Issue No.30 • JULY / AUGUST 2016 • $8.00 Including GST
Fished Out?
What now for fishing in Hawke’s Bay?
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HBRICs rocky road Drone Man / Women’s Refuge GMOs / Healthy Homes Agritech $$$
04
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Issue No.30 • JULY/AUGUST 2016
THIS MONTH Is your next car likely to be electric? Critical initiative to unite HB’s councils and agencies quietly underway. Will HBRIC survive its advocacy of the dam? Hawke Bay fishers and fisheries demand action. Huge investments changing your food and how it’s produced. A preview of Election 2016. Plus health, online marketing, upcoming events, architecture, arts and culture.
FEATURES 18 A PLUG FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES Keith Newman Electric vehicles are moving faster than you might think.
26 LITTLE SILOS WON’T LIFT THE BAY Jessica Soutar Barron
Our councils and agencies are collaborating to lift HB socio-economic standards
34 DRONE MAN Sarah Cates
‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ providing new eyes in the sky
40 FEAR OF FALLING Mark Sweet
HBRIC’s dam is controversial … what about HBRIC itself ?
48 KILL LESS FISH Tom Belford 50 FISHERIES COMMISSION OF INQUIRY REQUIRED Trish Rea, LegaSea Falling catches in the Bay have reached political boiling point
58 POLITICAL BUZZ Tom Belford
Early look at local body elections. What next with dam?
64 HEALTHY HOME HEATING Sarah Cates
Unfortunately, this time of year brings its own smoke-filled legacy.
Issue No.30 • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Photograph: Tim Whittaker
08 BEE in the KNOW >
IDEAS & OPINIONS
54 AGRITECH, THE NEW QUEEN OF GREEN Dr Rosie Bosworth 68 GMO DEBATE CONTINUES Professor Jack Heinemann 70 AN EMAIL WARRIOR Matt Miller 72 HEED THE ORACLE OF OMAHA Paul Paynter 74 HASTINGS WOMEN’S REFUGE … At the breaking point Anna Lorck >
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
76 THROUGH THE LENS Michal McKay 80 EVENTS & THE SCENE Lizzie Russell 87 WISH I’D MADE THAT Rod McDonald 88 BOOK REVIEWS 90 FOOD: FROM MARKET TO MARKET Prue Barton 95 MY FIRST TIME Margot Wuts 96 LETTER FROM THE COUNTRY Mary Kippenberger Follow us at: FACEBOOK.COM/BAYBUZZHB Selected BayBuzz articles are archived at: WWW.BAYBUZZ.CO.NZ For editorial enquiries contact Tom Belford: editors@baybuzz.co.nz For advertising enquiries contact Mandy Wilson: mandy@baybuzz.co.nz, 027 593 5575 BayBuzz, PO Box 8322, Havelock North. ISSN 2253-2625 (PRINT) ISSN 2253-2633 (ONLINE)
THE BAYBUZZ TEAM
EDITOR: Tom Belford. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Lizzie Russell. SENIOR WRITERS: Bridget Freeman-Rock; Jessica Soutar Barron; Keith Newman; Mark Sweet; Tom Belford. COLUMNISTS: Anna Lorck; David Trubridge; Mary Kippenberger; Matt Miller; Michal McKay; Paul Paynter; Sarah Cates. EDITOR’S RIGHT HAND: Brooks Belford. PHOTOGRAPHY: Tim Whittaker; Sarah Cates. ILLUSTRATION: Brett Monteith. DESIGN: Unit Design. ADVERT ART MANAGEMENT: TK Design. ADVERTISING SALES & DISTRIBUTION: Mandy Wilson. ONLINE: Mogul. BUSINESS MANAGER: Bernadette Magee. PRINTING: Format Print. COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM WHITTAKER.
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. MANDY WILSON Mandy Wilson manages advertising and store sales for BayBuzz. She’s worked in print media in the Bay for 20 years or so (wow!). In her leisure you can spot Mandy walking or cycling one of the numerous tracks throughout Hawke’s Bay or sipping hot chocolates in any number of cafes. 027 593 5575 LIZZIE RUSSELL Lizzie is writer, project wrangler and arts promoter. She’s been living and working back in her home ground of Hawke’s Bay for five years, initially with Hastings City Art Gallery and more recently as a freelancer. She also co-ordinates the Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition and Pecha Kucha in the Bay.
This document is printed on an environmentally reponsible paper produced using Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) pulp sourced from Sustainable & Legally Harvested Farmed Trees, and manufactured under the strict ISO14001 Environmental Management System.
FROM THE EDITOR TOM BELFORD
What’s Working in Hawke’s Bay? As I write this barricaded in my cozy office, space heater at full blast, I’m thinking about making the dash to the cold kitchen to fetch a cup of coffee. What a trivial inconvenience this is, as I recall what I’ve just read in Sarah Cates’ article, Healthy Home Heating … “When you go into houses where every bedroom has a dehumidifier, mould on the walls, mattresses on the floor and an obvious feeling of damp and cold in the air, you can’t but be affected. Yes, this is happening in Hawke’s Bay! These people do not have the choices that others have. Some landlords take advantage of this situation – it’s called desperation. You can only wonder what these people have to endure on a daily basis. What are the long term physical, and mental health issues that result from inadequate housing?” As Sarah points out, the impact of unhealthy homes is not confined to the tenants themselves; their compounded needs and resentment spill out into the entire community. Something for Hawke’s Bay’s slum landlords to ponder and be held accountable for. Picking up on social issues, Jessica Soutar Barron writes in Little Silos Won’t Lift the Bay of a still unproven – but promising – initiative called Lift the Bay. This project is a test of the collaborative ability of our councils, the local arms of our government agencies (DHB, Education, Police, MSD and others) and NGOs to ‘get it right’ with respect to improving socio-economic standards in the region. Think of this as our collaborative substitute for amalgamation. Hawke’s Bay needs this to work … BayBuzz will be watching. Speaking of ‘Is it working?’ … Mark Sweet, in Fear of Falling, looks at the rocky path of HBRIC, the Regional Council’s investment holding company, whose major chores to 4 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
date have been championing the Ruataniwha dam and overseeing the Port. Whatever the fate of the dam, what has been learnt in its pursuit, and what is HBRICs role, if any, in the future? Sounds like a local body election issue to me. One thing I know isn’t working is management of our fisheries, either at a national level or here in Hawke’s Bay. In Kill Less Fish I look at the state of play of fisheries issues, with a focus on our region. Local politicians seem to be climbing aboard a fresh initiative to restore our diminishing catches. Trish Rhea of LegaSea adds national perspective in her accompanying article. Keith Newman takes us into the future of local transport, with A Plug for Electric Vehicles. Electric cars, buses and trucks are all on the road ahead. All the pertinent cost curves are coming down, battery lives are going up (improving driving distances and performance) and charging stations are multiplying. Te Mata Mushrooms even offers one to the public for free. And if you think EVs are puny, dorky and purely utilitarian, take a look at John Bridgeman’s sleek black Tesla S P90D! EVs will make a major dent in our carbon footprint. BayBuzz will be looking at a raft of other energy choices facing Hawke’s Bay in the future – energy conservation and security, alternative sources (solar, biomass), the fate of oil & gas, on-farm energy use and more. Our ongoing energy series will launch in the next edition. For me, one of the most exciting articles here is Agritech, the New Queen of Green. Doesn’t sound sexy? Well, investment in agricultural technology is the new ‘Silicon Valley’ for venture capitalists these days. Agritech investments are set to surpass US$4 billion by the end of this year. And what these companies are developing will revolutionise
the food production business. If that’s not important to the future of Hawke’s Bay, I don’t know what is. This edition offers many other bits and pieces – local prize-winning architecture, a Paul Paynter lesson on Economics 101, another charming Mary Kippenberger story, a look at our own ‘Drone Man’ Tim Whittaker, food & wine, online biz, GMOs, arts and culture, and more. Enjoy!
editors@baybuzz.co.nz
TOM BELFORD Tom is a HB Regional Councillor. His past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organization, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major nonprofits and corporates. Tom writes an acclaimed blog for professional NGO fundraisers and communicators in North America and Europe.
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 5
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BEE in the KNOW
It's now or never If you’re a business in Hawke’s Bay using broadband, you’ve probably met Ben Deller, head of sales and then marketing for Airnet, today NOW. When Airnet became NOW, the company had about 12 staff and 1,200 customers … and Ben probably knew most of them on a first-name basis. At the root of Airnet/NOW’s success, fueled by Ben’s attitude, is customerfirst service. 8 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Photograph: Sarah Cates
NOW is pushing toward 100 employees and has more than 10,000 customers, reaching from Rotorua to Wellington. And still growing. After 14 years with Airnet/NOW, Ben and wife Teresa are finally taking their OE! Off to Canada, then Italy, Spain, wherever. Ben credits the early investors at NOW – Hamish Whyte, Colin Crombie, Neville Smith and his Dad, Tony Deller. Says Ben: “Without investors like
them, Hawke’s Bay businesses like NOW couldn’t exist. They all took a leap of faith and I will be forever grateful to them. Also to Hamish White for taking the time to mentor me; he invested a lot of time and energy developing my knowledge and skills, which one day I hope to help pass on.” Ben won’t lack for opportunities in Hawke’s Bay!
Hawke's Bay Wellness Index Jobs on Seek.co.nz 21 June 2016
295
Homes For Sale 25 April 2016
Lamb price at Stortford, average
PER HEAD
832
$96.50
Burglaries April 2016
Dwelling Assaults (Family violence indicator)
301
200
IN APRIL 2016 (DOWN 7 FROM APR 2015)
Napier Port Cargo, April-May 2016
HB Hospital Emergency Department presentations 25 Apr to 18 Jun 2016
UP 27 FROM FEBRUARY
Homes Sold in March 2016
UP 53 FROM MAY 2015 (REINZ)
416,714 tonnes
(UP 5.2% FROM SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR)
Gigabytes of data downloaded, in May on average, by NOW residential customers.
113 GB
DOWN 199 FROM APRIL (REINZ)
DOWN 12 FROM APR 2015
15 JUNE 2016
108
Giant jaffas given away by Pipi in Havelock North in April
6,766 2,240 (UP 455 FROM SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR)
DOWN FROM 3,025 IN MARCH
Visitors to MTG, April, Including FREE children
Visitor nights, commercial & private, compared to year end March 2016
4925 Bay Espresso coffee sold March 2016 (Down 380 kg from March)
1,145KG
What's Hot
UP
5.1% What's Not Horse of the Year Now
Horse of the Year Then Electric
Petrol
LegaSea
MPI
Alex Walker
Peter Butler
Healthy homes
Slumlords
Agritech
Silicon Valley
Women’s refuges
Underfunded
Pea milk Commodity boom
Well ahead of the curve: passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford riding electric horses in 1931
Cow milk Market correction JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 9
BEE in the KNOW
We are the champions The New Zealand apple industry’s booming success has been recognised internationally with the recent announcement that we’ve topped the list of the 33 apple-growing countries that make up the annual World Apple Report. The three areas of comparative performance in the report are production efficiency, industry infrastructure and inputs, and financial and market factors. New Zealand was in the top five for all categories, and first overall, ahead of Chile and the United States. The World Apple Report said New Zealand was focusing on new or exclusive apple varieties that earned a substantial price premium in many international markets. Hawke’s Bay is poised to see long-term benefits from success and expansion of apples. As Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Allan Pollard says: “Our provinces are prospering from the apple success, we are growing hundreds of full-time jobs across the sector in all areas including production, post harvest, logistics, marketing and exports. It’s certainly a great time to be an apple growing region.”
Photograph: Tim Whittaker 10 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Spacious claims
BEE in the KNOW
There looks to be major economic benefits ahead as the launch from Mahia of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket approaches. Electron is Rocket Lab’s latest rocket, and is an entirely carbon-composite vehicle that uses Rocket Lab’s Rutherford engines for its main propulsion system. The Rutherford engine makes use of electric turbo-pumps and the majority of its components are 3D-printed. Electron is 16 metres long, 1.20 metres in diameter and has a lift-off weight of 12,800 kilos. Cabinet papers released in mid-June show the development of a rocket-launch industry
could contribute between $600 million and $1,550 million of added value to New Zealand over the next 20 years. An economic impact analysis report was compiled for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and shows that Rocket Lab’s work in Northern Hawke’s Bay will have positive and farreaching effects, including: • Additional employment by Rocket Lab and in supplying and linked industries. • Space tourism – international visitors or New Zealanders watching rocket launches, and members of the satellite industry or their clients attending the launch of their satellites.
Napier Boys’ High School Year 13 student Laird Kruger is heading to space camp. The young science enthusiast is one of five New Zealand secondary schoolers selected by the Royal Society of New Zealand to attend the USA Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama in July. As a small child Laird was interested in space, and he says that has intensified while at NBHS as he’s focused on science and physics. Selection to the camp was based on grades from the last year or so, plus a CV and reference letters from teachers and the headmaster. Laird says he was excited and surprised to be chosen. “A bunch of us were encouraged by our teacher to apply for these international student opportunities run by the Royal Society, so we thought we might as well apply. No one was really expecting anything.” As he heads off, Laird says he’s unsure of what lies ahead during his two weeks at camp, but with a hundred other teenage space fans, it’s sure to be eventful. “So far I’ve met the teacher who’s taking us, and the five of us kids have got a group chat online, so we’ve been throwing a few ideas around. I’m definitely more excited than nervous. And we’ve had to sign a form for scuba diving, so it sounds like there’ll be some underwater stuff…” Laird is planning to study sciences and/or engineering next year at Canterbury University.
Space Camp for Laird
In a good space right now
• Cluster effects - development of related clusters for example in the areas of satellite manufacture/technology, carbon composites or 3D printing. • Aspiration effects - achievements in aerospace have been shown to have a significant impact in motivating prospective students and researchers into the field. • Knowledge and technology spillovers - the benefits from technology, information and knowledge that is generated by Rocket Lab (or its key suppliers) being applied in other companies or sectors of the economy. Residents of Mahia, Morere and Nuhaka are already enjoying the high-speed internet which Rocket Lab has brought to the area. Maybe they’d like to buy naming rights to the new Napier-Wairoa rail line – The Rail Rocket!
Ready, Aimee, fire Fresh from winning Sportsperson of the Year at the Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards in May, kayaker Aimee Fisher is back in Auckland training hard for the Olympics later this year. Aimee says the top local award is a big deal, but her success has not been accomplished solo. “None of us get to this place alone. For me it was the sacrifice of the coaches and the teachers who trained and encouraged me. My career was nurtured by Sport Hawke’s Bay and I received amazing financial support from the Stars Program and the Jarrod Cunningham Trust.” Last year Aimee won gold in the K4 500m at the World Cup round in Portugal and then made the finals at the World Champs in Milan, qualifying her for Rio. The former Karamu High School student is at 21 the youngest in the K4 team. With crewmates Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie, Aimee will be in the first New Zealand K4 boat to qualify in 24 years. “I believe that this boat has a real chance at a medal if we can find our very best on the day,” she says. “In the K4 it’s very much a courage thing. It’s ‘who can hold their hand in the fire longest?’ ” JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 11
BEE in the KNOW
Right to Die Andrew Denton has been travelling the world talking about euthanasia, in part, spurred on by the painful death of his father Kit but also by the hundreds of stories he has collected since he began campaigning 18 months ago. He calls the euthanasia debate "an untidy intersection of law, medicine, ethics, religion and politics". Denton is an Australian broadcaster and comedian, in New Zealand to support the End of Life Choice bill currently before parliament. The bill has attracted the largest number of submissions received on any act - 22,000 - with 9,000 signatures on the accompanying petition. Currently, the law restrains doctors from giving adequate pain relief to assist a patient to die; even having the conversation can be seen as illegal. A very loose figure puts 4-12% of doctors into the bracket of those who have stepped over the line. Denton says about 50% of doctors are supportive. "We should have the right to decide what happens to us on our death bed and not rely on someone else to tell us how painfully and slowly we have to die based on their own personal model of the universe." Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, five states in the USA, parts of Japan all have an End of Life Choice law. There have been 50 attempts to pass the bill in Australia. "These laws have to be carefully written and you need safe guards. But in the countries where they exist there's no evidence to suggest people have ever been coerced," says Denton. "It's really inappropriate that doctors and parliamentarians insist these laws can't work when serious bipartisan enquiry shows that they can. More than any other issue this is the biggest gap between public want and lack of political action."
Andrew Denton
Lecretia’s Choice Lawyer and physician-assisted dying advocate Lecretia Seales’ legacy will include a recently announced annual memorial lecture. The memorial lecture will be established in Lecretia’s name in partnership with Dr Andrew Butler, Lecretia’s lead counsel in Seales v Attorney General, and the
12 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Victoria University Law School. The lecture will be held annually for at least eight years, and will be on the subject of law reform and the constitution of New Zealand. The inaugural lecture will be held on 29 August 2016, and will be given by former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer. The event will coincide with the launch of Lecretia’s Choice, a book by Matt Vickers, Lecretia’s husband, and will be presented in partnership with Text Publishing.
BEE in the KNOW
Free Solar in Chile
Chile is now generating so much electricity from solar energy they’re giving it away. The country’s rapid solar expansion is being propelled by booming mining production and economic growth, which has helped spur development of 29 solar farms supplying the central grid, with another 15 planned. According to Chile’s national grid operator, spot prices reached zero in parts of the country on 113 days through April, a number that’s on track to beat last year’s total of 192 days. Consumers are enjoying the freebies, but it’s bad news for companies that own power plants struggling to generate revenue and developers seeking financing for new facilities. Growth has been disordered and too rapid, and the country’s infrastructure has failed to keep up. Salvatore Bernabei, head of Enel Green Power SpA’s operations in Chile, has 170 megawatts of capacity in operation and 300 megawatts under construction in the country. He’s adamant that the industry must catch up to sustain itself. “The rapid development of renewables was a surprise and now we have to react quickly.”
Stopping Superbugs
A recent study commissioned by the British government reports that superbugs will kill 10 million people a year by 2050 — more than cancer does now — if collaborative international action is not taken immediately. Superbugs are infections which have become resistant to drugs, often because of antibiotics overuse, some of the most threatening being drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis . The report identifies specific areas where action is required. Some initiatives focus on how to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics, while others look at how to increase the supply of new, smarter ones. It recommends a massive global awareness campaign, improved access to clean water and sanitation, and the setting up of a US$1.4 billion global fund to pay for early stage research. Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill, who led the influential 18-month research team said the review's proposals would cost up to US$40 billion over ten years – a figure "dwarfed by the costs of inaction”. A little more than half of that – up to $25 billion – should probably come from the drug industry, he said.
Split pea smoothie? The alternative milk shelf in US supermarkets has a new addition: Ripple – the world’s first milk derived from legumes, and it contains 50% more calcium than cows’ milk. Keen to disrupt the dairy industry, the California company Ripple Foods saw opportunty in the alternative milk market, with soy coming mostly from GMO crops and full of pesticides, almond milk using massive water resources and coconut milk expensive and hard on those suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. Peas, they discovered, are plentiful, full of vitamins (high in vitamin K, manganese, dietary fibre, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin C, phosphorus and folate, among other nutrients) and GMO-free. But while Ripple Foods make big claims about the environmental friendliness of their product – fewer chemicals, less water, less methane – they currently ship their yellow split peas from France to the US for processing. No word yet on whether pea milk is heading for the southern hemisphere. But we do grow peas in Hawke’s Bay, right? Which would you prefer here, more peas or more dairy cows? JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 13
3D Printed Shipwreck Models
BEE in the KNOW
Shipwrecks have long excited underwater explorers as places of discovery, but a team of UK archeologists is working to provide landlubbers with access too. The group from Wessex Archeology are employing 3D printing to bring two historical shipwrecks to life using data from photogrammetry (measuring the distance between objects from photographs) and sonar imaging. The researchers have completed scale models of the HMHS Anglia, a steamship that was used as a floating hospital during World War 1 which was sunk by a mine off England’s south coast, and an unnamed 17th century shipwreck lying off the northwest coast of Scotland. Archaeologist John McCarthy who undertook the 3D modelling of the sites, said it had been a, “fascinating process to transform the light captured in the photographs and the sound captured by the sonar sensors back into solid objects through the 3D printing process.” "We are very excited about the potential for this technology to help us to show the wider community what it's like to visit the site without having to learn to dive or even get your feet wet.” The models will be donated to local museums.
Heads Up DHB and Royston, try this! Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero is planning to perform a two-part human head transplant procedure he dubs HEAVEN (head anastomosis venture) and Gemini (the subsequent spinal cord fusion) late next year. His patient and volunteer is Valery Spiridonov, a 31-year-old Russian software development program manager. He suffers from Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a musclewasting disorder, and is desperate to improve his quality of life. A body from a brain-dead donor will become Spiridonov’s new body in an operation many are calling demented and unfeasible … the work of a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein. Dr Canavero’s research team includes 14 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
his collaborator, Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University in China, who recently completed a monkey head transplant. Another colleague, C-Yoon Kim of the Konkuk University School of Medicine in South Korea published a study in the journal Spinal Cord showing how his team re-established motor movements in mice whose neck spinal cords had been severed and re-fused. The plan for the operation was presented in 2015 as the keynote address of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons’s 39th annual conference. It will be a 36-hour, $20 million procedure involving at least 150 people, including doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists and virtual reality engineers. Dr Canavero predicts Spiridonov will be walking within three to six months of surgery.
BEE in the KNOW
BE IN THE KNOW UPDATE: CLIMATE RECORD
Hot Mess
In awful but now typical news, April 2016 was the hottest April on record globally. It was the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records. That’s three months in a row now that monthly temperatures have broken previous records by the largest margin ever, and seven
months in a row that are at least 1C above the 1951-80 mean for that month. Figures released by NASA in May show the global temperature of land and sea was 1.11C warmer in April than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980. NOAA, calculating differently, says that in
the 13 months from April 2015 to May 2016 each month has been a new record for global average temperatures. Pick your thermometer – it’s clear that 2016 is well on track to be the hottest year on record, and probably by the largest margin ever.
BE IN THE KNOW UPDATE: FOOD WASTE
BE IN THE KNOW UPDATE: BOWEL SCREENING
A new report in the journal Environmental Science & Technology highlights global food waste – nearly one-third of global production – as a massive contributor to climate change. According to the American study, in the year 2010, food production as a whole was 20% higher than required on a world scale, contributing to a similar spike in the planet’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions. It’s estimated that 1.3 billion tonnes annually (around 40% of the food produced for human consumption) gets lost or wasted – that’s equivalent to over half of the world’s annual cereals crop. There’s obvious economic effects of this, but the environmental cost is clear too. Food wastage contributes to the dangerous release of fertilizers and pesticides, and produces methane in landfills, a greenhouse gas exacerbating global warming.
One of the positives to come out of the Government’s budget announcements in May was the allocation of $39 million to roll out a national bowel cancer screening programme. The Hawke’s Bay District Health Board had anticipated a move towards increased screening by planning a new endoscopy suite. Until now, this procedure has been performed in general surgery, but from November there will be specific facilities. Hawke’s Bay’s share of the bowel screening fund should lead to 15 to 25 more lives being saved through early detection.
Waste not, want not
Saved by the Bowel
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 15
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Te Mata Mushroom’s charging station is free to the public. Photograph: Tim Whittaker 18 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
A Plug for Electric Vehicles KEITH NEWMAN
Electric cars moved from functional to desirable this year with the eye-catching Tesla range highlighting an emerging paradigm shift from fossil fuel to the electric dream of zero emission transport. Bloomberg New Energy Finance prophecies the 2020s will be the decade of the electric vehicle (EV), with falling battery prices opening the way for price competitiveness with their petrol and diesel powered nemesis. If New Zealand is to make the most of this opportunity from an economic and environmental perspective, the massive transitioning task will require a compelling business case, strong leadership and staged timelines for domestic and fleet vehicles, with taxes and other disincentives for gas guzzlers. The risk of messing it up evokes the failed experiment of the 1980s Muldoon ‘think big’ era, when New Zealand tried to beat ‘big oil’ by investing in locally-produced compressed natural gas (CNG). Plummeting oil prices and insufficient refill outlets saw the plan stall at 10% penetration of hybrid vehicle conversions. New Zealand has been a cautious adopter of EVs. By September 2015 more than half of EVs here were hybrids, including conversions, and by April 2016 there were still only 1,015 registered, including used imports. Of the billion registered cars globally, only 1.2 million are EVs (under 0.2%); half were sold during 2015, most in the US ahead of
“The Leaf wasn’t fun or cool; the Tesla’s are awesome vehicles … they’re doing cars that are truly desirable and there’s so much innovation.” Rod Drury
Europe, China and Japan. There are around 20 full EVs in Hawke’s Bay and perhaps as many hybrids. Among them, Hastings District Council, Unison and Te Mata Mushrooms have second-hand four door Nissan Leafs and Napier city has ordered two EV vans. These second generation vehicles, well capable of breaking the speed limit, have a range of 120-140 kilometres and can be recharged from a standard three-pin plug in 10 hours or 20-30 minutes from a fast charge three phase outlet.
Five-year focus
Transport Minister Simon Bridges’ wants to see 64,000 EVs by 2021, with growth stimulated by road user charge exemptions until light and heavy commercial EVs make up 2% of the fleet. He’s encouraging bulk purchases, public charging infrastructure and offering a
contestable $6 million fund to support ‘innovative’ low emission vehicle projects. Tax depreciation and fringe tax measures are being considered; EVs might be able to use bus lanes, and there may eventually be levies on petrol and gas. New recharge outlet signage developed by Christchurch City Council is about to appear around the country and a leadership group will help drive the message home with a million-dollar marketing campaign over five years. Fleet EV sales had traction from 2009 and were trending up; mostly imported secondhand Japanese Nissan Leafs ($20,000 plus), until Nissan dropped new models from the local market in November 2015. Lobby group Drive Electric says that left the Mitsubishi Outlander, a $60,000 hybrid, as the next affordable option for fleet managers.
Shifts happen
Meanwhile EVs innovation took a leap forward with Tesla receiving 400,000 cash deposits for its stylish Model 3 prototypes earlier this year before they even got onto the production line. That qualified the EV as a disruptive technology, alongside the Ford Model T, which supplanted the horse and buggy. Battery prices plummeted by 35% in 2015, although the battery still makes up a third of the cost. Between Tesla’s massive JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 19
Unison Group chief executive Ken Sutherland and Mayor Yule at Hastings Power Park
battery factory and huge R&D a further 30% reduction is being targeted to push EVs across a consumer tipping point. Locally, Johnny Bridgeman from Haumoana took delivery of his Tesla S P90D in May and Havelock North-based Xero CEO Rod Drury, though mildly disappointed at production delays, will take delivery of his Tesla X early in 2017. Drury’s confident he’s buying into the leading edge of a rapidly maturing market, with the next generation of more affordable vehicles set to captivate our imagination. “The Leaf wasn’t fun or cool; the Tesla’s are awesome vehicles … they’re doing cars that are truly desirable and there’s so much innovation.” He concedes current EVs are not for long overnight trips but ‘normal family things’ like commuting, taking the kids to school and sports fixtures, doing the groceries, then charging up in the garage overnight. “You wouldn’t do a trip from Hawke’s Bay to Wellington in an EV without a tail wind, well I wouldn’t,” says Drury. The AA suggests 95% of us travel an average of 39 kilomtres a day or less than 100 kilometres. While waiting for the supply issues to resolve, he says anyone who has a fleet should be looking seriously at EVs, although a stronger Government-led strategy is needed. 20 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Norway leads way
Norway has the highest penetration; one in every 100 passenger cars by December 2015, with 24% of all new sales being EVs. Now Norway’s main political parties are proposing to ban sales of petrol powered cars, requiring zero emissions on all new
Now Norway’s main political parties are proposing to ban sales of petrol powered cars, requiring zero emissions on all new sales from 2025. sales from 2025, according to Electrek. The Netherlands is looking to follow suit and India is considering an all-electric fleet by 2030. “There’s some real leadership going on there. It would be good to see something ambitious from New Zealand. I don’t think anyone would be opposed to us having a far more active electric vehicle strategy,” says Drury. All of this ‘cool technology’ he enthuses, is “incredibly on-brand … we could be a global hot spot in electric vehicle infrastructure.
We could put in place a 10-15-year ‘flip the fleet’ strategy which would be super-exciting.” Locally we remain cautiously experimental. At the end of 2012 Unison Group purchased a Nissan Leaf to test the long-term impact on its Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua and Taupo distribution networks. It wants to understand how demand might interact with other technologies including solar panels and large capacity battery storage, confident for now that its network is well placed to support growth in EV charging, which typically occurs overnight on off-peak rates.
Power parking
In conjunction with Hastings City, a former motorcycle parking space behind Westpac Bank on Queen Street has been repurposed as a fast charging Power Park. Peter Free, a Hastings businessman and regular user, claims he can save $3,500 in fuel charging up his BMW i3 EV at home and at the Power Park, which delivers an 80% charge in 30 minutes. By the end of the year, Unison Group CEO Ken Sutherland says it’ll have similar Power Parks in Napier, Rotorua and Taupo to address ‘range-anxiety’, believing other suppliers will follow suit. Unison will monitor use to help build support for fleet usage and to determine
how it will eventually charge for electrified transport. Its Hastings Power Park is free until September, when a 40 cents per minute charge will apply – 30 minutes for $8-$12. Hastings City Council purchased a secondhand Nissan Leaf for its parking department last year to determine viability for everyday use. Marcoms manager Jane MacKay says no other purchases are planned unless “it’s fit for the role required … and provides the best overall cost of ownership”. She says maintenance costs are negligible; no oil changes, spark plugs, cam belts, “all it really requires is a WOF, tyre checks and charging.” Range issues mean careful planning is required for round town use. A Hastings long-term plan (LTP) goal is for electric vehicles as an option for the future transportation network and supporting infrastructure to help make EVs viable. Napier City Council’s EV strategy is more explicit; it’s installing two free-to-use charge stations (apart from the Unison one) at the council buildings in Hastings Street and the council yard off Austin Street. Two Renault Kangoos electric vans will arrive in late July; one as a courier vehicle, the other for the parking department giving it high visibility on the “120 kilometres per day” rounds, says Hayleigh Brereton, Napier City’s business support manager. This will help council assess where else EVs might fit in the fleet. “We’re looking
to Norway for ideas on how to create the right framework for encouraging uptake,” says Brereton, this might include free CBD parking and a charging network including Ahuriri and Taradale.
By the end of the year, Unison Group CEO Ken Sutherland says it’ll have similar Power Parks in Napier, Rotorua and Taupo to address ‘range-anxiety’, believing other suppliers will follow suit.
Visibility raises profile
Te Mata Mushrooms’ Nissan Leaf is in regular use for sales trips and charged weekly. It also has electric pick-up buggies, is moving to fully electric forklifts and has committed to ten kilowatts of solar generation. A dedicated charge station at the factory is free for public use. CEO Michael Whittaker believes higher visibility of electric cars and charge stations helps raise awareness. When BayBuzz called, he’d just returned from the US where he saw EV charge stations
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in every public parking building, on the street and at supermarkets. “A whole level of a parking building in Santa Monica is filled with electric charge stations.” Entrepreneur Rod Drury believes this is the perfect time for New Zealand to step up as “billions of dollars of EV investment is being bought forward” largely because of the VW and Audi emissions scams. All major automobile manufacturers are investing, electricity suppliers are supporting the shift and Drury, in his inimitable style, envisions a future where New Zealand is a global EV proving and testing ground for the technology, the business case and infrastructure by creating an electric highway across both islands. He’s like a cheerleader encouraging thought leaders including those in central and local government to catch his drift. “We could be hosting Google’s right hand drive, driverless cars trials…as part of our technology strategy and inviting private investors.”
Heavy vehicle traction
The underlying promise of significant reduction in greenhouse gases is unlikely to come from rechargeable family transport, but through converting public transport, heavy machinery and dirty trucks. Palmerston North-based Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) expects to be back in Hawke’s Bay toward the end of this year pitching the
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JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 21
The prototype ZEV 9000 has been in full commercial use by the Kapiti Coast District Council since 2013, achieving operating costs one-third of the equivalent diesel vehicle. latest model of its world-leading electric rubbish truck and compactor. The prototype ZEV 9000, a nine tonne truck with power steering and hydraulic compactor, has been in full commercial use by the Kapiti Coast District Council since 2013, achieving operating costs one-third of the equivalent diesel vehicle. Improvements through its specialised EVNet battery management and electric drive system have seen the 104 kilowatt battery double the travelling distance from 100 kilometres to 200 kilometres at around 8.55 cents per kilometre. The new improved, heavier 15 tonne model will deliver 300 kilometres per charge. “We’re continually working on how to waste less power and get more power when it’s needed,” says CEO Andrew Rushworth. So why rubbish trucks? Well, they’re expensive to build and it appears this is a relatively untapped niche market. “Councils are now encouraged to change their fleets, and the worst performing are most likely the rubbish compactors.” The Paris accord on climate change requires us to reduce carbon emissions by 19 million tonnes a year. Rushworth continues, “the only way to do that at the moment is from the heavy vehicle fleet – the low hanging fruit are buses and rubbish trucks.” The new ZEV 15000 could cost $350,00022 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
$400,000; marginally more expensive than a diesel equivalent, with payback through low maintenance and energy costs around the seven-year mark. The innovative engineering firm has capacity at its facilities to build 50-100 vehicles a year, but needs orders for ten to bring the price down. It’s waiting for the dust to settle on the government strategy before pitching its
“...you can’t ignore the fact that Tesla, Chevy, Nissan and others, including tech companies, are investing billions in dozens of new models of affordable long-range electric cars.”
new model, believing the saving of at least a quarter of one cent per kilometre on road user taxes is a big incentive. Councils including those in Hawke’s Bay have been reluctant to commit until costs come down, something that’s not going to happen until orders are placed, says Rushworth.
“While most councils have contracted out their rubbish collection, they will still need to take the lead by stipulating that they require the use of non-emitting vehicles.” Wellington City Council wants all-electric trolley and diesel buses, aware public transport accounts for 56% of emissions in the CBD. The Greater Wellington Regional Council that manages the regional fleet will award contracts for the country’s first electric bus fleet by the end of this year. Meanwhile Infratil and NZ Bus have joined forces to upgrade their fleet vehicles and buses with California-based Wrightspeed’s electric powertrain technology, developed by New Zealander Ian Wright.
Better data needed
Unison’s Ken Sutherland says better information is needed about the true cost of owning an EV to encourage fleet and domestic use, particularly as technology advances and the travel range extends. As more businesses start to replace petrol and diesel fleets, it’ll bring down the price of new vehicles and feed the second-hand EV market. And while the government is talking of coordinated bulk buying, that should be seen as part of a long-term trend, he says. According to NZTA, it takes about fifteen years for New Zealanders to turn over a vehicle fleet. Sutherland says we need to
look at Norway where even after five years of Government support EVs still only make up around 2% of the total fleet. “As with any new technology, it can take some time to see the true benefits, but we are in it for the long-haul and are positive about the potential.” Napier MP and Labour energy spokesman Stuart Nash says central government needs to encourage the private sector and infrastructure providers by mandating EVs for its own use. “With 17,000 cars the government has by far the largest fleet in the country. What if the default position was that every public service car was an EV on a three-year corporate lease?” Over eight years he suggests that might seed about 40,000 high-end cars back into the second-hand market. Norway’s swap out deadline may not be for us, but a 50% target on EV imports by the 2025 goal of meeting our 90% renewable electricity threshold “would be fantastic”. He’s fond of saying a friend of Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk suggested to him that the EV entrepreneur would be open to doing a great deal for the New Zealand Government. “Imagine the prime minister owning one or picking up global dignitaries at the airport in a Tesla? That would send an important message to the world,” says Nash. “I just think it’s a bit hypocritical when Simon Bridges turns up in a diesel BMW for a
photo op to celebrate the thousandth electric car being registered.” Nash wouldn’t be averse to Musk offering him a red Tesla … but what about the gas guzzling ancient red fire engine he uses as a promotional vehicle in Napier? “Oh, yes … I’d love to covert that to electricity.”
Big oil resistance
From a domestic point of view, EVs will remain a short distance option until car yard offerings become competitive with their fossil fuel-based cousins in terms of price, design, colour, performance and added extras. As Bloomberg says, you can’t ignore the fact that Tesla, Chevy, Nissan and others, including tech companies, are investing billions in dozens of new models of affordable long-range electric cars. That could deliver big savings on our $6 billion annual oil import bill; Hawke’s Bay imports well over 250,000 tonnes of petrol and diesel for its estimated 200,000 cars and trucks and another 3,000 or so tractors and farm vehicles. Big oil is downplaying the EV trend, buoyed by rising demand from developing countries and crude oil prices around $US20 a barrel. And they’re unlikely to sit back and allow margins to be eroded without rigorous competition. So what do you do if prices at the pump counter the EV trend?
And electricity providers will need to rethink their strategies with EVs predicted to draw 1,900 terawatt-hours of electricity – 10% of the world’s annual electricity consumption, by 2040. And what if electricity providers increase charges to capitalise on demand or offset costs? That’s where entrepreneur Rod Drury suggests an important public policy discussion is necessary to set a world-leading “co-ordinated…strategy” framework, to bolster our competitive EV advantage. “It feels like pieces are missing and there is an opportunity for public debate.” Entrepreneurial leadership is needed to mobilise the government to “jump into this”, he says. With trickledown economics now largely discredited, fresh thinking is certainly required on how New Zealand backs its clean-green image, allegedly worth more than $20 billion annually. Leaving it to the market to decide is a proven recipe for piecemeal uptake. Instead of waiting to see what everyone else does, a more inspiring road map and stronger leadership at industry and government level is needed so our adoption of emission free vehicles not only bolsters the brand but makes a core contribution to our new climate change commitments.
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Photograph: Tim Whittaker
Tesla power surge Being propelled along inside the sleek black Tesla S P90D with its spacious white interior was like a smooth, silent ride into the future with pilot Johnny Bridgeman dabbing instructions for take-off into the touchscreen – standard, sport and even ‘ludicrous’ [truly]. With pedal to the metal, gravity delivered an adrenaline rush like an aircraft take-off. Zero to 100km in three seconds – point taken – then rounded the next corner with ease under computer assisted braking. The Tesla has sensors for everything; rear vision, front and side for exact parking and 24 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
reversing, GPS and even pre-empting corners. Bridgeman, owner of Bridgeman Concrete, took delivery of his luxury 4-wheel drive EV – one of possibly 30 in the country – in May after being convinced by two Tesla converts in the aggregates business. The $A200,000 machine was acquired when there were over 300,000 on back order, and brought to the Bay by transporter. It handles as well as Bridgeman’s 2013 Mercedes 63AMG retained as a backup vehicle. “It was a good thing to do…it’s a bit of a wag really. The guy behind Tesla seems to be in it for the long haul.” Bridgeman reckons the government should
be doing more to encourage EVs. As he eases his pride and joy into his garage, I note an added extra beyond the hi-tech sensors, as we nudge into a ‘Stop’ sign on a spring base. The 15 centimetre thick battery running the length of the vehicle is capable of 460 kilometres. After five days of trips from Haumoana to Omahu Rd and one to Otane, the home recharger unit (an extra $1,000) reads 31% full and 18 hours to charge. He might want to add a stop in the future … the new Hastings recharge bay, with its fast-charge capability, could top his Tesla up within an hour, happily within the car park’s 60-minute parking limit!
Bringing public
electric vehicle charging to Hastings in partnership with
Charge up at Unison’s Power Park corner of Queen Street West and Market Street, Hastings.
To find out more about electric vehicles and charging, visit
www.unison.co.nz/ev-charging
Photograph: Tim Whittaker
Little Silos Won’t Lift the Bay
This time last year Hawke’s Bay was gearing up for the big vote on amalgamation. The referendum produced a landslide ‘No’. But the debate turned a spotlight on some vexing community issues that remain. JESSICA SOUTAR BARRON Mayor Yule’s ‘Poor but Happy’ slideshow, the one he touted around the region during the campaign, held sad statistics about employment, education, housing, and is still relevant. The consensus among decision makers today is that the socio-economic challenges facing Hawke’s Bay can be tackled best by working across the region rather than in five separate council silos. On top of that, many issues are so gnarly they need a cross-agency approach by central government. Amidst the amalgamation debate, the top brass of all our social agencies, alongside those in the councils, came together in December 2014 to find a way to work together in a model that’s one of the first of its kind in New Zealand, certainly the only one working across a whole region, with this diversity of members. Out of these needs came an embryonic think tank: the Intersectoral Leadership Group (ILG). The ILG initiative is now called Lift the Bay/Kia Tapatahi. It’s a brave endeavour and one that will take some years to succeed. Those around the table, optimistic about the potential, are asking for patience. At the pointy end of the group are Lawrence Yule and Kevin Snee, CEO of the Hawke’s Bay DHB. “It came out of a conversation that Kevin and I had three years ago; we’d both seen
how it works in the UK,” explains Yule. “I said, ‘You draw something up and I’ll see if I can support it.’.” Kevin Snee explains the initial crux of the idea: “Part of the problem is we tend to fragment and silo things in New Zealand. We’ve been trying to encourage fewer
“Part of the problem is we tend to fragment and silo things in New Zealand. We’ve been trying to encourage fewer organisations, more linking up.” Kevin Snee
organisations, more linking up. If you are in a small organisation without critical mass to enable you to be more strategic, either you have to amalgamate the organisations or work together, the outcome is the same,” he says. “If you sit in little silos then you can’t reach full potential. You end up with people protecting their responsibilities and their patch. We’re not competing, we’re all working for the same end.”
Right people around the table
Lift the Bay consists of a leadership stream made up of Mayors, Chairs and MPs, and an executive stream that includes representatives from Business Hawke’s Bay, Corrections, EIT, DHB, MBIE, MoE, MSD, Police, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Puni Kōkiri and all five councils. Their single shared resource is coordinator Kerry Le Geyt, who is one year into a two-year contract, based at Napier City Council, but funded by all those agencies involved. The newly adopted structure separates leadership from executive after some trial and error with getting the balance right between the two strata. The leadership group now meets three times a year, the executive every month. Kerry Le Geyt sees the executive group as the engine room, “driving things forward then taking ideas and initiatives to the leadership group for approval”. The change came as a response to some politicking within the leadership group, principally among the MPs, one Labour and one National. With opposing MPs sitting at the same table as regional managers, those managers were struggling to voice their opinion; it was a tight rope and inhibitive to open discourse. Le Geyt says the groups are not a closed shop and, as the work programmes change, there will JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 27
Hawke’s Bay: Happy But Poor THE BEST:
THE WORST:
8.4% 13,298 23.2% 19% $53,200 $39,035 1136.7
Unemployment:
90%
percent of population satisfied with their lives
On main benefits
Number of smokers (National figure: 17.5%)
Youth NOT in education or training (National figure: 11.8%)
71%
percent of population not lonely in last four weeks
Annual average household income (National figure: $63,800) GDP per capita (National figure: $53,777)
Crime rate per 100,000 (National figure: 787.5)
be opportunity to engage other agencies, while some may fall away. Already, one organisation has opted out, Housing New Zealand, and two MPs, Meka Whaitiri and Marama Fox, have yet to appear at a meeting. Craig Foss, MP for Tukituki, acknowledges the importance of leaving agendas at the door: “It’s important that everyone is on board. There are times where you have to be professional and just work together. That in itself is kind of cool,” he says. He’s proud of the way Lift the Bay has managed to steer a course that puts the common pursuit at the forefront in a way that values personal responsibility. “Respect and trust: I see that there a lot, and an honesty that no one organisation can fix the issue. There’s seldom any discussion of how we got here, just that we are.” Wayne Jack, CEO of Napier City Council, chairs the Executive group. He sees the importance of taking a practical approach to finding region-wide programmes that can make a big difference to the community, now that the structure of leadership and decision making is in place. “What we’re trying to achieve is a strategy for Hawke’s Bay … The benefit of the group is all these agencies together have ownership 28 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
and a commitment to resourcing,” he says. Within the groups there are a mix of players. DHB is in a unique situation. With a lump funding system in place and a locally-elected board, there is more freedom to provide resources when appropriate opportunities and programmes come along. Kevin Snee: “The DHB is in an interesting position. We’re a hybrid: a national structure but highly decentralised. As long as we’re able to demonstrate we deliver then we can do other things that are innovative and have flexibility.” Other regional agencies, which are run centrally from Wellington, can be hamstrung when it comes to doing much more than nodding in agreement. Councils are a different case again. They can identify need and advocate for their communities, but do not have a direct social wellbeing mandate. Craig Foss identifies the disconnect between the perception a local community may have of its need and the centralisation of funding and resources. “[Lift the Bay] is a great model to try and meet the challenges. The issues come where central government and local government meet – unless they’re in sync you won’t get the best outcome,” he says. “Everyone has the best intent but our
goals might be different. This is an attempt to open those channels up, engage as much as we can with local objectives.” Mandates from central government have a major effect on local communities and on the capabilities and responsibilities of the local authorities that serve them. This is something Lift aims to mitigate. Even comparatively small issues can become political ping pong, as seen over the drivers licence issue late last year. Lawrence Yule believes it’s important but tricky to keep politics out of the work Lift is involved in. “The group is not around people grandstanding, it’s based on respect and trust, we all want to make a difference for the people. There’s been times I’d rather have no central government politicians. If they can’t find a constructive solution that’s helping, then I wonder why they’re there. It can be about Labour versus National and I’ve raised it with the MPs directly.” Kevin Snee has seen the issues that arise when elected representatives sit side by side, but he’s hopeful that this group can rise above the politics. Snee also believes the DHB is in a special position to lead the way, as one of the few
Potential talk fest
With two groups meeting regularly, plans being formulated and a bevy of the region’s leaders throwing their weight behind Lift the Bay, there is a risk the initiative could become a talk fest with no deliverables to be seen.
“There’s been times I’d rather have no central government politicians. If they can’t find a constructive solution that’s helping, then I wonder why they’re there.” Lawrence Yule
The plan is staff in these support groups will form a virtual office. For that idea to work, tasks and responsibilities need to align to the strategic plans within organisations, and to staff ’s KPIs and position descriptions. Lift is still working through what that model will look like and how it will be resourced. An early idea is that each organisation will contribute a certain percentage of their overall annual budget. Kevin Snee believes even as little as 0.1% could make a major impact on what Lift can do. “For the DHB that’s half a million on governance and framework.” He has floated the idea, but wonders if perhaps it’s too soon for that and something that may be seen in the future, when pre-budget planning allows for such a significant change.
Not for public consumption One of the issues is workload. Currently, all Lift the Bay work carried out by council officers and agency staff is done on top of their existing workload and ‘business as usual’. The future plan is to have four support groups of staff who have, as part of their role, responsibilities to Lift. Two are already established, although very new: Planning and Communications. Two others – Finance/Funding and Information/ Intelligence – are in the early stages and will be launched soon.
One of the first pieces of business was Lift’s vision, which the planning support group helped formulate: “Hawke’s Bay is a vibrant, cohesive and diverse community where every household and whānau is actively engaged in, contributing to and benefitting from a thriving Hawke’s Bay.” A Terms of Reference for the group is in the pipeline, but not yet ready for public consumption. The two initial work streams of Lift are Economic Development and Social Inclusion. These two threads are
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organisations that cover all of Hawke’s Bay. “We are in a good position and we’re able to engage, we have a responsibility. We just want to see the best for the people of Hawke’s Bay.” In 2015 Yule advocated bringing the full funding package of $800 million from central government into the region as a lump sum rather than in its current allocation across various agencies. He says now that was blue sky thinking, but even a slightly less ambitious goal would enable change. “If we were brave enough we would push for it, but perhaps it’s too lofty a goal. But even 5 or 10% could be spent better. This is halfway, this is a good step. We need to be able to say this is our plan for Hawke’s Bay; this is what we want, despite any changes in the government.” Kevin Snee believes the responsibility for delivering solutions needs to start locally, even if the real change can only be facilitated at a central government level. “If we’re working together and we can demonstrate success then when we go to government and say we want you to invest in us they’re more likely to do so, we’re more likely to attract inward investment. What we need to do is identify local resources. There’s no point going to central government and saying ‘Give us money’. We need to put local resources in ourselves.”
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Smoothing the road to a full licence is one of the first pieces of business for Lift the Bay. Photograph: Sarah Cates
interlinked and sum up the big need in Hawke’s Bay, as Le Geyt summarises: “A strong economy is not sustainable or even possible without a strong community to support it.” Opening up meetings and the programme of Lift to the public would support that objective to build a strong community, and
Driver licences was the first project off the block. Currently, the process is seen as costly and time consuming – a deterrent to applicants. bring some accountability too. At the moment, accountability is pinned on respect and trust, and perhaps a little wishful thinking. Craig Foss: “[Lift] has no formal standing. It exists out of the goodwill of the individuals, and that’s pretty cool.” Lawrence Yule, who chairs the leadership group, is a big advocate for making as much Council business as possible open to the 30 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
public. “I would’ve preferred some of it to be public, but government officials have to go back to their minister so there’s a lot that can’t be public at the moment.” Wayne Jack sees public accountability as part of the future plan for the group, but implementing that now would be premature. “Eventually there may be public meetings, but at the moment there’s still planning and discussion of structure taking place.
Joining the dots
In the past, attempts to establish similar groups have dissipated mainly due to the decision-makers not being at the table. Craig Foss: “It’s powerful when these bodies can speak as one to central government. [To say] ‘We’ve identified these core issues and it’s not a local fix, or a central one, it’s both together with the agencies’.” “A lot of social inclusion issues are big problems, it’s going to take work to address, it needs a true multi-agency approach working in a common direction,” says Wayne Jack. “It’s not very often that you get key people from all the different agencies at the same table. This is novel, it’s a completely different model, you’ve got these groups who are now talking to each other.” Lawrence Yule agrees, “The view in
the ILG is that if we all agree then we can persuade central government ministries to make change. Those conversations hardly even exist at a strategic level, although they may be there at a management level.” “Trust will build; amalgamation was for some divisive but that’s behind us. We need to deliver something of value and then people will see the benefit of this group and its work. If the debate drives us forward then it wasn’t all lost.” Kevin Snee, who a supporter of amalgamation from the sidelines, says, “The amalgamation debate wasn’t great for building collaborative processes, but we need to put that behind us and collaborate now so everyone wins.”
Low hanging fruit
Although there is still fluidity in the structure and resourcing of the group, work programmes are being firmed up. Driver licences was the first project off the block. Lift wrote to ministers to advocate for change to the licence system and has recently cofunded a contestable community fund to help people get their full licence. Currently, the process is seen as costly and time consuming – a deterrent to applicants. Lift recognises the issue’s
impact on social inclusion and economic development. It’s one of those issues that seems straightforward as long as all the ‘right people’ can get together to nut out a solution – a perfect quick-win for Lift. Other areas of focus for the group are housing, labour resources in the pipfruit industry and building a broad understanding of infrastructure and construction growth over the next ten years. Lift hopes to facilitate some cohesive thinking around these pinch points, so workforce availability and training all marry up. Kevin Snee looks at many of Hawke’s Bay’s issues from multiple viewpoints – as head of health care in the Bay but also the largest employer by a considerable margin, as well as one of the biggest ‘customers’ in terms of the region’s GDP. “Look at capital investment that’s happening in the next five to ten years. We need to look at building a new hospital, that’s $300 million. Look at what others are spending, it’ll probably be a billion dollars on capital investment in the next ten years. “If we just go and spend that money without looking at what others are doing, the industry can’t cope, and the money people are investing locally won’t stay local. So we need to agree locally on a staggered approach and we need to look at local education providers so the trade and the skills are there.”
Wayne Jack (left) chairs Lift the Bay’s Executive Group while Lawrence Yule chairs its Leadership Group. Photograph: Sarah Cates
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An estimated $1billion on capital investment in the next decade will need a ready-togo construction workforce. Photograph: Sarah Cates
A pain point for the group could be accountability. With changes in staffing and a local election in a few months, who’s to say the good work done by the current Lift groups won’t be painted over by future members. Stock take a tool
All the main players at the Lift table agree the July release of the Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) will be a vital tool for the group. Held under tight wraps, it promises a bundle of analysis and plans to take Hawke’s Bay forward. Ours is one of five regions to be selected for the work by central government due to this region’s particular and significant need: a combination of rising house prices, a high level of seasonal employment and the ‘greying and browning’ of our population. Lawrence Yule has inputted into REDS and looks forward to using it as a tool. “Let’s look at REDS and say, ‘Where are the areas where we can have influence?’ ” He’s optimistic that with the right tools 32 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
and the right structure and infrastructure Lift the Bay could make some real, measurable change. “This group is not afraid and will challenge the status quo; this is a brave group.” It is hoped the release of REDS will help focus the group and its resources. Yule identifies what he calls ‘macro imbedded issues’, such as supply of labour, ageing population, a greater percentage of those entering the work force being Māori and Pacific. “So our Māori and Pacific kids need to be employable and engaged, need to have drive and a good quality of life.” He acknowledges the issues facing Hawke’s Bay are complex, but is positive about this group’s essential role in finding some fixes: “There’s two options: do nothing because it’s too hard, or do some things to make some difference.” A pain point for the group could be accountability. With changes in staffing and a local election in a few months, who’s to say the good work done by the current Lift groups won’t be painted over by future members. Lawrence Yule is clear: “Accountability rests on the integrity of the individuals involved. What’ll make this enduring is the reality that there’s a path to be followed, that transcends people changing roles. Three years is a short time and it’s hard to get
strategy in place. Snee believes, at the most basic level, everyone is on the same page: “We’re all trying to do the best for the local population.” He sees contributing financially to the resourcing of the groups will ensure their sustainability. “The local agencies are working together, but you have to put your money where your mouth is, you can’t just sit and talk. We need to agree on direction and current priorities,” he says. “I think we’ve seen, over the last 5-6 months, an acceleration and I’m optimistic, whilst we have an election coming, we could get to a good place by the end of 2016. We’ll have REDS adopted and underway and our social inclusion plan ready to go, the drivers licence project on the go, and another 6-7 months of working together. We have to be patient with a process like this. If you try to go too far too fast then it might fall over.” Yule is pragmatic: “I’d like it to move faster. The challenge is the allocation of people’s time in doing this. Don’t underestimate the scale of the task.” “I’d say that currently we are about 30% as effective as where I want us to be. But it’s embryonic. Am I confident we can get to 7080%? Yes. But it’ll take time and a little bit of courage.”
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34 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Drone Man SARAH CATES
For some people, a ‘drone’ is a male bee. For others, it could be a military weapon, or something from a console combat game. But increasingly, it conjures up images of people standing in a field with quadcopters and remote controls looking towards the sky? In Hawke’s Bay, our preeminent ‘drone man’ is Tim Whittaker. “I have always loved things that fly! Planes, hot air balloons, paragliders…”, he paused. “But, never remote control models. When it came to them, I had a complete lack of experience,” said Tim Whittaker, one of Hawke’s Bay’s most versatile photographers. Looking at me with a smile, he continued, “Really, my relationship with drones was born out of frustration more than anything else!” The drone. Or, is it a drone? There seems to be some confusion about the difference between a ‘drone’ and an ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)’. Whittaker commented, “Many professionals in the field consider the word ‘drone’ as inaccurate and can get quite passionate about it! In my opinion a ‘drone’ is really a fixed-wing, whilst a UAV is a multirotor”. Tim’s extensive work in real estate and architectural photography had often left him longing for the ability to “get up high”. A perfectionist by nature, he recalled, “So many times I would be out on a shoot and I would wish … If only I could get to the top of that tree, or climb that rock, or stand several
metres above, then I could get the perfect angle, the perfect shot.” Around six or seven years ago a possible answer to his frustrations presented itself. Whittaker saw a YouTube clip which featured a man hand-building a multirotor. Immediately he saw the potential in such technology. “This technology could solve the perfect angle problem, as well as being really cool!” Little did Tim know at the time, but this first clip of a multirotor would lead him on a path of technological discovery, learning curves, new openings, and large expenditure! This was the early days of civilian or hobbyist UAVs. “Literally,” he commented, “they were like meccano sets! Very difficult to fly and unreliable. They would simply fall out of the sky! It was money going down the drain. I was beginning to think it was a great concept, but getting decent results was going to be hugely challenging and very costly”. Just as Tim was about to give up, a Chinese technology company, DJI, manufactured the first commercially successful UAV. In 2015, DJI was considered by the Economist to be “the leading light in the industry.” This new area of purpose-designed UAV kit sets were much more reliable and easier to use than their meccano predecessors. They had GPS which meant they were easier to fly and held their position. However, despite this encouraging leap forward, there were still glitches. “The building of
the kits was easy, but I still needed to take great photographs! The camera was fixed on the UAV, I simply pointed the machine in a direction and hoped for the best! The camera took an image every two seconds, and if there was wind…!” Tim shook his head. “How could I possibly get control of the camera whilst it was in the sky?” As with all technology things seem to move along pretty fast. With the growing demand and interest in UAVs around the globe for use in a professional capacity, better designs were beginning to emerge. The breakthrough which gave Tim freedom to focus on his photography was the ‘three axis gimbal’. A gimbal can be used to describe any adjustable camera or compass holder designed to keep a device level (think of your cell phone, the screen corrects itself as you move the phone horizontally or vertically). The gimbal guaranteed the stabilization of the camera on the UAV. In addition to this, the camera could now be adjusted in all directions. “A whole new realm of photography suddenly opened up to me! In optimum conditions the camera was pixel perfect with unbelievable stability.” The next wave of technological advancement that really gave UAVs the edge was a video downlink. Tim commented excitedly, “The video downlink was great. I could now see what the camera was seeing! Suddenly, this machine became a JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 35
really useable platform, the effects were great. It was then I decided I could use it commercially. It could generate video, stills and 360 degree photographs.” Now, over six years, Tim has become a highly competent operator. He modestly says, “It’s now just another piece of equipment in my photography bag!” The increased technical progress in UAVs could be seen as a blessing or a curse. UAVs are now easier to use, relatively lightweight, and easier to come by. A hobbyist can purchase a UAV with GPS and a three axis gimbal for approximately US$1000. The industry is predicted to turn over US$5 billion in 2021. With this kind of development and a growing number of users, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) upgraded existing rules in August 2015 to protect public safety. All users of UAVs must 36 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
operate under the basic 101 regulations. The new rules place stringent instructions on where an operator can fly their UAV without gaining prior permission. The operator must seek permission from an individual, a land owner, or the local authority. Tim’s expertise and ‘eye’ for the best shot was being utilised in many commercial sectors. But the new rules brought a lack of flexibility and Tim started to encounter frustrating difficulties with access in and around private property. The nightmare of not getting the best angle was beginning to resurface. “I had no choice, I had to apply for the Part 102 Unmanned Operator Certification,” he said. The 102 certification is based on the potential risks of the operation that the applicant wants to do. The applicant must demonstrate that they have identified all the hazards of
their operation and how to mitigate them. Once certified, the operator would be able to take full advantage of the wide scope of operations made possible with a UAV, without seeking prior permission. Whittaker had to jump through hoops. “Another $5000! And the forms! I was totally out of my comfort zone! I even had two people from Wellington come and interview me. It took months!” Tim persisted and ticked all the boxes and is now one of forty people in New Zealand who have been issued with a 102 Certificate. “It’s worth having,” he commented. “Most authorities want certified operators.” This additional string to Tim’s bow has opened new pathways of opportunity. Tim remarked, “The aerial view gained from UAVs can be advantageous in many situations. I have recently been working
Tim Whittaker with professional quality UAV
with the police. There is a plethora of uses! Crime scene photography, serious crash photograph, videography, and surveillance. I have also been involved with the Armed Offenders Squad in training operations.” The benefit of having a 400 metre line of sight means the UAV can also be used in Civil Defence scenarios, and Search and Rescue. “The UAV can be used as a life line for stranded or injured people. It can deliver small items such as a phone or first aid supplies, and give the rescuers a greater idea where the person is and what condition they are in,” he said. The UAV has become a valuable piece of equipment in disaster relief operations. It can be used in the ‘first response’ to classify the severity of the damage. The advantage of having something that flies, with a good
operator behind it, enables Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) to form a quick overview of the most affected areas, as frequently roads will be blocked from fallen rubble or flooding, and find trapped victims who are still alive. The rescuers can then be sent in to help with very precise directions, saving valuable time and resources. Not sitting back on his laurels, Tim is already looking to the future. “I am interested in ‘forward looking infrared camera’ which can be used in many situations such as search and rescue, and agriculture. I am also interested in three dimensional mapping. Five hundred images can be stitched together and create a highly detailed threedimensional map.” Hawke’s Bay is blessed with very talented photographers. But Tim and his UAV have
altered the way we see Hawke’s Bay. He has redefined the way we see this region by looking at it from above. The images he has produced show the region from a new perspective in all its beauty. He has captured nature at its finest, and at its most wild. What future technology has in store for Tim, who knows? But it probably involves looking up!
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the strength of the gravels craggy range chief winemaker matt stafford travelled to hong kong last month to talk about why the famed gimblett gravels in hawke’s bay is worth its weight in stone. Craggy Range Chief Winemaker Matt Stafford had only just commenced harvesting the first parcel of the 2016 Gimblett Gravels Syrah when he received an invitation from Decanter to attend a masterclass at the annual VinExpo wine event in Hong Kong. Aptly named “Syrah/Shiraz – an International Expression of a Noble Grape,” as part of VinExpo’s Shiraz Day, the masterclass was set to include a panel of experts from some of the most famous Syrah regions in the world. The masterclass idea came via John Stimpfig, Decanter’s Content Director. John had recently penned a piece declaring his love for Syrah and felt the VinExpo event in Hong Kong was the perfect opportunity to share his passion for the varietal. The team at Decanter started at the top with the aim
of assembling a selection of the world’s top Syrah producers including Craggy Range. Upon receiving the invitation to represent New Zealand alongside a panel of esteemed experts, Matt felt it presented a great platform to showcase the potential that lies ahead for New Zealand Syrah and more specifically, the Gimblett Gravels. A humbling moment for the winemaker indeed, especially knowing he would be sharing the stage with some of the best Syrah producers in the world including Penfolds (AUS) and E.Guigal (FRA). The panel consisted of noted winemakers and personalities including Peter Gago of Penfolds, Philippe Guigal of E.Guigal, Eduardo Chadwick of Vina Errazuriz (CHL), Stefano Frascolla of Tua Rita (ITA) and Tim Steinke of Betz Family Winery (USA). During the masterclass each of the speakers presented their chosen wine and discussed, in their view, why Syrah/Shiraz is so special and why they are so passionate about their particular expression of Syrah or Shiraz. They were also asked to briefly discuss the background on the chosen terroir, climate and winemaking techniques. Philippe Guigal presented the first wine of the flight and provided some history on the Northern Rhône, the benchmark by which all other Syrah wines are measured. Philippe chose the 2011 La Landonne to show and with good reason. For one it is delicious but he chose this vintage in the presence of his father Marcel who planted the vines of La Landonne in
“Philippe Guigal, Eduardo Chadwick and Peter Gago are some of the most highly respected winemakers and personalities within the world of fine wine. Being able to share the same space with them was an incredible opportunity to highlight the uniqueness of New Zealand and also the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke’s Bay.” matt stafford Côte-Rôtie in the year of Philippe’s birth. 2011 was when Philippe and the vines both turned 40 years old. This is poignant as they see the Syrah vines settle down and begin to flourish at 40 years and beyond. Coincidentally Philippe visited Craggy Range in 2006 and one year later Matt visited Guigal so it was quite a moment for Matt to see the wines sitting side by side on the stage. The history of Syrah begins at a similar time to that in Australia but the contrasts between New Zealand and our neighbours is significant. Matt took the opportunity to discuss this ahead of Peter Gago telling the Penfolds and Australia story. It is thought that Syrah first arrived into New Zealand in 1833 within James Busby’s vine collection from Europe after taking this first to Australia the previous year. However whilst it took eight years for the vines to make their way to South Australia it was not until 1984 that Dr Alan Limmer planted Syrah within the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke’s Bay. In fact, at this
point the Gimblett Gravels area was still designated as the Ngaruroro River for another 34 years after the first Syrah vine arrived in NZ. The Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing district is around 800 hectares and having been born of the ancient Ngaruroro Riverbed consists of interlacing sand silt and clay with a depth of gravels of around 50 metres. The gravels takes up more than 90% of soil volume and is critical for defining quality and wine style. Young soils and a short history but it is easy to see what has excited so many people from around the world – wines with a unique, aromatically pure floral and black fruit expression with a lick of black pepper and an elegant medium body with graceful dry tannins. After a discussion on history came youth so it was fitting for Matt to show the recently released 2014 ‘Le Sol’. Matt’s focus in presenting this wine was on New Zealand’s short history, varied geology, climate and incredible potential. Matt says, “I have to admit that presenting a wine in this company of experts was quite overwhelming but the following that has developed for ‘Le Sol’ since its first vintage in 2001 has been incredible.” He also said that for many their assumption on the history and size of Syrah production in New Zealand is much more extensive and immense than it actually is. Matt chose a wine from the 2014 vintage as, despite the hype of its predecessor, the 2014 vintage for Syrah is just as special and possibly even drinking a little better at the moment. This hype hasn’t escaped the global trade either with the 2014 Prestige Collection, only just released at the start of June, expected to be sold out globally within one month. ADVERTORIAL
Photograph: Tim Whittaker
Fear of Falling
Inquiring into the criticized past and uncertain future of HBRIC, the Regional Council’s controversial holding company and dam advocate. MARK SWEET Rotten eggs
The Tukituki river flows as a trickle under the Patangata Bridge and the countryside is parched dry. There’s been no significant rain for many months. Yet scattered across the scorched landscape are a few flat patches of green. Some farmers have access to water from the river. Most don’t. I’ve come to meet Tim Gilbertson, former regional councillor and mayor of CHB. And as often happens in Hawke’s Bay, the conversation starts with the weather, and he tells me a 75 year old neighbour can’t recall a drier winter, and he’s lived locally all his life. Gilbertson has signed up to take water from the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS); to be piped 50 kilometres from source to his farm. He points to the fertile terraces stepping down to the river, which, with water, could be cropped and grazed all year round. Now they are barren. “Usually there’d be 250 head of cattle grazing here making around a $1,000 a week income.” An ardent supporter of water storage, and with a ring-side seat after being elected to the Regional Council in 2007, Tim Gilbertson is highly critical of the process by which water storage has been furthered. “It has been an abysmal PR failure from the outset,” he says, and, “I was marginalised during the whole process, which I found bizarre, and still do.” I ask him to start at the beginning.
Tim Gilbertson
An ardent supporter of water storage, and with a ring-side seat after being elected to the Regional Council in 2007, Tim Gilbertson is highly critical of the process by which water storage has been furthered.
“Building water storage was on the table when I started in 2007,” but the first Gilbertson heard about the RWSS starting was not from his own council. “I was standing in that paddock over there,” he says, pointing to a flock of turkeys. A passing agricultural contractor stopped for a chat and told him he was on his way to a meeting about building a dam. Gilbertson complained of his exclusion, but, “I got flannelled by chief executive Andrew Newman, and I got that all my six years on council.” A few months later the Regional Council organised a visit to water storage projects in Canterbury. Councillors Alan Dick, Christine Scott and Fenton Wilson were invited, but not Gilbertson. “Rex McIntryre was chairman at the time and I pointed out that as the representative of the area affected I should be consulted and involved. He just brushed me off.” But, as Gilbertson points out, it’s not just him, alienating people has been endemic in the promotion of the RWSS. “At a meeting with Forest and Bird in Waipukurau, they said they were in favour of water storage, but had some concerns about habitat around the dam, and they asked for twenty thousand to research and report. I said to Andrew Newman, ‘Include them in the process, give them the twenty grand, and they’ll come back with a report saying save a few totaras here, and plant kowhais JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 41
Andy Pearce, HBRIC chairman. Photograph: Sarah Cates
over there.’ Andrew’s attitude was, ‘If we give them $20,000 everybody will be asking for money.’ In my opinion that immediately alienated Forest and Bird; that went right through to Wellington, and has resulted in delays and millions of dollars in court costs, all because council didn’t have the nous to be inclusive of everyone.” I’m curious to know in what other ways the Regional Council behaves irrationally. Tim Gilbertson is unstoppable. “When I was on the council it was completely controlled by the staff. They’re bureaucrats, with cushy jobs they want to protect, and they work a symbiotic relationship with the politicians. They know the politicians want to look good, so staff reports always made the best of everything.” Gilbertson recognised ‘the spin’. He’d been mayor of Central Hawke’s Bay for six years and knew the play. “I immediately got on the outs because I made it quite clear there were things I was unhappy about,” he says. “I was simply asking questions, but I got off-side with other councillors. They told me not to upset the staff.” Councillors freely accessing information was a given for Gilbertson. But when it came to him asking hard questions, staff obscured. To one question, about the efficient use of the vehicle fleet, he was told, “that will require an 42 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
“You’re open to criticism in a way company chairmen are not. But it is public money, so you have to accept the fact of public scrutiny, but not all of that public scrutiny, or criticism, has been fair, balanced or truthful. And I think it’s reasonable to expect those three things when levelling criticism.” Andy Pearce
charged with developing the RWSS. That was my brief. We get back on track. “At the time we were debating (2012) Andrew Newman was saying, ‘Why don’t you float the Port.’ He said it was worth $250 million.” Selling the Port of Napier would be political suicide for councillors so they transferred it to HBRIC at a value of $177 million. Again, Gilbertson was at odds with his fellow Councillors. “They chose a value much lower than market, so return on capital was 7%, instead of 3%. Just so they look good.” Tim Gilbertson says, “That’s where politicians are rotten eggs.”
Begin as you mean to go on Official Information Act request.” Highlighting the dysfunction, Gilbertson cites a situation, “When a council official lied to me, and he lied at a public meeting. I took it up with the chairman, Fenton Wilson, who basically told me to pull my head in. I didn’t. Finally I got [the official] to admit he’d lied. But instead of supporting me, Fenton did his bully act, and ripped into me for rocking the boat.” I’d come to Patangata to ask Tim Gilbertson about his experience as a councillor in the formation of HBRIC, the HB Regional Investment Company, which is
Driving back to Napier along the Middle Road route, the paddocks are bare of stock, and the usual flush of green shoots beneath dried out yellow grass have yet to flourish. I select Prince for company but I’m thinking of a Coldplay song. Maybe it was something Tim Gilbertson said. There’s a lyric that goes, ‘They say start as you need to go on, as you need to go on,’ and the last line is, ‘Blame it all on a rush of blood to the head.’ No doubt Coldplay pinched the idea from Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) an English preacher who in a sermon titled The Fear of Final Falling said, ‘Begin as you mean
to go on, and go on as you began.’ He was talking about establishing sound ethics and values and sticking to them. He went on to say, ‘Beware of mixing even a little of self (ego) with the mortar with which you build, or you will make it untempered mortar, and the stones will not hold together.’ Assessing how much mixing of self-interest and ego into the mortar of the RWSS has ‘untempered’ the project, is beyond my scope and ability. What we all know is that many strong personalities have been part of the mix; politicians, environmentalists, and experts of all persuasions, but there are few with stronger will and determination than Andrew Newman.
Go on as you began
Andrew Newman is currently chief executive officer of the investment company, HBRIC. He was seconded from his position as CEO of the Regional Council, having been appointed in 2007. Previously he was CEO of Ensis, a joint venture forestry start-up, based in Sydney. Newman has an MA (Hons) in Geography, and began his career in the Forest Research Institute. Probably no one has more, or deeper, knowledge about HBRIC and the RWSS than Newman. He has been a party to the scheme from the outset, and played a formidable role at every stage of the process. It is expected he will soon return to the Regional Council. However his contract with Council expires in December, and in June they initiated a search process, opening the chief executive position to competitive applicants. Newman has been criticised on many fronts for the manner and substance of his performance. If the dam is successful he will be a hero. If it fails he will be pilloried. Andrew Newman didn’t reply to my
invitation to talk and later I learn his Chairman advised him not to do so.
Bigger than Ben Hur
“Andrew’s got a lot on his plate right now,” says Andy Pearce, Chairman of HBRIC. We are sitting in the lounge at Scenic Circle Hotel; his suggestion and a good choice. There is no one else in the room. I assumed Andy Pearce was from Christchurch; he sits on the Board of Christchurch City Holdings (CCH), the
Newman has been criticised on many fronts for the manner and substance of his performance. If the dam is successful he will be a hero. If it fails he will be pilloried.
Christchurch equivalent to HBRIC, and he chairs the Environment Canterbury Regional Water Management Committee, along with numerous other appointments, including the board of the BNZ, and chairmanship of Focus Genetics Limited. But he says, “No, I’m from here. My family lived continuously on Mataruahou (Bluff Hill) in a house my great-grandfather built in the late 1870s in Coote Road – until when my aunt died in 2007.” Pearce left Napier for university, and ten years later, “had more qualifications than a Farenheit thermometer.” (BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FNZIM) After a career as a scientist, company
director, and executive – he was founding CEO of Landcare Research – Pearce returned to live in Hawke’s Bay when appointed chairman of HBRIC in 2012. HBRIC was founded as a vehicle to bring commercial expertise to infrastructure investments that served the financial objectives – as well as the economic, social and environmental goals – of the Regional Council. At latest valuation, the Council’s investment in HBRIC is valued at $235.2 million (chiefly, the Port). I ask how the board was assembled? “The original directors were Jim [Scotland], Sam Robinson, me, and three elected Councillors.” [Alan Dick, Fenton Wilson, and Christine Scott] Scotland was Chairman of the Port of Napier, Robinson had been on that board, and was director of numerous companies, as well as chairman of AgResearch and Centralines. “Between Jim, Sam, and myself we have well over one hundred years of Governance experience, but we don’t have the engineering knowledge, we don’t have the legal expertise for forming public-private partnerships, and build-own-operate-transfer projects, and we don’t have expertise around the table on māori environmental issues.” A committee was appointed to advise – Roger Maaka, David Faulkner, and Dinelle Dinsdale. Roger Maaka lives in Takapau, and was Professor of Māori studies at E.I.T. David Faulkner had been Managing Director of Fulton Hogan, involved in infrastructure projects locally and Australia. Importantly for Pearce, “As a civil engineer he designed and built the Maitai dam when he worked for Nelson City Council.” And Dinelle Dinsdale was an exciting find for Andy Pearce. “What probability,” he says, “would you put on finding an experienced public-private partnership lawyer, who had
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JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 43
In 2007 the Port had $11.5 million in external liabilities. It’s now got $84 million. You could argue that every year it has borrowed to pay its dividend to the Regional Council.” Jim Scotland Photograph: Tim Whittaker
“This is the biggest infrastructure project anyone alive today in Hawke’s Bay will see in their lifetimes. It was always going to be controversal. It’s become bigger than Ben Hur in some respects.” Andy Pearce
worked in the biggest law firm in the world, residing in Hawke’s Bay?” Dinsdale “led DLA Piper’s private-public partnership team doing $50 million worth of business a year in London.” With the Board assembled, the work began, but concerns arose that the elected councillors were compromised, and could be challenged in taking part in council decisions. They resigned, and Dinsdale and Faulkner joined the Board. Maaka did not. He too had conflict of interest, but he was retained as an advisor. As chairman of HBRIC, Andy Pearce has had to wear heavy criticism over the RWSS. He says, “You’re open to criticism in a way 44 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
company chairmen are not. But it is public money, so you have to accept the fact of public scrutiny, but not all of that public scrutiny, or criticism, has been fair, balanced or truthful. And I think it’s reasonable to expect those three things when levelling criticism.” According to Pearce, Christchurch City Holdings experiences none of the conflict that has plagued HBRIC. He attributes that to the Christchurch company being 20 years old, and that councillors sit on the Board. “If you have only professional directors on the holding company, soon the politicians feel they don’t know what’s going on, they haven’t enough information, and they don’t have enough influence,” he says. “In the future I hope the Regional Council sees the value of appointing councillors as directors.” Appointment authority rests with HBRC, and the prospect of councillor-directors remains open. Present directors, Scotland and Robinson, serve until 2018; Pearce and Dinsdale until 2019. HBRC confirmed its policy of no councillor-directors last March, but resolved to reconsider that policy in 2017. Andy Pearce is philosophical about the controversy the RWSS has attracted. “This is the biggest infrastructure project anyone alive today in Hawke’s Bay will see in their lifetimes. It was always going to be controversal. It’s become bigger the Ben Hur
in some respects.” I ask if there are any other projects HBRIC is working on? He points to the Statement of Intent between HBRIC and the Regional Council. “Our mandate is to provide infrastructure projects that benefit the economic, cultural, and social needs.” But he says, “To be brutally frank, we’ve had more than enough to do with the RWSS than to consider another project at this point in time.” So, when the RWSS is under way, or not, what does he envisage next? “Potentially next off the block, which Council has already done some pre-feasibility work on, is a water infrastructure investment in the Ngaruroro,” he says. “And at some point or other, it makes sense to have an inland port, and the obvious place for that is Whakatu. We could have a multi-model interchange catering for trucks and trains that would be well integrated with the Port.” When I ask a question about the Port, Andy Pearce says, “You should talk to Jim about the Port.”
Seeing to the future
Jim Scotland replied promptly to my email request for an interview. He suggested I look at the Port accounts, and the Statements of Intent, for both Port and HBRIC.
Confidence The Five C’S of Diamond Buying
His email ends, “Happy to talk to you if you can fit it in and you have done some homework! Or is that too blunt?” I replied, “Blunt is good, especially when dealing with journalists!” Accounting is not my forte, but I did my homework, and made a spreadsheet of the Port accounts 2007-15, and HBRIC accounts 2013-15. I sent a copy to Scotland. When we meet at his home, my spreadsheets are printed, with some numbers circled. “See here,” he says, “In 2007 the Port had $11.5 million in external liabilities. It’s now got $84 million. You could argue that every year it has borrowed to pay its dividend to the Regional Council.” I ask if that is a concern, and he says, “Not at all. Debt is cheaper than equity. And if we’d been told, ‘you can’t borrow to pay a dividend,’ the Port would only have $15 million of debt, and the Regional Council wouldn’t have had $70 million of accumulated dividends.” Being chairman of the board of the Port of Napier (200715), Scotland was an obvious choice for the board of the investment company whose major asset is the Port, and he was involved from the outset in water storage planning, and in forming the investment company. He’s the ideal person to tell me what differences he has observed, now that the Port reports to HBRIC, and not to the Regional Council. “Often the questions asked by Council were personal interest things, like how many tons of logs? Or what are you doing about those apples?” says Scotland. “The difference now, is the questions asked by our board members, are not operational matters, but about long term strategic planning.”
CUT COLOUR CARAT
“The concerns about lack of communication and transparency I lay at the foot of the Regional Council,” says Scotland. “It’s not HBRIC’s job to handle communications.”
Most gem quality diamonds fall within a range from “D” colourless to “Z” light yellow, the difference between colours are very subtle and graded according to the International Colour Grading Scale. The weight of a diamond is expressed in carats, 1 carat equals 0.2 grams. Weight is the most obvious factor in determining the value of a diamond, but two diamonds of equal weight can have very unequal values, depending on their quality. Clarity is a measure of a diamond’s natural flaws and impurities. The size, nature, location and amount of inclusions determine a diamond’s clarity grade.
Now in the current environment which includes online shopping and synthetic diamonds, where unscrupulous dealers can sell treated, poorly made and incorrectly graded diamonds to unsuspecting customers, a fifth C has emerged as probably the most important of all.
CONFIDENCE
Jim Scotland
This refers not only to the shape and style of the diamond, but its proportions, symmetry, and finish. Proportions and angles influence the internal reflection of light which determines the brightness and sparkle of the diamond and ultimately its perceived beauty.
CLARITY
Most people that have looked into purchasing a diamond would have heard about the Four C’s of a diamond.
Confidence in the knowledge of what you are purchasing is in fact true to International Grade Standards. At Grieve Diamond Jeweller we pride ourselves on ensuring that all diamonds we sell are true to grade which can be backed up by internationally recognised grading reports or an independently produced valuation for the diamond. An independent valuation is important as this assures an unbiased and objective evaluation of the diamond as often a conflict of interest may exist if the same person selling the diamond determines the value. “Grieve Diamond Jeweller sources its diamonds from reparable international diamond merchants at the best possible prices. We can offer competitive pricing on diamonds when comparing like for like and often are more competitive than elsewhere in the country or even the world. You can purchase any cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight of a diamond at Grieve Diamond Jeweller.” -Robert and James Griffiths
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 45
The future of the Port deeply concerns Jim Scotland. “Imagine,” he says, “if tomorrow night you hear on the news that KiwiRail is closing the Palmerston to Napier railway line. A decision like that, which we can do absolutely nothing about, would really hurt the Port. The Port is always at risk. And I think that risk is growing, and that’s why I have advocated for selling down part of the Port.” Scotland points to the Port of Tauranga, “where the Council owns 55%, and the rest has been floated on the stock exchange. It’s a fantastic model.” Sharing risk, releasing equity, assessing opportunity cost; these are the tools of the businessman, and when coupled with imagination, things happen. What Scotland would like to see happen in the future is HBRIC having a venture capital component. “One of the dynamics of the dam is there’s quite a cash flow early on, after 8 to 10 years.” He envisages investing some of the cash in local enterprises, and gives a current example. “There’s a $20 million horticulture project underway and the guys getting it off the ground have got $10 million, other investors will put in $5 million, and I think it would be great if we had the investment company in a form that we could look at such a project with the objective of making an investment of $5 million, for say 8 to 10 years, and then turn the money over for another project.” His example sounds similar to the mānuka honey investment currently being considered by the Regional Council. But shouldn’t that be HBRIC’s job? After all it is the investment company. “The Regional Council is acting independently from HBRIC in following investment opportunities. It’s a strange dichotomy,” he says. But surely the Wairoa rail initiative, being infrastructure investment, must be HBRIC’s responsibility? “You’d think so,” says Scotland. “They’re spending time and effort, and using independent advisors, but they’ve haven’t consulted with us (HBRIC).” Jim Scotland’s answer points to a strain in the relationship. He and fellow directors of HBRIC have been subject to fierce criticism, with accusations of secrecy and even deception, over their handling of the RWSS. “The concerns about lack of communication and transparency I lay at the foot of the Regional Council,” says Scotland. “It’s not HBRIC’s job to handle communications. That’s the Council’s job. They charged us with developing the RWSS scheme. We answer to them, and it’s their job to handle the publicity.”
A matter of trust
Eager to hear opinion contrary to those
46 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Transparent Hawke’s Bay in 2013, with the express purpose “to hold the Council accountable”. But as Elliott points out, “I think one of the reasons they formed the holding company in a corporate structure was so any matter they didn’t want public, they could claim as ‘commercially sensitive’. And right from the beginning we got the message that HBRIC didn’t want, or have to, talk to people, or ratepayers.” “Distrust” is the word Elliott uses to describe the relationship the Regional Council and HBRIC have formed with the public. “If they’d been honest and transparent from the outset, been willing to talk frankly and openly, and address concerns, things could have been very different.” Later, Pauline Elliott sends me an email, and one phrase stands out: “Trust is an economic as well as a constitutional and social value.” Pauline Elliott
“The Regional Council is an environmental protection agency. Its role is to be the guardian and protector of our environment; soil, air, water. What’s it doing getting involved in a massive infrastructure project with so much risk?” Pauline Elliott
supportive of HBRIC, I invite Pauline Elliott for coffee, and ask her why she challenged the establishment of an asset holding company. She says, “The Regional Council is an environmental protection agency. Its role is to be the guardian and protector of our environment; soil, air, water. What’s it doing getting involved in a massive infrastructure project with so much risk?” Elliott has been involved from the beginning. We both attended the first ‘holding company’ public meeting in June 2009 in Havelock North. My abiding memory is thinking the presenter for the Regional Council was disingenuous when he said, “Why settle for 6% return on assets when you could get 9%.” Later I discovered he was jailed for two years in 1990 for fraud. “The whole thing got off to a very bad start,” says Elliott, and in the ensuing years, so frustrated with lack of information access and communication, she and others formed
It’s in your hands
Having a corporate structure, and professional directors, HBRIC runs much the same way as a publicly listed company, whose directors are answerable to shareholders. HBRIC, too, is answerable to its shareholder, the Regional Council, and in turn the Regional Council is answerable to its ‘beneficial’ shareholders, the public of Hawke’s Bay. Obviously, the Regional Council has work to do in defining roles and responsibilities with its investment holding company and insisting on greater transparency. After all, they are the parent in the relationship. And if the culture of alienation, and intimidation, experienced by Tim Gilbertson still persists at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, it’s high time attitudes and behaviour changed. The future of HBRIC is uncertain. Some councillors are avid supporters, while others are critical and call for a review. With local body elections in October it is expected debate will be intense around the following questions: • Can HBRIC successfully achieve its RWSS goals? • Will it need a chief executive when Andrew Newman departs? • Should councillor-directors serve on the Board? • Is part sale of the Port, to reduce risk and raise capital, a good idea? • What should the next investment projects be? • If the dam proceeds, can HBRIC be trusted to make its irrigators meet tough environmental standards? • Are there other investment management models that would better serve Hawke’s Bay?
BRAND-NEW CX-9 COMING SOON
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 47
Kill Less Fish TOM BELFORD
Politicians are stirring, witness calls to action by Labour MP Stuart Nash, who proposes a ten-year moratorium on commercial fishing within a 50-metre depth from the shore, and likely regional council candidate Neil Kirton, who calls for a somewhat more nebulous ‘Putting more fish in the Bay’ campaign. At the national level, the Labour Party complains: “The relationship between the Ministry and the commercial fishing industry is too cosy. First, MPI refuses to prosecute inshore trawlers despite evidence of large scale illegal fish dumping, and now it has emerged it is outsourcing its monitoring obligations. This is a Ministry in crisis. It can’t even perform its core functions and is instead relying on the industry it’s meant to be monitoring.” And NZ First calls for a Commission of Inquiry into Fisheries Management “with the authority to investigate quota allocation and trading, how Total Allowable Commercial Catches are set, and the degree of foreign involvement in quota-holding companies”, adding that “the science behind the estimation of fish stocks is under-resourced, as is the enforcement of the laws governing its harvest.” Meantime, local recreational fishers, organised for lobbying under the banner LegaSea Hawke’s Bay, recently chastised Minister Nathan Guy, whose portfolio includes marine matters, for failing to “deliver on his duty to manage fisheries at a sustainable level”, adding “It was also time commercial fishers took their 48 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Brian Firman, LegaSea HB spokesman. Photograph: Tim Whittaker
“This is a Ministry in crisis. It can’t even perform its core functions and is instead relying on the industry it’s meant to be monitoring.” Labour Party indiscriminate, bulk harvesting methods out of the Bay.” According to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, LegaSea HB, the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Department of Conservation, and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc (NKII) have been working over the past year to improve understanding of the region’s coastal fisheries. Accountability is tough to secure when responsibilities for relevant activities are spread across a number of key players. HBRC is responsible for the seabed out to 12 nautical miles and manages coastal areas, including when pollutants are discharged from land to sea. That can include farming and industrial run-off or effluent from wastewater treatment plants entering waterways and estuaries (or directly) emptying into the Bay. MPI manages commercial, recreational and customary use of fish and shellfish. DoC is responsible for marine mammals and threatened species. NKII has an interest in protecting customary rights and also holds commercial fishing quotas.
So what will happen next?
At its June meeting, the Regional Council received a comprehensive report that maps current knowledge of our coastal resources, identifies information gaps and recommends a process to fill the gaps. Group manager, resource management Iain Maxwell comments: “Recent commentary around the state of our coastal fisheries has been made with too few facts on the table. This research project aims to remedy this and gets all stakeholders on the same page with a common set of understandings.” The report, now available to the public, was applauded by Brian Firman, LegaSea HB’s spokesperson “as a valuable compilation of data”, but adds that action is overdue and “the fact remains that the current rate of harvest must be dramatically reduced while research continues”. MP Nash has been persuaded by local recreational fishers that stocks – certainly recreational catches – are declining. Sufficiently so to propose his ten-year moratorium. As he wrote in HB Today: “Ten years is sufficient time to allow the marine scientists to do their work in order to fully determine the state of the fish stocks, the impact of trawling on the seabed, and for fish stocks to replenish.” Nash is convening an initial stakeholders meeting in mid-July to begin charting an action plan, reflecting on the information presented in the HBRC report. With any luck, friendly competition between Nash
FISH CAUGHT PER ANGLER DAY
2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.2
Ten Year Colin Murray Ramp Survey Gurnard Snapper Tarakihi Trevally 7 9 8 -0 -0 -0 06 07 08 20 20 20
and HBRC might ensure that some kind of action actually occurs! None of this is happening too soon for LegaSea’s Brian Firman. He notes that MPI-sponsored meetings have been going on since 2014, but are yet to yield meaningful results. Putting cameras and observers on commercial vessels and introduction of fishing nets that reduce killing of juvenile fish are all fine, “but the real need is simple … kill less fish of all sizes in the inshore zone”. Introduced locally with heaps of fanfare, Firman says the improved nets “will help contribute to the rebuild, but alone will not restore our fishing.” He finds it “ironic that commercial fishers and MPI are only now showing serious interest in a technology that has been around for decades, indicating a blatant disregard for the sustainability of even their own futures”.
MPI criticised
A recent press release from LegaSea HB puts their complaint: “The token offerings … of net trials, a threemonth exclusion zone around the freshwater springs, not targeting groper on the Lachlan Banks, and more observers on commercial boats are all designed to appease recreational fishers without commercials catching one less takeable fish. Given the recent news of widespread dumping aboard inshore trawlers, these measures fall way short of what is required and are unacceptable.” “It has been very frustrating that the Ministry won’t accept there is a sustainability issue, they merely describe our situation as ‘local area depletion’. Although Ministry and commercial interests say they are at the table to help, any offerings to date do not include killing one less fish. It’s a simple formula, kill less fish and shift the damaging trawling method further offshore.” Local recreational fishers support their
12 -11 1110 20 20
13 1220
14 1320
16 -16 1514 20 20
Groper SEASON
views with data collected by the HB Sport Fishing Club over the past decade. This data shows a clear decline in catches over the ten years for species including snapper, gurnard, tarakihi, trevally and groper, as shown in the adjoining chart. Unfortunately, this is the kind of precautionary data that agencies dismiss as ‘anecdotal’, while failing to produce robust data of their own. The quality of officially-collected data – including New Zealand’s official data – has been seriously challenged by a recent worldwide study conducted by the University of British Columbia and involving the University of Auckland. This study found that NZ’s ‘official’ catch was grossly understated (like that of other countries). Between 19502013 New Zealand reported 15.3 million tonnes of catch. The report estimates another 24.7 million tonnes were not logged, most of it being unreported commercial catch and discarded fish. In other words, our total catch is estimated to be 2.7 times more than what has been reported to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. This issue, and its ramifications for proper management of NZ’s fishing quota system, is addressed in the article following by Trish Rea, LegaSea’s national policy advocate. Under reporting is not a matter of clerical errors! The reasons given by those with first-hand experience include the routine dumping of quota species, falsifying statutory documents, black market activity and conspiracy.
NKII’s view
NKII is a committed voice on behalf of protecting the sustainability of all fishing – commercial, customary and recreational. NKII commented to BayBuzz: “We are frustrated by the fact iwi have been back in the commercial fishing industry
less than 10 years and it appears we have been handed back fishery assets that the Crown has been poorly governing. We are now heavily involved in correcting the Crown’s poor record of governance. “We agree the MPI is in crisis … we described their approach as total negligence. There is no credible fishery science data on the east coast other than the records kept of the commercial extraction levels. Our customary fishers are required to provide quarterly returns. Why aren’t recreational fishers providing records of what they take out of the fishery?” At the same time, NKII is primarily fueled by income from its fishing quota, leasing its inshore quota to Hawke’s Bay Seafoods. HBS has 200 employees, 90% Māori, most of whom are of Kahungunu whakapapa. With encouragement from NKII, the company has been a leading adopter of the improved nets that reduce juvenile fish mortality. However, in October 2015 MPI laid 380 charges against Hawke’s Bay Seafoods for failing to supply details of their catch. Those charges are wending their way through the judicial process and, of course in fairness to the company, are yet to be proven. But if they are, NKII will face some difficult choices. Brian Firman observes that quota owners, while still being paid today, need to realise that “if the fish run out, their quotas are worth nothing.” He says insiders know it’s getting harder for commercial fishers to catch the quotas – they need to fish longer and/or travel farther. Backing off commercial trawling of course would force a trade-off between protecting short-term jobs and livelihoods and ensuring long-term sustainable commercial fishing. But in Firman’s view, that’s the only choice … kill less fish in the inshore zone so stocks can rebuild.
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 49
“The report estimates 24.7 million tonnes were not logged, most of it being unreported commercial catch and discarded fish.� Photograph: Tim Whittaker
Fisheries Commission of Inquiry Required TRISH REA, LEGASEA
Our international reputation is at stake. For 30 years New Zealanders have been sold the line that our Quota Management System (QMS) is a world leader when it comes to both protecting fish stocks and encouraging a culture of stewardship. Recent research has exposed an underbelly of widespread dumping, high grading and misreporting to maximise profits, irrespective of the environmental cost. Kiwis and the world have been sold a pup. Brian Firman of LegaSea Hawke’s Bay echoes the concerns of Napier residents and recreational fishermen when questioning the integrity of the quota system. “How can the people of Hawke’s Bay possibly have confidence in the quota system or in the Ministry’s ability to address our local concerns when our fishing has deteriorated so much and officials have been ignoring the blatant wastage occurring out at sea?” “What’s even worse is that we now start to think that the issues raised so far are just symptoms of much bigger flaws in our management regime. Something has to change and only a broad based, independent inquiry into the quota system is going to be able to get to the bottom of this mess.” Results from a worldwide study involving the University of Auckland reveal that our total catch is estimated to be 2.7 times more than what has been reported to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Between 1950-2013 New Zealand reported 15.3 million tonnes of catch. The report estimates another 24.7 million tonnes were not logged, most of it being unreported commercial catch and discarded fish. Recreational and customary catch is estimated to be 0.51 million tonnes, or 1.3% of the total catch, none of which was reported to the FAO.
Trish Rea, Legasea
At a local level Hawke’s Bay fisheries are not producing a reasonable return for a day’s recreational fishing effort and nor are they returning any decent commercial yields in terms of jobs and wealth for the region.
Issues highlighted during numerous interviews with fishermen will seem familiar to Hawke’s Bay people, many of whom have first-hand experience of an ineffective
regulatory regime and fish depletion. These issues include the routine dumping of quota species, falsifying statutory documents, black market activity and conspiracy. LegaSea is one of several public interest groups calling for a Commission of Inquiry. Spokesperson for LegaSea, Richard Baker, says the Commission needs to be given sufficient power to uncover and expose what is happening under the QMS and within the Ministry for Primary Industries. “Our concern is that reports of widespread non-compliance with fishing rules by many trawl fishermen, the nonreporting of dolphin captures, and that officials failed to act against offenders further damages our international reputation,” said Baker.
Damning revelations
Reports show that officials were aware that between 20 to 100% of some quota fish were being discarded during every haul on trawlers operating inshore. And, it is estimated that only 42.5% of industrial catch by New Zealand vessels is reported. The New Zealand catch reconstruction report is part of a global effort to identify the known inaccurate reporting of catches each year to the UN. A similar exercise has been undertaken in over 200 countries and coordinated by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The research includes excerpts from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ compliance documents exposing widespread and known JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 51
non-compliance by industrial fishing interests. These offences were allowed to continue unabated. In effect, Ministry turned a blind eye to the mortality of endangered species and serious offences were allowed to escape prosecution. The research concludes that “misreporting and dumping has been ignored for too long by officials”. Napier-based Jim Yeoman is President of the New Zealand Angling and Casting Association. He says local members are alarmed at the revelations and they are asking, “Is there a connection between the report and our declining catches over the past decade?” His members want to know the truth. “As a self-professed 100% pure nation that is supposed to be looking after its natural resources this illegal behaviour is bad news for our reputation and cannot be condoned. At a local level the concern is for our members and families in need, the prevalent reports that perfectly edible fish are being regularly dumped ought to ring alarm bells.”
Where is the stewardship?
The QMS has repeatedly been described in terms of the incentives for stewardship and value creation, and that commercial harvesters would maximise value through innovation, and sustainability would be ensured because it was in the commercial harvesters’ self-interest. Richard Baker says New Zealanders have been duped. “Clearly the QMS is not functioning at the high level that we have been led to believe.” At a local level Hawke’s Bay fisheries are not producing a reasonable return for a day’s recreational fishing effort and nor are they returning any decent commercial yields in terms of jobs and wealth for the region. As for MPI compliance, locals are most
In effect, Ministry turned a blind eye to the mortality of endangered species and serious offences were allowed to escape prosecution. The research concludes that “misreporting and dumping has been ignored for too long by officials”. interested in the outcome of an MPI investigation into an alleged local black market operation. In October 2015 MPI reported it had laid 380 charges against Hawke’s Bay Seafoods directors and associated companies. Baker continues, “While we’re not the only country under-reporting, we’re the only one that trumpets to all who will listen that we’ve had a ‘world-leading’ Quota
Management System since 1986. Clearly not, as to be effective there has to be accurate reporting of all quota species.” The strident denials, then ‘shoot the messenger’ reactions to the research from Nathan Guy, the m inister responsible, officials and commercial interests strongly suggests there is more truth to this story than lies. For environmentally aware Kiwis our truth is fairly simple. What we hear about commercial fishing is thoroughly rinsed through the mesh of well-paid public relations firms. These PR experts carefully massage perceptions through clever messages, conveniently ignoring the abyss between the theoretical spin and numerous eyewitness accounts. The QMS is nothing short of dysfunctional when there is so little oversight by the Ministry charged with managing our fisheries, and few opportunities for public oversight because there is such a tight rein kept on fisheries data due to confidentiality agreements between Ministry and their commercial fishing industry partners. “LegaSea agrees with the researchers that we need a robust, critical review of the Quota Management System. We need to understand why the system makes people behave in such a reckless manner”, adds Mr. Firman. The country and Hawke’s Bay in particular needs productive fisheries. If New Zealand really does have the best and most envied fisheries management system in the world, there ought to be no objection to a Commission of Inquiry examining all aspects of commercial fisheries management, compliance issues and public reporting. Anything less retains the odour of a cover-up and business as usual – a continuation of the truth being withheld behind a flimsy veil of confidentiality.
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Photograph: Tim Whittaker
• Between 1950-2013 New Zealand reported 15.3 million tonnes of catch to the United Nations. The report estimates another 24.7 million tonnes of catch, mostly unreported commercial catch and discarded fish. • Prior to the QMS total catch was estimated to be 2.7 times that reported to the UN. Since the introduction of the Quota Management System in 1986, estimated catch dropped to 2.1 times that reported to the UN. • Two Ministry investigations, Operation Achilles and Hippocamp, revealed officials decided not to prosecute commercial fishers filmed dumping some or all of their catch overboard.
• Recreational and customary catch is estimated to be 0.51 million tonnes, or 1.3%. Not reported to the UN.
• LegaSea has called for a Commission of Inquiry into the QMS and MPI operations.
• Only an estimated 42.5% of industrial catch by New Zealand flagged vessels was reported.
ABOUT LEGASEA LegaSea (www.legasea.co.nz) is a public outreach initiative of the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council. The Council has an experienced fisheries management, science, policy and legal team. LegaSea Hawke’s Bay was launched in 2014 to promote fisheries management practices that will allow for ‘more fish in the water’. LegaSea Hawke’s Bay has been working with other LegaSea advocates to participate and contribute to the joint sector discussions, with the objective of improving the recreational fishing experience in the Hawke’s Bay and surrounding waters.
• 42 percent of the industrial catch was caught by foreign-flagged vessels, which dominated the catching of hoki, squid, jack mackerels, barracouta and southern blue whiting – some of the largest fisheries and most misreported and discarded species. • MPI seems to have granted lawbreakers immunity from prosecution.
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Ph 0800 456 456 JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 53
Agritech, the New Queen of Green
DR ROSIE BOSWORTH / PURE ADVANTAGE
It’s no secret that tech is the new black. Young and nimble start-ups in the technology and digital space are now a dime a dozen worldwide, not to mention the hot favourites amongst investors and governments worldwide. Let’s face it, if you’re not developing an app or cloud solution for something or someone you’re clearly not drinking the Koolaid. And insane amounts of investment and funding continue to be pumped into the sector. Surprisingly however, the agricultural industry, despite generating more than $6.4 trillion for the global economy (according to AgFunder), has been markedly slow off the mark to adopt technology and evolve. A crazy thought given the sheer market size and the uphill battle the industry faces in terms of growing demand for food, climate change and resource scarcity. Not to mention the East’s growing appetite for animal protein and dairy products. But in the past few years, entrepreneurs and investors, especially those in Silicon Valley, have finally caught on and are setting their sights on AgriTech in a big way. Understandably, it’s an industry well in need of modernising and hungry for technological change and innovation. Precision agriculture, alternative farming methods, updated supply chains, drones, big data, sustainable proteins are just a smattering of examples of technologies and innovation that will become integral to the future of farming as we scramble to solve agriculture’s imminent challenges. Particularly as the global population is tipped to increase by 70% by 2050.
License to print money?
For companies that can find, develop and market effective solutions for the sector, AgriTech will be a licence to print money. Everyone has to eat, right? New Zealand take note. The figures speak for themselves. According to Mitchell Presser, Innovation Advisory Board Member for Global Actionable Innovation and expert in the growth of AgriTech, until recently, less than 5% of total private equity investment was channelled into the food and agribusiness channels. But the traditionally underinvested area is now breaking all records. Halfway through 2015, AgFunder’s AgTech Funding report said investments in AgriTech related ventures reached a whooping $2.06 billion and were set to surpass $4 billion by the end of the year. Practically doubling in one year alone. Rob Le Clerc, co-founder of AgFunder, an online investment marketplace for global ag industry, now dubs AgriTech as the ‘New Queen of Green’ as investors see the global potential of such long overdue innovation in a staid sector. Given the sheer size of the global ag market and the plethora of
untapped opportunities gagging for tech entrepreneurs to solve, there’s cash to be made in the tech poor sector. For farmers, for entrepreneurs, and for investors. And lots of it. Essentially a triple clip of the ticket, across the entire agricultural value chain. The industry is booming and doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon. Increasingly smart entrepreneurial start-ups, especially in the US, are successfully developing a raft of tech based solutions aimed to boost farm productivity and sustainability with huge long term potential.
Robots picking lettuce
Blue River, for example, a California-based start-up that is currently growing by leaps and bounds, uses hi tech robots equipped with computer vision, machine learning and cloud connectivity to weed, thin and spray vegetable fields in real time. Compared to broad-based agriculture, Jorge Heraud, Blue River’s founder, says the technology reduces the amount of chemicals used in agriculture by 90%. The company’s
New Zealanders are smart at being the farmers, but we also need to be smart about providing farmers globally with better technologies and tools to up their game too. unique combination of hi tech inputs is so efficient that it can process 5,000 plants a minute, without a human being in sight. Blue River is clearly onto a good thing and has already raised US$17 million in its Series B funding round. Not only that, the company is smart enough to know that capital intensive new innovations – no matter how beneficial for farmer pockets and the environment – come with barriers to entry. So instead of requiring farmers to buy its machines outright, it designed an attractive business model based around offering AgriTech as a service by providing ‘plant-byplant care’ to producers. Move over SAAS, it’s time to think AgAAS. By keeping the technology in house while clipping the ticket and learning from its customers, the company’s current third generation machines are already 100 times faster and more accurate than its first generation. Blue River’s machines are already being used on 10% of the US lettuce market and this business model has enabled the company to rapidly speed up what would otherwise have been a slow and expensive innovation progress.
Get with the hot water tech After the long, hot summer that gently morphed into autumn, you may be nervously anticipating a rise in your hot water heating bill. It’s been so low for so long. As winter advances, those delicious, long hot showers have a habit of making a big spike in your household expenditure. So, it’s worth checking out the latest in heating technology to save the stress of a soaring account. Infinity instantaneous hot water systems that heat by gas save over 60% on normal heating costs. They are one of the most cost effective ways to go as they only heat the water you use. But if your street doesn’t have gas, it’s not an option. Once that meant resorting to an expensive electric cylinder. However, cylinders are now available that work like the Infinity, monitoring your usage and only warming up at certain times of the day when hot water is required. Because you only pay for the hot water you use, your bills are much lower. You can even put the cylinder on holiday mode by setting the dates you plan to go away and return. It’s no longer wasting power while you are away. Eventually technology will connect your cylinder to your phone so you can turn the heating on or off from your bach. The other great thing about the new cylinders, because they’re not holding water – it’s just flushing through - their life expectancy has radically increased. The old mains pressure cylinder had to be replaced every 8 to 10 years. The new ones last for 30 to 40 years. Another great saving you no longer have to think about. So, don’t juSt Suck up thoSe horrendouS hot water billS thiS winter. Get with the tech. You’ll be pleaSantlY SurpriSed.
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Compared to broad-based agriculture, Jorge Heraud, Blue River’s founder, says the technology reduces the amount of chemicals used in agriculture by 90%. Another growing US-based AgriTech start-up that is redefining the productivity and sustainability of ag and plant-based farming by using aeroponics is Aero Farms. The indoor farming industry has been gathering momentum in recent years as consumer demand rises for locally-sourced produce with lower carbon footprint and high food safety standards. And Aero Farms is riding this wave. The company has figured out how to grow nutrient rich leafy greens indoors without soil by growing them in a mist environment using LED lights, and growth algorithms using only a fraction of inputs. The company claims its vertical farming facility is 75 times more productive per square foot annually than a field farm and 10 times more productive than hydroponic greenhouses. The process also requires 95% less water, 40% fewer nutrients, and zero pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, or herbicide. The company even knows which spectra of light plants do not use in order to save energy costs on lighting. Set to become the world’s largest vertical farming business, Aero Farm recently secured US$20 million in its Series B round taking its total equity capital raising efforts to US$33 million. The company has ambitious plans to build 25 farms over the next five years and extend its presence across four continents as it sets its sights on improving the methods by which produce is grown globally. David Rosenburg, Aero Farm’s chief 56 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
executive officer and co-founder believes Aero Farm’s technology is so far superior to current competition in the market that 90% of indoor agriculture players out there will go out of business. “A lot of people have a very romanticised notion of local food production and an under-appreciation of the complexities to make it work. And there are a lot of them who are cutting corners where they shouldn’t be and that raises a real concern about food safety.”
NZ lagging in agritech?
Thankfully, Silicon Valley geniuses aren’t the only ones recognising the value and market opportunities AgriTech has to offer. Biolumic, a New Zealand startup is an example of one Kiwi company gaining a foothold in this space. It has developed a range of UV devices and environmentally friendly UV treatments that can be applied to a range of different crops to increase yields, improve quality, and improve resistance to disease. Designed to prime plants to thrive and survive, trials undertaken by Biolumic with some of NZ and Australia’s largest lettuce growers and processors have shown its technology improves yields by 26%. Biolumic’s scientists have even discovered how to use short zaps of UV light to infuse certain flavour and colour profiles in plants just before they’re harvested. Making for tastier and better-looking (i.e. more marketable) produce. In an era where foodproducing land is becoming an increasingly
rare commodity and the need to feed more mouths with less inputs, Biolumic’s innovation is undoubtedly onto a good thing both financially and food security wise. And as with any emerging high growth, high potential industry, governments are also cottoning on to the lucrative potential of AgriTech. The UK, US and Australia are just some of those countries strategically minded enough to realise that by beefing up resources and national funding into this area they stand to become the next Silicon Valleys for AgriTech. New Zealand take note. Australia recently launched a new innovation hub called ‘Sprout’ to back digital agriculture entrepreneurs. The country’s National Farmers Federation (NFF) says the agricultural innovation hub is part of a broad strategy to harness new technology and big data to cut the costs of production and boost output and has dedicated tens of millions of dollars ready to kick-start the first stage. NFF chief executive Simon Talbot says it has enough capital to get the first ten projects off the ground with the first round of applications opening early this year. And after that Australia will be onto a ‘virtuous cycle’, as experts say. The hub is also looking at various models of financing, including crowd-funding, investors buying shares in an emerging incubator-tested company, or through very low-interest loans. The UK government has also recently pumped a considerable amount of support and funding into its domestic sector with the development of the UK Strategy for
Agricultural Technologies. Several initiatives include AgriMetrics, a big data centre for the sector, and the Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise’s hub and innovation space for researchers, AgriTech organisations and SMEs to collaborate and work to bolster farm productivity and profitability.
Farm491
Farm491, an AgriTech start-up facility attached to the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Gloucestershire is modelled on the Google Campus and is another win for the UK ag sector. Established to facilitate the commercialisation of ag technologies from research into viable businesses, Farm491 members will be provided with support from RAU, access to farming data, research, equipment and other resources, as well as mentoring from a network of academics, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors. The campus has already received £2.92 million in funding from the local government’s local enterprise partnership (LEP). If that’s not all, even investment rich Silicon Valley is pumping money into the sector. In May 2015 US-based Western Growers and Silicon Valley Global Partners (SVG Partners) entered into a strategic alliance launching the Western Growers Centres for Innovation and Technology in San Jose and Salinas, California. The aim? To discover, accelerate, advance and invest in innovative solutions intended to solve critical challenges to production in agriculture through technology and to produce more with less water, labor and inputs. This info will then be fed back to fresh produce farmers across California, Arizona and Colorado. In what looks to be a race towards the survival of the fittest, countries investing now in the AgriTech space will undoubtedly
be the biggest and most profitable winners. They will also have the greatest potential to build the future Facebooks and Googles of global food production. This begs one highly pertinent question: Where is New Zealand in this mix? Are we doing the same? And if not, why not? Especially when ag is supposed to be our prime cash cow, without which our economic livelihood would be in quite remarkably dire straits.
Dr Rosie Bosworth
According to AgFunder’s mid-year 2015 AgTech Investment Report, companies located in the U.S., Israel and China continue to dominate when it comes to receiving funding and AgriTech activity. Most noticeably absent, however, from the top ten most funded countries is New Zealand. Yes, New Zealanders are smart at being the farmers, but we also need to be smart about providing farmers globally with
better technologies and tools to up their game too, particularly in an industry so ripe for innovation and change. And as a nation we would be foolish to continue to neglect this massive opportunity any longer, especially given our rich and competitive agricultural heritage. If not for for the environmental and future food security benefits, then at the very least for the financial and economic value of doing so. But we can’t lag behind. To entrench a position of global leadership in AgriTech we need to take the bull by the horns and capitalise, support and promote investment in this space. We need to see collaboration in the industry, and for leaders to drive and fund new start-ups and hubs that support the development of what could potentially become some of the best innovations the world of agriculture will see. Not next year, not tomorrow. Now. Not only do we already have a deep history of world leading farming knowledge and a perfectly sized test bed of entrepreneurial farmers willing to try new and improved methods of production, but we also have a growing hotbed of technological talent. A perfect combination really. And one that would be naive for us not to capitalise on. It could just be the much-awaited silver bullet New Zealand, and the rest of the world, needs. Not only to feed the future population sustainably while keeping our environmental values intact, but also to help keep our wallets bulging and our national books healthy for all generations to come. With a PhD in disruptive sustainable innovation and technology development, and a background in marketing and account management, Dr Rosie Bosworth consults in business. Her article is reprinted from Pure Advantage.org with permission.
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No one can accuse Mayor Yule of not pursuing big ideas, something that appeals to his supporters and annoys his detractors.
58 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Political Buzz TOM BELFORD
Probably the two biggest political questions in the air at this writing involve the dam and local body elections. Let’s start with the elections … yes the time approaches. The official window for candidate nominations is 15 July to 12 August. But the informal manoeuvring has already begun. The biggest surprise so far is CHB mayor Peter Butler’s announcement that he will not stand again, thereby robbing Hawke’s Bay of its best Donald Trump imitation. However his sister-in-law, councillor Sally Butler has announced for the seat, a presumptive candidate of the cockies. She seems to feel he’s done an outstanding job. Others do not. She will face Waipukurau businesswoman Alex Walker, and perhaps an anti-dam environmentalist as well. Regional Councillor Debbie Hewitt will face farmer and Forest & Bird leader Dan Elderkamp assuming she stands again. While HBRC gets to decide the fate of the dam, still on the table at the CHB council is the issue of whether ratepayers there should purchase dam water as their municipal source. Up in Wairoa, a modest wave of euphoria is sweeping the district over becoming the Cape Canaveral of the Southern Hemisphere, with Rocket Lab set to begin firing satellitecarrying missiles on a regular basis. There would not appear to be a major ‘disruptive’ issue on the table for candidates to contest over, although Fenton Wilson, assuming he stands again for Regional Council, will face announced challenger Dean Whaanga, a youth development worker and a veteran of 20 years in the Royal NZ Navy.
The biggest surprise so far is CHB mayor Peter Butler’s announcement that he will not stand again, thereby robbing Hawke’s Bay of its best Donald Trump imitation.
Napier
In Napier, Mayor Dalton has taken the one hot issue – the velodrome – off the table until after the October election, indicating that the proposition needed more baking time. He also noted that ‘by convention’ such important matters should not be decided within 90 days of an election … by what Americans refer to as ‘lame duck’ representatives. (I wonder if that principle applies to dams!) Count on the velodrome to return reborn as a multi-sport complex after Mayor Dalton’s coronation in October. The most interesting contest in Napier will be the fight for that city’s three seats on the Regional Council. Incumbents Dick and Pipe are established vote-getters, pushing 10,000 votes each in 2013; while Councillor Scott, rumoured not to be standing again, has carried the third seat with a smaller 7,854. She would be vulnerable to a very stiff challenge from all-but-announced (as I write) candidate Neil Kirton, who pulled 10,628 votes in his last race in 2010 (more than Dick
and Pipe in their 2013 campaigns for that matter). For Kirton, the question is: has he lost his lustre? Hoping he has, are two other HBRC candidates already in the hunt – environmental activist and dam opponent Paul Bailey and lawyer Martin Williams, notable lately for representing HBRIC on dam matters and Andy Lowe on current plans to develop Ocean Beach. With possibly more candidates to come, there could be a heap of folks chasing those three Napier HBRC seats once the campaign officially begins.
Hastings
Meantime, the Hastings District is never at a loss for issue controversy, with vocal council backbenchers and avid citizens regularly voicing concerns in HB Today. Mayor Yule and the Hastings Council seem to have successfully navigated through their Opera House earthquake strengthening decision. However, with that settled in favour of an $11 million spend, with no significant political fallout, other controversies stand ready to stir candidate debate in HDC races. The odour dispute between Arataki residents and Te Mata Mushrooms isn’t over, but has been somewhat defused by a combination of HBRC securing a fine on the company (satisfying complainants), and Mayor Yule adroitly hosting an airing of the issues at a well-attended public forum and promising to convene a community group to work with the company and the Regional Council to negotiate a path that suits all concerned. Moving mushroom odour to horse manure, JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 59
Up in Wairoa, a modest wave of euphoria is sweeping the district over becoming the Cape Canaveral of the Southern Hemisphere.
the new, improved (or seriously not) Horse of the Year, reorganized by Hastings deputy mayor Cynthia Bowers chairing her HOY Hawke’s Bay Ltd, failed to clear the break even financial fence, indeed losing $170,000, while alienating many HOY loyalists. Now an independent review will be undertaken so that responsibility can be accurately placed. But just as nasty matters threatened to get out of hand, Mayor Yule pulled a pleasantly distracting rabbit out of the hat by announcing a spiffy new $10 million sport facility, championed by sporting advocate Sir Graeme Avery. The founder of Sileni Estates has always been a strong supporter of the Sports Park, and he now aims to make it a hub for developing sport talent and health
60 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
campaign season, Lawrence Yule announced improvement in HB, modelled on the AUT that he would stand again for mayor of Millennium Institute of Sport and Health he Hastings, for what would be his sixth term. founded in Auckland. At his announcement he said: “I HDC has given the project $2 million, particularly want to get the Opera House and will consult next year on providing $2 re-opened and finished … I want to put some million more … a test of whether the appetite concerted effort into the CBD and I want of Hastings ratepayers matches that of to continue on some very good work we community visionaries. are doing around employment growth and Meantime, with any luck, the Hastings District will be declared GMO free by election job development.” And now selling AUT Millennium HB, as well. time, with the High Court vindicating this No one can accuse Mayor Yule of not stipulation in HDC’s new District Plan over Fenton Wilson pursuing big ideas, something that appeals the objections of Federated Farmers. As the dust settles on these issues, Hastings to his supporters and annoys his detractors. He was re-elected in 2013 with a scant 51% voters will need to sort out which mayoral of the votes (11,516 votes) against contenders and councillor candidates deserve credit or Wayne Bradshaw and Simon Nixon, who blame for what has transpired. together won 10,978 votes. In the biggest non-surprise of the early
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Count on the velodrome to return reborn as a multi-sport complex after Mayor Dalton’s coronation in October.
As he’s navigated the issues of the last three years, has he gained or lost political capital? Certainly the loss of amalgamation, which ironically also won a bare 51% of the Hastings vote, must carry political cost. But then there’s the simple math. His closest competitor in 2013 (Bradshaw) won only 27% of the vote in a three-way race. Bradshaw is silent so far about his 2016 intentions; Nixon will run for council, but has not decided about another mayoral effort.Bill Dalton No matter, Yule looks to be already assured of another three-way race with councillor Adrienne Pierce and lawyer Guy Wellwood already declared candidates. And it can only get better for Yule if Bradshaw and/or Nixon join the party. Wellwood’s offering a “new leadership style”. His campaign website proposes: “Hastings needs a mayor who is not divisive but one who can build a consensus on important issues so all councillors can work together, not against each other. And someone who can also work positively alongside the other mayors, chairs and MPs for Hawke’s Bay.” Says Pierce: “We have had a lot of big visions and talk of being bold and courageous for a number of years. I am keen to get back to basics.” I for one would love to be a fly on the wall for the Bradshaw-Nixon-Pierce-Wellwood ‘let’s sort this out’ meeting! Meanwhile, adding to the political excitement in the Hastings District will be the campaigns of incumbent regional councillors Barker, Beaven, Graham and myself. Says Rex Graham: “Thankfully we are all running again. It’s been an amazing journey and through the trials and hard work we have
become trusted friends and colleagues. We all recognise the challenges before us and our community and will not be taking anything for granted in this election.” As of this writing, other candidates have not yet emerged, but undoubtedly that will change. We’re assuming no incumbents’ advantage. After all, we won office by beating then-incumbents Kevin Rose, Ewan McGregor and Murray Douglas.
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Dam update
I wish I could write in a timely way on the dam situation. July 8 will have been a fateful date, assuming HBRIC has made its push for final approval on that day. Without flinching, five councillors have supported the project, as equally ‘predetermined’ (or not) as the four councillors who have been skeptical of its viability. From my standpoint, several key loose ends remain. Most importantly, two lawsuits. One, brought by Forest and Bird, questioning the legality of a land swap that is critical to the dam proceeding. The other brought by Greenpeace, challenging the process by which the footprint of the scheme was increased without public notification. As long as these legal challenges are unresolved, closure on the project cannot be reached. Another outstanding issue involves whether HBRIC has met a Board of Inquiry condition requiring ongoing review by an independent three-person panel of all design and construction aspects of the dam. If it has not, then there would be no valid basis for finalising a contract with the dam builder … especially a contract that claims to protect ratepayers from liability for cost increases.
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And a final issue involves the infamous environmental flows – the proposed longterm purchase by HBRC of $36 million of water from its own storage scheme. Effectively, the Council has kicked the matter to touch, requesting a full study on the issues involved, a project that won’t come to a conclusion (i.e., informed decision) until 30 November, assuming the dam is proceeding. As the staff recommendation paper reported: “A consistent theme in the views [of councillors] was a lack of clarity or certainty of the location and scale of the problems in the catchment that environmental flows might address and how and when the proposed flows would provide solutions to the identified problems.” Amen! This represents a major victory for the nearly 150 submitters who, when begrudgingly given the opportunity to be consulted, vigorously opposed the proposition. If the dam proceeds, the challenge will become trying to ensure the Tukituki ecosystem isn’t stuffed even more than it already is. That will require constant monitoring of compliance with new water quality standards by dam water users (approximately 200) operating under effective Farm Environmental Management Plans (FEMPs) … and the toughening of these plans as needed if water quality further deteriorates. In addition, $10 million in environmental restoration projects must be implemented, and gravel replenishment must be carried out at the mouth of the Tukituki. At the same time, Plan Change 6 must be implemented and enforced as it affects all other 62 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
farmers with water extraction consents in the catchment that are not using stored water. This represents about 1,000 consent holders who also must have and abide by FEMPs. In both cases, the water users must have their approved FEMPs in place by 2018, a daunting planning and enforcement challenge. And finally, CHB District Council must be fully and consistently compliant with the water quality standards now governing operation of its wastewater treatment plants … a challenge yet to be met.
Emerging issues
Implementation of Plan Change 6 will be a massive undertaking on the part of irrigation consent holders and HBRC as the regulator. And it will require constant community vigilance to ensure compliance in all respects. That said, the all-consuming demands on HBRC staff to progress the dam will be relieved. Attention can turn to other issues and priorities, including these projects that involve collaboration amongst our councils: TANK. This project involves nearly 50 stakeholders – commercial water users, environmentalists, recreational users, councils, Māori – with a stake in prudent management of water resources on and under the Heretaunga Plains. As with the Tukituki, an overall plan change must be developed governing water use in the Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri Rivers, the Karamu Stream and the Ahuriri estuary, as well as the underlying aquifers. Energy future. Partly an outgrowth of the
‘Big Six’ consultation HBRC undertook on strategic issues and partly a response to concerns over local oil and gas development (and particularly fracking), this project will look comprehensively at the energy choices we as a community – local bodies, businesses and consumers – are empowered to make going forward. Coastal protection. This project, chaired by regional councillor Peter Beaven, is a response to climate change and its certain impact on our coastal communities and infrastructure in years to come. A working party consisting of representatives from the Regional Council, HDC and NCC has been scoping the physical impacts expected from sea level rise and more severe weather events, and is now turning to identifying the mitigation steps that can be taken and their costs and relative priority. These plans, initially covering the coastline from Clifton to Tangoio, will be subject to public consultation. Regional economic development. Another working group – including councils, business representatives, Māori and other interests (e.g., Port, EIT) – has been charged with overhauling the existing Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS). The strategy, with Government approval, and potentially funding in some aspects, will be unveiled in July. No shortage of issues with extra-ordinary implications for the future of Hawke’s Bay. Get informed … and get ready to vote!
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Healthy Home Heating ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHS BY SARAH CATES
64 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Winter has finally arrived. Time to pull out those jumpers from the bottom draw, dig out the beanies, and find that odd glove that managed to escape you at the end of last winter. Getting cosy around the fire is something we folk in Hawke’s Bay all look forward to. Unfortunately, this time of year brings its own smoke-filled legacy. Words such as ‘emissions’, ‘ambient air quality ’, ‘PM 10’, and ‘respiratory illness’ start hitting the headlines. The health effects of ambient air pollution in NZ were first assessed in the Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand (HAPINZ) study, which was based on the 2001 population and ambient air monitoring data. Health effects were evaluated from 67 urban areas, including Hastings and Napier. The report was based on particulate matter, commonly known as PM 10, because the majority of health effects in New Zealand are associated with this pollutant.
Nasty particles
PM 10 is a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. Some of these particles are visible, such as chimney smoke, whilst others are so small that they cannot be seen by the naked eye. Dr Kathleen Kozyniak (HBRC Air Quality Scientist) explains: “A PM 10 particle is one-fifth of the dimeter of a human hair. The particles come from both anthropogenic (human caused) and natural sources. Human sources include the burning of wood, coal, petrol, diesel, and oil in domestic fires, open burning, motor vehicles, and industrial processes. Natural sources include sea spray, pollen, dust, volcanic activity and liquefaction dust.” In 2012 an up-dated version of the initial HAPINZ study was produced. The data
Studies have also shown that unborn babies are at risk, as PM particles can effect lung development. available was significantly improved due to an increased understanding of air pollution, and air quality monitoring across most urban areas throughout New Zealand. Improved air quality monitoring was largely attributed to
A health issues discussion sponsored by
the introduction of a National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES) for PM 10 in 2005. Our regional council is responsible for ensuring this standard is met in Hawke’s Bay. The 2012 HAPINZ study reported that the primary health impact from exposure to PM 10 was 2,300 premature deaths in adults and babies. Half of these deaths were associated with anthropogenic (humancaused) sources of PM 10. In addition to this, 607 extra hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illness, and 1.49 million restricted activity days, were attributed to anthropogenic sources of PM 10. Dr Nicholas Jones (Chief Medical Officer of Health, DHB) warns: “Ambient air pollution is a major environmental health problem and it’s important levels are reduced. The main source of PM 10 emissions in most urban areas is from domestic fires. PM 10 affects more people than any other pollutant, the most damaging particles are those less than PM 10 in size. It is these particles that penetrate and lodge themselves deep into the lungs. This type of pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations. Chronic exposure to these particles not only exacerbates existing respiratory and cardiac disease, but increases the risks of people developing these types of diseases. The most vulnerable groups of people include the elderly, young children, individuals with a pre-existing heart or lung disease, and people with respiratory conditions. Studies have also shown that unborn babies are at risk, as PM
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“HBRC’s Heatsmart scheme has helped just over 8,500 ratepayers to afford clean and efficient heating that will improve air quality for us all. Mark Heaney, HBRC’s Heatsmart manager
particles can effect lung development”. The National Standard set an ambient air quality concentration limit for PM 10 of 50mg/m3 over a 24 hour period. Air quality management areas known as ‘airsheds’ are designated by regional councils and are areas where levels of pollution are known or likely to exceed the NES. Permissible exceedances of no more than one day of the year (i.e., one 24 hour period in 12 months) by September 2016 has been set for the urban Napier airshed. Due to differing conditions, the urban Hastings airshed has till 2020 to reach only one exceedance per year, with an allowance of three exceedances in the interim. These limits were based on 2005 World Health Organisation guidelines indicating that a reduction in PM 10 concentrations could potentially decrease air pollutionrelated deaths by approximately 15%. Jones comments: “50mg/m3 is not a ‘magic’ number. Currently there is no known ‘safe’ level at which PM 10 does not impact health. It’s is a very complex science determining the relationship between ambient air quality and poor health, there are many interrelated factors. It is good to keep working on getting the levels as low as possible”. Hastings experienced its first exceedance this year over Queens Birthday weekend. The average level of PM 10 measured at the St John’s air quality monitor site over a 24 hour 66 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
period was 55mg/m3. As of 20 June, with winter just beginning, St John’s Hastings has had four exceedances. As with complex factors that determine health, there are environmental interactions that determine air quality. Kozyniak explains: “Once pollutants are emitted into the air, weather and topography play a large role into how they are dispersed. It really depends on how well the air is mixing. When conditions are very still, clear, cold, with low winds – described as ‘stable’, there is very little mixing. This lack of mixing occurs when the air closest to ground level is cooler than the air above, this is known as a ‘temperature inversion’. The cooler air is heavier and will not mix with the air above. Any pollutants released near the surface will get trapped, it’s noticeable by a low layer of smoky air. It’s in these conditions where exceedances are most likely.”
Enter Heatsmart
In order to improve air quality across the region and meet the National Air Quality standards HBRC introduced the Heatsmart programme. This programme aims to help phase out non-compliant domestic fires, which are the main contributors to poor air quality. The use of open fires has been banned since the beginning of 2012, and due to new standards around the clean burning of fuel, wood burners installed before 2005 are
illegal to use. Heatsmart provides ratepayers with grants, loans, and advice on how to remove their old fires and replace them with clean, efficient heating, and insulation retrofits. “We have real reason to celebrate!” says Mark Heaney, HBRC’s Heatsmart manager. “HBRC’s Heatsmart scheme has helped just over 8,500 ratepayers to afford clean and efficient heating that will improve air quality for us all. There’s more to do, approximately 4,000, to safely reach the government targets for clean air by 2020.” A new study from the University of Otago found that retrofitting insulation to the current 2008 standards in existing housing reduced the number of children visiting hospital by 9%. The numbers of children visiting hospital that lived in private rental housing was reduced by 19%. This is largely attributed to the highly successful Warm up NZ programme. But with the discontinuation of this campaign, due to end June 2016, it’s feared many people will continue to live in cold homes. In June, the Minister of Building and Housing Nick Smith announced minor improvements to the changes proposed for the Residential Tenancies Act. In regards to insulation, improvements will only apply to rental properties without any insulation, or homes with insulation in poor condition.
Insulation will have to meet the 2008 Building Code Standard. This will leave a vast amount of the rental stock at the insufficient 1978 standard. Dr Jones says: “It’s certainly a step in the right direction, but I worry it does not go far enough. We need to take a unified approach to getting all homes healthier.
“Enforcement of the air rules is problematic as we have no legal power of entry into dwellings to physically check compliance.” Good heating, insulation, and ventilation are all required to ensure the occupants stay healthy. Educating people on how to keep their homes warm and dry is also critical.” The 2016 budget has provided a further $36 million to insulate the homes of the most ‘at risk’ occupants. Heaney comments: “Hawke’s Bay has, and will continue to take advantage of available government funding for insulation. It will be awarded on a first come, first served basis! Out of 67 local authorities we have had the 6th highest uptake nationally with 13,000 (26% in Napier and Hastings) improving their homes, of these 2,635 have also used the HBRC Heatsmart funding scheme.”
Health jeopardy persists
Despite great efforts from the HBRC Heatsmart team, and the encouraging uptake of the scheme from Hawke’s Bay residents, there is a still proportion of the community that continue to use non-compliant domestic fires. There is a rising concern regarding inequity between those who have made the
required changes, and those who have not. Heaney notes: “As the programme moves into the second half, the issue of regulation and compliance is going to become more important. Enforcement of the air rules is problematic as we have no legal power of entry into dwellings to physically check compliance. Over the coming months HBRC will be writing to some 3,000 properties in the most polluted airsheds to try and encourage the removal of non-compliant fires.” The letters will ask property owners to indicate what the current heating status of the house is. Says Heaney: “It does not mean people have not replaced their fires; it may well be that we simply do not have a record of it. This information will provide us with a detailed map of locations that still need assistance with replacing their noncomplaint fires. As the map becomes more detailed we will eventually be able to narrow down the properties with old fires. If people continue to use these fires HBRC will be forced to issue infringement fines.” The Otago study showed that 25% of New Zealanders experience fuel poverty, or are unable to afford adequate energy and electricity for their household. Alarmingly, 4.6% of single parents with children reported using no heating. Jones remarks: “There really is every reason to celebrate the success of the Heatsmart programme. However, ‘with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’. We have to try and mitigate the risks already vulnerable people may be exposed to, from removing their only heat source. It’s a complex situation.” If you have replaced your fire with a shiny new one, well done! But if you’re a slumlord, consigning tenants to unhealthy, poorly heated living conditions, shame on you! When you go into houses where every bedroom has a dehumidifier, mould on the walls, mattresses on the floor and an obvious feeling of damp and cold in the air, you can’t
but be affected. Yes, this is happening in Hawkes Bay! These people do not have the choices that others have. Some landlords take advantage of this situation – it’s called desperation. You can only wonder what these people have to endure on a daily basis. What are the long term physical and mental health issues that result? These impacts surely spill into our community. The Tenancy Services states, “Landlords should consider how tenants can heat and ventilate the house. Landlords do not need to provide heating in every room but they do need to provide a form of heating in any living room. In addition to this they must ensure the house has enough power points for the tenants to plug in their own heaters.” There are no heating standards in which landlords must meet, and no repercussions if the heating is inadequate and results in poor health. Whatever your wood burning system – and we do hope it’s compliant with standards – it is vital to remember that clean air is only kept clean when you burn clean fuel. Heaney wraps it up: “Education about how to get the best from your heating is important. Just having a compliant fire is not enough; it’s what and how you burn that has a big impact on air quality. Dry fuel and no smoke makes all the difference. If you try to burn fuel with more than 25% moisture content, you are wasting money. If your chimney is smoking, you’re wasting money and polluting our environment. Nobody should have to put up with inconsiderate burning, but before finger pointing, check and make sure your chimney isn’t causing a nuisance to others.” Information on the Heatsmart Programme is on the HBRC website: http://hbrc.govt.nz/services/heatsmart/ about-heatsmart/
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JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 67
GMO Debate Continues JACK HEINEMANN
Editor’s note: In May, the prominent U.S. National Academy of Sciences issued a report, Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects. The report gives this summary: “The design and analysis of many animalfeeding studies were not optimal, but the large number of experimental studies provided reasonable evidence that animals were not harmed by eating food derived from GE crops. Additionally, long-term data on livestock health before and after the introduction of GE crops showed no adverse effects associated with GE crops. The committee also examined epidemiological data on incidence of cancers and other human-health problems over time and found no substantiated evidence that foods from GE crops were less safe than foods from non-GE crops.” Response has been mixed. A columnist in Forbes who advocates stronger regulation so as to make GMOs more acceptable, wrote: “…it fails to offer clear, concise conclusions and recommendations on the most salient and critical issue of the day–the need for regulatory reform to make government oversight of new plant varieties scientifically defensible and risk-based.” Scientific American announced, “Genetically Engineered Crops Are Safe and Possibly Good for Climate Change”. NZ’s own NBR headlined, “GM food report see no danger”. The US’s National Public Radio, akin to Radio NZ, commented, “The NAS … has 68 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Photograph: Tim Whittaker
reaffirmed its judgment that GMOs are safe to eat. But the group’s new report struck a different tone from previous ones, with much more space devoted to concerns about genetically modified foods, including social and economic ones.” Watchdog groups like the US-based Food & Water Watch were critical: “… for decades, GMO critics have noted that the biotechnology industry exerts enormous influence over the NRC. The organization has taken millions of dollars from companies like Monsanto and DuPont and allowed corporate representatives from these and other companies to sit on high-level governing boards overseeing NRC projects. The group maintains a revolving door of key staff with industry groups, and demonstrates a clear preference for inviting industry-aligned researchers to produce its reports — while seldom engaging critics at meaningful levels.” BayBuzz asked Professor Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury’s Department of Biological Sciences to comment.
The new U.S. National Academy of Sciences report on genetic engineering isn’t the definitive end to the debate about GMOs. Commercial releases of GMOs into the environment have almost exclusively been GM plants. In the future, they might
be any kind of organism from viruses to bacteria through to fungi, plants and animals (and us). The report looks backward for evidence of harm and benefit from existing GM plants that have been released into the environment. However, for many people what will matter most is what the report signals for the future.
GMO Report Highlights:
• Future products of genetic engineering should be subject to ongoing assessment and regulation on a case-by-case basis. This means that assumptions of safe use or of harm cannot be extrapolated across the products of genetic engineering. It does not mean that some products are excused from a risk assessment. • The committee had limited information to judge GMOs because significant experience with them in the environment at scale is restricted to a few kinds of plant species (mainly maize, soybean and cotton) and predominantly only two kinds of traits – herbicide and insect resistance. • GMOs should be formally monitored after release. • For GMOs that are already in use in the environment, the committee was unconvinced about adverse effects on human health. This may be due to existing regulation screening out harmful products, effects yet to be detected, or that they just won’t happen. This may not
apply to future GMOs or other products used on existing GMOs. • There is evidence of economic benefit to some adopters and of environmental benefit in some cropping systems. However, the committee did not absolutely endorse existing GM cropping systems because the evidence of benefit was highly dependent on what those systems were compared to (and the limited number of GM plants and traits in use). • The committee fell short of saying that ‘superweeds’ were a result of GM herbicide resistant plants, but did note the correlation between emergence of herbicide resistant weeds and adoption of GM biotechnology. Moreover, any benefit to pest management will not be sustained without other changes to cropping systems. • There is no substantiated evidence of yield benefits as a result of genetic engineering. In cropping systems where pests are poorly managed or difficult to manage, GM crops may have reduced pre-harvest losses.
Does this report help NZ?
Identifying the right biotechnology to use in any agricultural system can be challenging. There are many biotechnologies available to farmers and foresters; genetic engineering is just one of them. As the report makes clear, the context into which the biotechnology will be introduced can determine its success or failure. This context is more than the biology and physical environment of the farm. Especially for biotechnologies such as genetic engineering, as the committee was careful to note, it includes social, economic, legal and cultural parameters. The first question I think we should be asking is: what problems in agriculture, forestry or society are we looking to solve? The next question then is whether that is the real problem, or a symptom of a much larger problem. Can we achieve a sustainable fix to the problem by a change in access to a particular kind of gene or germplasm? Or would a change in social, legal, government policy or farm management choices better address the ‘root’ problem? To create a hypothetical illustration, imagine that we describe a problem this way: unexploded and abandoned landmines kill or disable civilians. One possible way to try and solve this problem could be to develop GM plants that change colour when they grow near a landmine, reacting to the leaching iron from the device. An alternative solution might be a combination of social and legal approaches that make the manufacture, sale and use of landmines a legally, culturally and financially impossible activity. On the one hand, GM plants address the symptoms of the problem, but indeed might exacerbate the problem if it creates a way for landmine manufacturing to be seen as a
Jack Heinemann
Gene scientists are more inclined to develop technological solutions to problems than they are to develop tools for social change. It is also the kind of solution that the private sector can distribute for profit, and the government can use to ‘seed’ new industries. manageable evil. On the other hand, the technological solution to landmines would fit current research funding paradigms because the product could be sold. Research and ultimately commercial production of GM indicator plants might create jobs in the future and export income for New Zealand. Gene scientists are more inclined to develop technological solutions to problems than they are to develop tools for social change. This is because of the kind of research they do, how they are trained and what they can be funded to do. It is also the kind of solution that the private sector can distribute for profit, and the government can use to ‘seed’ new industries. Whether or not to adopt a proposed solution from genetic engineering can be a complex choice. The committee had to admit that GM plants might mainly provide benefit when more sustainable farming practices were not followed. We must ask ourselves if we have the social will to make it financially feasible for farmers to adopt those sustainable practices. After all, they need to make a living, and all of us need to eat. Using technology to make the best of bad choices is a poor use of investment in technology and squanders the good science behind it. While there are some answers for New Zealand in the report, they won’t make our own journey toward use, avoidance or rejection much easier. We have hard questions to ask ourselves about the future agriculture we want, and how to get to that future.
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JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 69
ONLINE TRENDS
MATT MILLER
An Email Warrior In late ‘90s London, Jerry Flay’s fledgling online magazine business was bought out. It didn’t take long for him to regret his decision, as he realised the new owners were mostly interested in cutting costs. So he made the move from London to Havelock North with his wife. Still flush from the sale of his start-up, he didn’t feel an immediate need to work, and instead set about looking for local opportunities. There wasn’t one, so he took a blank piece of paper and started exploring ideas. Eventually he settled on creating a website focused on urban development issues. Drawing on his publishing experience, he knew several of the major players, and began to approach them. The United Nations expressed interest and UN-Habitat, the global organisation’s agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, was eager to endorse the new venture. Like a lot of internet ventures, it sounds glamorous, but it wasn’t. Jerry started with the excruciating task of compiling a list of 25,000 city websites from around the world, and finding out the contact details of the people in each organisation who would be interested in the website’s content. And the content mostly consisted of events and education. At this time many universities worldwide were developing postgraduate qualifications in urban development. As city councils and universities got on board with the idea, the site’s database of events rapidly grew. For example, there are at least 500 conferences each year with urban development as their theme, and Urbanicity’s event calendar is the best and most comprehensive in the world. The business model is pretty simple. Like a lot of content-driven websites, Urbanicity relies on advertising revenue. 70 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
In the urban development community, this mostly comes from conferences, and from universities advertising courses. Jeremy and his staff find out about upcoming events and approach them with offers of publicity. Their sophisticated marketing software has very detailed profiles of everyone in their database, so they can provide their advertisers with extremely well-tailored promotional campaigns, specific to language, region, age, and socio-economic factors. UN-Habitat is still involved in the website and it has been crucial to the success of the business. “It was crucial in establishing
“People need to learn the value of an audience. There is a huge disconnect between what a business wants to say – and what their audience wants to hear about.”
credibility early on,” says Jeremy. There is also a hard core of 16 or 17 major advertisers who have supported the site from the start. The success of the site means that Jeremy does not need to be involved in it fulltime any more. But it hasn’t been easy. “You need to work hard – and focus. There must be a gap in the market that no-one’s filling – and you need to do the work. The intensity, stress, and loneliness of starting your business mean that most people simply aren’t cut out for it.” Jeremy says building the database at the start was especially hard, but he knew he needed to do it for the business to work. And he found out that the two most important words for any start-up business are cash flow. The internet has enabled Jerry to build up the world’s biggest urban development community from his home office in Havelock North. In fact, Urbanicity would be completely impossible without the
internet, and Jerry can’t imagine what he would be doing if the internet didn’t exist. “It’s so easy to forget how new it all is and how quickly it has become the most important invention since … fire, I suppose.” So is Jerry an early adopter of technology? Far from it. Despite his overwhelming reliance on it, Jerry is suspicious of new technology: “I like to have a think about things first. I’m not into technology for its own sake. It’s purely a means to an end.” He would much rather play golf than play with the latest iPhone. Since he started Urbanicity, the biggest change that Jerry has seen is the ease with which small businesses can now do their own digital marketing. It’s never been easier for a conference organiser to send an email newsletter, for example, using one of Mailchimp’s off-the-shelf templates. But this can be a positive and a negative for businesses. It’s one thing to have the technology available to send a mass email, but according to Jerry, “people need to learn the value of an audience. There is a huge disconnect between what a business wants to say – and what their audience wants to hear about.” Generally speaking, New Zealand businesses are not prepared to spend enough money on ensuring their digital marketing is effective. “Everything about an email, from the name of the sender, to the subject line, to the design and the copy, has to be right. You’ve only got a few seconds before they delete it.” But at least every email gets seen by its recipient, unlike most social media content. A self-described ‘email warrior’, Jerry is not a great believer in social media for business. He thinks only 2 or 3% of businesses who use social media are getting any benefit from it. “Most people don’t comment on social media. They’re too scared to, in front of all those people. But they are quite happy to reply to an email. Even if they delete your email, they are forced to make a choice. They have to consciously decide to delete it. With social media, they are not compelled to do anything.” A diligent student of online business,
Jerry Flay, founder of Urbanicity. Photograph: Tim Whittaker
Jerry’s most admired online company is Amazon, “because they were the first e-commerce site to realise that the transaction did not end until the buyer received the goods and was happy with them. Everyone else just assumed the transaction was over when the customer entered their credit card details.” Paying close attention to his customers and obsessing over their satisfaction for 15 years has enabled Jerry to get to the point where golf can occupy more of his time, “primarily because work is early
There must be a gap in the market that noone’s filling – and you need to do the work. The intensity, stress, and loneliness of starting your business mean that most people simply aren’t cut out for it.”
morning and late night, due to the North American and European markets being 85% of our revenue.” Jerry seems to have the elusive work-life balance sorted: “In ten years time I want to be doing exactly what I’m doing now. But richer. And playing more golf.” Matt Miller co-owns web company Mogul Limited, based in Havelock North, but serving clients around the world, including BayBuzz. His beat for BayBuzz is online trends and best practice.
JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 71
RESIDENT ICONOCLAST PAUL PAYNTER
Heed the Oracle of Omaha “Economics is exciting,” declared Mr Garnett. That’s about all I remember about my first economics teacher, apart from his tales of “those grotty little nightclubs in Liverpool”. Economics is exciting; exciting because it’s not about money or business, it’s about people. It’s the study of madness of crowds, their frothy exuberance and their handwringing despair. Hawke’s Bay is enjoying an economic renaissance, or so it seems. Many prices for houses and rural land are up 30-40% on what would have been expected a year ago, with startlingly strong sales making newspaper headlines. “I don’t know what anything’s worth,” says Colliers agent Louise Wake. The market has been hot before, but never has it happened so quickly. We have the highest retail sales growth and are ranked 3rd in the ASB’s Regional Economic Scoreboard, behind only BOP and Auckland. The rural industries that drive our province are all doing somewhere between OK and very well. It’s not often that sheep, beef, apples, cropping and wine have all been simultaneously profitable. It’s great to feel the positive energy out there, but it’s also a good time to consider the lessons of history. Economics is a tale of booms, periods of consolidation and the occasional bust. The economy moves in ‘business cycles’ that change like the seasons. The idea of economic seasons was popularised by Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev in the 1920s. Before Stalin had him executed, Kondratiev talked about the economic seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. It’s a great way to remind ourselves that the future will not be like the present. A strange quirk of human nature is that we are easy lured into believing that if the economy is good, it will be good forever, and if the economy is bad, it will be bad forever. 72 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Photograph: Sarah Cates
Ups and downs
Primary industries in Hawke’s Bay and across New Zealand show us clearly that is not the case. Most notable right now are the woes of the dairy industry. In three short years the Whole Milk Powder prices have fallen from just over US$5000/T to just over US$2000/T. Record breaking prosperity caused the dairy industry here to ramp up production. The only problem was that producers in other countries also like the idea of loads of cash sloshing around in their bank accounts and also started to produce more. This downturn might be worse than most, but the dairy industry has seen plenty before.
Another industry making headlines is kiwifruit, with returns for the new G3 ‘Sungold’ variety of up to $70,000/hectare, driving orchard prices to more than $500,000/ hectare. “The land prices are justified by the earnings,” a banker recently told me. The only problem with this argument is that the earnings haven’t proved reliable in the past. The kiwifruit industry had a very rough time in the 1980s as production grew rapidly and exporters undercut each other in the marketplace. The kiwifruit marketing board, now Zespri, was established to fix this problem, but it too was on the precipice of bankruptcy by 1992. They overpaid the growers and ended up owing the banks $80
million and creditors $20 million. Those were big numbers a generation ago. And finally the virulent bacterial disease all but wiped out the production of Zespri Gold kiwifruit just five years ago. Our local apple industry has had similarly tough times. It seems inconceivable now, but land prices on the Heretaunga Plains halved in the late 1980s. The depths of the ‘correction’, around 1988, reflected difficult marketing conditions, but also a notable weather event called Cyclone Bola. The apple industry enjoyed a euphoric recovery in the early 1990s as Braeburn and Royal Gala enjoyed their best years. The devastating and widespread hailstorm of 1994 was followed by a series of difficult markets and by the late 1990s – you guessed it – land prices halved again. It’s a reminder that above all else, rural producers have the roof off the factory and we’re an island in the Pacific. Don’t bank on eternal prosperity and don’t rule out the possibility that land prices might halve again.
Government fixes
Of course people don’t like the reality of a downturn and cry out to government ‘fix it please!’ That sounded very appealing to politicians because poor economic conditions so often result in a change of government. Since WWII the developed world has applied the theories of John Maynard Keynes to try to achieve steady, sustainable economic growth. Keynes’ dominant idea was that a government could do things to stimulate the economy in difficult times and to slow it down when things were getting too hot. Essentially we’d get rid of the troublesome seasons and live year-round in an economic balmy Bahamas. It’s a nice theory, but governments are guilty of some fairly naïve interventions. They have a fair record of stimulating floundering economies, but an absolutely appalling one when it comes to dampening down economic booms. What politician wants to call an end to the party? Rather than eliminating economic cycles, politicians just kick the can down the road. For a long time this gives the guise of stability, but I suspect when the economic winter finally arrives, it will be an ice age. A few years ago, while visiting Yosemite National Park, I read the flier about forest fires. For years park rangers tried to prevent fires entirely, but this led to a build-up of undergrowth. When the fire finally came it was an uncontainable beast and caused vast destruction. Now they allow fires to occur and even start a few of their own. Forest fires clean out the cluttered undergrowth and provide nature with a blank canvas on which to start again. The green shoots emerge rapidly. Keynes would have been a fire starter. The economic winter is the time when ‘Mr Market’ deals with the excesses and malinvestment that happens in boom times. ‘Mr Market’ is brutal,
but the pain is over quickly enough, if he’s allowed to do his work. Current prosperity isn’t actually fuelled by businesses making money. Sure, that’s helpful, but migration and capital inflows are probably providing much of the impetus. More people and more money will force up asset prices, as we’ve seen in Auckland. On this basis I’m
The economic winter is the time when ‘Mr Market’ deals with the excesses and malinvestment that happens in boom times. not sure the current economic euphoria is misplaced. It could be that these two factors go our way for the next 20 years – there sure are a lot of Chinese that fancy living here. While we’re enjoying prosperous times here in Hawke’s Bay, the rest of the world isn’t doing so well. US government debt is off the chart and they look like they might elect Donald Trump as president. Europe is facing a potential Brexit and Grexit as Britain and Greece either bail out or get kicked out. Much of the rest of Europe is suffocating under a debt load they can’t possibly hope to repay. Even our economic heroes in Asia are experiencing a slowdown; they’re off the milk and back on the rice. There is a whole lot of potential trouble out there and in a more globally synchronised world we might just all go down together. No one can see the future, but it’s time for a dash of caution perhaps. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the most successful investors in the world and what they are up to. Plenty of them are bearish. George Soros is one of the best. I don’t want to perpetuate any racial stereotypes here, but he’s an 85-year-old, JewishHungarian with more than $30 billion dollars to his name. He’s good with money. Soros is predicting a ‘hard landing’ for the Chinese economy and deflationary pressures around the world. He’s invested heavily in a gold mining company and the barbarous relic itself. Gold is completely useless unless you want a new pair of earrings or the economy is in danger of collapsing. I’ll give the last word to US billionare Warren Buffet, who has about $95 billion more than I do. The Oracle of Omaha says it quite simply: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” That’s about the best economic advice you’ll ever get. Paul Paynter is our resident iconoclast and cider maker. Sometimes he grows stuff at Yummyfruit. JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 73
WALK the TALK ANNA LORCK
Hastings Women’s Refuge… at the breaking point The situation Hastings Women’s Refuge finds itself in parallels the stories of the hundreds of women it has helped save over the years.
One could say that the Government’s treatment of Women’s Refuge is criminal. As its main funding provider, it’s meant to be supporting this critical community service, not leaving it vulnerable and fearful of its future. Women’s Refuge is doing what many victims of domestic violence women do – they just keep on going. The responsibility to keep it together, to protect the family, becomes their priority. They can’t afford to fall to pieces. But one day something has to give
To stand up to the Government and say “It’s not okay”. In the last year Hastings Women’s Refuge advocated for 109 women, housed 93, dealt with 523 police reports, received 2,432 calls on its information and support line, gave 54 women specialised one-to-one support and put 53 children through its Tamariki programme. For all this work it gets about $128,000 base funding, which covers about 36% of its job but it’s expected to pay for 100%. Along with paying market rent and expenses for
because it’s about survival. They can no longer be afraid, they must ask for help – things have to change. This time it’s the public who needs to save Women’s Refuge. It’s not much to ask given all the women and families this vital community service has helped over the years.
its office, the money also covers wages of three full-time and one part-time women, plus support services. The one-to-one and Tamariki programme was funded at $58,000. Today they are getting $35,000 less than they received in 2009. What they need is an army of supporters
Julie Hart, Hastings Women’s Refuge manager for 22 years. Photograph Sarah Cates.
One of three refuges in Hawke’s Bay, Hastings, which always has the highest demand, is struggling the most. But, Te Whare Whanau Purotu, which provides refuge for Māori women, and Napier both report they are full and under unprecedented pressure. 74 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
to do two things – first to help them raise some money, so they can keep going in the short term, and secondly whether we like it or not, this is political. We must put pressure on the government to fund them at a reasonable level. They cannot do either on their own, because we know what happens when you challenge the hand that feeds you. It would be a very brave Government that forces the Women’s Refuge to close. So let’s not cry wolf, because everyone knows it won’t. But how desperate does the organisation have to get – what does it take before something snaps? Do we wait for women to be turned away, do we wait for a crisis on the doorsteps? And who helps Women’s Refuge – where are our elected leaders on the issue? About another $120,000 would ensure Hastings Women’s Refuge keeps going for 18 months, delivering the level of resources that are required to meet the current demand. This would tide them over while they wait for the outcome of a Government review across the country. Who knows what that will bring, because based on the last nine years somehow more funding for Women’s Refuge isn’t a priority of the National Party. Will this be just another case of the Government working out that if it freezes resources, the public will find another way to help cover the costs of these vital services? We only have to look at what’s happened to community policing – the ratepayer has stepped in to help with City Assist – and it’s now a victim of its own success. When the Government walks away and says the country can’t afford it, what it now knows is that we locals will pick up the pieces and find ways to pay for it. That’s what good communities do.
The biggest challenge for Women’s Refuge is that while we give them lots of moral support and material support in second hand goods and clothes, what it doesn’t get is people wanting to give them money. It’s just not on our radar – it’s not like they have a high profile office site where they are in the public eye.
“Will this be just another case of the Government working out that if it freezes resources, the public will find another way to help cover the costs of these vital services?”
But the truth is domestic violence is happening in Havelock North as it is in Flaxmere, as it is in Hastings, Napier and in our rural areas … in short, throughout Hawke’s Bay. Anyone who thinks otherwise should go and talk to Hastings Women’s Refuge manager Julie Hart – she’s been in her job for 22 years. She tells me that what happens in Havelock North is harder to measure in statistics. Women who live in areas where police cars are not a regular part of the scenery are far less likely to call 111 – it would get noticed. Nor do they often need the refuge for accommodation, but what they do need is the professional support services that are becoming harder to provide because money is so tight. Another challenge is that today there is
increasing competition for funding different programmes. But Women’s Refuge is a no frills organisation, safe houses are hidden in our communities. Maybe they need more faces, but as Julie says, people don’t want others to think they are the victims of domestic violence, so it’s harder to get publicity. Women’s Refuge should not be in the shadows. They are a champion in our local community who save lives; who protect women and children and work with families. But unlike other heroes who are presented with bravery medals, the women they save are never named and so few stories are told. For sure, however, we all read about the murders – the stories of those who never survived. As always when I meet with people needing advocacy, I recommended to Julie that she calls on her local MP to stand up for Women’s Refuge and call on Government to do more and help out. But she tells me that in his entire time of representing the people of Tukituki he has never visited the refuge. While she’s met him at various functions from time to time and his secretary is always nice, he never remembers her. Without wanting to appear arrogant she can only take from this that domestic violence in our local community is not a priority for him, or the Government. I asked her to leave it with me. Very soon he will never forget her, because Hastings Women’s Refuge cannot become an innocent victim of the National Government. I believe people care too much to let this go unnoticed. Anna Lorck is the Labour Party candidate for the Tukituki electorate
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Through the Lens: a view of the Bay’s latest architectural awards. In 1931 when the worst natural disaster in New Zealand brought Napier to its knees, few realised the city would rise again to become the jewel in the architectural crown of Hawke’s Bay. MICHAL MCKAY / PHOTOGRAPHS: RICHARD BRIMER AND PATRICK REYNOLDS. Acknowledged for its superb Art Deco and Modernist style the region today still holds its own despite the fact that less than five percent of buildings in the country are designed by architects. Much of that continuing hold is due to events such as the NZIA Architecture Awards drawn from a pool of local regional awards which honour quality new architecture at a community level. This year the scope of submitted projects for the Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay Architecture Awards 2016 was, according to the judging panel, “inspirational - exemplary in the response to a range of cultural, heritage and environmental conditions”. And proof that architects need a wide range of skills in mediation, collaboration and project management to pull together disparate strands of commercial and environmental imperatives to reach a successful conclusion.
Portraying the structural beauty of architecture in its many forms is an art in itself. Ask photographer Richard Brimer who as a Bay local also has a global reputation for his lens prowess with published work throughout the world as proof. His appreciation for the architecture in Hawke’s Bay – garnered from years of experience – is wide ranging. The Port is one example. “It fits so well into the landscape from an industrial perspective – it does in fact look like one big container. As it is now not only the mainstay of the commercial aspect of shipping, but also a ‘must’ for cruise liners, it accommodates all needs both inside and out (the workspaces are superb) in a contemporary style – yet is in perfect harmony with its site.” He attributes such an achievement to the wide ranging skills of Paris Magdalinos Architects who received three citations in the awards
and “who have an acute awareness of the environment in particular”. Richard photographed the award-winning Aon Building (Commercial) in Hastings, “which was originally a panel beaters’ workshop”. The fact that Matz Architects have brought it to a modernist conclusion that revives the street edge is admirable, “but they have also presented a stunning interior with woodwork and joinery which provide a beautiful use of space and a wonderful foyer”. A true example of how a community’s spirits can be uplifted through visual and environmental enhancement. He also loves the Nicol family home which won an award for Housing. Designed by architect Simon Clarkson, for whom he has nothing but praise, he explains why. “He has a great understanding of space utilisation and this house is a beautiful example of how he has broken it up into JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 77
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PREVIOUS PAGE Nicol home OPPOSITE PAGE top: Napier Port below: AON Building THIS PAGE top: Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu o Te Wairoa below left: Nicol home below right: Napier Port
areas which allow for both privacy and communal living. Unassuming – much like his character. He really listens and communicates with his clients and is able to interpret perfectly their needs into places which sit lightly on the land yet provide for flawless function. His buildings are low tech but elegant with a real awareness of the architectural landscape.”
RTA Studio’s Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu o Te Wairoa was cited (Education) for its significant cultural and environmental elements, which have produced a physical form of great finesse. A Māori immersion school, it drew upon the young to help with the design process, including advice on the building’s primary colours.
Patrick Reynolds, recognised as one of New Zealand’s foremost architectural photographers, who also has a great bond with the Bay, commented that “it is a wonderful building and transformative for the community.” Which, being the aim of the NZIA Local Architecture Awards, pretty well sums it up as a very successful 2016 for the Bay’s landscape. JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 79
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Buzz around the Bay The Hawke’s Bay line-up is Tim Turvey from Clearview Estate Winery, Rod Easthope from Easthope Family Winegrowers and Rod MacDonald from Rod MacDonald Wines. TV comedian Jeremy Corbett will do his best to keep the debaters in line. All proceeds from the evening go to support the work of the Lowe Corporatrion Rescue Helicopter. Tickets and details at: planiteventorganisers.com
Hawke’s Bay Toyota Winter Deco Weekend / July 15-17 Wrap up warm in your (faux or vintage) fur and get out to one or more of the fun and intimate events that make up the annual Winter Deco celebration. A few highlights: • Speakeasy Burlesque on Friday night at 10:30pm (seven acts) and Saturday night at 8:30pm (ten acts), at The Cabana. This is the side of the Deco era we don’t often see. A cast of international performers promise to transplant you to the decadent, gin-filled, seductive haze of jazz. • Vintage Railcar RM31 Shuttles amble between Napier and Hastings on Sunday. Enjoy a rail journey down memory lane (and imagine a future in which light rail runs between our two cities!) • Wearable Deco @ The CAN will be a chance to ogle the fashion of the times, throughout the weekend for just a gold coin donation. For the full list of events and to book, head to: artdeconapier.com
Colliers Rural Grape Debate / July 22 The Hawke’s Bay winemaking-debating team will do battle with their Marlborough counterparts in an evening of fine wine, good food and oenological wit at Napier Boys High School. The moot, “Hawke's Bay; riding Marlborough’s coat-tails?” will be argued by Team Marlborough’s Allan Scott from Allan Scott Winery, Simon Waghorne from Astrolab Wines and Ant Mackenzie from Ant Mackenzie Wines. 80 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Giselle / August 19 The Royal New Zealand Ballet performs this hauntingly beautiful production of one of classical ballet’s great stories, at the Napier Municipal Theatre. This production – created by former RNZB Artistic Director Ethan Stiefel – toured the country in 2012, and was then taken to China, the USA, the UK and Italy, and later turned into a feature film by New Zealand director Toa Fraser.
Makfi Challenge Stakes Daffodil Raceday / August 27 The start of the Bostock New Zealand Spring Racing Carnival is upon us. Makfi Challenge Stakes Day launches Group 1 racing for the new season, and there’s plenty of fun off-track too. Olympic athlete guests will be in attendance in The Hits family area signing autographs and taking photos, plus there will be live music, VIP hospitality packages and a food precinct
offering Hawke’s Bay’s finest. General admission is by donation with all proceeds supporting the Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society.
Craft and Design Market / September 3 Havelock North’s sweet craft and design market comes out of winter hibernation and returns to Hawthorne Coffee Roasters on the first Sunday of spring. Head along and meet the makers, creators and designers of gorgeous, high-quality products including fresh flowers, children's clothing, furniture, textiles, jewellery and art.
Hastings Blossom Festival / September 10 There’s something seriously special about the Blossom Festival these days. Once upon a time it was a glorious display of pastels and gentle beauty, then it seemed to fall from grace and public awareness, and in recent years it has reborn as an event which celebrates spring and Hastings in all its diversity, colour and creativity. Be sure to secure a viewing spot early in central Hastings to wave and cheer on the cultural groups, dancers, artists, community organisations and local businesses aboard their unique floats.
Who killed Jack Frost? When Steve Haslett took over the New Zealand Frost Fans company he knew there was a lot at stake frosts and cold damage eating away at grower’s margins that impact future earnings. Using research, innovation and good-old Kiwi ingenuity, Steve and his team now provide more security over the future of a growers crop as well as seeing crop yields and quality improve dramatically. View the full story greatthingsgrowhere.co.nz
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Adding a little French flavour to the Bay
Franki James is a force of nature. When the native Scotswoman arrived in Hawke’s Bay in 2001, she came from France where she had been living for many years, and with her she brought more than a litle French magic. She’s been sprinkling that throughout the community ever since. In her first year here, Franki found herself 82 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
The French government awarded Franki the Legion d’Honneur in 2008 for 'Services to Different Communities.' Photographs: Sarah Cates
tutoring the local U3A group after hearing people speaking French in the Napier Library. She carried on until last year. And in the meantime, she’s been instrumental in the creation and develoment of the Hawke’s Bay French Association (AFHB). So what does the Association do? A lot, as it turns out. There are now four weekly adult French language classes, and another two for kids, plus a multitude of French-flavoured events which tap into other happenings within the community. The Association is also the first port of call for businesses in the Bay looking for a French interpreter – from lawyers needing to translate documents to tourism operators looking to make visitors more welcome. In 2011 when Napier played host to the French rugby team during the World Cup, AFHB gave lessons to local retailers wanting to be able to welcome visitors in French. Over
the last five years there have been talks from French authors, foodie events, interpreters paired with Art Deco hosts to welcome French cruise shippers, Alliance Français Film Festival in Havelock North, and annual involvement in Napier’s Anzac Day service. The Association has taken on a life of its own, says Franki. Language classes are now filling up with children who have one French parent but have settled here, and grandparents whose adult children have settled in France with young families. July 14 is Bastille Day and there will be a special celebration here too. The French Association (together with Travelsmart Napier) will open member and photographer Greg Thompson’s exhibition La Belle France at Creative Arts Napier. Take a look at afhb.org.nz for information on this and other upcoming events.
William Jameson
Husband, father, sculptor and waka ama practitioner William Jameson’s send-off in Clive on June 15 brought together a large cross-section of the community, reflecting the impact William had on so many. William’s last waka trip on the Clive River in a sculpted casket made by his friends was followed by an emotional service at St Francis’ Church. The coffin was made from wood in William’s distinctive weaving style and topped with one of his early waka prototypes. Gatherings at Kohupatiki Marae the night before the funeral and after the service celebrated a life well-lived, which ended too soon. Close friend Ricks Terstappen said during his tribute that news of William’s passing had left those close to him feeling “like a bucket shot with holes,” but the
coming together of William’s many circles of friends, family and colleagues saw those holes being gradually filled. Jacob Scott spoke about William’s role as ‘the glue’ holding together the close-knit group of local sculptors. “We’d come up with these crazy ideas and Will was the one who found a way of stitching it all together.” William’s work in steel and other metals can be seen around Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand – from playgrounds and park projects in Auckland and Christchurch to the bull sculpture at the southern edge Havelock North and the Clive entrance sign. A constant and encouraging collaborator, William worked often on projects with other local artists, and will be remembered for his humour, his support of others, and for the generous way he led by example.
Craggy Range and NZSO
Gallery heads to the beach
Craggy Range has announced a partnership with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which will see their wines available at the VIP Lounge of the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington and poured at orchestra events around the country. The relationship also means the NZSO will perform here in Hawke’s Bay in a range of events over coming months. Craggy Range General Manager Aaron Drummond says partnering with the NZSO is a wonderful opportunity to further support the New Zealand performing arts community, “We are delighted to partner with the NZSO as we see an intrinsic relationship between the expressive nature of music and the art of winemaking. Whether it be a bottle of wine or a classical masterpiece, both have the ability to ignite the senses and take you on a journey.”
After ten years in central Napier, PaperWorks Gallery has made the move to the coast. The gallery closed its doors on the upstairs space on Tennyson Street in the middle of June and has just re-opened at 268 Clifton Road, Te Awanga. Paper-Works is renowned for its stock of prints, paintings, photographs and drawings – works on paper – by emerging and established New Zealand artists. Owner Annabel Sinclair-Thomson is excited about the move. “I’ve loved being part of the inner city in Napier, but this is an exciting new step for the business, and it’s going to be great to add to the attractions out in Te Awanga.” The new gallery is now open from 11am to 3pm, Thursday to Sunday or by appointment. JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 83
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
New Look Number 8 Wire In June Napier-based artist Ben Pearce won the 2016 Fieldays No.8 Wire Award with his work Stone Age Eight Gauge. Ben’s day job is head of marketing at David Trubridge Ltd, but he is known nationally for his sculptures in wood, stone, metal and found objects. His work explores memory, childhood and the invisible, and Ben has for a number of years been building his profile as a contemporary artist to watch. In his winning No.8 entry, Ben looked at ingenuity as a global concept, rather than something owned by New Zealand, and the tiny scale was a major departure from the majority of entries in the history of the award, which have used No.8 wire for large sculptures. Stone Age Eight Gauge and the other 24 finalists’ artworks are on display at ArtsPost in Hamilton until July 27.
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CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Pitsch's Picks
In October the magic of the Harcourts Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival returns, and this time the performances will be spread across four venues around the region. We’ll be treated once again to a Spiegeltent on the Village Green in Havelock North, and other events will take place at the Blythe Performing Arts Centre at Iona College, MTG Century Theatre and Napier Municipal Theatre. Festival Director Pitsch Leiser says that while the programme is still a few weeks off being confirmed, there are some definite stand-outs he’s looking forward to: Daffodils. Pitsch says this is “Probably the most exciting theatre-music production
of the last couple of years.” The 2014 Metro review of Rochelle Bright’s play opined, “If you’re in the mood for a good, deep, marvellous New Zealand story, a story of us, see this play. If you like our music, see it. If you’re wondering if you could ever really love a play, this is the one. See it.” Triumphs and Other Alternatives. This contemporary dance show from choreographer Ross McCormack explores the creative process itself and all of the obsessiveness, pain and joy that comprise the act of creating. The White Guitar features Scribe, his brother and his father and is produced by the Conch. It charts the story of the Luafutu family against the backdrop of living
and growing up Samoan in Auckland and Christchurch, and is driven by music – from the first traditional Samoan chant to the power of rock’n’roll, the beats of hip-hop and the hymns of the church. Songs for the Fallen is a hilarious cabaret romp in tribute to Marie Duplessis – courtesan, party girl, liar and legend who died in Paris in 1847 at age 23. Keep your ear out too, Pitsch says, for details of the Readers and Writers element of the festival. The programme of events will be released on August 4. The Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival runs from October 4 to 16. See hbaf.co.nz for details. JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 85
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Building a City at HCAG
Skyscrapers and sculptures are erected and dismantled, altered and added to on a daily basis at Hastings City Art Gallery. Currently in the foyer space, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s hands-on installation of 50,000 white Lego bricks is making architects out of everyone. The cubic structural evolution project has seen visitor numbers multiply and the gallery fill with the sound of Lego clicking and creative minds ticking. In the first week of the project, 1,500 people visited to play their part in the development of the mini metropolis. The cubic structural evolution project is at HCAG until August 28.
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CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Photograph: Tim Whittaker
I wish I’d made that.... ROD McDONALD
It had all the elements of a perfect memory; a serendipitous lunch date, a superstar of the industry, an elegant setting, excellent food and the wine to match. It's something winemaker Rod McDonald has never forgotten. It's his
epiphany drop, the wine that showed him what New Zealand wines could be, that inspired him to go looking for his own pièce de résistance. 1998 in Burgundy: "I was travelling for work in the UK and I took a week off to travel around visiting winemakers. I lucked in to this amazing lunch with Jacques Lardiere who is a bit of a legend." Lardiere was chief wine maker at Louis Jadot. He opened a bottle of premier cru
Volnay pinot noir from 1971, not exactly in Rod's honour, but still he was there to share in the experience. "What made it amazing is it tasted like it was five minutes old, it was so youthful, so purple, the acidity was bright, it was so fleshy." And in many ways it reminded Rod of a New Zealand red. "It opened up a whole new idea of what French wine is and it told me that we shouldn't be afraid to stand on the same stage as them." JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 87
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
BOOK REVIEWS
LOUISE WARD, WARDINI BOOKS strength is in the vibrancy of its characters; these are your family members, your friends and co-workers. It’s a cautionary tale that teaches empathy – Elliot has a strong support network that he chooses to ignore, wreaking more havoc than is necessary. This is a subject that needs discussion rather than being swept under the carpet, and Havelock North’s Mary-anne Scott has provided us with that.
Coming Home to Roost Mary-Anne Scott (Longacre, $19.99) “You’re seventeen, left school, scarred for life,” Dad said, pointing to Elliot’s tattoo, “and living off us like a child.” Elliot is in trouble, and far more than his father knows. Having escaped a toxic relationship with the strangely alluring but unstable Lena, Elliot is drifting. His parents’ solution is to send him to Wellington, far away from Lena, to an old friend who will apprentice him as an electrician. This introduces the fabulous character of Arnie – old, blunt, hardworking, maybe a bit lonely and the proud owner of imperious cats. This is what we might call a coming of age novel, but not in a gentle awakening sense. Elliot is a teenager from a secure and loving nuclear family who makes a mistake he can’t ignore, much as he tries. What this novel deals with is when spur of the moment decisions have devastating consequences. In an extremely illadvised and quite confronting moment of recklessness, Elliot is manipulated by his hormones and a girl he once thought the world of. That world comes crashing down when shortly afterwards, Lena announces that she is pregnant. This is firmly in the young adult niche, but of great value for everyone – we deal with family, friendship, loyalty and facing up to the consequences of your actions. Its 88 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
My Name is Leon Kit de Waal (Penguin, $37.00) This powerful novel deals with foster care, unlikely relationships, and bonds of blood and friendship. Told from the viewpoint of 9-year-old Leon, it offers an insight into how adults can get it so wrong. Leon’s mother is white; he has a black father and his baby brother Jake has a white father and this detail makes all the difference in the world. Leon’s mother is mentally ill, and when Leon can no longer look after her and baby Jake they are taken into care, leaving Leon sick with guilt that he has failed them all. Their foster care is not abusive, as we have come to expect from many novels and memoirs – the boys land on their feet with Maureen, a delightful character full of love and empathy. The story really begins when Jake is adopted, leaving Leon in foster care, heartbroken at the loss of his baby.
The trajectory of the novel centres on the massive instability that Leon faces; the closed doors and whispering, his loyalty to his mother and brother, his guilt and sometimes overwhelming anger. He is completely misunderstood and let down by the welfare system designed to protect and nurture him. Set against a backdrop of race riots and fragile multiculturalism in 1980s Britain, this is a novel of life, love, heartbreak, kindness and healing. It deviates from the common tale of misery and has moments of pure joy and levity when we think, ‘ah yes, that is what it is to be human.’ A beautiful read – you’ll laugh and cry and be glad you read it.
Circle Jeannie Baker (Walker, $29.99) This stunning picture book is really a subtle philosophical text – a book with so many levels that a person of any age will find great value in it. In essence it is a visual diary of the migratory pattern of the Godwit. Each page is a photograph of a collage construction of infinite detail. The collages track the Godwit’s journey from mudflats to the northern nesting fields, through the successes and failures of chick rearing, back to the call to travel south. “They follow an ancient, invisible pathway,” and, like the little boy in a wheelchair wistfully watching them, we heartily wish we could join them. On a deeper level, the book highlights habitat destruction and, thankfully, the steps that humans are taking to create reserves and protected areas. The artwork is fantastic, the story important and informative. A wonderful book.
Wine: Stories from Hawke’s Bay Mark Sweet Photographs Tim Whittaker $69 free shipping in nz
This book is a treasure … I love the photographs, both old and new … all my expectations were exceeded. Tim Turvey, Clearview Estate Winery A must for those wishing to know more about the Hawke’s Bay wine industry – its history, wine pioneers and current producers and their outstanding wines. Graeme Avery, Sileni Estates An engaging read that I heartily recommend for the depth and character it adds to the Hawke’s Bay wine experience. Alwyn Corban, Ngatarawa Wines
A splendid new book … an extraordinary trove of images. John Saker, Cuisine I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in a well-researched piece of important wine history, a glimpse into many of the characters who have helped build a thriving wine industry, a winemaker’s view of what makes the region and its wines special, or a beautifully illustrated adornment for a coffee table. Bob Campbell, Master of Wine
Preview & Order your copy now at winestorieshb.co.nz
Djemaa el-Fna Market, Morocco
From Market to Market PRUE BARTON
“Here is where we encountered the infamous ‘goats head soup’ being prepared. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, this spectacle included goats heads hanging in the heat of the evening and then placed into broth and steamed.” Markets are intriguing environments. Over the years I have visited some truly memorable markets both locally and overseas. Hometown markets are generally easy to navigate as language, produce and locality are understood. In foreign locations I often feel like I am surfing through spaces on the crest of the biggest wave with all senses on high alert. It is easy to get carried away with the hype and energy that ‘to be explored’ markets create. What is always fascinating is discovering unique produce that is sourced from a particular region or country that may be unobtainable in another. So always being on the prowl for a foodie gem has drawn me to visit some famous international markets.
Djemaa el-Fna
A trip to Morocco and Marrakesh would not be complete without visiting the famous Djemaa el-Fna market. It comprises of a huge square in the medina, and although busy all day long, it completely comes into its own at dusk. In the evenings, rows and rows of open-air food stalls sell traditional meat, fish and vegetables elaborately displayed. One typical display would be a pyramid of Moroccan oranges, famous for their slightly acidic flavour with peddlars toting to sell you a glass. Dried figs, dates and conical mounds of spices are artistically displayed.
Here is where we encountered the infamous ‘goats head soup’ being prepared. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, this spectacle included goats heads hanging in the heat of the evening and then placed into broth and steamed. As we were just starting our Moroccan holiday I felt I would renege from this opportunity. David has since made this dish somewhat famous at our last year’s winter FAWC event, preparing bowls of the unusual soup and awarding prizes for the bravest of guests to eat the ‘eyeballs’. Yes we had some takers and they were rewarded with standing ovations.
centre with around twelve artisan stalls offering freshly-made items either to consume or take home. Finding the pasta and pizza stall we decided to stay for lunch and ordered freshly made fettucine with a very spicy tomato sauce and a robust glass of Chianti. What is fascinating in this market is the way the stalls have been designed so you can experience first-hand the food being prepared. Clear glass windows allow you to watch Italian specialties like gelato being made from scratch, bread kneaded, pasta extruded from huge machines and famous bufala cheese being handcrafted.
Mercato Centrale
Tsukiji Fish Market
Great markets sell local produce and there is no better example in the world than the Mercato Centrale in Florence. This is where the locals shop and it is where we as curious travellers sought to seek out unusual and traditional Italian produce. The market is on two levels with butchers, fishmongers, fruit and vegetable vendors and specialty food shops on the ground floor. Wandering through this space, meats such as cow stomach, brains and tongue were are all on sale, and then an abundance of safer produce like dried mushrooms, truffled honey, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegars were available. The second level has been recently remodelled and is a one-stop food shopping
For the fish aficionado there is no better market in the world than the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. This market kicks off at 4am, with the auctions held at the back of the market not officially open to the public. Hundreds of different types of seafood are available here and from around 7am Tokyo’s restaurateurs and food retailers pick through the daily catch. Approximately 2,000 tons of seafood comes under the hammer here daily and the choice of seafood is mind-boggling. Crabs, sea urchins, squid are piled high with everything from eels from Taiwan, salmon from Santiago to tuna from Tasmania. We viewed huge slabs of tuna being labelled with their country of origin and butchered. Our host for the tour was the executive JULY/AUGUST 2016 • BAYBUZZ • 91
Prue at Bellatino’s Hawke’s Bay
chef from the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and he was determined to take us to breakfast at one of the sushi stalls in the surrounding grid of streets. It is traditional to eat sushi and drink beer at this early hour and he chose sea urchin and other supposed delicacies such as shirako (cod sperm)
topped sushi. After breakfast we weaved our way through the outer market where kitchenware sellers and grocers and pottery merchants displayed their wares. What is of interest in all of these markets is that there will be a common thread of produce, but it will vary according to country
and climate. If you take olive oil as an example, different countries will produce many unique varieties that will be used in their regional cuisine. In the market in Morocco we discovered argan oil which is a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree. This nutty, rich oil
Never return to a cold home again
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Ph: 06 8788002 or 06 8358002 W: www.hbr.co.nz E: info@hbr.co.nz
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WHAT'S HOT AT JARKs OUR TEAM We are big on staff development. As the business continues to develop and grow so to does our aspiring team.
Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo
is used to dip bread in at breakfast or drizzle on couscous or pasta. Hooked on this new oil we purchased a small and expensive bottle to bring home. Obviously olive oil from the south of Italy will taste very different from Tuscan olive oil and that will vary from a Spanish or Portugese one or our local Village Press Frantoia olive oil produced here in the Hawke’s Bay. All these different oils will give huge variety to any recipe.
No place like home
Our own Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market is one of the oldest and largest farmers’ markets in New Zealand. An upsurge of interest in shopping at farmers’ markets has become apparent over recent times and our market attracts thousands of locals and bus loads of visitors annually. What is there not to love about purchasing fresh vegetables, fruit,
We are so proud of them all as they continue to raise the bar. meat, bread, specialty olive oils and coffee straight from the producer? Another ‘must-do’ market in the summer is the Black Barn Growers’ Market. Here, nestled in the heart of the vineyard, produce such as roasted coffee, flowers, meat, pickles, olive oils and organic vegetables are on sale. Specialty shops such as Vetro Mediterranean Foods in Ahuriri have always stocked quality lines of local produce such as Dave McKee’s verjuice, St Andrews limes, the Aromatic range and olive oil from Matapiro and Village Press. Bellatino’s Food Lovers Market in Havelock North stock local produce with a nudge towards artisan and top quality Italian imported foods and wines. It is easy to consider that the ‘grass may be greener’ offshore, but for me I know I have won the lottery of life living here in the Hawke’s Bay with all this very fine produce to choose from.
OUR FRIENDS So many beautiful faces we see and so many we see regularly. The below photo is a group of lovely ladies celebrating the anniversary of Twyford Pukahu Womans Institute with coffee and dessert.
OUR NOTICES » $15 WEEKDAY LUNCH MENU Remains ever popular. » MON, TUES & WED $15 EVENING MEAL SPECIAL 1 meal per night for just $15 - specials change weekly. » LIVE MUSIC FRIDAY NIGHTS! Great way to end each week.
118 MArAekAkAho roAd hAstings (old Corn exchange) phone: 06 870 8333 Mercato Centrale, Venice
Check out our facebook page for up-to-date info weekly
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MY FIRST TIME
MARGOT WUTS
Margot make the car go! For someone who has two vehicles parked in her driveway it’s quite shameful how little I know about how to maintain a certain vehicular standard. It is possible that this is because I haven’t been particularly interested, so I felt it was time to delve a little deeper! I am fortunate enough to rely on a wonderful group of mechanics. They never judge me (to my face); commendable considering the layers of clothes, rotten food, and general filth left behind by my three spawn and me. I leave my husband out of this because he would rather walk than get in! Dropping my car off to Hawke’s Bay Auto Electrical is always a bright spot in my day. A nicer bunch of men would be hard to find. My loyalty to these gentlemen was cemented by the response to my request to be allowed to perform a supervised oil change at their premises. No hesitation at all. Unsure of how filthy I might get – and as we know, I don't mind a bit of grubby – I wasn't too concerned, a little excited, in fact. Black is the dominant colour in my wardrobe so I just got dressed normally, including sandals (which I wear all year round unless I have to approach a stage in heels, shortly after which I am barefoot!) My delight at donning matching gloves was quickly replaced by some doubt as Andy walked underneath a huge four-wheeldrive on the hoist in the workshop. I don't trust machinery, so it was hard to believe it wouldn't just fall on me, I suppose that would make for a good story! I was led to a shiny new VW Golf with the hood up. Even better it matched! First of all, I was to remove the filter, a job much easier than it sounds. A little unscrewing, not too fast mind, and off she came, to be replaced 94 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
I imagined just packing in everything and becoming an apprentice mechanic, such was my enjoyment and comfort in the setting.
with a brand spanking new one. A big red button to hoist the car up and I was feeling braver, a spanner in one hand and a cloth in the other feeling like a pro – mechanic that is! As I used my powerful, child-carrying arms to unscrew a bolt to empty the old oil out I imagined just packing in everything and becoming an apprentice mechanic, such was my enjoyment and comfort in the setting. However, I must have already made
an unfortunate impression of my abilities, because when voiced this idea I was swiftly shut down by a laughing Andy, “Oh no, you don't want to do that, it's a horrible job!” I know for a fact that Andy loves his job, and now I also know that his favourite cake is chocolate … interesting. The lack of mess was a bit disappointing but obviously there were very useful systems in place to ensure this was the case. It wouldn't be very safe to have an oil slick, not to mention sticky between the toes. I took particular care with the silicone spray and the tyres looked gorgeous when I was finished. I found that it is disgustingly easy to change an oil filter and give a car an oil change, although everything else is far better left to the professionals! Luckily for them it is disgustingly easy for some to make really impressive chocolate cakes!
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LETTER from the COUNTRY
MARY KIPPENBERGER For 53 years I have never been without a horse, but today I have no horses outside my bedroom window. Today I won’t put covers on or take covers off. I won’t pick up poo. I won’t change their paddocks, pay the farrier or the vet. I won’t groom or smell the sweet smells. Beau and Nick the Pony have travelled Tutira way to spend rolling lush paddock time with the wondrous Vic and Toby. They don’t miss me, but I miss them. Nick the Pony has run out of grandchildren and has a two-year wait for Alice. Some might suggest that ponies can be sold, but they would be wrong. Beau is 26 and part of the furniture, Nick the Pony is a ‘don’t leave a door open because I’ll come inside’ kind of a
chickens and the back paddock, but some months ago I hatched a very good plan indeed. I suggested to Peter that if I lost the equivalent weight of an All Black’s leg then that should earn me a new farm bike. I never did lose that All Black’s leg, but I have got my beloved bike. Peter calls her my mobility scooter, which may or may not be kind, however Big Red has come at a price. My sister Sarah organised a contingent of Kippenbergers to follow in my grandfather’s Crete footsteps. I put my hand up, but as the weeks went by I realised how much that trip would cost and in fact if I didn’t go then I could spend the same amount on a bike. So I did.
the valley and Sarah, with a familiar kia ora, introduced herself. Unexpectedly the soldier cried when he heard her name. The group gathered and tears flowed from family and Māori alike. I realized at that moment I had made a mistake I couldn’t correct. The power of that moment required the recipient to be present, to carry with that shared moment an unbreakable bond that linked us together. It needed no words. This was more valuable than a handsome red bike. My parents emigrated to Canada when I was four and my sister was one. My brothers hadn’t been born yet. We were innocent in the leaving, we carried with us no grief at the good byes, but Aunty Mary told me her father
pony. We found him once sound asleep in the living room, evidence pointed to a three-hour sojourn. You can’t sell a pony like that. With more time on my hands I’ve had one of my very good ideas. Peter has always loved my very good ideas. Sometimes he pretends not to. In the old days we had a second-hand super-king waterbed. It was so old it had no baffles, just one big bladder. Getting out was awkward, you’d have to slide down the rolling edge, grip the tasteful velour surround and heave gracefully up, over and on to the floor. I’d often have my very good ideas whilst in bed. Gasping to attention, I’d ride the bladder’s tsunami all the while blurting out the current idea to my happy husband. The currently current idea involves rescue
Waiata drifted across the valley and Sarah, with a familiar kia ora, introduced herself. Unexpectedly the soldier cried when he heard her name.
cried. She had never seen him cry before. I found myself at his graveside. There he lay, Kip, forever guarding his comrades below. I stared at his grave and was moved at the 60 years etched into the stone. As a child I thought he was ancient, now I lament his youth. I lament my parent’s decision to move to Canada and I lament not growing up with my grandparents. I am lucky that books have been written about my grandfather. I am lucky that I have an aunt and an uncle who can recall stories for me, but my other grandparents are as faded as the tiny black and white photos in the family album. I didn’t ask for the stories and my parents didn’t tell them. If I had my time again I would ask. We all need those stories.
96 • BAYBUZZ • JULY/AUGUST 2016
Sarah returned a week ago after safely shepherding the whānau around the battle sites. As Sarah regaled me with the stories I was blown away with her efforts, but when it came to the Māori Battalion segment I cried. Some days into the tour the family came across the regiment. Waiata drifted across
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