Meeting the Regional Council

There are few opportunities to question our Regional Councillors in open forum but recently representatives of the hospitality industry met with aspiring and existing councillors.

As a board member of Hawke's Bay Wine Country Tourism Association I have an interest in visitor issues, and have watched the disaster of Venture Hawke's Bay from close range.

Nationally tourism is calculated to generate around 10% of economic activity and to create 10% of employment. Local figures suggest the visitor industry is at least this important to Hawke's Bay.

The Regional Council manages our RTO or regional tourism organisation, Venture Hawke's Bay which has been in the news recently after over spending its budget by $½ million in the past year.

One thing that stood out was the lack of importance given to this opportunity to meet the industry by most councillors. Only three saw fit to attend, including Elleen von Dadeleszen, Elizabeth Remmerswaal and Christine Scott.

Both the Regional Council Chairman Alan Dick and Chairman of Venture Hawke's Bay Neil Kirton failed to show. Aspiring councillors were rather better represented with five attending including Robert Burnside, Murray Douglas, Tom Belford, Tim Tinker and Hugh Richie.

It seemed to me the challengers had a much better grasp of the visitor industry than the councillors. All three councillors seemed unable to get past water quality issues trying hard to make somewhat vague connections to the visitor industry. This is not intended as a put down and I am not suggesting water is not important, just that it was not the purpose of the meeting.
The meeting was called by people involved in the Visitor industry to hear the views of all the candidates towards their industry, and in part because of general discontent with the Regional Council's handling of Venture Hawke's Bay over the past year.

Easily the best speaker from a commercial prospective was Murray Douglas who heads up the Chamber of Commerce. Murray has a great deal of experience in local government, but clearly also understands the both the Hawke's Bay economy, and the visitor industry.

Another excellent speaker was Tom Belford who publishes the monthly newsletter Bay Buzz. As expected Tom put more emphasis on environmental issues but also demonstrated an understanding of the visitor industry.

Local businessman Robert Burnside also seemed to grasp the key issues.

Tim did not make a huge impression on me.

Alas the candidate for Central Hawke's Bay Hugh Richie seemed not to appreciate that for a visitor industry to even get started, there must be transport. He started by expressing strong opposition to upgrading the airport claiming the bio security risk and border control costs were simply too high. The logic of his stance was hard to understand when there are already seven civilian points of entry throughout the country for international flights, plus two military air fields which also handle international services.

Of course for Hawkes Bay easily the biggest bio security hazard is the port. Already we have had major infestations of Argentinian Fire Ants and Southern Salt Marsh Mosquitoes. The port provides an essential gateway for our exports especially primary products which presumably includes the output from Mr Richie's farming operations so it seems he is willing to accept the biosecurity risk when he benefits, but not if it is someone else.

Of course agriculture with a $2 billion contribution to our GNP is worth far more than the visitor industry but on the other side of the coin offers much less opportunity for growth especially in the short term. If we are to lift the performance of the local economy, it is most likely to come from the visitor industry.

Overall I found the existing councillors disappointing. Remember they control the council that is in charge of our regional tourism organisation. Clearly they were asleep at the wheel when Venture Hawke's Bay was overspending its budget to the tune of half a million dollars. So, do they have what ever is needed to provide our future tourism needs.

I have serious doubts. In my view if these people are left in charge we will continue to experience the sort of performance problems we have been having. The no show of so many existing councillors is another issue deserving further mention. Regional councillors have lived in a sheltered unchallenged environment for far too long. Some have been on the council for over 20 years. Now they are being asked to front up in public they seem to be ducking for cover.

So for me the entire Regional Council is ready to be replaced by the new breed of enlightened, well informed prospects waiting in the wings. Alternatively the Regional Council should loose its involvement in the visitor industry.