with that in the unfluoridated community of Napier over a ten-year period. It was thought that Napier and Hastings together would act as the perfect test site as they had similar populations and shared drinking water.

After a few years the experiment parameters changed when tests showed caries in Napier children were actually fewer than in Hastings children. This was traced back to lime in the Napier water supply, and the Ministry of Health changed the scope of the experiment to leave out Napier and become a ‘before and after’ trial focusing only on Hastings.

Another historical anomaly skews the data.

Before fluoride was introduced in Hastings the school dental service classified as decayed, and therefore filled (and counted), any tooth with any small surface scratch, whether it had penetrated the enamel or not. After the introduction of fluoride they only counted and filled cavities that penetrated the enamel, so far fewer ‘decayed’ teeth than under the earlier method.

1956 local body elections saw many candidates stand on the fluoride issue; those anti-fluoride were defeated. At the same time a commission of investigation set up by the government found a decline in tooth decay in Hastings children but did not deny evidence of bodily disorders linked to fluoride.

The commission found “the disorders arose from anxiety generated by the firm belief that fluoride was a poison. It concluded the anti-fluoridation movement had unwittingly played a part in creating an atmosphere in Hastings conducive to such disorders.” (source: City of the Plains by MB Boyd) In 1990 Hastings Council removed fluoride from the water supply, but after a referendum later that year in which 56% of voters said ‘Yes’ to fluoride, it was reinstated. In 2013 once again Hastings urban residents will be asked their opinion.

If a majority of those voting in October say ‘No’ to community water fluoridation, the fluoride will be taken out.

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Sponsoring insight into smart farming in Hawke’s Bay

‘Re-grooving’ the Agricultural Mafia by ~ Phyllis Tichinin

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

46

To dam or not to dam.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council assures us that if the Makaroro dam is built, Ruataniwha Plains farmers will shift to ‘best farming practices’ and the environment and the economy will benefit. What are these better practices which they say only the top 20% of farmers have adopted?

Things get squirrely fast when you ask farming experts to define ‘best farming practice’. For dairying you hear things like, ‘Fence off the streams, be sustainable’. For sheep and beef they tend to say, ‘Try to avoid worm drench resistance’ or ‘Keep your grass covers higher’. For cropping it’s along the lines of, ‘Reduce tillage and control spray drift’.

So is this the best we’re capable of?

It’s pretty limp wristed. Are these ‘best practices’ actually delivering the rich soils, clean water and tasty, safe food that agriculture is meant to be about?

No, they aren’t. Status quo agriculture doesn’t know how to farm to regenerate our environment and be the basis of a healthy, caring civilisation. How have we lost the plot with growing our food?

The Regional Council assumes that with dam water available CHB farmers will become model farmers and their

Phyllis Tichinin, soil champion

productivity will increase enough to enable them to afford the new water charges. Given the farming intensification and increased borrowing that would be needed, the result will be more of what is happening on farms now – over use of chemicals, soil collapse, water pollution, and mediocre produce.

In one breath we’re saying NZ farmers are the best in the world and in the next everyone acknowledges that the majority of farmers can lift their game substantially.

Why haven’t they done that already, given we’ve been on this sustainability/ smart farming jag for well over a decade? It’s because the fertiliser cooperatives’ hearts just aren’t in it, or rather their wallets are very much in it staying the way it is.

So they continue to push high margin fertilisers like urea and super phosphate which we know to be polluting, unbalanced and damaging to beneficial soil microbes. Using these petroleumdependent fertilisers also results in food that has no flavour, is low in minerals, carries heavy metals and is contaminated with pesticides. It makes for great fertiliser sales figures; it just happens to occur at the expense of our farm productivity, our environment and our health.

And everybody’s OK with this?!

A better course It is better biological farming practice, not water in itself that will transform our region and our economy. We need the gold standard of regenerative farming – growing humus – to reduce water needs, to use less petrochemical fertilisers and pesticides, and to produce food that truly nourishes and heals. Good farming practice is not simply planting up stream sides, switching drenches, using nitrogen inhibitors to kill soil microbes and no-till programmes.

The solution is fairly simple. First, the major fertiliser company executives need to be reminded that they run cooperatives, charged with safeguarding farmer shareholders’ interests, the most important of which is productive soils based on the growth of humus on their farms. They need to stop pushing the use of neat urea and phosphate since that burns up soil carbon/humus while creating nitrate leachate and poisoning animals.

Second, ag salesmen, consultants and academics need to be sent in for ‘regrooving’. Their limited, chemical view of agricultural soil management needs to be brought into the 21st century. The cutting edge of agriculture innovation lies in the synergies of calcium and trace elements helping diverse microbiology

simple, chemical input, view of farming.

Love your microbes The entire industry needs to realise that agriculture is based on the marvellous complexity of soil microbes.

This wonderfully generous population governs all aspects of our ecosystem – the carbon cycle, water quality, plant growth, the digestion of everything and the very existence of life. It’s a powerful community worth befriending and honouring, as best we can.

So what’s the difference between average Central Hawke’s Bay farming and real best-practice smart microbe farming? What needs to shift? Of course there’s more science driven technique behind it than this, but basically farmers need to: • Apply humated lime and trace elements to get minerals better balanced and available to their plants. Drive the farm with calcium.

• Love their soil microbes. Make microbe care and feeding their top priority in farming because microbes run the show.

• Reduce fertiliser use. Over-fertilising harms soil microbes, burns up humus and makes the pest problems worse.

• Join ‘Pestanon’ and kick the pesticide addiction.

Best practice means learning how soil actually works, changing to microbe friendly farm inputs, focusing on growing healthy roots and embracing direct responsibility to create mineraldense food that nourishes and heals.

And better use of water in the process.

Humus – dark, rich, stable soil carbon – enhances nutrient availability, keeps soils soft and absorbent and stores

L and wanted

surprising amounts of water.

For every 1% increase in soil humus, an extra 17 litres of water can be stored in each square metre of farm land. This is 168,000 additional litres of water per hectare or approximately one and a half acre inches of water.

CHB dairies were able to increase their soil carbon content on average 0.75% soil carbon after only 14 months on a biological programme. Some of those farms increased their soil carbon by as much as 3-4% in that time. Within a decade CHB dairy farms could be holding more than an acre foot of additional water in their soils. It is estimated that every litre of milk requires five litres of water to produce it.

Given how precious water is we have to do better and humus creation is the way.

The best and the cheapest form of water storage for agriculture is in the soil itself, through humus.

We have the understanding, and opportunity, to intelligently protect and actually regenerate the soil, while improving human health. The pressure for change must come from us as consumers. We dictate farm practices by how we spend our dollars on food. NZ farmers do respond to pressure from foreign markets. They will also respond to pressure from NZers.

It’s all connected … the nourishment and health of our soil microbes, the nutrient value of our food and in turn our wellness, atmospheric CO2 levels, water use, petrochemical use, prescription use, and our mental health.

All of these fundamental issues revolve around the wellbeing of our soil.

So let’s move on to genuine ‘best practice’.

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

drive soil humus growth and nutrientdense food production. Until the current cadre of ag scientists understand that they’re advocating outdated science and a chemical farming paradigm, they’re simply a handbrake on progress. Get with the programme or get off the bus.

Third, to really shift gears quickly, the best thing might be to increase the price of lime by at least ten times from $20 to $200 a tonne. Why do that when the calcium in our cheap lime keeps soil microbes healthy and makes needed trace elements available?

Because then lime costs enough for there to be an adequate margin tacked on. How can you encourage salesmen to sell such a crucial ag fertility product if there’s no profit in it for them? Market forces rule, eh?

What we need to get our heads around is that we can farm very productively on a fraction of the inputs and gadgets that fuel the pay and dividend packets of our agricultural mafia. Yes, a mafia – an income protection racket that keeps farmers on the treadmill of increasing fertiliser, pesticide, antibiotic, worm drench, calf meal and bull hormone use.

Create a problem by ignoring Mother Nature and then you can sell a costly product to band-aid the problem, and then another to compensate for the problem that creates, and so on and so on.

It doesn’t have to be this way as farmers employing biological soil principles in Hawkes Bay are finding to their delight and relief.

It is possible for dairies to use 50% less urea, grow more grass and make 25% more profit. It is possible to grow more fruit and vegetables of better flavour and better shelf life but with fewer pesticides while improving soil condition. But it requires a paradigm shift from our current

47

Paul Paynter and Maria-Rosario Germino

tim.co.nz

Out, Damned Spot by ~ PAUL PAYNTER

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

48

Half of the world will die!

That’s roughly what Reverend Thomas Malthus predicted some 200 years ago in his Essay on the Principle of Population.

Malthus thought war or pestilence would decimate the population from time to time, and if that didn’t happen ‘gigantic inevitable famine stalks’. That’s right; we’re going to starve to death.

Malthus wasn’t a very cheery chap. The good news is that technology made a fool of him. The Rev. Malthus simply didn’t envisage the age of industrial agriculture, when a farmer can harness 60 willing horses with the turn of a key. And he didn’t see the development of Mendelian genetics that has allowed plant breeders to select more productive varieties.

They still talk about Malthus in economic classes the world over, on the basis that while his timing was off, his theory could well be right. There must be a limit to the carrying capacity of the earth.

Maybe that limit isn’t that far off. UN estimates we must produce about 40% more food by 2030 or millions will face starvation. Before starvation we’ll likely see food riots and maybe even wars as some consumers get priced out of the market.

At the height of the economic bust in 2008, the price spikes for staple foods caused riots in 17 countries.

It may be that the risk of food shortages is a temporary phenomenon. The rate of population growth is already falling. By

2050 population trends may well level out.

As societies in the emerging world become more affluent, couples buy TVs and cut down on the monkey business. Why would any man get a vasectomy when watching golf on TV has the same effect?

In the interim there is a challenge and an enormous opportunity for the farmers of Hawke’s Bay. There is a compelling incentive for us to improve the levels of productivity and sustainability.

Apples, for example Many pundits expound their visions for farming in woolly and idealistic terms. The truth is you don’t really get to the crux of these issues without examining the issues that confront a specific crop. I’m well positioned to do that for apples, but I’m sure I won’t be popular for ‘lifting the veil’.

“Best not talk about these things in public” is the view of many. I disagree. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

The good news is that apple production has never been as safe and sustainable as it is today. In the latter part of the 1990s the NZ apple industry implemented a system called ‘integrated fruit production’ or IFP. This system is the new ‘conventional production’; a moniker that many growers loath as it grossly undersells their achievements. IFP emphasises, amongst other things, working with nature, monitoring pest life cycles, using pheromone mating disruption and encouraging populations of predator insects.

After a decade of development of IFP, Plant and Food Research revealed that the use of nasty organophosphates was down 98%, fungicides down 42% and herbicides down 50%. Sadly the industry did a terrible job of telling the consumer what had been achieved. ‘We’re spraying much less’ isn’t much of a marketing pitch.

At the same time we saw the rise of organic apple production. I love organics as they captured the imagination of the consumer and ignited environmental consciousness across the growing community.

IFP and organics mostly have pest problems in check. 80% plus of spraying today targets a single disease; the stylishly named Venturia inaequalis, or black spot.

This overwhelming dominance of one disease is also seen in other produce like potatoes (Late Blight) or bananas (Black Sigatoka). If only we could overcome black spot we could reduce spraying in apples by that 80% plus.

The only flaw in organics is that it believes that everything natural is good, and everything man-made is bad. On that basis you must approach your car thinking ‘rubber tires … good; plastic steering wheel … bad’. Organic devotees should be much more comfortable with a wooden steering wheel, which is not without its appeal. The truth is that some natural things are lethal and some man-made things are harmless.

Fungicides in agriculture were once

exclusively organic compounds based on copper, sulphur and, brace yourself, arsenic and mercury.

As things stand today, organics is not the solution. The copper and sulphur compounds still widely used in organics are toxic to many beneficial insects, fungi and bacteria. The sulphur products are the lesser of two evils, but still quite toxic and not very effective. This causes most organic growers to spray 2-3 as often as IFP growers and yields are about 25% less. The organic carbon footprint and level of soil compaction is substantially higher as a result.

The broader environmental effects are also worth considering. Organic compounds mostly come from unsightly open cast mines and are required by growers in much greater quantities.

Worst of all, some of these compounds can be quite persistent in the soil. In Britain, organics is managed by the Soil Association and at its core, soil health is the foundation of the organic movement. Current organic apple production methods do not deliver on these values.

Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t grow organically. Organics is well suited to many crops, but for apples it’s a hard road. Our relatively wet and mild climate means Hawke’s Bay has high levels of disease pressure.

Beating black spot The greatest asset in organics is the dedicated and sincere producers it has.

As a sector they recognise the challenges they face and they’re working hard on solutions. For black spot they are experimenting with yucca extracts, antagonistic fungi, and many other strategies. Organics will conquer their challenges eventually. There is no silver bullet though.

The solution to black spot will probably come from plant breeders; in fact it already has. Breeders found that the Japanese flowering crabapple didn’t get black spot and they identified the Vf gene that caused this resistance. A few crosses later and out popped a range of black spot resistant apples. They aren’t world beaters, but decent apples none the less.

The problem was that the Vf gene only created simple, single gene resistance.

Over a decade or two new strains of the black spot fungus developed. Basically some black spot became resistant to the resistance.

The war against disease doesn’t have to be a tit for tat battle like this. Breeders these days talk about gene pyramiding and polygenetic resistance – that is the use of multiple genes to create durable resistance to the disease. This isn’t just another pipedream theory.

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wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. Here in remote and inhospitable mountains 20,000 years of natural selection has occurred and there are varieties that appear entirely resistant to black spot. Over time breeders will manage to incorporate these genes in commercial apple varieties. The only problem is that it will take millions of crosses to achieve the desired combination of both disease-resistant genes and delicious apple genes. I think 30-50 years is a reasonable timeframe for success.

Malthusian outcomes are still in play.

There is one other alternative. While you might be terrified about scientists putting a frog gene in your potatoes, how do you feel about them putting the disease-resistant genes from one apple into another? And would it change your perspective if GM could deliver an 80% reduction in organic or IFP fungicide sprays?

The only two options with GM technology are to ban it or proceed with caution. Is limiting GM to within a genus, the ‘proceed with caution’ model? There are 170,000,000 hectares of GM crops now grown and so far the technology looks safer than cars, organ transplants or Coke.

So, now you’re armed with the facts, which strategy should growers pursue? IFP, Organic, or GM? And which strategy is most likely to keep the apocalyptic theories of Rev. Malthus at bay for another century?

49

tim.co.nz

GMOs Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

50

In amongst the 1,100-odd pages of the draft Hastings District Plan is an exciting proposal to capture a huge marketing opportunity for all food producers in the region: keeping the district’s fields free of genetically engineered (GE/GM) crops and animals for the life of the plan over the next ten years.

The idea originated with a group of the region’s producers, who see enormous potential in positioning Hawke’s Bay as a world-class, premium food-producing region – and who see that remaining GM Free in the field is central to that.

The group – Pure Hawke’s Bay – asked Colmar Brunton last year to poll the feeling in the wider community: 84% of respondents thought the region should remain a GM Free food producer, and a similar number wanted councils to make that a reality.

Pure Hawke’s Bay is a group of local food producers committed to building the region’s global reputation for safe, sustainable and high quality food. www.purehawkesbay.org

... like possums, rabbits and gorse

This is all about the markets. It is a branding and positioning proposition to place us at the pinnacle of premium food production. This is unashamedly about what is best for us and Hawke’s Bay’s economy.

And the high-value markets have spoken.

GM continues to be one of the most controversial food technologies in recent decades, and is an anathema to high-value production. It has remained corralled in commodity crops and in unlabelled products for the last decade and a half.

Despite many tantalizing promises year after year, it has exclusively been the same story of low-value commodity GM crops such as soy, maize and canola grown mostly in the Americas, with GM cotton grown in Asia and Australia.

In all that time, producers have not dared to go near foods directly consumed by humans that would require labelling. GM wheat, a crop that Monsanto hoped would be well into its first decade of cultivation in North America was pulled from the market because Canadian and US wheat growers wouldn’t have it. It has yet to resurface.

Wholefoods, the largest natural foods retailer in the US, in March 2013 required

all products with traces of GMOs to be labelled. Not surprisingly, sales of these products have plummeted and many are being delisted. From a sales and marketing perspective GM meat, fruit and vegetables remain unthinkable, let alone selling for a premium.

Finding competitive advantage Producing high quality food for international markets is a challenging business, with risks coming from the weather, disease, competition, costs, labour and consumer demands. The truth is, here in Hawke’s Bay, we are not low cost and we need a competitive advantage to survive. Hawke’s Bay producers supporting official GM Free food producer status are looking for innovative approaches that can give us an important point of difference, marketing advantages, and added value to our regional economy.

We know that keeping our fields, orchards and vineyards GE Free for the next decade will not close off access to sophisticated plant breeding technologies, should we need them. GM is not the only advanced plant breeding technology available to us.

tree crops and grasses. It now looks like it will take New Zealand developers at least 20 years to deliver a commercial GM grass.

This means a decision to capture the marketing benefits from formal GM Free status for a ten-year period is not a decision relevant to any future GM grasses. That option will remain open to our pastoral farmers should a commercial product eventually emerge beyond the 10 year time frame proposed in the draft plan. The GE Free proposition is all about keeping our options open, because once we have released GMOs into the environment it is like possums, rabbits and gorse --there is no going back.

Fonterra agrees Fonterra is also opposed to the field trialling of GM grasses in New Zealand, let alone their commercial release.

“Customers view New Zealand dairy as GM Free”, the company says, “and the introduction of GM pasture would have a significant impact for some customers and New Zealand’s reputation.” Even field experiments might be perceived as a release – a risk that Fonterra does not want to take.

Our resilience and profitability as a region increasingly lies with high-value products and niche markets, where provenance and environmental integrity are very important to consumers.

We need access to innovative, cuttingedge approaches, but we also need to be savvy when it comes to the technologies we use. We need to be sustainable and keep close to consumers in high-end export markets. And we can do all that without growing GM crops for the next ten years.

HB Growers speak up “I believe the Council has got it right. It’s a balanced position that will protect the region’s brand for Hawke’s Bay farmers and producers, yet still leaves the door open for the future, if things change.”

Andrew Russell, Sherenden farmer “This is a sound opportunity for branding and promoting products from Hawke’s Bay. There is no downside and the Hastings District Council should be applauded for taking up this initiative on behalf of HB producers.”

Simon Beamish, sheep and beef farmer “This is a smart idea since there is not likely to be a commercial GMO release within ten years in any event. It is clear, for now, customers do not want GM in any premium food products.”

Mike Glazebrook, mixed cropper, sheep and beef farmer “I think this is a great initiative adding value to all the region’s products with next to nil downside. We have an advantage now and we should use it to make money. People have to realize if we ever release GMOs into the field there is no going back.”

Andrew van Workum, GM of Mr. Apple “Being GM Free is the biggest commercial opportunity I’ve ever seen and the benefits will be huge for the high value produce that the region is renowned for. Why would we take the risk of growing GM crops here when the markets are saying they don’t want a bar of GM food?”

Rupert Ryan, grower, farmer, leader of Australian Apple Access Committee

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Marker assisted breeding (MAS) is another approach to have emerged from the revolution in gene science. It is traditional breeding plus – it uses genetics to zero in on interesting traits, and thus speeds up the process of bringing a new cultivar to market. It is a highly effective breeding technique and is acceptable in the market place. Many new exciting developments such as drought-resistant grasses are already under development, providing faster, effective, and acceptable techniques of conventional breeding.

You may hear GM advocates talking about Cis-Genics, which is a form of genetic modification within a species, as opposed to Trans-Genics, which is between species. The market, however, does not differentiate.

From a market perspective there is no difference – it is all GE. Of course, GM’s fortunes could change.

Research could begin to come up with GM cultivars that do more than service lowvalue commodity crops. And consumers could become more tolerant of GM. Pure Hawke’s Bay supporters acknowledge that possibility, but think it unlikely, and are happy to support reviewing the situation in ten years. The reality is that GMOs that meet both of these criteria are highly unlikely to come forward during the ten year life of the district plan.

This comes down to something very basic – the amount of time it takes to develop a GMO. Genetic engineering is not a fast technology. It takes 10-15 years to develop a commercial GM variety, according to Monsanto, who’ve been doing it for 30 years. Unless a GMO is under development right now, it will not be ready during the proposed period.

Often it takes much longer, for example

51

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Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

52

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard people wondering why Hawke’s Bay doesn’t have a university. Before I became involved in tertiary education, firstly as a council member of the Eastern Institute of Technology, and then as its Deputy CEO, it’s a question I would have asked myself.

The question of why Hawke’s Bay doesn’t have a university is a good one, and it deserves some consideration by all of us.

I went through the university system. I always assumed that I would leave town to study. I knew nothing about the Institute of Technology and Polytechnic (ITP) sector, just a vague notion that it was inferior to the university sector, and didn’t offer degree level study.

Today, better informed, I take every opportunity to put that notion to bed.

When people pose the question, I usually ask what they think a university would do for our region. Some common themes emerge: bring some high-powered research to the Bay; offer degrees in architecture, law and other professions to keep young people here and attract new people to the region; deepen the

‘intellectual firepower’ available to address our region’s issues; and boost the economy via an increased population and retention of young people.

If these potential benefits could be proven, then why don’t we get on with it?

Firstly and most obviously, universities are incredibly expensive. Any government (the main funder of our university system) would have to think hard about adding yet another university to a country which some argue already has too many per head of population.

The primary focus of universities is research, which generates income but is also expensive, in that teaching staff need release time to undertake research, both to generate income and to underpin the teaching of degree and post-graduate programmes. The resources and technology needed for the volume and type of research that universities undertake are extraordinarily costly.

Staffing costs are high because of their qualification and age profile.

To ensure universities are viable financially, first year classes in particular are often huge – many of us fondly or otherwise remember the packed lecture theatres of Accounting 101 or English Lit 102. The economies of scale that are generated by lecture theatres filled by hundreds of students are what, amongst other things, enable universities to offer their range and depth of degree and postgraduate programmes … and still survive.

A stand-alone university in Hawke’s Bay would need to attract that kind of critical mass, and no one has been able to prove (yet) that this is possible.

Balancing supply and demand In economic terms, supply and demand statistics would also need to stack up. On the job front, Hawke’s Bay is not renowned for its plethora of highly paid jobs – in fact the salaries in our region consistently hover below the national averages. This government is particularly focused on ensuring that employment outcomes match the supply of graduates. We would need to be very sure if we trained, say, lawyers, architects, and scientists here in Hawke’s Bay, that job opportunities would be available for them here, nationally and internationally.

You could argue that if the graduates emerge, the jobs will come, but that has not always been evident in the past. New Zealand is renowned for its out-of-work scientists, and cyclical oversupply of various other professions is well documented.

Brand-wise, we would need to calculate carefully which degree ‘market’ we would be in. Certain universities have reputations as centres of excellence for certain disciplines. What could Hawke’s Bay add that would be different, and could we compete with other universities in their current markets?

In case this sounds defeatist, we do need to wonder why none of the current universities have set up campuses in Hawke’s Bay. Massey is our closest neighbour, and it has progressively withdrawn face-to-face teaching programmes from the region, presumably because they are too expensive to run here. If a pre-existing neighbouring university with its infrastructure already in place can’t afford to run programmes

in Hawke’s Bay, even utilizing other organisations’ campuses, then that must raise questions about the chances of a brand new operation succeeding.

Fund that ranks tertiary organisations, mostly universities, for their quality of research. EIT has trebled its performance over the last five years, out-performing many of the large metropolitan ITPs and generating more income and further confidence in the quality of research occurring in the institution. In addition to this, we perform research for local industries and government and nongovernment organisations that is specifically related to improving outcomes for our local economy and community.

I value New Zealand’s university system highly. I loved my two stints at university study, 25 years apart. We all have access to our nation’s universities via distance learning, including on-line study and block courses that fit around employment and other responsibilities.

But alongside that, Hawke’s Bay has its very own Institute of Technology. Today, with 13 degrees, Masters and other postgraduate programmes, along with a range of certificates and diplomas in everything from trades to health to agriculture and applied sciences, EIT offers the best of both worlds for our region. It partners with universities over a range of teaching and research activities. It runs the biggest Trades Academy in the country.

Its research is going from strength to strength. Its smaller, personalized classes at degree level, which students rate so highly, are only financially sustainable because of the range of programmes it can offer at other levels.

There is no reason for Hawke’s Bay to bemoan the lack of a university.

Rather, we should celebrate the endless opportunities for the best of both worlds that an ITP like EIT can provide for our region.

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EIT is right for Hawke’s Bay In recognition of the above and other factors, a series of visionary leaders decided to set up and further develop a ‘Community College’ in Hawke’s Bay in 1974. That Community College has now morphed into EIT, and I would argue that if Hawke’s Bay could only have either a university or an Institute of Technology, there is only one logical answer – it has to be the latter. There are several reasons for this in my view.

Firstly, all the data collected by statistical bodies in New Zealand indicates two key things – our region has more than its fair share of people with few or low qualifications, and local employers mostly want people with qualifications at Levels 1-3 of the Qualifications Framework, not at 7 (degree) level. That, combined with the fact that many of Hawke’s Bay’s potential students need to undertake some ‘bridging’ programmes to prepare them for degree level study, would indicate that there is a clear need at both the supply and demand end for certificate level qualifications.

Universities are not allowed to provide these – but ITPs like EIT can.

So, while universities are limited as to their span of provision, ITPs can offer degree and post-graduate as well as lower level programmes, providing they meet a rigorous set of criteria to ensure quality.

ITP degrees are fully equivalent in quality to university degrees. Let me assure you that the scrutiny around degree level provision in ITPs is massive, for the very reason that any suspicions about quality must be laid to rest. Every man, woman and their dog

is involved in checking and rechecking the quality of ITP degrees -- from internal academic boards to external bodies such as NZQA, and professional associations such as nursing councils and chartered accountants. External panels contain people from the university sector to check on the work of their ITP counterparts.

Thirdly, there is a difference with ITP degrees – and EIT offers 13 of them – and it’s a good one. ITP degrees are deliberately related to specific professions. Be they Viticulture, Computing, or Nursing, they are ‘applied’ hands-on degrees that include significant chunks of practical work in industry, opportunities for internships postgraduation, and the ability to undertake research specifically focused on the needs of regional employers. My university BA stood me in good stead, but there’s not always a clear career path arising from university fields of study.

Another beneficial difference in the ITP sector is that its main mission is teaching. Its degrees are supported by the same research expectations that you find in a university, but quality teaching is a very strong focus because of the range of learners and programmes. Many ITP staff across all levels of programmes are straight from industry, and along with the experienced ‘academics’ in the team they ensure that what is being taught is relevant to the workplace.

Fourthly, although high quality teaching and learning is a priority, EIT has invested also in high quality research. The recruitment of nationally and internationally renowned research professors from the university system has helped to strengthen the research performance of ITPs like EIT. EIT staff are celebrating unprecedented success in the Performance-Based Research

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THE BEST YEARS OF

OUR LIVES by ~ K AY BAZZARD

Left to right: Jenny Nash (IPU volunteer), Karyn Teddy (MVS) & Gaye Winiata (IPU volunteer)

Volunteering for Cranford Hospice

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

54

What would New Zealand do without its willing volunteers? A two-yearly study by Statistics New Zealand shows that a million adult New Zealanders are actively involved as volunteers in the community, that is one third of the population across the 35-74 year age group. It is a proud record.

The volunteer involvement is very wide in range: in sport, education, arts, health and community work, with men and women volunteering equally (33%), with a similar ratio being employed and doing voluntary work (33%). The study also shows the better educated you are, the more likely you are to be doing voluntary work.

It is a huge subject involving many people, organisations and differing demographics; but for this column, I have focused on the volunteer contribution to Cranford Hospice in Hawke’s Bay.

Volunteering for Cranford Cranford relies heavily on its volunteer workforce. Funded only partially by the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, Cranford Hospice not only requires volunteer workers’ time and motivation, it relies on public goodwill and generosity to make up the funding shortfall.

In total, the number of volunteers involved with Cranford Hospice is 400; 250 in the four Cranford shops and an additional 150 performing hospice-related tasks including kitchen, laundry, patient and family support, day hospice, life

tim.co.nz

review, administration, flowers, gardening and driving. They are as essential to the successful running of the hospice as the clinical staff.

Two years ago Karyn Teddy was employed to manage the volunteer component of the Cranford workforce.

“Cranford is fortunate compared with many other organisations that rely on volunteers,” she says. “Because Hospice is so well known, we find people usually come to us enquiring how they can help – most of them having had a family member who has been a patient with hospice at some stage.

“While Cranford volunteers are predominantly women over the age of 55, there is an increasing pool of people who are studying or working, or younger mums who can fit in a few hours here and there.

Other groups volunteering include young people doing the social responsibility component of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards; students, including student nurses from EIT; and groups from local businesses doing corporate volunteering.”

Of the 400 regular volunteers, only approximately 10% are male.

Helen Blaxland, general manager of Cranford adds: “Hospices throughout the world have been founded on volunteerism and this is pivotal to our ongoing

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sustainability. Each year volunteers give around 45,000 hours of service to Cranford – a financial contribution, if based at $15 per hour, of $675,000. I reminded our DHB of that recently during our contract negotiations! Caring for our dying is a community responsibility and I am so grateful for those 400 volunteers who assist us in this work.”

Motivations When potential volunteers are asked why they want to get involved, most will say they have had a family member who has been a patient with hospice and they want to give something back. For a few, it is also about working through their own grief. But for many applicants it is about getting involved and keeping busy and useful, a way of feeling one is still in the mainstream and able to use their skills.

Karyn: “I’ve had younger parents wanting to give an example to their children, to be seen to be giving something back. Almost without exception, the youth who choose to volunteer have had a parent who has volunteered at some stage of their life. I’ve had volunteers who have recently moved into the district and want to meet people, to meet a social need. Some make it clear they want to include volunteering on their CV, such as student nurses from EIT who will shortly be out job-seeking. This can be a win-win situation for both the volunteer and Cranford.”

Volunteer tasks at Cranford The Cranford laundry is done on site and is largely managed by volunteers.

The four Cranford shops contribute a huge amount of funding with each having a part-time manager and assistant manager, but all other personnel are volunteers working rosters, sorting, pricing, driving, collecting and moving furniture and dealing with customers.

Other forms of volunteering are

enhancements beyond the professional work done by clinical staff. For example, they sit (or walk) and talk with patients and their families, assist staff with the running of the day hospice or meal preparation, arrange flowers, or work in the gardens – the things that make Cranford a peaceful and beautiful place to be.

The volunteers of the Life Review service working out of Cranford Hospice are recording the life stories of Cranford patients who wish to leave a memoir.

Over a period of several weeks the Life Review volunteer sits with the hospice patient as they reflect on their life, telling their story in their own words.

The service began late in 2012 and so far three patients have had their memoir produced into a very personalised and beautiful book.

As every organisation utilising volunteers knows, it’s a two-way street.

The volunteer has needs that must be met or the volunteer can just walk away.

They have to be the right fit for the task and understand how to make their contribution. Like employed workers, volunteers need to be properly trained and integrated into the organisation with a clear role, they need to feel appreciated by the organisation and the people they help.

As a Cranford volunteer I can vouch for the sense of ‘giving something back’, but I am also doing this for myself. It’s motivating … I enjoy the involvement … I have a network … I meet interesting people and hear their stories … they appreciate what I am doing for them … and it’s meaningful.

– Kay Bazzard

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Recruitment, training and placement The recruitment process is very similar to that for Cranford nursing staff – an interview, a referee check, police check, and training. The initial volunteer training and buddy period is an essential process for finding a fit between the volunteer and the organisation. “After all,” says Karyn, “the volunteers in Cranford are working with members of our community at a very vulnerable time in their lives, the fit has to be appropriate and the volunteer has to be happy with the work. At this stage, some people choose to pursue other volunteering opportunities.”

“Some applicants initially have misconceptions about the services hospice provides. Typically, ‘Once you come in here you die’. But that is not the case as three-fourths of patients leave here better than they were when they came in. So the interview process is also a tool for education and the prospective volunteer gains a better understanding of the key purposes of Cranford.”

Karyn explains that in her role as manager of volunteer services, it takes time to better understand what people want from their involvement and also their motivations for volunteering. “When I started, there were three or four key areas volunteers could fit into, but now I structure my interview to draw out how

someone wants to fit in and it is very few and far between that it hasn’t worked out. I think people who volunteer have a certain expectation of what they are getting involved with, so people self select.”

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The Hawke’s Bay House.

Just Another Open Home? by ~ ANTHONY VILE

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

56

How far the house and culture of home making has evolved, from our ancestral cave dwellers to Grand Designs and other weekly exposes.

Through the ages, the house in whatever form has stood as shelter and the focus of family life and ritual. If placed in multiple groupings it becomes community. An integral part of being human.

The capacity to dream has expanded the notion of house over the millennia. Perhaps taken for granted as a place of the day-today, the house is far from an ordinary idea.

How the New Zealand idea of house has evolved as a cultural artifact is an interesting story.

The whare of native origin was low tech, built of local material and skill. Infused with the function of shelter and story telling. Taking over where the cloak left off as a mediator between the body and an environment from which comfort was hard won. A cloak with foundations, conceived as an extension of the body in space.

Followed by the ubiquitous utilitarian cottages and sheds. By necessity of place and time, simple in form and function.

The European and other settlers brought with them also tradition and preconception of house. A roof, four walls, a front entrance, a rear entrance, some windows, a roof shaped as a hearth. Composed and constructed using the technology and style of the time – Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Modern, Post Modern etc. The story has grown, yet ask a child to draw a house and what do they unequivocally produce?

The fusion of mana whenua ideas, farmyard utility, immigrant memory, fantasy, available resources, technology and skills have coalesced into what has come to define NZ domestic architecture.

The house reaches deep into our consciousness through time to our collective memory. The links deeper perhaps than we realize as we visit yet another open home.

A loaded concept, the house is symbolic of our psyche and an expression of our self; but at the same time a status symbol and a means to economic advantage.

What is a house in Hawkes Bay? In the popular mind, the image still remains of house in landscape, not house in community. Is that the Hawke’s Bay dream? This image of solitude harks to our pioneer days perhaps, but is also an image tied closely to our consumer culture and dreams of success. House and success are entwined as a measure of status, an expression of self and wealth.

So, the house is much more than just shelter from the elements. It is hard to disentangle what is a complex web of economics, supply chains and politics that has shaped our idea of house. The cave, with life centered around the fire, has become life centered around television, market economics, potential capital gain and image.

The hunt with spear has been replaced with a weekend looking at open homes.

Real estate is the one basket most Kiwis put all their eggs in, an approach that continues to have numerous risks. No

matter the economic cycle, our psyche is all about house ownership. Dinner party snippets re latest valuations, the addition, the choice of bathroom tile, reverberate throughout the nation. Either we are making money, losing it or on the way to either outcome via our ideas about one of the most basic human needs, shelter.

The majority of the Bay house building starts are in the new suburbs such as Arataki, Frimley, etc. They generally lack that specific sense of uniqueness or place that one would expect as a product of Hawke’s Bay climate and culture.

If there was one thing I couldn’t give up in my Hawke’s Bay house it would be the ability to effortlessly move from outdoors to in. The Hawke’s Bay house modulates the space between interior and exterior. At times acting to blur the two. At other times giving precedence to one over the other as clearly the better choice for habitation at any particular time. The extremes of season managed via intelligent design. It enables inclusion of nature where it can and turns its back when necessary. It is exactly whatever we need it to be.

What are we building?

A survey of NZIA National awards over ten years shows there to be four winners in Hawke’s Bay. Of those projects only two of them for houses, and one of those an enduring architecture award for a house built in 1974. That houses have only been national award winners twice over the last years is interesting.

Ngamatea Homestead by John Scott

Heretaunga, a carved house at Taradale

Designer homes The majority of New Zealand housing was built in a couple of key periods – 1920s, post-war 1950s and 1970s. The new suburbs created in those eras were not the exclusive domain of the group home builders. The quantity of architectdesigned homes in the 60s and 70s was quite a remarkable compared to today.

The likes of John Scott, Barry Sweet, Peter

It is the business of the architect to harmonise the world of necessity with the world of romance. A Home is not a ‘machine to live in’ as some of the Moderns claim. A Home is an extension of Ourselves and just as man does not live by bread alone so his Home must have a Soul as well as a Body.” ~ James Walter Chapman-Taylor

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One is the Te Mata House by Auckland firm Stevens Lawson; the other is the Warren and Mahoney-designed Foster House in Havelock North completed in 1974.

Both these projects fit the stereotype of large house in the landscape. Both houses carefully modulate and control the relationship to the outdoors. Outdoor rooms are created in both projects. Rooms suited to Hawke’s Bay summer. Interiors imbued with warmth for winter frosts. Carefully placed in the landscape. Exquisitely crafted. Worth well over the million dollar mark. Iconic New Zealand architecture.

Local awards are much more generous to residential architecture, but not at the expense of standalone dwellings, rural or semi-rural in nature, or beach houses. An exception would be Rod Drury’s town house in Havelock North, a 2012 winner. Of the new houses built in the Bay annually, there is generally a very low turnout for buildings designed by architects. The competition provided by Horvath et al proving too much for the average punter trying to maximize his square metres in pavlova paradise.

Holland, Len Hoogerberg, Guy Natusch and Paris Magdalinos were all busy in the new suburbs of the Bay, building ‘dream’ homes for ordinary people, not just for doctors and lawyers.

A generation later, the game has completely changed. A drive through any of the new suburbs will illustrate quite clearly that ‘design’ has been put on the backburner. Cookie cutter cottages inhabiting cookie cutter streets that could be anywhere provide the market with adequate shelter, with streets providing plenty of room to maneuver for cars.

Designer houses are left as an elite luxury to park next to the Audi. Learning from the experiments of the past seems largely lost.

The trickledown effect, if any, to the suburb makers has seemingly dried up.

What should we have learned from the pioneers of house design in the Bay? What makes a John Scott house still a sought after proposition? What makes a stay at any of the Black Barn houses so popular? A sense of the aesthetic and beauty. An understanding of how a building might manage that interface between human need for shelter and for dreaming. Celebration of the landscape and modulation of the interior/ exterior experience.

Get the basics right in our houses, perhaps the city will follow.

The challenge for the housing industry, territorial authorities included, is to somehow get back to where we were and, when considering an opportunity to build, reinsert some of the dream into what is on offer to the mass market.

The real estate agents as usual tap directly into the universal vein – Living the Hawke’s Bay Dream … Paradise in the Hills of Havelock North … More than just a place to live.

How that dream gets translated into an affordable model is the key.

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57

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TechFocus

King of the Blockheads propelled to game fame Keith Newman talks to games developer David Frampton about the real world of coding, mind-enhancing virtual worlds, time crystals and his desire to top the iPhone app charts. tim.co.nz

David Frampton

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

58

A recent study from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University credits regular tablet and smartphone game playing with improved cognitive and multi-tasking skills and enhanced memory.

Top Kiwi games developer David Frampton is not surprised.

The author of the enormously successful Chopper 2 and Blockheads games who relocated to Hawke’s Bay in October 2011, says his early engagement with SimCity and SimEarth taught him planning, resource management and problem-solving skills and techniques.

Frampton, who runs Majic Jungle Software, says smartphones are having a considerable impact on gaming, forcing changes to the console world, including lowering the cost of games.

With iPad sales now rivaling PlayStation 3 and Xbox consoles the games industry is having to rethink its approach, with touchscreen technology meaning the

game designer has to write for a different kind of experience.

“Console players will typically spend an hour or two on a game, but mobile is more about playing for a few minutes at a time and then picking up where they left off.”

Frampton gave up a law and social policy degree at Victoria University after a year, had an even shorter spell in retailing and was relieved when his hobby, painting Wellington and Dunedin coastline landscapes, began to pay the bills.

While an avid game player, he never imagined life as a developer. The idea of coding seemed “mindblowingly complex”.

However, after experimenting with the games development tools on the OSX operating system disk of his 2003 iMac, it all began to fall into place.

Stimulating simulation An early achievement was developing a plant growing simulation. “At the time

there was a popular game called Dope Wars and it seemed like a fun thing to try and make a cannabis plant grow.”

When his invention began attracting a lot of attention he realised the controversy he was heading into. “It was sending out all the wrong messages so I decided not to go ahead.”

Instead he entered the three-month-long uDevGam Mac developers challenge with an idea inspired by playing Choplifter on the Mac II when he was a kid. The result was Chopper, focused on smooth game play, a good feel for flying a helicopter and realistic action.

He was pleasantly surprised at how many downloads he got and soon found his new skillset in demand, animating weather graphics and installing software at TV stations, including TV3 where he designed and wrote the code for the atmospheric effects, clouds and little sunrises for the daily forecasts.

When the iPhone was released in 2008 he ported Chopper across to that platform, charging $US8 per download from the iTunes AppStore. It took off, and with Apple’s cheques for 70% of the revenue initially bringing in close to $5,000 a day, propelled him into the role of fulltime developer.

Frampton began improving on his winning game, adding new content, better controls, more immersive 3D graphics, 36 action packed missions, 12 locations and more menacing enemies and weapons.

A one man brand Essentially Frampton is king of the Blockheads. It’s a one man show and because he knows how his kingdom works, it’s hard to involve others. Although two US gaming companies and an angel investor have made overtures, he’s told them he’s happy going it alone for now.

“My knowledge of the entire code base means I can make changes quickly, whereas in a bigger company you would have to go through an approval process.”

Frampton makes his revenue through the sale of time crystals. Although these are randomly located in the Blockheads terrain they can also be purchased separately by those who want to speed things up, skip a sleep or bring in extra Blockheads.

Being able to progress beyond the routine grind to build an increasingly sophisticated world makes the game more compelling and even addictive. “Some people are happy to put in the game play hours, while others are happy to invest, knowing it’ll make the game more interesting and help pay for future development.”

“My knowledge of the entire code base means I can make changes quickly, whereas in a bigger company you would have to go through an approval process.” david frampton The audience is fairly broad. While Chopper appealed to mostly older males, the Blockheads demographic is mainly young: 70% under 17-years, although he admits there are more than a few stay-athome mums who play.

He’s recently added another good reason for those who play less frequently to check what’s been happening in their absence. The Blockheads world is starting to evolve on its own.

Android apps ahead Frampton’s world is also evolving, with a growing demand to see his game on other platforms, something as an Apple iOS developer he doesn’t have time to focus on.

He’s just cut a deal with Canadian company Noodlecake to release an Android version later this year.

On its launch Blockheads became the top-ranking free iPad app in the US and seven other countries and the number two iPhone game in the US, leaving Frampton with the challenge of cracking the number one spot.

“That’s a little goal I still have. I want to be able to work on this game for the next five years or longer as it has so much potential.”

When BayBuzz spoke to him, Frampton was heading off to the annual Games Developers Conference in San Francisco where he enjoys hanging out with other independent developers, swapping tips and ideas and helping to promote each others’ creations.

Founded in 2007 MOGUL IS

HOMEGROWN and proudly independent

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

Chopper goes classic Chopper 2 became an instant bestseller, honoured as one of two locally developed games alongside Pac-Man, Space Invaders, The Simms, Angry Birds and Minecraft in the Game Masters exhibition at Te Papa in Wellington from December to the end of April.

With Chopper 2 continuing to pay its way, Frampton – still inspired by his original plant growing simulation – was dreaming up a whole new vista. He envisaged a self-propagating, randomly generated, virtual world, populated by square headed pixellated people who would evolve in sophistication as they mastered different challenges, used different tools and built their block-like homes and cities.

Frampton’s mission began in earnest after he and his young family scoured the country looking for the ideal location for their creative lifestyle, eventually choosing Hawke’s Bay and nestling themselves up in the Tukituki hills.

When Blockheads for the iPhone, iPad and iPad Touch was launched in January this year, it was clear he was on to another winner. There were two million free downloads in the first few days and by the end of March that was tracking toward 4.5 million with more than 100,000 people soon playing every day.

Frampton says the online forums, using V Bulletin software, have provided a real sense of community among users who share their

gaming experiences and screen shots.

He keeps a close eye on his virtual world and while he gets a huge amount of feedback and suggestions, he has to take extreme care about the ideas he implements for fear of throwing the entire game out of balance.

Although in gaming terms Blockheads is already a great success, Frampton says it’s still early days and he has a long list of his own enhancements planned to encourage players to stick around.

“There are compost blocks that make things grow faster and you can go from flint to steel tools but I want to add machinery, automated mining and train tracks.”

There are two player and multiplayer modules but his desire is to make it even bigger and more complex so more players can work together in the same world, something, he says, the classic Minecraft does really well.

59

Marty Smith

Hawke’s Bay’s Literary Pursuits Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

60

by ~ lizzie russell

When you think of Hawke’s Bay, do you imagine a literary hub – a thriving centre of writing and publishing?

If you don’t, look a little closer. There is a growing number of events and activities to keep word-lovers engaged and challenged, and there seems to be something in the air that keeps writers’ words flowing too.

The Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival falls in odd years (opposite the national Poet Laureate celebrations, which take place here in even years) and is produced by the Writers in Wineries Trust, where I – cards on the table – serve as a trustee, along with four others.

Our team is in excited preparation mode for the event this year. However, as BayBuzz goes to print, we’ve have hit a significant funding snag, which we are working to overcome. So while the festival organisers are totally committed to bringing together a fantastic literary

offering for the community, the festival that has been planned for June might now need to be postponed or scaled-down.

We’re looking at the positives in this challenge. The festival has been evolving for many years now, and this may turn out to be an opportunity for even more positive change.

Carla Crosbie works for Hastings District Libraries as Community Liaison and Promotions Coordinator, and chairs the Writers in Wineries Trust.

She explains that the festival began as a

series of literary events held in the barrel rooms of Te Mata Estate Winery, and grew to become the Hastings Festival of Writers, and then in the planning stages of this year’s event, to a regional festival.

This year, along with a new logo and name and an enticing line-up of writers and events, comes a new focus to spread the literary love a little wider. Of the four main events planned for this year’s festival, two will take place at Napier venues, one in Havelock North and one in Hastings.

And while it’s no Auckland Writers and Readers Festival (15-19 May) or Writers and Readers Week (Wellington, March 2014), our local festival is certainly drawing some top-notch visiting writers. In 2011 American literary heavyweight Annie Proulx featured alongside poets Jenny Bornholdt and Cilla McQueen, novelists Owen Marshall and Jenny Pattrick, wine writer John Saker and foodie Hester Guy.

even a sign of whether you’d rather see this as a weekend-long festival or a series of events throughout the year. And of course we’d be delighted to recieve your contributions and thoughts on building a firm funding base. You’re welcome to contact us through our website (hbreadersandwriters.co.nz) or Facebook page.

megan landon book launches, shopping evenings for parents or book clubs, and we have a piano which is played regularly and used for occasional recitals. We regularly get 50–100 people at these events.”

And while none of this year’s Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival events are planned to take place at Beattie and Forbes, Megan is pleased with the move to include Napier in our eventual line-up of sessions. “In previous years we have noted that the audience for the Hastings festival contains a strong representation from Napier and hopefully this will open it even further to those who have difficulty getting to Hastings. I am particularly pleased that the chairs and some of the authors are from Hawke’s Bay, this will help to raise the profile further and celebrate our home-grown talent.”

Organisers of the festival agree that the involvement of locally-based authors is something we want to increase. There are many fantastic writers working in a wide variety of genres here in the Bay, and the idea is to include as many as possible in the events of the festival as it continues.

As with all arts activities in Hawke’s Bay, the festival and the rest of these events and activities need continually growing audiences in order to remain viable. So whether the festival is postponed until later in the year, broken up into a series of spaced-out events, or left as planned, keep an ear and an eye out for what’s coming up, and head along and listen to some stories.

For all the latest information on the Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival, and any changes to the programme of events, see hbreadersandwriters.co.nz

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

This year, we’re planning on hosting Hawke’s Bay-based writers Peter Wells, Anna MacKenzie, Adele Broadbent, Aaron Topp, Mary-anne Scott, and Marty Smith, and chairs Jonathan Krebs, Keith Newman, award-winning American author Cheryl Pearl Sucher and flautist and tenor José Aparicio. Acclaimed performance and page poet Tusiata Avia, novelists Tim Wilson (Their Faces Were Shining and The Desolation Angel) and Rachael King (The Sound of Butterflies, Magpie Hall and Red Rocks), 2013 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year, historian and anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond, and foodie, biographer and art writer and curator Alexa Johnston are set to feature as guest writers.

As we continue to develop and evolve the festival, and face the financial and logistical challenges of producing an event like this relying on voluntary time and labour, we’re open to hearing the views of others – suggestions for events and formats, and

Beyond the festival But as I mentioned, the festival is not the only thing that stops Hawke’s Bay from feeling like the place literature forgot, and keeps book-geeks like me from running back to Wellington.

Hastings City Art Gallery has hosted two book launches already this year – designer David Trubridge’s beautiful autobiographical tome So Far and former NZ Post Children’s Book Award winner Anna MacKenzie’s recent young adult fantasy Cattra’s Legacy. And both events had healthy and enthusiastic turn-outs from the public.

Hawke’s Bay has a rich element of poetry too – from New Zealand’s oldest active Live Poets group, who meet monthly at the Hastings Community Art Centre, to a poetry conference planned for Havelock North in November.

Thanks to the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award originally being the Te Mata Poet Laureate, this region is also the base for the biennial laureate celebration weekend, which is based at Matahiwi marae.

Back in May, Beattie and Forbes Bookshop in Napier was the venue for the Napier session of the Rocky Outcrop Writers Tour. The tour of the lower North Island saw exciting emerging Wellington writers Pip Adam, Ashleigh Young and Kirsten McDougall team up with a local writer in each centre – in our case, poet Marty Smith – to introduce and read from their recently published books and talk writing.

Again, a worthwhile number of book enthusiasts showed up, as Megan Landon from Beattie and Forbes says, Napier’s popular independent bookstore is frequently the venue of well-patronised literary events, from regular book club meetings to launches. “Aside from our popular book clubs we host two or three author events and a similar number of

“In previous years we’ve noted the audience for the Hastings festival contains a strong representation from Napier and hopefully this will open it even further to those who have difficulty getting to Hastings.”

61

Hawke’s Bay’s Literary Pursuits Mary-anne Scott

Mary-anne Scott Havelock North writer Mary-anne Scott’s debut novel, Snakes and Ladders, was published last year and has recently been announced as a finalist in the Young Adult Fiction of the 2013 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. Mary-anne will be appearing in the schools’ event at Karamu High School along with Adele Broadbent, Aaron Topp and Anna Mackenzie as part of the Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival in June.

What do you love about writing in HB?

Tusiata Avia

I feel very loyal to Hawke’s Bay and proud of its magnificent natural environment.

There is nothing to equal the inspiration I feel when I walk on Te Mata Peak or sit in a winery or drive to the beach.

These places can sometimes supply the headspace needed to untangle ideas or sort out stubborn plot problems. Another advantage of writing in Hawke’s Bay is that I’m constantly running into people I know through my music, or friends of my sons, or my own friends from school. Everyone has a story and I think a small community concentrates the melting pot of lives in an accessible way.

Peter Wells

How does this place affect or shape your approach to your work, and your writing itself?

There is a writing adage that says, ‘write what you know’, and I know Hawke’s Bay. Many of my short stories have been situated here and the protagonist in Snakes and Ladders is based in a place that I imagined as coastal Hawke’s Bay. I was able to draw on my experiences as a Board member at Havelock High, and all the teenagers I’ve met as I travelled from school to school as an itinerant music teacher.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

62

Rachel King

Anne Salmond

As a writer, is there anything you feel you miss out on/miss about being in a larger centre, such as Auckland or Wellington?

Yes, I think so. Two years ago, I did a Whitireia course for creative writing, which involved a weekend a month in Wellington.

I found the anonymity and the buzz of Cuba Street energising and the camaraderie of the other Wellington-based writers stimulating. There are frequently midweek book launches and writing forums in Wellington and Auckland and of course, the festivals are on another scale to our local one. Having said that, the anonymity of the city is countered by the easy access to supportive people here who answer questions whenever I need advice, the local writers and literary people who care passionately about words.

There’s something for everyone at Birdwoods.

Rachel Dailey rachel.dailey@sothebysrealty.com

M: 027 487 1231 D: 06 877 0903 Each office is independently owned and operated.

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Enjoy afternoon tea or a light lunch on the terrace, wander through the Sculpture Garden, browse in the Gallery and Conservatory, and treat yourself in our little Sweet Shop.

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Hawke’s Bay’s Literary Pursuits

Marty Smith Marty Smith is a poet whose first collection, Horse with Hat, has recently been accepted

by Victoria University Press. Marty’s poems have been published widely in journals such as Sport, Landfall, Turbine and Best New Zealand Poems. Marty teaches English and creative writing at Taradale High School (as Marty Schofield) and is also involved in the Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival as an organiser, and in the ‘Beats: Poetry and Music’ session alongside Tusiata Avia and José Aparicio.

What do you love about writing in Hawke’s Bay? Peace and space. The sky is so huge, and the quality of light is so extraordinarily clear that the blue seems a hyper-natural colour.

So if you’re driving around, the day seems to be full of possibility, like you can make anything or do anything. On the hill, or in Ahuriri, the street flowers blaze and the sea is alive with lights. It’s just easy to settle and be in a quiet place in your head, whether it’s in a real world or an imagined world.

Except in full summer, when it’s too hot to do anything except lie around and complain about how hot it is.

How does this place affect or shape your approach to your work, and your writing itself?

As a writer, is there anything you feel you miss out on/miss about being in a larger centre, such as Auckland or Wellington?

I miss being able to go to all the tantalising writer events I get invited to. I miss being able to chat with my writing community face-to-face. I consider myself to be a Wellington writer because I have done all my formalised writing through the IIML (the Creative Writing faculty at Victoria University) and that builds very strong ties with the wider Victoria University writing culture.

Pretty much all my friends, and certainly my writing group, are published by VUP. My writing group is my Iowa class from 2003, all Wellington poets, and we work by Oovoo (virtual learning) a couple of times a month.

The big disadvantage is that I can’t easily get to listen to visiting writers. I tend to perform or read much more in Wellington than in Hawke’s Bay, so it has been really nice to be asked to read with the Rocky Outcrop writers, and at the Poet Laureate event. Most particularly, it was an honour to help at Matahiwi marae, which is the spiritual home of the Poet Laureate.

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

I live a bit isolated here, which is crucial for concentration and stillness. I grew up in a fairly remote and steep hill country area,

so I like quietness, and I have it. I might get a bit tetchy if I had to live near someone playing loud music or mowing or something. I don’t write about Hawke’s Bay or anyone in it, so this place has no direct effect, it’s pretty much surrounding scenery only. Very nice wallpaper, it is. It’s easy to work when you’ve just been driving along Marine Parade, looking at the sea over all the flowers in the gardens by the Soundshell.

63

Tim Wilson

BRENDAN WEBB

Going to plan

Bee in the know ~ may/ jun 2013

64

The office photocopier hummed and clunked, sliding the final white sheet of printed paper out into the bottom tray. The young town-planning staff member stapled it between the covers of his first report.

A few minutes later he tapped on the City Planner’s door and walked in, carefully placing the report on the planner’s tidy desk. The older man studied the cover, sighed and slid it back toward the younger man.

“What does that title say?” he asked.

“It says ‘Proposed changes to the western retailing/pedestrian interface precinct’,” smiled the young planner.

The older man stared at him.

“What’s that mean?” he asked.

“The western end of the central city shopping zone, between blocks B2 and C4.”

“The block where Farmers is?” asked the older man.

“Yes.” The town planner turned the first page.

He read the opening paragraph. Then he read it again.

“This report is designed to provide an overview of the inter-relation of vehicular activity and pedestrian flows in the central city retail/commercial precinct to reduce the current imbalance of stationary vehicular allocation zones, with particular reference to maximising digital metered revenue streams.”

He looked up at the young planning officer.

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow you,” he said.

“We want to put in more parking spaces,” the younger man replied.

The town planner took a deep breath.

He stared down at a diagram filled with coloured lines, arrows and an array of cross-hatching. He tilted the report to one side then the other. Then he turned it upside down.

“What’s this?” he asked finally.

“It’s a diagrammatical representation of peak-hour traffic flows in the central city retail/commercial precinct with special emphasis on private vehicular movements and their interaction with non-motorised personal transportation devices,” said the young planner.

“You mean cars and bikes?” asked the older man.

“Er . . . yes, if you want to put it that way.”

The older man exhaled slowly.

“What are these?” he said, jabbing his pen at a series of red-coloured spaces.

“They’re the new stationary vehicle allocation zones. We are proposing 16 to

a block instead of the existing 12, which means additional revenue streams from digital monitoring devices,” the young planner replied with a brief smile.

“You mean you’ve added four new parking spaces so we can add four more parking meters,” said the town planner.

“They look pretty small to me. How big are they exactly?”

The young planner cleared his throat.

“Recent studies in North America and parts of Europe indicate that the average car has reduced in length by 1.35 metres in the past decade, due to advanced design techniques, particularly in the small-vehicle sector.

“Current computer modelling indicates that by 2023 the average Korean or Chinese hatchback will be 3.26 metres in length, which will allow 3.9 extra stationary vehicle allocation zones per city block,” he said.

“In view of that trend, we have made each metered space 3.99 metres long. That will accommodate all models of Japanese cars since 2009 and most European hatchbacks.”

The older man shook his head and blinked.

“My 2006 Commodore won’t fit into my carport let alone a 3.99 metre-long space,” he grunted. “You’ll have people going round and round the block unable to find a space they can fit into.”

The young planner smiled. “That’s the point. It keeps older cars out of the central city. Let’s face it, they’re not a good look, they make the central city look old-school – sort of l980s ---and anyway, constant traffic circulation makes a town look busy.”

The town planner gripped his pen. The young man shifted uneasily.

“What do shoppers think about that?” asked the older man.

“We did a survey over three days but the results were skewed by the ratio of elderly people in town to the key retail demographic – those aged between 12 and 22,” said the young planner.

“They moan about everything. They hate cars because they’re not allowed to drive them anymore. They hate cyclists, they complain about blackboards and signs outside coffee shops and say the railway line shakes their dentures and hearing aids lose.

“We see these changes as a way of deterring older people from the centre of the city. They’re a bit like the older cars really -- not a good look if you’re trying to create a vibrant retailing centre.”

The town planner closed his eyes. After a long pause, he opened them again and

turned to the final page of the report. Six recommendations were listed. He took a deep breath and read the first paragraph.

Recommendation 1: It is recommended that all metered parking zones be progressively reduced in length by .56 of a metre annually during the next 10 years.

A nervous tic fluttered the town planner’s left eye.

Recommendation 2: That metered parking times also be gradually reduced from one hour to a maximum of 7.5 minutes during the same decade.”

“Oh my God,” he breathed. He read on.

Recommendation 3: That the use of motorised scooters, wheelchairs and walking frames within the central city retail precinct be restricted to 9am -10am and from 3 -4pm daily.

The ballpoint pen fell from the town planner’s frozen fingers, rolled across his desk and plummeted into his wastepaper bin with a clang.

Recommendation 4: That motor vehicles be given priority over pedestrians and cyclists in all centralcity traffic movements and special slow lanes be provided for motorised scooters.

The words on the page began to blur.

Recommendation 5: That footpaths be reduced to single lanes outside cafes to allow for increased numbers of sandwich boards, tables and chairs.

The town planner felt his teeth grind. He could smell burning enamel. His eyes fell on the final paragraph.

Recommendation 6: That railway lines in the central city be raised to provide a barrier to motorised scooters as a means of restricting elderly shoppers to each end of the town.

The town planner sat frozen at his desk.

Slowly his eyes rose to the younger man’s pale face.

“I think you’re just the person to go and discuss earthquake-strengthening requirements with the city’s landlords,” he said finally.

“They’ll appreciate your straight talking.”

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