Over the Fence

Awards and positions

• Farm Forester of the Year 1995
• Winner H B Environmental Award (Rural) 2003
• Churchill Fellow 1994
• Norsewear Environmental Award 2002
• Chairman Landcare Trust
• Active member Hastings Landmarks
• Author of Better Trees for Tomorrow’s Kiwis
• Member of the H B Harbour Board 1980-89
• President H B Federated Farmers 1978-83

WHY I AM STANDING FOR COUNCIL

I have been committed to the environment all my life and the Regional Council, with its environment responsibilities is the most effective vehicle to further that cause.

I bring to my candidacy:

• the experience of six years on the Council and the wish to continue my work;
• the experience and caution of age with the optimism and idealism of youth;
• the sense of history with the excitement of vision;
• an understanding of the need to balance our need for economic security with environmental protection and enhancement.

I claim that the Hawkes Bay Regional Council is the most progressive in New Zealand.  Here’s my justification.

Water

Water, Soil and Air are the three pillars upon which all life depends. All are vital, but water, its quality and its distribution, is currently a prominent issue in the public’s mind.

Council is embarking on a number of far-reaching initiatives to protect our water.

• Establishing forestry on two recently purchased blocks of farmland adjacent to the Waipawa and Waipukurau oxidations ponds to remove waste water from the Tukituki through land-based disposal.  This is the only New Zealand example of a regional council initiating and financing such a project.
• Working with the community to enhance the Karamu, Maraetotara and other streams.
• Experimentation with floating plant mats to uptake nutrients. This is of national interest.
• A proactive programme with farmers, especially dairy farmers, to reduce pollution through better effluent disposal systems, nutrient management and riparian planting. The Council has a dedicated officer and an active dairy liaison committee to work towards these objectives.
• Seriously investigating water harvesting, initially in Central Hawke’s Bay, so that an area of land can have its production boosted in a sustainable manner without extracting water summer from our rivers that are under increasing pressure. 
• Advancing monitoring of quality and quantity using new technologies.
• The imposition of greater disciplines on water users and the encouragement of greater efficiency.

Soil

Soil erosion and loss is a global issue and Hawkes Bay has its share. We are increasing our efforts to reduce the loss of our irreplaceable mantel of fertility.

• The Council has a well established Regional Landcare Scheme which financially assists and encourages farmers to undertake various tree planting programmes to reduce wind and water erosion.
• Last year the Council purchased a badly eroding farm in Tutira. This is being planted in a multi-species forestry regime for the purposes of conservation, but also high quality wood production, attainment of carbon credits, recreation, landscape and trials. This will be a model of national importance for the conversion of unstable hill country from pasture to sustainable family-owned forestry.
• The objectives on the Heretaunga Plans Urban Development Strategy

Air

Council is required by legislation to impose air quality standards over our two cities.

This means inconvenience and cost for many people, but healthier air will be the result. The Council has put in place an assistance package to ease pressure on those so affected.

Biodiversity

The council has a comprehensive programme to encourage improved biodiversity.

• Rehabilitation of the Pekapeka and other identified public wetlands.
• Encouraging and assisting landowners to enhance wetlands and waterways.
• The massive knock-down of possums has had a huge impact on the health of our bush health and hence native bird life
• First council to assist land-owners to covenant under the QEII National Trust
• Working with schools and the community to plant native trees e.g. the Karamu and Pekapeka wetland.
• The ecological enhancement of urban waterways.
• Assisting the predator-proof fence around Lake Opuahi.

Funding support

The HB Regional Council is financially well endowed, a legacy of the old Harbour Board it replaced. I support the Council’s funding of the following regional facilities;

• RegionalSports Park;
• Te Mata Park re-establishment;
• Museum redevelopment;
• Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter;
• Waipawa Municipal Theatre redevelopment
• Pathways and walkways

Rates and Stewardship of Assets

The Hawkes Bay Regional Council is one of the most financially endowed in the country, a result of assets inherited from the old Harbour Board. It is to husband those assets in a way that strikes a balance between the needs and facilities of today’s community with its protection for future generations.

Further, given the difficult current economic environment, which is unlikely to significant improve in the near future, it is essential that the next council to conduct its affairs in the most financially prudent manner.

Amalgamation

I believe that the amalgamation of Hawkes Bay’s local authorities will:

• Lead to greater unity and co-operation between communities
• Allow a Hawkes Bay mayor to provide regional leadership
• Provide significant economies of scale
• Enable more co-ordinated planning
• Not diminish community spirit

I therefore support the democratic establishment of a Hawkes Bay Unitary Authority.

Climate Change

Is it happening? Obviously!

Is it man-induced? Given its haste one should assume so.

Can we do anything about it? Let’s try, for the stakes are too high to ignore.

What? Burn less fossil fuels and plant more trees to remove carbon from the atmosphere! (See my vision above.)

What of the next three years?

Not withstanding New Zealand’s 100% Pure brand, (considered one of the world’s most effective national brands) our environment is far from as it could be - and should be. We must ever strive for higher standards. But we must also acknowledge our economic aspirations which inevitably mean that compromises need to be made. For instance, irrigation conflicts with the environment, but given that virtually all our horticulture/viticulture, much of our process cropping and some of our animal fodder is irrigated then it is vital to our material wellbeing. The environmental fundamentalists of course don’t accept this, (but obviously enjoy material comfortable). I believe my environmental credentials allow me to challenge them as not serving the realities of good and progressive governance in this favoured region.

Nevertheless, if we are smart we can economically capitalise on our environmental standards, the most obvious being tourism and the marketing of environmentally responsible food, beverages and fibre. This is a challenge that fundamentally can only be met by private enterprise, not a public body. This region has a lamentable record over a long period of publicly funded promotion. I therefore I believe in scaling down the activities of Venture Hawkes Bay, and serve notice that failure to deliver in the immediate future will warrant its disbanding. In the meantime focus should be on visitor promotion with significant input from private interests.

If re-elected I will seek to:

• Husband our resources in the best interests of the region, especially given the difficult economic circumstances of the time.
• Broaden and promote the Regional Landcare scheme to give greater emphasis to landscape values and to biodiversity and wildlife habitat. e.g. the promote a strategy to fence off farm dams and develop their ecology, including eel habitat.
• Continue to support the investigation of water harvesting, as costly as the exercise is, because over the region we have reached the limit of allocation for irrigation, but irrigation greatly furthers our ability to economically exploit our fertile land resource.
• Encourage better standards of planning and management of trees throughout our urban, peri-urban and rural areas.
• While willingly acknowledging the environmentally responsible management of the overwhelming majority of farmers, believe that those whose standards are inadequate must be placed under clear pressure that they lift their game. This is best done through publicity, peer pressure, and shaming. Failing that, regulation will be required.

YOUR VOTE WOULD BE APPRECIATED