“The meeting was very positive,” says Mr Tremain. 

“We discussed the wider gang issue and previous initiatives aimed at resolving gang violence in the town.”

The Minister of Police was supportive of Police decisions to reallocate current resources from the Eastern Police District to support the township of Wairoa.

The Minister also made it clear that the community needed to draw a line in the sand with its current acceptance of gangs in and around the Wairoa township.

“While the Mayor and I agree on tough policing, we still have different views on the community’s attitude to gangs” says Chris Tremain.

“I believe that the community need to stop acknowledging that gangs are part of their community.  The introduction of a gang patch ban would send a clear message that the community has had enough of gangs and genuinely wants to do something about it.  Unfortunately, at this point in time, the Mayor does not agree with me on this issue”.

I agreed with the Mayor that I would only progress a Gang Patch Ban with the community’s support.”

The wider issue of economic development for the provision of jobs in Wairoa was also discussed at the meeting.

The police have agreed to respond to the Mayor within the next two weeks with a clear indication of changes to regional Police resourcing to provide better support for Wairoa. This may include better support from Maori wardens.

Chris Tremain

http://www.sherwood.school.nz

There’s no doubt that dreams need to be realistic, if not just a little bit out of reach. No point in planning for an International Airport when Napier is still a long way away from achieving this goal.

So what is realistic and what is achievable in Wairoa. Well first and foremost the focus should be on natural resources and competitive advantage. In this regard Wairoa has resources to burn. Furtile soils, plenty of water, strong indigenous population and culture, unemployed people wanting to work, low cost housing, and natural beauty that takes your breath away.

The Mayor and the town are right to pursue added value opportunities in the timber and agricultural sectors. How can you help the existing players to invest and to grow? Do they have enough capital? How can you attract new capital locally in the first instance? Maybe a Wairoa Venture Capital fund could be established allowing primary producers to invest off farm and to diversify.

My advice: First work with the incumbents before trying to attract new shiny things from outside the region. Do this and a buoyant added value sector will attract new businesses who see the opportunities.

Secondly there is a huge opportunity in eco and cultural tourism. John Keys visit to India just last week showed the massive growth in tourism from India and Asia that New Zealand will receive over the next decade. Tourist operators need new product and more capacity. 

The key to this in Wairoa is access and accommodation. Access from Rotorua via State Highway 38 needs to be improved. Currently there is a huge gap between local and central Government estimates of the cost of this project. This gap needs to be closed. An upgrade will ensure that tourist buses can more easily access Lake Waikaremoana and Wairoa.

In the same breath, we need to encourage investment in three high quality accommodation complexes. Local iwi need to be key if not major stakeholder investors. The first is an eco-hotel in the bush at either Tuai or on the Lake. The second is an eco-hotel and spa at Morere Springs.

The third is a high quality concert and accommodation Marae in Wairoa. This would provide for International visitors flying into Auckland or Rotorua to experience an outstanding cultural and environmental tour of our East Coast. Auckland/Rotorua to Waikaremoana to Morere to Wairoa to Napier/Hastings to Tongariro National Park to Taupo to Rotorua/Auckland.

A tourist route like this would bring sustainable jobs and support businesses. It would be a huge boon for the district encouraging other investment. Yes – it might be slightly out of reach, but I’m determined to do all that I can to turn this dream into reality.

Chris Tremain

The team at Community Link are to be congratulated for the outstanding work they have done in recent months; supporting Wairoa Affco workers through the contract negotiations and Wairoa farmers through the recent floods with Taskforce Green workers. Having all these services under one roof should provide clients with a seamless service.

One of the things that I discussed with Mayor Les Probert, at the Community Link opening, was the series of meetings currently being held regarding Economic Development for Wairoa. I’m supportive of the Mayors drive here 110%. The reality is that we need more jobs in Wairoa. We need real jobs from real businesses. Sure the Government can provide short term employment schemes but that’s only tinkering. What Wairoa needs is more businesses providing long term sustainable jobs.

The Government has been focusing on ensuring communities such as Wairoa have the economic framework to encourage business start-ups and growth. That’s why we’ve been so focused on getting the tax system competitive against Australia. We’ve done that. That’s why we’ve invested and will continue to invest so heavily in infrastructure such as the roll-out of broadband and new roading (Matahorua Gorge). That’s why we’re so focused on trade, as evidenced by the PM’s current trip to India this week working towards a further Free Trade Agreement. That’s why we’re investing so heavily in education with the likes of the ‘Service Academy’ at Wairoa College.

It’s why we’re so focused on controlling Government spending so that the private sector grows not the government sector. We need new jobs in the export sector (paid for by businesses), not the Government (paid for by you the taxpayer).
And it’s also one of the key reasons we’re looking to sell up to 49% of five State Owned Assets. We need new capital to invest in our nation’s future and by selling some of our assets, while still maintaining majority control over them, gives us the capital necessary to invest in new opportunities such as water irrigation on the Heretaunga plains. Sure we could borrow to do it, but we think we’ve borrowed enough just recently and need to find other means to finance new opportunities.
Tourism, added-value primary processing facilities, and additional timber processing are genuine export possibilities which should be pursued for Wairoa.

Speaking of tourism opportunities I visited the Morere Hot Springs following the opening of the Wairoa Community Link. I had been asked up there to view the ‘Hot Springs’ by both locals and DOC staff. We walked up the track and clambered over the colossal land-slip which has temporarily put the top “Hot Spring” out of action. DOC staff are working hard to remedy this as quickly as possible, but it’s a tough job in cramped conditions. It’s been a long time since I’d been to the Springs so I’d forgotten just how beautiful and accessible the bush and birdlife is. The current DOC consent comes up for review in about a year. I think there is a wonderful opportunity for an Eco-Hotel and Spa to be considered providing excellent employment opportunities for locals.

It’s opportunities like this which will genuinely put Wairoa on the map and springboard other business opportunities into the area. I for one will be working hard with both the local council and iwi to investigate these opportunities over coming months and years.

Chris Tremain

Further south the storm was more extreme. I’ve now had the opportunity to visit a number of these areas. The damage to farm land has to be seen to be believed. In some cases, such as Ocean Beach, farmers have lost over 60% of their hillside grass cover. It will take many, many, years to recover.
The township of Waimarama was the most heavily affected urban area, with the likes of Gillies Avenue resembling the disaster of Christchurch without the structural damage to buildings.

Having spent some time down in Christchurch volunteering with the “Farmy Army” and upon visiting Waimarama my reaction was to organise a “Magpie Army” to get stuck in to help lend a hand. So in conjunction with Lawrence Yule, Barbara Arnott, Craig Foss and the huge support of Civil Defence that’s what we did. As a result last Saturday, despite the pouring rain, 4 bus loads of us travelled out to Waimarama and spent a day digging mud and shifting silt.

It was hard, wet, and grubby work. We helped clean out the local school, the Marae, the Church, the Community Hall, and a number residential properties. While we did not shift the volume of machines, volunteers provide the spirit so vital to recovery. Just by getting in and helping others people make a huge difference not measured by the volume of silt shifted.
Thank you to all those who volunteered. Your efforts are hugely appreciated. While it was the first call up of the “Magpie Army” I have no doubt it won’t be the last!

Chris Tremain

The following information comes directly from the Minister of Civil Defence’s John Carter and residents are encouraged to seek help if they need it.

The current flooding in Hawke’s Bay is classified as a small event under the Government’s Adverse Event Framework
ref http://www.maf.govt.nz/environment-natural-resources/funding-programmes/natural-disaster-recovery/on-farm-adverse-events-recovery-plan.aspx

It is understood that the Rural Support Trust is looking to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss possible assistance measures, and coordinate local efforts. The contact for this is Mike Ady, Ph 06 835 9203, mike@hbrc.govt.nz
As part of the Government programme to develop and support the RST’s, many have the resources to provide facilitation support in such small events.

The MPs thank the emergency services, neighbours, councils and all those that have helped in some way for the huge effort with coping with this weather disaster. There is a lot of work ahead as the clean-up begins but it will be achieved through working together as a community.

That’s great news for all of us!

Chris Tremain

CCA spoke in detail about a new brand they have launched in the US called “Just Shorn – New Zealand Wool”. The brand represents a range of New Zealand wool carpets and rugs. Right now the brand is in 100 flooring retail businesses across the States. Their goal is 1000 stores.

They are selling the natural and sustainable story of New Zealand wool. The things that we all take for granted, our farms, our woolsheds, our farm dogs, and our guardianship of the land, have all been packaged up into an in-store and on-line story. It’s exciting and I think it’s going to be huge. There is a strong drive around the world to more sustainable and environmentally friendly products and wool ticks all the right boxes against it’s petroleum based competitors.

Log-on to www.justshorn.com to check out the website. It’s full of video clips so you’ll need a high speed connection to appreciate the depth of the site.
To put the opportunity into perspective we were told that wool carpets represent just 2% of the US flooring market. They also said that if it rose to 4% that this would take the entire current New Zealand wool clip. Not sure how true this was but it sounded pretty impressive.

Wool commodity prices have lifted, more than doubling over the last two years. This has been excellent news meaning that many farmers are once again making a dollar from their wool clip. One of the drivers of increased wool prices has been increased oil prices as most of wools main competitors are petroleum based products. As a result of this it is critical that consumer based brands are developed such as “Just Shorn” which continue to demand a premium price in the market regardless of competitors.

On another tack I have had a number of Wairoa people express concern at the encroachment of forestry into the district. They have lobbied for land-use restrictions, concerned that trees will drive people from Wairoa. National are not a party interested in limiting current property rights. In saying this initiatives such as “Just Shorn” will do more for the economics of wool farming than any limitation on land use. My recommendation would be to support these kinds of initiatives helping to ensure the long term profitability of wool farming and therefore a strong rationale to stay in sheep as opposed to trees. I think that a business opportunity like “Just Shorn” – is just in time!

Chris Tremain

The farm is ‘picture perfect’ with a stunning range of tress and shelter.
And boy did we need the shelter as a southerly started to kick in!

Thanks Steve and Jane for sharing your farm and all the best for the
National finals.

For more information go to:

http://www.nzfeatrust.org.nz/content/350/default.aspx

The new brand moves us from the old ‘Wine Country” logo while maintaining a similar stylised yellow and orange sunrise/sunset but with the more generic brand of “Hawkes Bay”. I think this is a brand which will be a much better fit for Wairoa.

The “Wine Country” brand did straight jacket us into one silo of tourism offering, that being food and wine. The fact is that Hawkes Bay has a diverse range of tourism products and these all need the opportunity to independently promote them-selves, but always, in my opinion, within the context of the wider “Hawkes Bay” brand.

The bi-line “Get me to Hawkes Bay” allows the use of the “Hawkes Bay” brand across a range of different media and products. So whether it’s Art Deco Napier, Gannet Safaris, or the Lake to Lighthouse, we’re promoting the individual product but under the wider brand “Hawkes Bay”.
We need to keep reminding ourselves that while we are the 5th largest population grouping in the country with 200,000 plus people in our province, we are just a dinghy on the ocean when it comes to marketing ourselves on an international basis. In a world proliferated by marketing brands people have a limited ability to absorb new information. As a result we need one brand under which we market with a range of tourism product offerings sitting under that brand. The fact is that even with modern viral internet marketing, if we are to build any grunt into a good campaign that drives tourists to our awesome province, it really does require us all working together and not in our own silos.

Wairoa has a great opportunity to pool its tourism offerings under the wider Hawkes Bay brand. And it needs to develop its own sub-brand, something like “Wild Wairoa”. A combination of farm stays, Marae Experiences, Pig Hunting for “Jaffas”, Lake Trekking, and special events. Remember that back in the 30’s the Morere Hot Springs was one of the largest tourist attractions in the North Island. We have a long way to get the Springs back up to that level of attraction, but increasingly tourists are looking for a unique slice of New Zealand, and “Wild Wairoa” has that in bundles. We just need to pull the ideas together and package it. Tourism HB can help big time here.

Chris Tremain