BB#76-May-Jun-2024

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BayBuzz

May + June 2024 76

Like it or not, big rate increases ahead. Fixing our leaky water systems. Mushrooms: an answer to meth? Great exercise options for HB seniors. Unison and Napier Port give reasons to celebrate. Meet REDA. Old tyres get afterlife. Sleep worries. Bay workers do it from home. Gender identity battle hits Hastings. Weston Sports inspires. Wine lingo primer. Preparing for HB winter.

Photo: Florence Charvin

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Featured Contributor

BayBuzz team

EDITOR: Tom Belford

DEPUTY EDITOR: Lizzie Russell

SENIOR WRITERS: Tom Belford; Abby Beswick; Hamish Bidwell; Rosheen FitzGerald; Damon Harvey; Mark Sweet

COLUMNISTS: Andrew Frame; Yvonne Lorkin; Kate McLeay; Paul Paynter; Lizzie Russell; Dominic Salmon; Simon Shattky; Jess Soutar Barron; Ian Thomas

BUSINESS WRITER: Brenda Newth

VIDEOGRAPHER: Patrick O'Sullivan

EDITOR’S RIGHT HAND: Brooks Belford

PHOTOGRAPHY: Florence Charvin

ILLUSTRATION: Ruth Mitchener; Brett Monteith

DESIGN: Unit Design - Max Parkes; Giselle Reid

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Giselle Reid

PROOFREADER: Jenny Elliott

ONLINE: Elizabeth-Marie Nes; Lee Tong

BUSINESS MANAGER: Steph Lowry

PRINTING: Blue Star Group

ISSN 2253-2625 (Print)

ISSN 2253-2633 (Online)

This

Hamish Bidwell, senior writer

It was while sat watching kids’ cricket at Frimley Park, that my wife and I decided to spend the rest of our days in Hawke's Bay.

We didn't have jobs to go to and couldn't find anywhere to live, but were happy to give it a go and see where the adventure took us.

BayBuzz is the latest stop on my own journalistic journey and I'm especially keen to see what kind of Hawke’s Bay emerges from Cyclone Gabrielle.

HB

Sport + Wellness

34

and billionaires

Lucy Laitinen

An update from REDA, HB’s new economic development agency.

Ideas + Opinion

52 How New Zealand can keep old tyres rolling on Dominic Salmon

Here’s what ‘end of life’ use looks like for our tyres.

54 Venting

Paul Paynter

All the current reasons Paul can’t sleep at night.

Life

58 Remote possibilities

Simon Shattky

Work from home or return to office – which way are we headed?

64 Rainbow warriors

Rosheen FitzGerald

Gender identity: The fight for young hearts and minds comes to Hawke's Bay.

70 Turning tragedy into triumph

Kate McLeay

The inspiring story of Weston Sports in Hastings.

72 A matter of taste

Ian Thomas

Trust your taste buds, not the labels.

74 A crush course in wine lingo

Yvonne Lorkin

A primer on wine making and tasting lingo.

80 We’ll weather the weather, whether we like it or not

Jess Soutar Barron

You can’t stop it ... winter is coming.

74: You’re soaking in it! Yvonne Lorkin’s full immersion primer in wine speak. Photo: Florence Charvin

A heap of questions – most of them distraught, skeptical, angry – are being thrown at our councils these days.

The long-term planning process (3-Year Plans this time around) has served up extraordinary rate increases to maintain current services, improve infrastructure and provide greater future resilience. These increases are proposed when many in the Bay are still struggling with cyclone recovery and inflated household and business costs.

No one is thrilled about paying 20%+ rate increases. Yet no one wants to see their personal ‘most vital’ programme or service reduced.

So the public mood is rather sour when it comes to satisfaction with local government.

All this brings local government accountability and competence under sharper scrutiny than usual. Are we getting what we have the right to expect from our local public servants?

For some citizens, the answer is a loud NO! Expressed mostly in social media outbursts ... then lost.

A very few fight for accountability with much greater determination, passion, time investment and personal cost.

For example, please read the Advertorial on the opposite page.

The advert alleges serious mismanagement by the Hastings District Council of the dams and streams in Havelock North, which exacerbated the destructive impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the community. And further accuses the HB Regional Council of a poor job of holding HDC’s feet to the fire on these shortcomings, despite years of reported lapses by HDC in meeting consent conditions.

The sponsor of the advert isn’t simply throwing out wild charges. Over months, she’s compiled a substantial paper trail of reports and email exchanges, citizen complaints, damning photos and council evasions that stretch back for years. I know, because BayBuzz has regularly received this evidence and we’ve written about it.

From the editor

Tom Belford

The Hastings District Council –avoiding any real admission of incompetence, neglect or failure – simply wants to forget the past and ‘turn the page’. They want people to focus on a new $10 million programme that is meant to correct the problems.

For ‘equal time’ fairness, you can scan here to read their latest flash newsletter touting the programme. Photos showing them hard at work. And indeed it looks quite comprehensive ... just 10-15 years overdue!

In this instance, the advert’s sponsor is toxic to the Hastings Council. Mere mention of her name makes eyes roll and worse. From where I sit her personal invective addressed at individual officials has crossed the line on many occasions, counter-productive to her cause.

So the Council responds by circling its wagons, writing off the messenger and urging us to ‘move on’.

But regardless of anyone’s views about the messenger, the message is well-documented. Otherwise I wouldn’t have published the advert.

So, sure, let’s now get these waterways cleaned up and properly managed.

But do those good intentions meet the test of public accountability? What about the councillors, councils, council staff who let the situation deteriorate to the point of being life-threatening. None of them can say ‘they didn’t know’ – report after report had been filed by councils’ own expert consultants ... but ignored. This has been a sustained, incremental melt-down over decades, not just the result of an unprecedented cyclone.

But who gets called to account for that? And when/how? Councillors at election time? That’s a blunt instrument and voters have short memories. Plus, there’s no individual councillor to blame ... they ignore situations, plead ignorance or choose other priorities as a group. Rare is the councillor who breaks ranks. Staff? They report only to the CEO and enjoy insulation from both elected officials and the public.

On occasion the lack of responsiveness, the buck-passing between councils, the reluctance of one council to hold another accountable can become infuriating. Pitted against the citizen activist, councils have the time, resources, cleverness to delay, evade and wear their adversary down. In the worst case, it becomes a cultural style.

Often citizen advocates have messages others don’t want to hear – from flouridation and vaccination to Treaty rights, from protecting aquifers to council screw-ups, from End of Life Choice to gender identity. Sometimes conveyed in styles that offend. But I think we’re better off as a community when we have such provocateurs.

Council accountability is a tough nut to crack. Maybe the best we can hope for is that although perpetrators might escape, with media exposure and steadfast citizen advocacy, poor performance doesn’t repeat itself.

I welcome your views.

Cheers,

Tom has been a two-term HB Regional Councillor. His past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organisation, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major non-profits and corporates.

CYCLONE GABRIELLE

HAVELOCK NORTH DAMS ALL NON-COMPLIANT

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) has graded all the detention dams managed by the Hastings District Council (HDC) with ‘Moderate Non-Compliance’ for the period 1 January 2021 to 1 July 2024.

Authorised by Jessica Maxwell, Havelock North, Coordinator

FACT 1: The HBRC issues Resource Consents to the HDC to manage the five Havelock North detention dams and another at Te Awanga. Its compliance notices report that:-

• The consent holder [HDC] was asked to provide information in regard to repairs and any maintenance undertaken during the last 2-year monitoring period on the 30/05/2023.

• The consent holder’s representative acknowledged that email but did not provide any information.

Why was the HDC uncooperative?

These compliance reports note that the moderate non-compliance grade was given:-

• ‘Due to the consent holder HDC not carrying out and documenting maintenance recommended in three consecutive Annual Dam Safety Reviews from 2019, 2020 and 2022.’

The reports also note:-

• ‘There were no inspections or reporting conducted in 2021, the consent holder HDC did not communicate this to the HBRC.’

• ‘The consent holder HDC did not provide copies of the 2020, 2022 and 2023 inspection reports to the HBRC, within a month of the inspections taking place as required by condition 3.’

Why was the HDC so irresponsible?

FACT 2: The HBRC has issued the HDC with an Action Plan for each dam to be completed by 30 April 2024.

FACT 3: A history of HDC’s chronic noncompliance with the dams has been traced back to 2001, yet the HBRC hasn’t taken any enforcement action against the HDC.

On 21 December 2023, the HBRC’s Chief Executive, Dr Nic Peet, advised that, ‘I am satisfied with HBRC’s enforcement process and policies.’ How could anyone be satisfied with such weak oversight? Where are the consequences?

Evidence gleaned by the community-led investigation and the council commissioned reports from Stantec (HDC) and Tonkin + Taylor (HBRC) confirms that both councils bear responsibility for the neglect and mismanagement of the Havelock North dams and streams.

The result… catastrophic erosion, devastating flooding, some hugely devalued properties, stress and distress.

It appears that both councils have ducked for cover to avoid taking responsibility for their failures.

Where is the accountability?

K arituwhenua, S chool, Te K ahika, Mangarau & Hereher e

FRIENDS OF THE HAVELOCK NORTH STREAMS

Mangarau dam during Cyclone Gabrielle

The Mangarau Dam during Cyclone Gabrielle Mangarau dam post cyclone Mangarau Stream post cyclone

The Buzz Lizzie Russell

KEVIN MURPHY

THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC

A round of applause for Kevin Murphy. By day, Napier City Council’s Events Manager, and by night, weekend and any other hour, founder and trustee of the Backline Trust and promoter of all things Hawke’s Bay music.

Kevin’s been working in the HB events scene for over two decades and through the Backline Trust, which sits in behind the Hawke’s Bay Music Hub, he’s been pulling together musicians, industry and audiences since setting up in 2016.

The Music Hub delivers mentoring sessions funded by the NZ Music Commission, local industry events, an online and social media presence promoting and connecting artists, venue and gigs, and for the third year now, a Hawke’s Bay compilation album – on vinyl – Under the Sun. The most recent record was launched over the summer, and Kevin and co. are waiting to hear about funding for the fourth, in an increasingly tricky landscape.

That seems to be a theme for 2024 –difficult to fund. As times get tough though, music, the arts, events are more important than ever.

“Events drive so much domestic tourism and also that city vibrancy, there’s a real willingness throughout the country to keep them coming,” he says.

As he and his team focus on the winter task of chasing new opportunities for next spring and summer, Kevin is also looking to keep the flame burning for one of Napier’s most beloved events – Nuit Blanche. Having been part of the annual Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival (which is on hold until 2025), Nuit Blanche may still make a delightful, colourful appearance later this year.

“We’re enthusiastic to see it continue,” says Kevin. “We’re in the process now of working out what that’s going to look like, talking to the Arts Festival, and making sure we can get the right mix of financial backing.”

Let’s hope so. In a challenging year that’s already seeing more than its share of cancellations and uncertainty, lights and nights like Nuit Blanche are exactly what we need.

Good luck, Kevin! And thank you.

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With that support, at a time when local journalism has never been more important, we commit to bringing Hawke’s Bay in print and online:

• The most in-depth insight into the major environmental, economic and social issues challenging the region.

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In this series, we cast a little BayBuzz light on local treasures –spots you might need reminding about, places to explore in our own resilient, beautiful backyard. This issue we take a drive to Central Hawke’s Bay.

Photos by Florence Charvin

The road south from Hastings and Napier is paved with coffee.

Passing Pekapeka wetlands and we’re spying perfect photograph spots, but not stopping for shots, not until Pukehou and the rustic old church, the Paper Mulberry. The sippers here are a mix of oldies and goodies, locals and those passing through, and the flat whites hit the spot.

On we go, next pulled to veer off the state highway as we enter Waipawa. Espresso Loco is yellow and purple, and we meet joyful Jey who gives us the lay of the land and overcaffeinates us with piccolos for the short trip to the next stop.

At the south end of Waipukurau we hit the coffee motherlode. The Rookery, TenKu and the train station Espresso Loco, all within a coffee bean’s throw, and all run by friendly, fun CHB characters. Time, just, to pick something delicious from the TenKu cabinet (or off their clothing racks) and head back north.

The Buzz Lizzie Russell

The Buzz

Lizzie Russell

The iconic Hastings café known formerly as the Opera Kitchen on Eastbourne Street has re-opened as Rosina. Jesse Neilson’s coffee shop and eatery is already proving popular with the locals. Picture sunny winter brunches and lunches in the leafy enclosed courtyard, and warming coffee stops in the slickly refreshed interior of the historic Power Board building.

Members of the BayBuzz team can vouch for the milk toast, and Albert’s fried rice. Oh, and the crumpets. The truffle fries take some beating. That Bene. The field mushrooms. Oh boy.

THIS PAGE: Jesse Neilson at Rosina in Eastbourne St. Rosina crumpets are delish. OPPOSITE: Bryn and Jett Nichol at Dylan Jeanne’s in Emerson St. Photos: Florence Charvin

Dylan Jeanne’s is livening up Emerson Street West. Brothers Jett and Bryn Nichol offer juicy burgers, moreish grilled cheese and fries, pancakes, coffee, classic shakes and cheeky banter. The fit out is slick but warm, and it’s a sweet spot for lunching or an early dinner on the way home. Dine in or take away (picnic in the Clive Square garden, perhaps), the diner is open 11am-8pm Tuesday to Sunday.

While the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival sadly sits out the 2024 season, the plucky, comprehensive literary festival that has run alongside it is suiting up. The Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Trust present its literary weekend on October 18 – 20. It’ll be packed with light and darkness, history and present, new fiction, food chat, kids lit, mystery, mastery and more. See the website or Facebook page for updates and to buy tickets as we near the festival. In the meantime, we can whisper that there are some big names coming ... Glenn Colquhoun (pictured), Rachel King, Monty Soutar, Sam Low, Kyle Mewburn, Charity Norman and Gavin Bishop among them! hbreadersandwriters.co.nz

CLIMATE UPDATE

Our region’s Climate Action Joint Committee (CAJC), representing Hawke’s Bay’s five councils and with iwi representation, held its most recent meeting in March, with the next gathering scheduled for May.

The Committee is charged with plotting a climate mitigation and adaptation course for the region.

Several matters of note were tabled at the March session.

FUTURE BUDGET FOR CLIMATE PLANNING

The work of the CAJC is supported entirely by the five councils in a cost sharing arrangement – 26% of budget from Hastings, Napier and regional Councils, 11% from CHB and Wairoa Councils. This cash is supplemented by various council staff having support roles for the Committee’s work.

With new 3-Year Long Term Plans looming, the Committee has

recommended to its constituent councils a budget of $690,000 over the next three fiscal years (through FY2026-27). It is now up to the individual councils to commit the cash in their plans. With the mayors and HBRC chair on board, that outcome seems secure, barring backbench opposition from rank and file councillors.

So, what will $230,000 per year buy in the way of climate action?

Mostly more research – $480,000 is allocated for a comprehensive climate change risk assessment for the

region. Another $80,000 for a web portal and community engagement that would further educate about our local climate risks.

At a ‘macro’ level, we’re flooded with information and predictions from everyone from NIWA to NASA to the UN about more severe weather, drier and hotter conditions, threats to human and animal welfare, biodiversity impacts and other risks and consequences associated with climate change.

But we are lacking more localised and precise data to understand how these impacts might actually play out in our own back yard. Of course Cyclone Gabrielle showed us some of the impacts catchment by catchment, community by community, across our full range of ecosystems ... and underscored the need to know more and anticipate better.

Here’s how the staff advisers to CAJC put it: “...there is a critical need to better understand the exposure of Hawke’s Bay communities and critical lifeline assets (e.g. 3-Waters infrastructure, land transport assets etc) to climate change risk. This is particularly important to ensure that Councils can build their maturity to incorporate climate change risk into decisionmaking and activity and asset management planning in the future.

“...a measure of success for Councils could be that a GIS layer reflecting climate-related risks (e.g. flooding, landslides, coastal erosion etc) in relation to critical assets is available to Councils in 2026 to inform Asset Management Plans in time for the next round of Long Term Plans due in 2027.

“This climate risk assessment would likely involve acquiring data to build an understanding of climate-related risk across the region, as well as modelling this risk to communities and infrastructure assets and potentially offering options on how to mitigate/manage these risks.”

And: “As we progress into greater climate destabilisation and increased hazard probability, it will be necessary to provide regular updates to hazard and risk projections so that communities and mana whenua can utilise this to inform their own decision making.”

To which I would add: It’s about time.

NAPIER’S NATURAL HAZARDS

Because it needs to update its District Plan periodically, Napier City Council is a bit further down the path of identifying its natural hazards, and has consulted recently with the community on the challenges ahead.

With better hazard data and

mapping now available, it is incumbent on the Council to manage growth and building in the city to optimise resilience and to consider the risk levels the community is willing to tolerate.

NCC’s consultation provides a good preview of the kinds of concrete choices councils and communities will need to make as they get serious about climate change. The ‘fast-tracked’ iwiled Riverbend proposal to build 600+ residential units alongside the suburb of Maraenui might be a good place to press the ‘hold’ button.

As NCC’s consultation document indicated: “In our future planning for where the city will grow, the presence of multiple hazards will likely result in an area not being considered appropriate for development.” Some would say that horse is out of the gate in Napier, but better late than never to adopt such an approach.

An option that would enable raising mandatory floor heights higher than currently set to better withstand coastal or stormwater flooding is a good example of the measures posed during the consultation – in this case, higher building costs but less risk.

Submissions are being considered, with the Council aiming to notify a natural hazards variation for official consultation in June/July.

Hawke’s Bay Community Greenhouse gas emissions 2021/22

HB’S CURRENT EMISSIONS

To date the CAJC has done a good job of identifying the greenhouse gas emissions profile of Hawke’s Bay, as the charts on page 15 and 16 indicate. But slow off the mark in producing a strategy to deal with the challenge.

Over the last four years (data ending 2021-22 financial year), HB greenhouse gas emissions show minimal change.

According to the staff report to CAJC: “In the financial year of 2021-2022 Hawke’s Bay region’s gross greenhouse gas emissions were 4,340 kilotonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (kt CO2-e). The agriculture sector (68%) and energy sector (transport and stationary energy, 29%) were the two largest contributors to gross emissions. Net emissions, once sequestration from forestry was accounted for, were 1,489 kt CO2-e.”

So, effectively 66% of our emissions were offset by growing pine trees (with some contribution from native bush). But the goal must be to reduce emissions and adapt to changing conditions, not simply make up a tidy ‘net zero’ balance sheet, as the NZ Climate Commission has warned at the national level. While forest sequestration has its place, more trees to offset more emissions is not an answer to global warming.

HB’s emissions are driven by farm animals and our transport system (cars and trucks). With both of these, the ‘big picture’ and trend line is

determined by the Government –mainly its policies regarding pastoral farming’s role in reducing livestock emissions and its approach to lowering car/truck emissions.

But even in that context, there are local actions that can be taken with local benefits.

ACTION PLAN

Unfortunately, we’re still barely scratching the surface.

A ‘Climate Action Plan’ was presented at the March CAJC meeting. It could best be described as wistful. A lament rather than a sorely needed call to action.

The Plan prepared by councils’ staff covered six ‘domains’ – biodiversity, primary industry, transport, freshwater, urban/housing, and waste.

In the key areas where mitigation is involved, agriculture and transport, the Plan wrings its hands over the difficulties of overcoming competing objectives. For example:

Transport

“Staff considered that a key risk in transport is the competing goals between transport resiliency, transport efficiency, cost and safety, while also reducing emissions, which is no longer a priority area for the coalition-led government.”

The staff paper pretty much assumes that in the foreseeable future, the only regional transport policy will be

... rebuild the roads we have. Which has nothing to do with addressing climate change.

The most concrete ‘opportunities’ identified in the Plan were:

• Advocating for and celebrating alternative modes of transport including regional rail. [But what kind of regional rail?]

• Regional green hydrogen development

This second point is an interesting proposition mentioned in the draft Regional Transport Plan (to be considered by HBRC in June). After noting that 27% of HB’s transport emissions come from heavy trucks, the Plan suggests: “The potential of hydrogen fuel in Hawke’s Bay presents a material opportunity to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining operational efficiencies and supporting future growth aspirations.”

But no mention in the Climate Plan of how 4-laning the Expressway, which the draft Transport Plan endorses, fits in! Nor does the word ‘bus’ appear.

Primary sector

“The primary sector is a major contributor to the Hawke’s Bay economy, in terms of its economic contribution through export earnings, employment and contribution to the social fabric of the community. Therefore, climate action is targeting adaptation as opposed to elimination strategies.”

The most concrete ‘opportunities’

“We need to hold our soil and water in place ... it’s as plain as that.”

Hinewai Ormsby

identified here:

• An integrated approach to catchment and community management – erosion control, wetland construction, biodiversity.

• Increased land use diversification –planting trees, forest farming, integrated systems, new horticultural systems that adapt to a changing climate, land for life etc.

There are indeed some rich concepts embedded in some of those phrases, but no sign that the climate team recognises them or would actually advocate for them.

For example, the region’s Plan could be to educate on and incentivise a singular focus on soil health, which involves embracing different land management practices. How would that relate to climate change strategy?

In an interview with HBRC Chair Hinewai Ormsby, she put it succinctly (speaking at the time just about her council): “We need to hold our soil and water in place ... it’s as plain as that.”

What this comment recognises is that better managed soil (whatever is grown or grazed on it):

• Is less erodable – an obvious productivity benefit in normal times and an insurance policy in severe weather (the destructive power of water in Cyclone Gabrielle’s flooding was magnified immensely by the soil/silt carried in it);

• Retains significantly more water, as

healthier soil acts as a sponge – again a benefit at all times (addiing resilience in dry times and holding/slowing more water in severe weather;

• Stores more carbon – in fact healthy soils can sequester more carbon than trees, effectively forever.

• Requires less (or no) synthetic fertilisers (given the sourcing, a climate benefit) and better retains the nutrients in the soil (whether synthetic or natural) – a gravy benefit for the health of our freshwaters.

And there’s no mystery about the land management practices to accomplish these interrelated benefits. Our most innovative farmers right here in Hawke’s Bay are accomplishing this now, recognising that it’s economically beneficial to do so. We just need more of them. It would be in the country’s interest to have national/regional policies and incentives that accelerated this conversion process. But it will happen in any event as generational change occurs in the sector.

Keep our soil and water in place. One could argue that should be the mission statement driving our regional climate strategy.

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BayBuzz energy and climate reporting is sponsored by Unison in support of independent local journalism.

Story by Tom Belford Illustration by Brett Monteith

MAJOR RATE INCREASES A CERTAINTY

Let the final act begin!

With official public consultation virtually over for our region’s five councils’ 3-Year Plans (3YPs), councillors now need to cut to the chase and make some extremely difficult budget decisions.

Of course the lobbying isn’t over, as various interest groups mount campaigns to protect their funding, while average citizens beseech their councillors at every opportunity to back off the steep rate increases involved.

If you have a view, it’s not too late to express it ... contact your councillors, it’s your democratic birthright. I’ll come back to this point.

Making the task especially difficult this time for councillors are these factors:

• Paying for the unprecedented costs of cyclone recovery;

• Catching up on severe past under-spending on local infrastructure;

• Cost inflation, particularly in materials and services required by local government;

• High interest rates on current and future borrowing and insurance costs;

• A soft economy leaving most ratepayers especially queasy and tightfisted; and,

• Uncertainty as to the quantum of funding assistance, if any, from government.

Compounding these challenges is the nature of the council bureaucracy that’s expected to serve up any offsetting spending reductions. Face it, apart from the handful of financial specialists, these staff have been trained to evaluate consent applications, maintain parks and reserves, plan stormwater systems, protect waterways and biodiversity, spend money ... not evaluate profit and loss statements, meet efficiency targets or fire people.

A certain forward momentum to be

ingrained in council budgets.

Councils’ 3YPs strove to identify reductions in operating costs (HBRC $4.8 million, Hastings $2.7 million and CHBDC $1.5 million), but these still are peanuts in the overall scale of expenditure required – driven by the factors listed above – and they come with painful cuts in day-to-day services.

How special are these 3YPs?

CHB Mayor Alex Walker puts its bluntly in the CHB 3YP:

“We’ve had to take a ruthless approach to prioritising our existing and new expenditure for the next three years ... We’re in a time where we are

recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle, community expectations are high and legislative obligations require more from us than ever before. It’s also costing more than it ever has before ... There are still many costs that we don’t fully know how we will pay for either.

“Beyond this, we have greatly reduced or deferred most existing spending ... This still hasn’t been enough to offset the rates increases required. Even shutting every library and reducing investment across every community service still isn’t enough to offset the costs we face.”

The following graphic illustrates her dilemma.

Proposed rates: How will CHB rates be spent over the next three years? Where, on average, every $100 of rates will be spent over the Three Year Plan 2024-2027

Fully 72% of CHB Council’s rates goes towards roads, water infrastructure and rubbish disposal. What most ratepayers would consider the basics.

Hastings District Council faces a $312 million in capital spend for Cyclone recovery only, apart from its other borrowing needs, while its total further cost to ‘reinstate’ roads and bridges will be $795 million. Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst calls HDC’s an infrastructure delivery budget. “We are a district in recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle, rebuilding a resilient transport network as well as maintaining and investing in quality water infrastructure now and for the future.”

Napier’s Mayor Kirsten Wise would agree. “There are unexpected costs from Cyclone Gabrielle, with parts of our community still recovering from this event. We need to stay focused on cyclone recovery while still providing the core services and infrastructure the community needs and expects of us.”

Napier will invest $345 million in infrastructure over the next three years.

And HBRC faces the task of delivering a $250 million flood resilience programme to build flood infrastructure to move properties in Category 2 areas to Category 1 to enable people to move on with their lives.

The special requirements of recovery aside, each of the territorial authorities faces the need to make up for past under-spending in infrastructure –water systems in particular.

CHBDC’s 3YP candidly explains the shell game that all councils have played to keep current rates artificially low, hitherto considered a political imperative to mollify ratepayers:

“One of Council’s operating costs is depreciation. This is the accounting method used for spreading the replacement costs of assets over their useful life. In an ideal world, Council would rate to fund depreciation so that when the asset needs replacing, we are holding cash reserves (from years of rating for depreciation) equal to the cost of the replacement asset. However, in practice, because the money is not needed until later years, the easiest way for councils to keep rates artificially low is to not fully rate for asset replacements. As most Council infrastructure assets have a life expectancy of 30 to 100 years, the cash shortfall does not become apparent for many years. Unfortunately, this is the case we find ourselves in, historically, rates increases have been artificially held below the cost of inflation.”

Mayor Walker puts it bluntly: “As a

community we can’t repeat the mistakes of the past and choose not to fund our critical infrastructure for the future.” The pigeons have come home to roost.

So let’s turn to rates.

Rate hikes a certainty

According to data collected by Local Government NZ, the average rates rise across the country is about 15% for the up-coming 2024/25 council year. Across Hawke’s Bay, ours will be higher.

As Mayor Kirsten Wise has commented, rates get virtually all the public attention (and vitriol), while they represent only a part of councils’ funding plans – other sources being accumulated reserves, targeted ‘user pay’ charges, investment returns and external borrowing.

A fair point, but rates are where the rubber meets the road for most voters. These are the rate increases proposed across our councils.

FY24-25 FY25-26 FY26-27 HDC

And here is their contribution.

HDC operating budget

FY24-25 FY25-26 FY26-27

$234,292 $241,185

Even the smaller of our councils are big businesses. For the four reported above, their combined rate take for next year would be $331 million, rising to $418 million in three years. Their combined operating budgets for next year would be $619 million, rising to $655 million in three years.

Public debt (current + non-current public debt)

Celebrating a Century of Powering Hawke’s Bay

Unison is celebrating 100 years of powering our region since the establishment of the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board on 19 June 1924.

To commemorate this historic year and our shared history as a region, Unison is inviting the community to share stories and photographs for others to enjoy.

A century of growth and prosperity

We have been through a lot together over the last century. From the humble beginnings of a small lines company in Hawke’s Bay, Unison is now a global group of specialist electricity companies with electricity networks in Taupo and Rotorua and a vision to lead a sustainable energy future.

Unison is 100% owned by the Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust (HBPCT). The HBPCT was formed in 1993 and is an elected body which holds shares on behalf of Hawke’s Bay power consumers connected to Unison’s network. As a consumer owned lines company, Unison’s 100 year centenary is a milestone celebration for everyone in the region.

Let’s celebrate our memories together

It takes the work of many to power a region for a century! Whether you or someone you know was once employed by Unison or the Power Board, has partnered or participated in a sponsorship initiative, or you’re a resident with historic photos, experiences, or memories… share them so our region can hear them!

Unison will collate community contributions to share online and, with permission, select some stories or photos to feature in a special exhibition on the history of Unison at the Faraday Museum in Napier from 20 June. It’s our community contributions that will make this exhibition even more special.

Facebook Group: Celebrating 100 Years of Unison (Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board) Email: 100.years@unison.co.nz

“As a community we can’t repeat the mistakes of the past and choose not to fund our critical infrastructure for the future.”

Alex Walker

The relative stability of operating budgets masks the surge in capital spending for these councils, paid for predominantly by borrowings, as the chart above indicates, with higher interest rates expected. Total council debt is projected at $1.16 billion in FY26-27. In ten years, HDC’s debt alone will peak at $701 million.

HBRC is the least rates-dependent of our councils currently, and also the one promising the most substantial internal cost reductions. But that’s not without controversy of its own.

Public response

Frankly, all the submissions in the world are not going to move the needle materially on any of these rate increases.

And indeed, no council is asking ratepayers, ‘Would you like to see a budget with rates adjusted only for inflation?’ as some Facebook punters insist. Or, ‘How about if we cut staff 20% across the board?’ ... another favourite on social media. But these would be fantasyland propositions.

Each council has offered up hypothetical savings that illustrate just how hard it is to scrape off a $2-3 million here or there. It means less hall maintenance, reducing library or pool hours, less attention to parks and reserves, less support for cultural enrichment, alternative funding for council-run activities and enterprises.

NCC, for example, poses these choices. Should we focus on supporting retirement housing only, and sell our social housing villages? Should we continue our special ‘Disaster Recovery rate’, converting it into a ‘build resilience’ rate? Should we place management of our investment portfolio in a Council-Controlled Trading Organisation on the premise that more commercially-oriented managers would yield great returns? Should fee increases for some Council-supplied facilities and activities reflect higher costs or be held to the general CPI increase? How should we fund the deficits of NCC-operated tourism facilities? And more.

HDC poses these choices. Should we impose a special ‘Cyclone Recovery Targeted Rate’ to pay for a ring-fenced $230 million recovery budget? Defer

development infrastructure financing to existing commitments only – hit the pause button on growth? Defer $50 million in several itemised ‘nice to have’ community amenity projects (e.g., Splash Planet, Tōmoana Showgrounds, Civic Square)? Borrow more to do more sooner?

Note that many of our ‘amenities’ are no less ‘baked in’ than our roads, bridges and stopbanks. No doubt there are many, maybe a majority, of ratepayers who have never used or enjoyed Splash Planet or a public swimming pool, the Aquarium, Toitoi, the Faraday Centre, MTG, the Municipal Theatre, or a library, but there they sit with operating and maintenance costs ... and each with a band of ardent vocal supporters.

Although formal consultation is over by mid-May, if you feel strongly about council spending, don’t hesitate to sound off with an email or text to your councillors – all their contact info is on councils’ websites – or accost them on sight! They’re paid to listen. But if your concern is too high rates, to be helpful and not just noisy, remember to tell them what you would cut.

Because, on the other hand, the interest groups lobbying for spending are generally well-organised, very focused on their specific ‘most urgent’ programme, tactically smart, and generally well-connected to the ruling class (i.e. councillors and their friends).

HBRC’s plan to cut off funding for Hawke’s Bay Tourism is the most visible case in point.

Here is an ‘industry’ whose advocates say is worth $1.3 billion to the region, but that cannot seem to generate a self-funded marketing budget of $1.52 million ... about a tenth of a percentage point. So HB Tourism has lobbied the region’s mayors to fund an alternative scheme ... it’s just a shell game as to who sends ratepayers the bill. But either the funding is deserved and affordable or it is not. An interesting test of political wills to watch play out. [Editor’s disclosure: as a previous HBRC councillor, I voted to phase out HBRC tourism funding in the past.]

More broadly, there is no fiscally conservative HB Ratepayer Association to offset or challenge the spending lobbyists, or to advocate well-crafted, alternative budgets.

That said, if there’s any set of public decisions that should not be made in total deference to public opinion, it would have to be rate setting. Has anyone ever seen an opinion survey at any level of government, in any nation, where a

majority wanted the government to take more of their money?

At this particular political-economic juncture in Hawke’s Bay, these 3YP consultations are much more about educating ratepayers as to their predicament and fiscal reality than it is about searching for cost reductions, programme deferrals or borrowing options that councils haven’t been smart or brave enough to identify.

So, high rates look to be locked in for three years. But hopefully that’s not the end of the story.

Government assistance?

There’s a remote chance that the Government will have provided some relief in its May budget (watch for our BayBuzz online reports on that), but if these happen, they are likely to fall into the band-aid category ... not massive local funding.

As Mayor Kirsten Wise said, “We must plan to pay our own way ... any government assistance will be welcome gravy.” And just as likely to prevent some recovery projects from being deferred as opposed to reducing rates.

As I reported in Feb/Mar BayBuzz, there has been discussion of a bigger paradigm shift involving ‘Regional Deals’ involving long-term realignment of central versus local government responsibilities, with local councils being given more operating discretion to formulate programmes in areas like housing and employment together with sustained government funding. An intelligent course, but not one likely to ease the strain on your rate wallet soon.

Similarly, as we also reported in Feb/Mar, a Labour Government report called The Future for Local Government has also broached an array of reforms designed to better address the fiscal impact of responsibilities that have fallen on local councils, including more central government funding (e.g. for climate adaptation), direct payment (e.g., agencies paying rates for properties they own locally), and adding more potential funding tools for local bodies (e.g., community bonds).

Again, ideas with much support within the local government sector, but not likely to produce near-term rates relief.

This report also recommended ‘consolidation’ of local bodies. What BayBuzz fondly calls ‘amalgamation’. Strange, I didn’t notice that massive cost-saving option floated in any of our councils’ 3YPs. Was that my oversight or theirs?

Water is really important to us. Afterall, we’re built in the ocean and share it with other people and marine life. Here’s some of the work we’re doing to deliver on our commitment to healthy reefs and oceans and reduce our water use, as we connect exporters to the world.

TE KOHANGA PROJECT

Proud partners in this biodiversity work, it involves using Te Koukou spat lines to allow wild green lipped mussels to establish on the artificial reef.

DIVE SURVEYS

Monitoring Pania Reef and the artificial reef helps us understand the health of these important ecosystems. Fish surveys inform the health and abundance of important marine life in our environment.

PORT BEACH LITTER

Each quarter we do a clean-up on our beach next door. The litter is audited and forms part of a national dataset informing policy around plastics.

CRUISE SHIPS

Less than10% take water as they have their own supply on board. Only the smaller luxury liners require water from time to time.

SWEEPING EQUIPMENT

Sweeping prevents contaminants from entering the storm water system and therefore the ocean. Investment in new technology lets us do this without water carts, reducing our overall water use.

TURBIDITY BUOYS

Sitting around Pania Reef, our two buoys monitor water quality levels in real time to ensure operations do not have a negative impact.

HAWKE’S BAY, A LEAKING BUCKET

20%

Hastings District Council aims for “no more than leakage” from its network of pipes each year.

The CHB District Council budgets

300,000

LITRES of water per household per year.

Napier runs its water supply through almost

500 KILOMETRES of mains.

Damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle saw the percentage of water lost from Wairoa’s network rise from

17% TO

44%

Story by Hamish Bidwell

Hawke’s Bay is leaking like a sieve.

That really is the long and the short of this region’s water infrastructure situation.

According to the HB Regional Water Assessment, we use about 24 million cubic metres of water for reticulation systems serving our households, sportsgrounds, parks and industry.

It appears that 20% or more of this is leaking away.

Hence why the Hastings District Council, for instance, states that on a good day it aims “for no more than 20 per cent leakage’’ from its network.

Precisely where those leaks are and at what volume appears difficult for our councils to discern. In excusing themselves for letting this precious resource literally run down the drain, they will point you in the direction of the national figures. In other words, yeah, water is leaking out of our pipes by the bucketful, but so is everyone else’s.

It’s just that 14 councils across the country, miraculously, appear to be doing a better job at managing their water than others. Whangārei, Western Bay of Plenty, Nelson, Far North District Council, Hauraki, Selwyn, Kāpiti Coast, Tasman, Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, Whakatāne, Waipā and Central Otago have all installed residential meters.

Let’s isolate the Kāpiti Coast because the success of its water metering scheme sits in stark contrast with its neighbours in Wellington City. Wellington is estimated to be losing 45% of its water through leaks.

Not only did Kāpiti reduce its volume of leaks by 90%, but the overall water usage in the district also dropped by 25%. That’s partly because in installing the meters, Kāpiti immediately identified 443 leaks in its infrastructure.

Different councils use different means to charge residents for water use, but the consistent theme among the fourteen is they all use less water and lose less water.

“Water is taken for granted in New Zealand’’ is the opening line of a Water New Zealand paper on the topic of water metering. The paper notes comments, made in 2009, by then-Ministry for the Environment natural systems policy manager Craig Mallett that “we

can’t manage what we don’t measure.’’ That applies to catchments without water metering.

How do we rate?

The commonly used standard for comparison of water leakage is the Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI). The ILI breaks water losses into four bands, from A to D. As you would expect, A is the best band of the four.

A <2

B 2 to <4

C 4 to <8

D 8 or more

“Since 2009, HDC has embarked on an education programme designed to raise the awareness of water usage within the Hastings supply areas,’’ the policy reads. “This programme involves a variety of approaches including signage and website information supported through a media campaign to reinforce HDC’s water conservation message aimed at modifying consumer behaviours.

Further loss reduction may be uneconomic unless there are shortages; careful analysis needed to identify costeffective improvement

Potential for further improvements; consider pressure management, better active leakage control practices and better network maintenance

Poor leakage record; tolerable only if water is plentiful and cheap; even then, analyse level and nature of leakage and intensify leakage reduction efforts

Very inefficient use of resources; leakage reduction programs imperative and high priority

Hawke’s Bay’s councils fall into Band

C. Napier, for instance, has an ILI number of 4.2 and Hastings 4.8. The higher the number, the greater the leaking. Across the region, some infrastructure is in better repair than others. In Takapau, the estimated ILI number is 11.6, while Kairakau is 10.2. That’s very firmly in the D band. Waipukurau loses 699 litres per property per day, while Waipawa loses 607 L/prop/day.

Hawke’s Bay practices

In our region, the main pillar of our water conservation strategy is education. Most of you will have had a friendly reminder from your local authority over the years, suggesting you limit the use of garden sprinklers, otherwise you’ll be restricted to handheld watering on alternate days. It’s a nice idea, which many people willingly acquiesce to, but it’s a band-aid.

The HDC says it attached 2,000 smart water meters to council tobies in the summer of 2022/23 to gain “an improved understanding of water use and leak information.’’

Largely, though, it appears as if HDC’s overall Water Conservation & Demand Management Strategy Policy is to hope we don’t leave the taps running all day.

“HDC’s website and other advertising mechanisms provide water saving tips and general water efficiency advice. They are used to promote water efficient appliances, efficient water practices, responsible garden care and to discourage wasteful use. This information also encourages the community to report any leaks to council.’’

As for the information gathered from the 2,000 smart meters installed in Hastings, Havelock North, Flaxmere, Bridge Pa and Paki Paki, that’s yet to be assessed.

“As you will have noted on the Hastings District Council water meter page, the meters are for monitoring leaks and to give a guide on water use,’’ an HDC spokesperson said.

“The 2023/24 assessment that will use the data from these meters will commence after 1 July and the information will be documented in the HDC Annual Report published later this year.

“Water leaks are an issue for every council. The water meter information is another tool to help identify whether we have an issue with below-ground leaks [noting that at-ground leaks are obvious] as well as identify leakage on private properties.

“Universal metering is not in council’s budget or Long-term Plan,

however it is under consideration.’’

The Napier City Council (NCC) runs its supply through 471 kilometres of water mains and says its volume of leaks across that network is “considered high’’ on the ILI ranking. In real terms, NCC loses about 22% of its water.

Domestic water users in Napier are unmetered while domestic water users in Bay View are metered. All commercial users with high water usage and all industrial users are metered.

Like the HDC, the NCC’s appetite for household water meters appears minimal at a time when council rates rises are forecast for a decade to come.

“Water meters are a useful tool in managing water use,’’ Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said.

“Although we have no immediate plans to instate them in Napier we have indicated that it’s something we could look at in the future. “We have to change behaviours and mindsets around water demand management. We have very high rates of water use in Napier.

“Not all water meters need to be linked to charging. They can be helpful for being actively aware of how much is being used. We do use water meters in some instances when we think there is a leak and we want to check the network.’’

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Up in Wairoa, water infrastructure has been further compromised in Hawke’s Bay by Cyclone Gabrielle. Wairoa District Council (WDC) produces around three million litres of water per day. In 2020/21 and 2021/22, the percentage of water loss from the WDC networked reticulation system was 15% and 17 % respectively. “As a direct result of Cyclone Gabrielle, and infrastructural impacts following the cyclone, water loss increased to 44% in 2022/23,’’ WDC chief executive Kitea Tipuna said.

Steps are being taken – beyond a general consumer education programme – to combat the issue. “As per the 2023/24 Annual Plan, WDC is planning to renew a significant amount of water supply pipeline, with $637,000 budgeted for this work, which will help reduce water loss,’’ said Tipuna.

Central Hawke’s Bay has legendary water infrastructure problems.

“Water leaks are an issue for every council,’’ CHBDC chief executive Doug Tate said.

“The major driver for addressing leaks across our networks has been seeking to increase our renewal and capital investment across our drinking water supply and reticulation networks through our major investment programme #thebigwaterstory, established in 2017.

“We’ve been making major progress on this over the last five years. Since 2021 alone, we have installed 10.2 kilometres of new water pipeline across the network and installed 142 new valves. That is helping us to keep up with the rate of deterioration.’’

This work features prominently in the CHBDC’s new Three-Year Plan Consultation Document. The council has presented three potential Drinking Water and Wastewater Investment options to ratepayers, with its preferred one featuring capital expenditure of $54.9 million. “There is always more that can be invested and we acknowledge that the current model to deliver three waters is not financially sustainable,’’ said Tate.

Waipukurau (453)

Waipawa – Otane (316)

Dunedin Wellington Water Hamilton Tauranga Auckland Hauraki Taupo Hastings Timaru Queenstown Lakes Napier Whanganui Selwyn Rotorua Waimakariri Horowhenua New Plymouth Far North Tasman Waipa Whakatane Invercargill Kapiti Coast Palmerston North Nelson Whangarei Marlborough Western Bayof Plenty Mackenzie Kaipara Masterton Gore Central Otago Waitaki Manawatu Stratford Ruapehu

Interestingly, the widespread installation of household water meters does appear to be up for real discussion in Central Hawke’s Bay.

“We currently meter our extraordinary [commercial] water users and some residential properties in Central Hawke’s Bay have water meters,’’ Tate said. “While there is budget provision outside of the first three years of the Three Year Plan 2024-2027 for metering, the elected council have not yet determined a policy position on universal water metering.

“This decision, which would include community consultation, would need to occur ahead of any decision to implement districtwide metering.’’

CHBDC budgets 300 cubic metres – or 300,000 litres – a year per household. If you use less than 300 cubic metres per year, your water rates will cover all costs and there will be no further charges. If you use more than 300 cubic metres, you will be invoiced on a user-pays basis.

HDC has a similar practice of charging $0.99 per cube for water supplied “over and above typical household consumption as defined in the HDC Ware Services Policy Manual. HDC does require meters on new builds.

Asked about water metering, Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst told Baybuzz,“We looked at water meters several years ago and found that it would cost $20 million, so we decided to spend the money on safe drinking water and storage facilities,’’ Hazlehurst said.

HDC has on its plate, including the “overwhelming recovery demands for roads and bridges we have to prioritise for recovery,’’ said Hazlehurst.

For those reasons, the mayor says HDC can’t justify meters now, but will have to at some point. “We do have to have water metering because we do have to protect our precious water resources. It has to come. Water is a finite resource,’’ Hazlehurst said.

“New builds are easy,” she adds. “We’d have to figure out how to manage existing residences.”

And, as previously noted, while Mayor Kirsten Wise endorses it, water metering is outside her next year Three-Year frame of reference.

Meantime, however, the government has signalled that mandatory water metering might well be an element of its ‘Three Waters’ policy.

Residential water consumption

Water metering is an invaluable tool, but it is we individuals who consume the water in the first place. And in Hawke’s Bay, we consume a lot of it.

Without access to universal metering, Water New Zealand uses a broad estimate of how much water we need in New Zealand per person, per day of between 180 and 300 litres.

That figure in the United Kingdom is said by Water New Zealand to be 150 litres.

well above that target.

Certainly civic education plays a role in conserving water, but there are regulatory measures to be considered as well. Metering with charges for excessive use, for starters. But direct conservation measures as well. For instance, a Bylaw adopted by CHBDC in 2021 requires a rainwater (retention) tank of minimum volume 3,000L for all new residential builds in urban areas. Rural areas, or places considered to be ‘outside of the area’ from potable water supplies continue to require a storage tank with minimum volume of 30,000L.

Where to?

The bottom line is that we need better pipes and better monitoring of the water flowing through them.

The HB Regional Water Assessment noted, water metering for urban users (nearly all irrigation, industrial and commercial uses are already metered) would be a key element of more effective water management across the region.

• As the assessment identified, the benefits for urban water meters include:

• Identifies leaks;

• Increased awareness of actual water use;

• Enables volumetric charging;

• Reduces water use; and

If we’re really serious about conserving water in our ‘water security’ focused region, this is the direction we must go. Average

The cost of meters also has to be weighed up against the other projects

CHBDC says Ministry of Health guidelines indicate a household will need at least 274 cubic metres of water each year. As you can see from the chart above, our HB communities are

• Avoids/defers capital expenditure of additional supply infrastructure, e.g., storage.

FROM METH TO MUSHROOMS

Story by Abby Beswick

Photo: Jerry Cooper | Landcare Research

Meth, crack, crystal, ice, speed, P. Methamphetamine is known by many names but the impact of this insidious drug is always the same: havoc, harm and upheaval for every individual, family and community it touches.

The meth problem in New Zealand is significant. Methamphetamine use has exploded in the country in recent years due to the growing sophistication of gang operations, and despite the drug’s well-known dangers, tens of thousands of Kiwis are hooked. Hawke’s Bay is one of the most affected regions in the country, with Wairoa, Napier and Hastings ranked above the national average for meth use per person, according to data from wastewater testing.

Now, Kiwis addicted to meth could have the chance to turn their lives around, thanks to a collaborative study underway using magic mushrooms.

The project, led by Rangiwaho Marae near Gisborne, involves a network of organisations and individuals including, Rua Bioscience, Environmental Science and Research (ESR), Auckland and Waikato Universities, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, and Mātai Medical Research Institute.

More on this project to follow. First, a primer on the meth problem.

A national scourge

For users, meth is an extremely addictive powerful stimulant that produces a euphoric effect. A powerful upper, it gives users a sudden rush of pleasure, making them feel energetic, confident, alert and strong for several hours. But when the euphoria wears off, users are left with an extreme physical and mental toll.

Over time, meth use affects every aspect of an individual’s life, including their health, work and relationships. The biggest impacts however, are arguably felt by families and communities.

“Beyond the harms methamphetamine can cause someone using it –including impulse control, memory loss, anxiety, anger and depression – the drug’s highly addictive nature means that acquisitive crime is common, which means the harms and impacts are widely felt in communities.”

Sarah Helm, NZ Drug Foundation

Meth use increases the risks of psychosis, violence and impulsivity and decreases emotional control. This creates a chaotic environment for people living with a user. More widely, meth use threatens whole communities, fueling crime, unemployment and child neglect.

Methamphetamine is used in communities all over New Zealand. Since police wastewater testing began, meth has been detected in every community tested during every day of the week. In 2020 wastewater mass loads (the normalised concentration of meth by population) were compared across 27 countries. New Zealand’s results were among the highest – only ranking lower than Australia, the United States and the Czech Republic. Nationally, methamphetamine consumption has recently increased, according to latest wastewater data. Across sample sites in the third quarter of 2023, methamphetamine

The wastewater sites tested in the Eastern District, which includes Hawke’s Bay, recorded the second highest per capita methamphetamine consumption of all regions in 2023, with an average of 703 milligrams consumed per day per 1000 people.

consumption averaged an estimated 13.8kg per week (up from an average of 12.8kg over the previous four quarters) and several districts recorded increases in meth consumption rates. The figures equate to an estimated weekly social harm cost of $15.3 million.

Data trends over time however, show methamphetamine consumption has remained fairly stable or declining, says National Drug Intelligence Bureau Detective Inspector, Tim Chao. “Methamphetamine use across all testing sites nationwide in 2023 was 10% lower than the previous four-year average,” says Detective Inspector Chao.

Yet the level of meth use and its impact still paint a grim picture. Of the drugs tested in the wastewater programme, methamphetamine continues to be the most consumed drug. Around New Zealand, meth use is having a deep and widespread impact. So much so, a recent study by the University of Otago ranked it as the second most harmful drug in New Zealand, behind alcohol.

The New Zealand Drug Harms Ranking Study looked at a broad range of harmful effects to meth users, their families and communities, which are many and serious, says executive director of the NZ Drug Foundation Te Puna Whakaiti Pāmamae Kai Whakapiri, Sarah Helm. “Beyond the harms methamphetamine can cause someone using it – including impulse control, memory loss, anxiety, anger and depression – the drug’s highly addictive nature means that acquisitive crime is common, which means the harms and impacts are widely felt in communities,” she says.

Hawke’s Bay situation

Disturbingly, Hawke’s Bay has one of the highest rates of meth use in the country. The region’s widespread meth addiction is laid bare in the police wastewater data. The wastewater sites tested in the Eastern District, which includes Hawke’s Bay, recorded the second highest per capita methamphetamine consumption of all regions in 2023, with an average of 703 milligrams consumed per day per 1000 people.

And the news stories keep coming. Last year a Hastings woman who ran a ‘walk-in’ meth shop and brought more than 1kg of the drug into Hawke’s Bay over six months was jailed for four years. The woman ran the operation with her partner, who will be sentenced at a later date.

Also last year, police made multiple arrests in relation to the sale and supply of methamphetamine in Hawke’s Bay. In a separate incident, four people were arrested after 83 kg of methamphetamine concealed in pallets arrived at Port Napier. The drugs were imported from South Africa and had a street value of $29 million.

Like everywhere, meth use in Hawke’s Bay results in the breakdown of relationships between users and their friends and family, child neglect, financial and health issues and a criminal lifestyle. Eastern Police say they will continue to focus on drug supply offending, and they need the help of the community to do so.

The issues and and reasons behind greater meth use and harm in Hawke’s Bay are multilayered and complex, says Helm. “The data shows that methamphetamine use and harm is concentrated in our most economically deprived neighbourhoods, and we know that the enduring impacts of colonisation and decades of failed drug policies are a factor.”

Mushroom magic

Reducing meth addiction has never been more critical, with communities around the country suffering its effects. The ground-breaking study led by Rangiwaho Marae could be the solution desperately needed to fight this catastrophic problem.

The Health Research Council has granted $300,000 to Rangiwaho Marae over 18 months for its research programme. In the summary for the grant, the council praises the value of the project.

‘This research has been a request that has come directly from the whānau of Rangiwaho marae. Their aspirations for this mahi is to comprehensively investigate the therapeutic potential of natural psychoactive molecules derived from taonga species in collaboration with iwi communities and Māori businesses, and to develop tikanga Māori (protocol) for safe administration of psilocybin-containing taonga species of mushroom (Weraroa) for the treatment of addiction and other mental

Psychedelics are useful in the context of drug treatment because they increase connections between areas of the brain. “The active ingredient, psilocybin, binds to a receptor in the brain and essentially does a brain reset.”

Bevan Weir

health conditions such as depression in a marae setting, by, with and for Māori.’

It’s unknown yet which mushrooms will be cultivated for the study. It could be one of a few indigenous species, of which Psilocybe makarora is an option, says Landcare Research mycologist, Dr Bevan Weir – one of the experts involved.

The different indigenous species (found in New Zealand and elsewhere) used in the trials will all contain the active psilocybin ingredient. There are currently six indigenous mushroom species and two that are endemic species (only found in New Zealand) that are of interest to the study.

Psilocybin is the active ingredient in all magic mushrooms. When consumed, it has hallucinogenic effects that alter a person’s senses, thinking, sense of time and emotions.

As mushrooms containing psilocybin are Class A drugs, a license from the Ministry of Health is required for their use in the trials and the ongoing study. Once the team has this, clinical trials can proceed.

Fungi power

Weir has been working with fungus and bacteria for 22 years and during that time he has developed a deep respect for this often neglected group of pathogens.

There’s believed to be somewhere between 1 to 10 million species of fungi in the world: most of which are microscopic. Fungi is a broad term that

Landcare Research mycologist Bevan Weir.

includes moulds, yeasts and mushrooms, while mushrooms are a certain group of fungi with fruiting bodies that typically have a stalk, cap and gills.

Fungi are hugely important to the ecosystem, because of their role in breaking down plant and animal waste and recycling nutrients. The only way they do this is by interacting with the environment through chemistry, says Dr Weir.

Wood rotting fungi for example, break down wood and return all those nutrients back to the forest. Fungi also form important symbiotic relationships. Fungi grow in or on plant roots, helping it get easy access to food from the plant. The plant benefits from the mycelium (threads that grow through soil) produced by the fungi that help it absorb more water and nutrients.

Once the species are selected for the study, Dr Weir will be involved in understanding the environmental conditions for optimum cultivation. He will also investigate what other compounds the species have other than psilocybin, which could be beneficial.

Holistic approach

The East Coast has been grappling with a growing meth problem, says Rangiwaho Marae trustee, Jody Toroa. “It’s everywhere; it’s insidious.”

Support and health organisations have all reported an upwards trend, and affected families are concerned about the lack of addiction services in the region, she says. What is available,

often isn’t the right fit, says Toroa: “Unfortunately the solutions aren’t that strong and community-centred.”

The collaborative study led by Rangiwaho Marae was born out of wanting to meet that need. An evolving team of individuals, whānau, community groups and institutions formed around 18 months ago. They have developed powerful relationships and share a common goal, says Toroa. “We’re a committed group of whānau from across all spectrums of our community, who have been looking at how we can turn this around.”

One of the conversations around alternative medicines led to discussions around native fungi. The idea of fungi potentially helping solve drug addiction has been well researched, and there are huge advancements being carried out overseas, says Toroa. In Australia for example, psychedelic treatments have been legalised for addiction, trauma, stress, anxiety, ptsd, and intergenerational trauma.

Approaching this kind of treatment from a holistic and New Zealand cultural perspective, however, is something new. “These are environments and treatments that are attuned to that community and culture,” says Toroa. “What we’re developing and designing is attuned to what’s right and specific for us as whānau Maori. The native mushrooms are taonga for us.”

The study’s approach brings together a mix of traditional medicines that have been around for centuries, for

Psilocybe cyanescens. Photo: Noah Siegel

cultural and healing purposes, married with western science.

This all-inclusive approach to patient treatment is what makes this study special. As part of this, a key aspect of the trials is patients will be guided and supported throughout, to ensure it’s a good experience. “I’ve been really impressed with the deep thought that is going into this,” says Dr Weir. The tri als will be in harmony with our culture and environment, and a huge amount of consideration has gone into every detail, down to what music should be played, he says.

Toroa and the team are hugely excited about the opportunity for whānau to turn their lives around. A lot of the addiction they see comes from deepseated issues and intergenerational trauma. The study’s approach is about self-healing - giving the power back to

in June, around Matariki, as this is a time of significance for Māori.

Nine people will take part in the first trial, which will follow a whānau-centred approach, with several more trials to follow. Auckland University is involved in carrying out the trials and

Royston Hospital is pleased to sponsor robust examination of health issues in Hawke’s Bay. This reporting is prepared by BayBuzz. Any editorial views expressed are those of the BayBuzz team.

these negative pathways and negative thoughts, and if you take these large doses of magic mushrooms essentially it’s like a brain reset.” Research shows this interrupts the negative behaviours and gives users the chance of a fresh start. We’re proud

FUTURE POSITIVE

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Sport + Wellness Damon Harvey

YOUNG AT HEART

Just a decade ago being active in your golden years was more likely to be a round of golf, bowls or a morning walk.

Fast forward to today and more retirees can be seen hurtling down mountain bike trails (some on e-bikes), getting physical at the gym, playing pickleball or completing marathons or adventure races.

As we live longer – the average life expectancy has risen from 71.1 years for a male and 77.2 for a female in the late 1980s to 80 years for men and 83 years for women – we are also more conscious of keeping active and well.

Physical activity – particularly when it is moderate-intensity and raises your heart rate – is known to reduce the risk of a number of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.

Personally as I move through my 50s I’m determined to keep fit and active. I go the gym about 4-5 times a week, regularly explore the mtb trails of Te Mata Park and Esk forest (albeit on an e-bike) and surf whenever a swell hits the Bay.

I have a gym buddy that hit superannuation age last year who is much more flexible than me and has put me to shame swimming laps at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study 2019 found Kiwis were now living longer but

spending more years in poor health.

Stats NZ reports the number of people aged 65 years or older (65+) living in New Zealand is likely to hit 1 million by 2028 and 1.3 million by 2040.

The proportion meeting the physical activity guidelines increased between ages 50 and 64 (from 60 percent to 64 percent) and between ages 65 and 74 (from 57 percent to 62 percent).

Popular activities are predominantly non-competitive activities such as walking, individual workouts, Pilates, and yoga.

As I leave Peak Fitness in Havelock North after my daily Hiit (high intensity) class, I’m greeted by the plus 70s that attend workout classes tailored for older adults by Cath Steiner.

Cath previously worked at Sport Hawke’s Bay delivering senior exercise classes before seeing a gap in the wellness market for personal training, group exercise and programmes designed for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s and prostate cancer and established her business Exercise is Good.

She runs classes at Peak Fitness in Havelock North as well as delivering strength and balance and Tai Chi classes in retirement villages, and is soon to launch a stroke and dementia group training programme.

“When I worked for Sport Hawke’s Bay delivering seniors’ exercise, I was blown away with how important it was to them – both the social side and

how exercise helped them be fitter and stronger for their daily life activities.

“Until then I’d viewed exercise training as a means to get better at sport or manage a healthy weight rather than a way to help reduce pain and improve or resolve symptoms of so many health conditions.

“I was hooked on how meaningful the outcomes were for this population and so added to my Bachelor of Physical Education degree with a Certificate in Exercise and became registered for both personal training and group exercise delivery.”

Cath has captured a growing market and says older adults are becoming more knowledgeable about the benefits of exercise as research and awareness develops.

“Exercise does us good, but I believe exercise can be done ‘for good’ or forever. We should never stop exercising, but simply adapt it to our changing health, lifestyle and goals.”

She says many of her clients take up organised physical wellbeing programmes after younger family members recommend to them the benefits of personal or group training.

The benefits, are broad from social connection and a sense of community to improved mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing using a wide range of equipment such as kettlebells, dumbbells, sports balls, boxing gear, hula hoops, resistance bands, blaze

pods, agility ladders and more.

“Whilst this all sounds physical, my clients know I love to incorporate cognitive challenges into their training as well, it’s essential for neural pathway building and often generates laughter and connection with me or other group members, which you just can’t beat. It contributes to them feeling good about coming back and keeping with the programme.”

The workouts keep or build aerobic fitness, muscle tissue, bone density, grip strength, range of movement and the ‘big one’ balance.

She says as a result, there is growing demand in the falls prevention space and condition-specific group training, which gives individuals both targeted exercise and a mini community.

Cath trains two 92-year-old women who she says are as eager to see progress as any younger gym goer. She says it’s important that training is

still challenging and that they can see noticeable improvements in their everyday life.

“The days of thinking a gentle walk is enough are over, walking is great but there is much more we should and could be doing like incorporating resistance, agility and dual task training.

“For these ladies every session has different exercises to keep it interesting and I progress their training just like I would for a younger participant.

“What was light resistance band, seated shoulder presses has progressed to standing shoulder presses with dumbbells, sit to stands have progressed to not using chair arms and holding a medicine ball, the resistance level on the stationary bike has increased, adding more ‘cognitive load’ to their dual tasking drills.”

Cath says it’s hugely important to recognise that training for older people still needs to be safely challenging

“Exercise does us good, but I believe exercise can be done ‘for good’ or forever. We should never stop exercising, but simply adapt it to our changing health, lifestyle and goals.”

Cath Steiner

in intensity and teaching them about their bodies.

“My coaching cues teach them about how their body is moving and how they can improve and functionally apply this to their activities of daily life.

“Most are fascinated and empowered with this approach.”

Cath has also introduced specific programmes for people living with Parkinson’s and dementia called Counterpunch Parkinson’s as well as Prost-FIT a programme for those with prostate cancer.

The number of people with Parkinson’s in New Zealand has been steadily increasing, from an estimated 7,000 in 2006 to 11,000 in 2020 and is expected to reach 22,000 by 2040.

She also has plans to introduce the Ronnie Gardiner Method (RGM) to Havelock North later this year. RGM is an innovative, multi-sensory exercise method for the brain and body, in which rhythm, music, verbalisation and movement are used to stimulate both cognitive and motor skills.

Active 4 Life gets people exercising

Sport Hawke’s Bay launched its Kiwi Seniors programme in 1991 which is now branded Active 4 Life.

Active recreation team leader Eana Young says 30 years on some that were then aged in their early 60s are still participants in what is now called Active 4 Life.

“We have had some seniors who have to contend with some major health issues over the years and they still maintain that our Sport Hawke’s Bay programmes are what has kept them going,” Eana says.

Active 4 Life programmes are held in local churches, halls and community

centres and Eana says there’s a broad range of benefits that get participants out of their home.

Programmes are suitable for people of all abilities and are led by a team of qualified exercise professionals that have worked in this specialised area for a number of years.

“The key thing is about finding a programme that you enjoy and working within your limitations. There is always an open path for people to make contact with our friendly team at Sport Hawke’s Bay if they have any queries about which is the right programme for them.

“Many a time, we are told that getting up in the morning to come to one of our programmes gives people ‘a purpose’ and something to look forward to each week.

“Active 4 Life is attended by a passionate and dedicated group who not only participate but volunteer to ensure the smooth running of programmes throughout the region.”

She says for those that are considering getting more active there’s a few things to consider such as seeking advice from your GP.

“If you have any medical concerns before starting on an exercise regime,

be guided by your doctor.

“It is just about being able to adjust your health and fitness goals and being realistic about what you can do while being in a friendly supportive environment with likeminded people or if exercising independently keeping yourself safe and enjoying what you do.”

To find out more about active programmes visit www.sporthb.net.nz or go to Cath’s facebook page – Exercise for Good.

“We have had some seniors have to contend with some major health issues over the years and they still maintain that our Sport Hawke’s Bay programmes are what has kept them going.”

Eana Young

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Kaweka Hospital is pleased to sponsor BayBuzz coverage of sport and wellness in Hawke’s Bay.

UNISON: A CENTURY IN THE MAKING

BayBiz Brenda Newth

“Many have played a part in our history and I want to extend a huge thank you to our consumers, our communities and our employees, past and present, for their support and contributions over the last century.”

Jaun Park

In 1924 the founders of Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board could not have imagined what their fledgling utility company would become. One hundred years on, Unison is a successful, respected specialist electricity group, with a footprint and reputation that extends far beyond Hawke’s Bay.

Throughout its history Unison, under its various monikers, has undertaken amalgamations, acquisitions and divestments, and weathered earthquake, winter storms, floods, cyclones, and power shortages, as well as meeting the challenge of regulatory change, to emerge a vibrant entity, touching nearly household in the region.

It all began back in 1912, the same year that saw the Titanic sink. Between 1912 and 1920, dozens of local power stations were commissioned throughout New Zealand. By 1920, there were 55 public power stations with a collective generating capacity of 45 megawatts.

Following the Electric Power Boards Act 1918, Power Boards could produce, reticulate and sell power to those areas

not supplied through local government. In 1923, a committee backed by Hawke’s Bay County initiated the formation of a Power Board to manage electricity distribution across the county.

Both Napier and Hastings, self-sufficient in power generation for a decade, indicated they were ready to buy from the Board. The same was true for Havelock North Town Board and Taradale. Adding to this, two freezing works consented to source their power from the Board. These commitments secured a significant power load, leading to the establishment of the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board (HBEPB) on 19 June 1924.

BayBuzz caught up with Jason Larkin, Unison’s GM Commercial and Centralines to discuss the centenary, how things had changed and where the company was headed as it enters its second century.

Speaking of the company’s history, Larkin says there are four distinct phases.

“Getting power to the towns, electrifying industry, rural electrification, and supporting growth to the region.

“Rural electrification was post-war, which made a big difference, increasing the productivity (sheep shearing became electrified for example) and improving the lives and wellbeing of rural communities.

Unison all female crew: Azra Wenzlick, Juliet Fordyce, Natasha Goodall, Emily Flynn, Laisa Pickering, Serah Russell.

POTTED HISTORY

HBEPB AND UNISON

1920s Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board formed, linemen were paid 19 cents per hour. Redclyffe substation comes into service. Takes over Taradale Town Board electricity supply.

1930s Earthquake hits Power Board hard, HBEPB takes over Hastings and Havelock North reticulation. New HBEPB headquarters established in Hastings.

1940s WW2 impacts supply chain, limits capital works and slows rural reticulation plans. Demand for power outstrips supply.

1950s New Fernhill substation caters for growth, supplies all of Hastings. Steam from Awatoto fertiliser works used to produce electricity for HBEPB. Power restrictions continue. Upgrades to receive supply at 33 kV commence. Hastings Gas Company formed.

1960s Country reticulation completed. First housing subdivision with high tension overhead /low tension underground completed. Hydro scheme considered for the Ngaruroro River. Revenue reaches $4.8m in 1969.

1990s Acquires Bay City Power from Napier City Council. New regulation creates commercial entities out of power boards. HBEPB becomes Hawke’s Bay Power, owned by Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust. Retail electricity business sold to Contact Energy, leaving only the network business, renamed as Hawke’s Bay Network.

2000s Expands to Taupō and Rotorua acquiring electricity distribution assets from United Networks and Vector. Name change to Unison Networks. Establishes Unison Fibre, buys transformer manufacturer ETEL.

2010s Creates separate business for contracting services. First EV charging stations. Unison Contracting supports Aurora Energy in Dunedin. Acquires RPS Switchgear.

2020s Acquires high-voltage electrical contracting specialist PBA, sells Unison Fibre.

“More recently, it’s been about supporting the growth and improving lives and livelihoods in the region by being there to provide power for industry as it’s grown.”

Doing it all

In the first 70-odd years of its history, the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board was both a lines company – building the electricity network as Hawke’s Bay grew – and an electricity retailer. Right up until the 1990s it sold electrical appliances like stoves, to encourage consumers to make the leap to an electricity enabled home. It also held cooking demonstrations for the housewives of the day, with the first demonstration taking place in the 1920s. If an appliance needed repair, or an electric blanket needed testing, HBEPB could take care of that, too, with the board noting in its 50th anniversary publication that “the public has always appreciated the sound after-sales service provided by the Board.”

Allied to the retail section was the Consumer Service Department giving worthwhile advice to builders, architects and homeowners who wished to make maximum and efficient use of electricity.

The Board was pretty self-sufficient. Its main depot held requisite stores and parts; it also had a vehicle repair depot, concrete pole factory, electrical fitters’ workshop and a carpenters’ shop. The 50th anniversary booklet notes (that in the period after WWII): “the Board is now adequately mechanised with over 100 units including cars, trucks, bulldozers, trench diggers and pole-hole borers”.

Community ownership

Throughout its history, Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board has been a publicly owned asset built by the people of Hawke’s Bay. The move to a trust ownership model was part of the overall

“Unison is one of the key infrastructure assets in Hawke’s Bay and continues this proud tradition of providing great value to Hawke’s Bay power consumers and the community in general.”

Diana Kirton

electricity reforms of the 1990’s. These days Unison is owned by Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust (HBPCT), an arrangement not without controversy.

HBPCT Chair Diana Kirton says the Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust is very proud to mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board.

“Unison is one of the key infrastructure assets in Hawke’s Bay and continues this proud tradition of providing great value to Hawke’s Bay power consumers and the community in general.”

Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust receives an annual dividend from Unison which it then distributes directly to local power consumers. Since 1998 more than $250 million has been returned to power consumers via the dividend.

Weathering the storms

Cyclone Gabrielle, the snow storm of 2016, the floods of 1974 and the 1931 earthquake. Our local electricity company has been there for it all, doing its best to minimise disruption and get people reconnected as soon as possible.

Reflecting on how our reliance on the power supply has increased over the years, Larkin says:

“When I was a child, a power cut was an adventure. You got out the candles and the playing cards. The economy didn’t stop, because most things could still be done. The telephone still worked. Now, when there’s no power people’s lives stop. You lose connectivity. The economy stops. We can’t buy anything if the EFTPOS system goes down.

“It’s actually become more important in people’s lives, and the tolerance to any interruption is almost zero.”

Of the lessons learned from the cyclone, Larkin says that a lot of what was applied to Unison’s response came from earlier events.

“The importance of getting on the ground, engaging with communities at an early stage to understand their issues, and share our plan for restoring power.

“With Gabrielle we continue to learn and refine things. Our systems don’t actually look down to each customer, in an active sense.”

He explains that disconnecting and then reconnecting customers without the visibility that “last mile” technology enables makes reconnection quite a manual exercise.

“It’s probably the next place to invest in terms of data technology and systems. Now with electricity the technology is there, smart meters are there and adding in some other smart technology will mean that (in a technology and data driven way) we don’t leave any customers behind.”

In our next edition, BayBuzz will look into Unison’s recovery and future resilience progress in detail.

100 birthday celebrations

Unison has always had a strong community focus. Owned by locals, employing locals, and supplying local households and businesses, Unison is one of a select group of companies that is of daily service to the people of Hawke’s Bay. It is inextricably connected to the region; no growth or development can take place without the essential electricity network infrastructure that Unison provides.

Unison is inviting the Hawke’s Bay public to get involved and celebrate with them, and especially to share memories, photos, mementos and any items such as old tools, uniforms, or safety gear. Also planned is a special exhibition in June at the Faraday Museum in Napier.

The exhibit promises to be fully interactive, and will break Unison’s history into 25 year time periods, telling the story of Unison and its predecessors, the growth and development of

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 1940s switchboard; 1970s pole work; 1988 Power Board appliance delivery truck.

the company, and celebrating key milestones in Unison’s history.

As to the feeling within Unison as the centenary approaches, Larkin says:

“I think people are starting to warm up and get excited about it. There’s interest, particularly from staff who have been here longer, and amongst staff who have left, who want to share some of that history and make sure it’s not lost.

“There’s a real opportunity, not just for existing staff, but for the whole community to reflect and share their stories, whether they worked for Unison or they were touched by the work Unison did,” says Larkin.

A sustainable energy future

Planners haven’t always gotten it right. The company’s 50th Anniversary report predicted, “It seems inevitable that we will be generating power from atomic sources in the late 1980s, despite some opposition at present.” Change happens!

Today, Unison’s vision is to lead a sustainable energy future that supports the changing energy needs of consumers.

And change they have, to include electric vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps, more home appliances than ever, and internet-of-things enabled appliances. In 1947 the average annual demand of domestic consumers was one 1,000kWh, in 1974 it was 3,000 kWh, and today it’s around 7,000 kWh. The big loads in the average home remain the hot water cylinder and oven.

Unison’s CEO is Jaun Park, who has spent his entire career in the electricity sector. He was appointed to the top job last year, after 17 years with the company.

Since his appointment he has been refining Unison’s vision and strategy to

“There’s a real opportunity, not just for existing staff, but for the whole community to reflect and share their stories, whether they worked for Unison or they were touched by the work Unison did.”

Jason Larkin

create sustainable value for its customers and shareholders. Unison Group is set to play a leading role in decarbonisation, while delivering for its consumers and shareholders, he says.

“The future is electric and our growth strategy over the last decade has reflected that, acquiring complementary businesses to ensure we are strongly positioned to leverage the opportunities and tackle the challenges associated with electrification.

“As we step into the future it’s important we harness advancements

UNISON AT A GLANCE

in technology to drive efficiency and better connect with our customers and continue nurturing strong and enduring relationships – but no strategy can be developed or delivered without people.

“Many have played a part in our history and I want to extend a huge thank you to our consumers, our communities and our employees, past and present, for their support and contributions over the last century.

“I’m looking forward to commemorating this historical milestone with our team and the community in June,” says Park.

For those interested in learning more about HBEPB history check out Unison’s website, the Hawke’s Bay Knowledge Bank, and local libraries. To learn more about Unison’s 100th celebrations of the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board, go to www.unison.co.nz

• 1,095 employees globally, with more than 90 offshore

• 79% male staff: 21% female (Unison Networks and Unison Contracting)

• Presence in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia

• FY23 Earnings before interest and tax $58m (72% from regulated sources, 28% unregulated)

• Network assets in Hawke’s Bay, Taupō, Rotorua

• Nearly 10,000km of network

• More than 116,000 ICPs across three networks

• 66,137 power poles

• More than 500 vehicles

• 23 employees in Unison/Unison Contracting with more than 25 years service

• Current longest serving employee – 48 years service

• Community sponsorships supporting wellbeing, growth and development in Unison’s regions.

Pat McGoverin fields a call in the Control Room in the newly constructed Warren Street office in 1992.

From one end of the Bay to the other, we’re working for you

Manage gravel

Flood mitigations

Drainage schemes

Flood risk assessment

Resource consents

Monitor water takes Advise on land use

Hill country erosion

Water storage solutions

Support water conservation

Catchment management advice

Carbon footprint reduction

Environmental education

Monitor climate  Air quality monitoring

Freshwater monitoring

Groundwater monitoring

Marine and coastal health

Water quality reports for swimmers

Measure rainfall and water flows  Pest management

Pollution response  Protect ecosystem sites

Manage and develop wetlands  Maintain and develop regional parks

Manage and develop cycling trails  Co-fund economic development

Staff 24-hour CD monitoring  Support HB Civil Defence

Enforcing marine regulations  Marine safety, advice, education

Total Mobility taxi service  Bus services

On-demand transport services  Regional transport planning

Road safety education

WAIROA

NAPIER

HASTINGS

WAIPUKURAU

WAIPAWA

SUSTAINABLE PROGRESS AT NAPIER PORT

Photo: Florence Charvin

BayBiz Brenda Newth

Three years ago Napier Port launched its sustainability strategy. At the time, BayBuzz described the initiative as setting a high bar for all commercial and public institutions in the region. In this article we catch up on progress and some of the key initiatives.

to reducing our carbon footprint and embracing sustainable practices”.

David Broad, GM Assets and Infrastructure, says that next big ticket items in the sustainability strategy will be looking at things like emissions reduction pathways and new technology that the port can adopt.

“Our employee recognition scheme this year is all about focusing on how our teams can turn their view outwards and start engaging with the community and bringing people in.”

David Broad

and segregating domestic waste to reduce total volume to landfill.

Strauss says she gets a steady stream of emails from people around the Port, with some new (sustainability) idea they’re excited to share.

In addition to contributing to New Zealand’s climate change goals, prioritising sustainability is good for business, with studies showing that companies with solid sustainability practices have better financial performance, a lower cost of capital, and are perceived as less risky by investors and insurers.

Forsyth Barr’s 2023 Carbon and ESG (environmental, social, governance) ratings of New Zealand listed companies, scored Napier Port’s sustainability performance at B+, describing the company as a fast follower, in the middle of the pack for the infrastructure industry. Of note, and dragging down its overall rating, was the lack of target to reduce water consumption and a poor score in the environmental management system sub-category. Plans are in place to address these issues.

That said, impressive progress is being made. In its 2023 financial year the port reported that 61% of all 102 workstreams in the strategy were commenced or ongoing, up from the previous year’s 47%, “demonstrating our commitment

“That’s the E of ESG. We are focussing a lot on the S this year as well. Our employee recognition scheme this year is all about focusing on how our teams can turn their view outwards and start engaging with the community and bringing people in.”

Involving everybody – the incentive scheme

Getting port people on board with sustainability means they keep thinking and acting sustainably in their day-to-day work. Hannah Strauss, Environment and Sustainability Advisor, is tasked with spreading the sustainability message across the business.

Last financial year, all teams were asked to identify initiatives that could be implemented and be ongoing. One hundred and twenty four initiatives were put forward, which were then evaluated and prioritised. Some are already producing results, such as using data driven planning to reduce equipment idle time, replacing HID lights with LED units to lower consumption and reduce risk, developing an aerosol puncture device to recycle used cans, partnering with Sustainable Coastlines and Litter Intelligence to participate in community litter reduction initiatives,

“And we do what we can to make those happen. It’s definitely gone beyond what staff need to do to get the bonus, which is really cool to see.”

Broad adds: “The ideas come from the workgroups, and they can be anything. The crux of it is how can the port engage and help our communities to thrive?”

Paul Rose, Environmental Advisor, says that once people are talking about it, then you’ve started to embed (sustainability) into your business. “I think everyone wants to make the environment better in the future, and try and do their little part.”

Driving down dirty diesel

With a business that involves lifting and moving heavy things, it should come as no surprise that diesel emissions are a big deal, and reducing or eliminating them completely will go a long way to the port reaching zero net emissions by 2050.

The Port’s emissions inventory is independently audited by Toitū Envirocare. The certification confirms that the port’s operational emissions are measured and managed in accordance with international standards.

Currently 72% of the port’s carbon emissions come from diesel used by its container handling machines, marine fleet, and mobile harbour

NAPIER PORT’S GREEN TEAM

“I love the variety, and leaving the place better than I find it. It’s pretty inspirational.”

Paul Rose –environmental advisor

NAPIER PORT SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD

• Sustainability strategy and action plan launched 2018

• 102 initiatives, with 61% commenced or ongoing

• 3 x climate change reports published

• Emissions independently audited by Toitū Envirocare

• Updated climate risk assessment completed in 2023

• Rated B+ fast follower by Forsyth Barr C&ESG

• Climate change risks mapped

“Helping our people to broaden their scope on what sustainability is, is really cool.”

Hannah Strauss –environmental and sustainability advisor

• Partners with mana whenua, mana whenua hapū o Ahuriri, the Steering Komiti, LegaSea, DOC, Fisheries Liaison Group, local councils

• Penguin sanctuary, artificial reefs, marine cultural health programme, fishing surveys

• Good neighbour programme

• Port Noise Management programme

• Sustainability committee at board level

• Sustainability component to employee incentive programme

• MOU with Hiringa Energy to investigate renewable energy initiatives involving green hydrogen

• Large number of primary sector business and ocean-focussed community sponsorships

“Prioritising Kaweka and Te Mata has saved almost 27,000 litres of diesel, and around 69 tonnes of carbon in the six months to February.”

Hannah Strauss

cranes. The move to more efficient machinery is underway, supported by sustainability objectives in the port’s procurement policy.

Getting smart about how plant and equipment is used, can also make a noticeable difference, according to Hannah Strauss. The port’s three tugs – Ahuriri, Kaweka, and Te Mata – are not created equal. Ahuriri is more diesel thirsty than its sister vessels, and is now the last tug to be deployed – an initiative that came from port staff.

“Prioritising Kaweka and Te Mata has saved almost 27,000 litres of diesel, and around 69 tonnes of carbon in the six months to February.

“It sounds like a simple enough switch, but there was a lot of work to be done with the tug teams. They had to be trained to use the different tugs. The Kaweka (the port’s newest tug) is quite different, it’s the more economical one, and they had to completely change the rosters and the planning around that as well. It’s been hugely successful,” she says.

Since coming into service Te Whiti (6 Wharf) has enabled carbon emission savings of approximately 150 tonnes, as it has reduced the number of ship moves, and therefore tug use.

New energy efficient plant has been bought, and will continue to be bought in the future, with timing dependent on things like cashflow and assets’ end of life. Twelve months ago four new Kalmar container handling machines were purchased, offering better fuel efficiency than the port’s existing stock.

Expected for delivery early next year are seven electric forklifts, a $3 million purchase that Broad says will save 237 tonnes of carbon annually and make all of the equipment operating in warehousing operations electrified. Planned for the near future is the replacement of two of the port’s six mobile harbour cranes, a multi-million dollar investment.

Partnerships

Partnerships is a key pillar underpinning the port’s overall strategy as well as its sustainability efforts. Where relevant the port works with

Paul Rose and Hannah Strauss. Photo Florence Charvin

groups including mana whenua, mana whenua hapū o Ahuriri, LegaSea Hawke’s Bay, the Fisheries Liaison Group, local experts, local councils, the Department of Conservation and university academics to develop and deliver programmes.

Arguably one of its most high profile programmes is the Kororā (Little Blue Penguin) sanctuary, the first of its kind on-port in New Zealand.

The sanctuary was developed with the help of Kororā expert Professor John Cockrem from Massey University, and forms part of a wider Avian Management Plan prepared with mana whenua as kaitiaki of the area, the Department of Conservation, and HB Regional Council.

Today the penguin population is thriving, with around 280 microchipped birds based at the colony. Live cameras give a peek into the specially constructed boxes, which have proven more successful than the burrows made by the penguins, drawing viewers from as far away as Taiwan. The penguins also provide a fantastic learning opportunity for local school students.

12 month plans carefully designed by vets to give your pet the very best veterinary care while spreading costs over the year.

Routine health checks

Another ground breaking initiative is the marine cultural health programme, launched in 2021 and developed in partnership between mana whenua hapū and Napier Port to monitor the health of the marine environment in and around the Ahuriri/Napier area.

At the time of launch Steering Komiti Chair Chad Tareha (Ngāti Pārau Hapū representative) said: “Napier Port sought to engage all mana whenua entities in the Steering Komiti, and this has been valuable as it has provided for diverse and meaningful dialogue in the creation of the programme and its framework.

“We’ve designed our programme as a living document that will be updated annually and, hopefully, eventually become a benchmark for other mana whenua who seek to monitor their marine rohe (area),” says Tareha.

Artificial reefs

In what’s believed to be another first for a New Zealand port company, Napier Port created two artificial reefs in partnership with LegaSea, a group of recreational fishers dedicated to rebuilding local fish stocks.

Life-stage veterinary care (eg, puppy pre-school, microchipping & desexing)

Annual vaccinations

Flea & worm treatments

Discounts on food & retail

Visit your local Vet Services or head to our website to learn more about Wellness Plans and payment options.

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ABOVE: Tugmaster Shaun Haywood. Photo Florence Charvin

“The formation of the reef was a massive milestone for the group and a testament to hard work and a genuine collaborative approach.”

Brian Firman

In the ultimate of recycling projects, the Port reused limestone rock dismantled as part of its 6 Wharf project, with more than 16,000 tonnes of rock deployed; 15,000 tonnes to create the first reef 1.4 kms north east of Pania Reef, and a further 1,400 tonnes were deposited at the Gwen B shipwreck site.

Brian Firman, from LegaSea, says the artificial reef system will provide habitats for a variety of marine life and will eventually enhance recreational fishing and diving opportunities around Napier.

“The formation of the reef was a massive milestone for the group and a testament to hard work and a genuine collaborative approach.”

LegaSea notes (on its website) that after only three years, life is flourishing at the sites, with a range of species found including crayfish, blue cod, and a variety of sponges.

In addition to the LegaSea Hawke’s Bay partnership, Napier Port also works closely with the Mana Whenua Steering Komiti – a group of local marae, hapū and mana whenua entities – and the wider Fisheries Liaison Group, which LegaSea forms part of.

Both groups were set up in partnership with Napier Port to protect water quality, Pania Reef, kai moana, fisheries, and other sites of cultural, environmental and recreational significance in Hawke Bay, during the 6 Wharf construction and dredging programme.

An environmental playbook

New this year, says Broad, is the building of an environmental management system. Once in place, the team would expect the port’s Carbon and ESG rating rise.

“It will consolidate all of the information in Paul’s head, in Hannah’s head and in various other parts of the business, to build an environmental playbook; this is how Napier Port does environmental management, but also how it intends to improve as well, to create a continuous improvement plan.”

The port is focused on what it can achieve locally to respond to global

“Napier Port ... has provided for diverse and meaningful dialogue in the creation of the marine cultural health programme and its framework.”

Chad Tareha

challenges like climate change, environmental issues, and prosperity to achieve a better and more sustainable future, not only for itself, but for the community. Let’s remember, this business is majority owned by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, with a further sizeable chunk of shares bought by Hawke’s Bay locals during the IPO. The port’s success be it financial or environmental, is our success too.

A third of the way into its ten year sustainability journey, sound progress is being made. Sustainability is a top priority, represented at board level, and fully embedded in the business. Port people are incentivised to act sustainably, and they’re doing more than the bare minimum to get a bonus. Napier Port is leading, doing the right thing with respect to sustainability ... and indeed setting a high bar for our region’s other businesses.

Kororā (Little Blue Penguin) sanctuary, the first of its kind on-port in New Zealand. Photo Florence Charvin

BayBiz

Lucy Laitinen, REDA CEO

Biscuits and billionaires

By all accounts there is a global trend away from the purchase of luxury items and restaurant meals towards more affordable small luxuries like chocolate, biscuits, and chippies as people struggle with the rising cost of living.

Recently, however, Forbes put out its annual ranking of the world’s richest people. Apparently there are now 2,781 people with fortunes over USD $1bn (NZD $1.671bn) – up by 141 on last year. These billionaires have combined assets estimated at USD $14.2tn.

How can we talk about biscuits and billionaires at the same time?

I would suggest that this particular sense of dissonance comes from our unprecedented economic and geopolitical environment. Ukraine, Gaza, the US elections, climate change, the rise of AI, the rise of China, [insert your global trend]. With our country officially in recession, media stories full of job cuts, looming rates increases, and eye-watering infrastructure bills, it can all feel a bit doom and gloom, especially for a region like ours that is so dependent on export markets.

Provisional data from Infometrics shows the Hawke’s Bay economy contracted 1.6% in the year to December 2023, with agriculture, manufacturing, transport, and retail all contributing to the fall in economic activity. This compares to a provisional national average GDP increase of 0.7%. Adjusted for inflation, spending fell in Hawke’s Bay, while employment continued to grow, although slowly.

Taken as a whole we should be proud of what we achieved as a region considering what nature served up to us on 14 February last year. In the days following the cyclone I doubt many would have foreseen a report card like that.

What is ahead of us is less certain. A recent Westpac Regional Roundup report described its ‘on the ground’ view of Hawke’s Bay households and business confidence as ‘’cool”. This is in line with other primary-sector dominated regions, notwithstanding a good apple harvest here in the Bay.

Our region has a lot to think about and a lot to do, with both great risk and great opportunity ahead. Many decisions made in the next year or two

about ‘key economic enablers’ (roads, education, health, water, housing, connectivity, etc) will have far-reaching implications that will materially affect the well-being of future generations and the environment. All big decisions require trade-offs. How are we going to manage those trade-offs to ensure we have an inclusive economy with benefits flowing to all households?

About HBREDA

HBREDA was set up by the region’s five local government councils, the six local PSGE entities,  Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc, the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce, and the new Māori Business Network. The regional governance group, Matariki, acts as shareholder representative, agreeing HBREDA’s work programme and overseeing reporting and performance. An initial three-year funding commitment was made by the councils.

I was appointed as CEO in August 2023 and the company was incorporated a month later. HBREDA’s independent board is chaired by Alasdair MacLeod and includes directors Rawinia Kamau, Caren Rangi, Erin

Our region needs joined up long-term thinking on our economy with a focus on how to improve well-being for all whānau at the household level. Thinking that has firm grounding in our national and international contexts.

industry derived from the cultivation, production, and weaving of muka, the stripped fibre of the harakeke. Te Rae is also a gallery space to showcase and sell the works of local artists.

Visit our new website www.terae.nz and book a room online. We’d love to welcome you.

What’s next for REDA?

Simpson, and Shayne Walker.

During the pre-incorporation period, some of the funds set aside for HBREDA were put towards the development of a regional freight distribution strategy, led by the Napier Port, as well as a contribution to the region’s cyclone recovery plan. HBREDA was given the task of setting up a new business hub after the closure of the business hub in Ahuriri over a year ago.

Te Rae, the new business hub

Te Rae, at 101 Queen St East Hastings, offers a number of meeting rooms for hire. It also houses the business support agencies, Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce, NZTE, Export NZ, Business Central, and, of course, HBREDA.

HBREDA has put a lot of thought into the kaupapa and interior design of Te Rae to reflect our region and people. The name Te Rae means ‘’forehead, a meeting of the minds, or strongminded’’, referencing our desire to create a space to share ideas and encourage collaboration.

The concept and colour palette for the interior fitout of Te Rae were created by local architect and artist

Alex Heperi (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāpuhi) and kaiako and artist Michelle Mataira (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Apa) of Toimairangi, the School of Māori Visual Art based in Heretaunga/Hastings. Alex also designed the Te Rae logo with graphic design support from HBraised Tim Hansen of Walter and Fay Design Studio.

The colours come from harakeke and other plants used for dyes and colouring as a nod to the cultural economy that existed over a 100 years ago in Heretaunga: a thriving textiles

My experience over the last few months setting up HBREDA has brought home the importance of being clear about what HBREDA’s role is and, importantly, what it is not. Economic development agencies come in all shapes and do most things under the sun.

Listening carefully to our shareholders and stakeholders, we believe the most useful role we can play is largely in the thinking space. We don’t want to replicate the roles and functions of other organisations or bury ourselves in programme delivery. Our region needs joined up long-term thinking on our economy with a focus on how to improve well-being for all whānau at the household level. Thinking that has firm grounding in our national and international contexts.

We will soon launch research to better understand the Hawke’s Bay economy, including its current shape, opportunities, and challenges, including a particular lens on what is needed to boost the growth of Māori and Pasifika business. We are going to set up a business advisory group (or groups) to act as sounding boards to HBREDA and to provide advice around areas of focus in the business environment.

We are finalising a study into telecommunications resilience post the cyclone. This work, with recommendations, will be provided to our region’s leaders. HBREDA will hold a contract on behalf of the region for economic data and insights that will be made freely available.

HBREDA on its own is not going to turn the dial on the Hawke’s Bay economy but we are going to play a role as regional conscience, an independent advocate for good decision-making, and a voice for the business community. We will keep you posted.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Agency is hosting a regular column to stimulate conversation about our economy. We will share pieces of work and research that we are involved in and at times will open up this column space for guest writers.

Dale Carnegie Course: Develop Your Leadership Potential: Stop Doing, Start Leading

May 27–29, 2024

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This 3-day course in May for new leaders goes beyond traditional leadership training programs because it focuses on the essential skills that are necessary to build strong teams, and equip them with the right attitudes to step up and take charge.

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How New Zealand can keep old tyres rolling on

The Tyrewise scheme will not only mean there is a steady supply of tyres, but the scheme will support and incentivise new ways to keep tyre rubber in use.

For most of us, the tyres on our vehicles are just that. We don’t give them much thought other than keeping them pumped up or replacing them when they wear out.

The introduction of Aotearoa’s first national, regulated scheme to collect and recycle tyres (Tyrewise) means they will now become an important part of the country’s move to a circular economy. But what happens to tyres after they are collected for recycling?

Keeping tyres out of landfill

On the whole, modern tyres are extremely well engineered and have a large amount of resources invested in them. This, in turn, makes them a valuable resource even after they reach the end of their vehicle life.

Currently, only around 40% of the 6.5 million tyres which reach the end of their life in New Zealand each year are recycled or used to make new products. That’s a large amount of material not being used to its full potential.

Worse still, many of these ‘lost’ tyres end up piled in paddocks where they can catch fire or end up being illegally dumped. This poses a threat to people and the environment.

Tyrewise, the country’s first regulated product stewardship scheme for tyres, launched on 1 March and will ensure they are collected for free at their end-of-life to be used in high-value products or processes.

Tyrewise means not only will the country have its first consistent system for collecting and recycling tyres, but there will be a steady, reliable supply of tyres for processors.

A red-hot solution

So, where will all the tyres go?

Recycling or reusing tyres for something else isn’t new to New Zealand, with a good chunk of that 40% I mentioned earlier being used instead of coal as fuel in the Golden Bay cement kiln.

Burning tyres may seem counter-intuitive but the process Golden Bay has developed works at such high temperatures the company says no smoke, odour or visible emissions result from using tyres as fuel. Using end-of-life tyres and construction wood waste instead of coal contributes to their goal of 30% reduction in emissions.

Cement makers need steel to make their products – something most tyres have in them. Golden Bay’s process incorporates leftover tyre steel and ashes into the final product, reducing waste even further and reducing the use of iron sand by up to 35%.

The company currently uses tyres for around 15% of their fuel needs, or more than this if there is sufficient supply.

A solution fit for NZ

Another innovative use for tyres is as an additive in building foundations to make them more resilient to earthquakes.

Researchers at the University of Canterbury and Institute of Environmental Science and Research have been investigating this, with very promising results.

While using rubber in the foundations of commercial buildings isn’t anything new, using it in residential building isn’t the norm. This is because current foundation systems using rubber are too expensive for the residential sector, but using waste tyres could change that.

The researchers believe tyre rubber could be an affordable way to better protect new homes from earthquakes.

The amount of tyre rubber the process uses is quite staggering, with the optimum amount of passenger tyres for a 200m2 home being 9,000. This means if you built 722, 200m2 homes using tyre rubber in their foundations, it would use all the tyres that come to the end of their life each year in Aotearoa.

There is another added benefit too, with the research showing the use of tyre rubber reduces the need for gravel as an aggregate in the concrete. This means less virgin material is needed.

The research is ongoing, with a test building, and I’m keen to see where it leads.

Rubber for play and protection

The same properties which make tyres so resilient on the road also mean they are great for use in other

products like matting, playground shock padding, artificial sports fields, and chip for equestrian arenas.

Cambridge-based company Treadlite is one of the country’s largest tyre transporters and processors, turning the tyres they collect into granulated rubber. This can then be made into a range of products, some of which are themselves recyclable.

Matta, in Auckland, uses end-of-life truck tyres to make the shock pad layer of their safety surfacing products – like playground matting. According to Matta, this layer can be recycled repeatedly.

Granulated rubber ... can then be made into a range of products, some of which are themselves recyclable.

Where the roads are paved with tyres Tyre rubber can also be used to make roads. The use of crumbed tyres as an alternative additive to bitumen has been around, worldwide, for a few decades.

The different mixes for roads and pavements are complex, so it’s not as simple as swapping one ingredient for tyre rubber, though.

Some of the barriers to scaling the idea are initial cost, economy of scale, security of supply and concerns around environmental effects such as leaching. This isn’t to say it’s not being looked at, with overseas research finding roads made in this way last longer, are more resistant to potholes, reduce braking distances, and are even quieter.

Some countries are quite advanced in their use of tyre rubber in roads, such as Hungary where a tyre rubber-bitumen plant was completed in 2021 which can process 20,000 tonnes of waste tyres a year.

In Australia tyre rubber has been used to some extent in roading since 1975 in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. But a new piece of research is being carried out by the University of Melbourne and tyre recycler Porous Lane, assessing the quality, strength and filtration ability of kerb made from recycled tyre rubber and crushed rock.

The kerb uses epoxy as a binder rather than cement and, if successful, could be rolled out in future projects. This would reduce the use of cement and reduce the associated emissions, while using waste tyres in a high-value product.

A future of possibilities

New Zealand has proven it can punch well above its weight when it comes to innovation. The Tyrewise scheme will not only mean there is a steady supply of tyres, but the scheme will support and incentivise new ways to keep tyre rubber in use.

I’m sure we’ll see new products and business opportunities while ensuring end-of-life tyres are a valuable part of our circular economy.

3R design, implement and manage product stewardship schemes for individual businesses or industry-wide groups. They also help businesses take a fresh look at their waste to first minimise and then recover what would otherwise be wasted.

Ideas + Opinion

Paul Paynter

Venting

My computer password is HelpM3Please.

OK, I know I shouldn’t publish such things, but I promise to change it before this goes to print. IT support selected that password, in reference to my tech woes, but somehow it seems more broadly appropriate.

The last few years have been traumatic with Covid, Gabrielle, inflation, an increasingly poor mainstream media, and deteriorating law & order, social cohesion, levels of educational attainment.

I’m stressed, angry, disillusioned and not sleeping again. It might help to get these frustrations off my chest.

War

As I write the Iranian’s are stupidly attacking Israel in retaliation to Israel stupidly blowing up one of their embassies, partly in response to Iran stupidly funding Hamas, who stupidly murdered some Israelis in response to Israel’s stupid oppression of Palestinians. I can only conclude that anyone

who strongly supports one side or the other, is declaring an overly nuanced opinion on their relative stupidity. I don’t know what the solution to any of this is, but I’m pretty sure no one’s listening to Winston’s call for a ceasefire. My watching the endless tragedy isn’t helping anyone so I will stop.

Debt

Interest rates take about 18 months to really bite, but they’re now taking brutal effect. Inflation is the growth in money and credit and on this count governments the world over, have gone mad. Once you start money printing, history would suggest that it’s almost impossible to stop. Chief amongst governmental culprits is the USA. It took them 200 years to reach a trillion dollars of debt – now they add that amount every three months. Italy is a much smaller country but has even higher debt levels, as do many across southern Europe. We’re still trading on the remnants of the Bretton Woods monetary system, established after WWII, but the international financial order will

need a reboot one day soon. I don’t know how that will play out, but economic strife and war are inseparable in such times. Keep working on that vege garden.

Politics

How can the US serve up Biden v Trump II, when both candidates are so manifestly unfit for office? Is democracy also going to fall apart? When it seems it isn’t working, people look for a strongman leader. There is no female equivalent for Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.

Our government in NZ is in better shape, but Luxon doesn’t realise who a Prime Minister needs to be.

We don’t want a senior manager with a penchant for KPI’s. We want a leader we believe in, someone that makes us feel positive about the world. In the old days, great leaders went into battle with their armies and risked their lives along with ordinary men. That’s something people could believe in.

It makes it a little easier for each of us to go into battle each day if we

hear someone on the morning news that we admire. That’s why Labour’s poll numbers improved overnight when they swapped Andrew Little for Jacinda Adern. There were the attractions of youth and femininity, but also kindness, compassion and a path to a better world. The only advantage Luxon has over Ardern is that what you see is what you get.

Councils

Why is everyone so obsessed with one minority group or other? What I see every day is a society that doesn’t care about your race, religion, sexuality, etc. The media seem to want an identity politics war, but who’s really interested?

Having said that, what’s with rainbow pedestrian crossings? I thought these were road safety features. Next thing they’ll want to change the traffic lights to pink, apricot and teal. Do councils really think a rainbow crossing will make us think favourably about the rainbow community? More likely most will just roll their eyes at the wokesters who thought it up.

Institutions don’t have credible moral positions and it’s insincere for them to suggest they do. They ignore other, less fashionable minority groups, who should be grateful. Councils are tone deaf. If they wanted to support sufferers of scoliosis they put a curve in the crossing; in support of the Chinese community, they’d put a slope on it.

I prefer councils that get the basics right. In the last decade we’ve had the Havelock North gastro crisis and the grim civil defence failure during

Gabrielle. I’m reminded of the gastro crisis every time I drive past the Hastings council’s fancy water tank and water education centre. Sure they’ve done a stunning job, but to me it’s a monument to those that couldn’t keep the sheep shit out of the well heads. If they’d got that right I’d still be blissfully drinking unadulterated aquifer water and council would have a bucket of money to deal with Gabrielle.

More than a year on from the cyclone, I’m baffled by council telling Pākōwhai residents they can’t live in certain locations due to the risk to human life. Cyclones aren’t earthquakes – you can see them coming. While living in Pākōwhai might create insurance issues, there should be no risk to human life. Residents will be well gone before civil defence comes a knocking. The flood risk has also been lessened by giving the river debris a good flush out and the removal of a few bridges. Pākōwhai residents are currently being told crazy things, like ‘you can’t live in your garage, but you could live in a caravan’. Is that because they float?

Colonialism

I don’t like it when people infer I’m guilty of colonialism, even if I am. One half of my family are Irish and other half are Celtic Britons from Cornwall. Both ended up here because they were fleeing colonialism, by the bloody Anglo-Saxon. Don’t blame me for them; I’m a mad Celt overrun by Anglos for generations.

Hate speech

Too many governments, including the

previous Labour administration, have looked at passing hate speech laws. They are nonsense. What we have now is perfect in saying you can’t incite violence. Stupid people will say stupid, offensive things. I absolutely love the fact we live in a country that tolerates their deficiencies and my own. In the great marketplace of ideas, the stupid ones rarely prevail and shutting them down is what happened in the worst of societies.

Whingers

I can’t stomach these people that complain all the time. With all their infuriating failures, liberal western democracies like ours are the best societies that have ever existed. It’s for this reason that so many people want to live in NZ, Britain, USA, Australia, Canada, etc. People want to join our squabbling, dysfunctional, bankrupt countries, so it can’t be too bad.

Except that I seem to have become a whinger too. But it’s out of my system for now. What I’m mostly frustrated by is an absence of leadership. Leadership implies that the rest of us are followers and I sure don’t want to be one of those. Each of us can be leaders to our families, our friends and workmates. If we’re prepared to set the example, then collectively we’ll be much more powerful than all those fancy people at the top.

Tomorrow will bring a new dawn and I will stop complaining.

Paul Paynter is our resident iconoclast and cider maker. Weather permitting, he grows stuff at Yummyfruit.

Injecting confidence with Caci

The team at Caci have been on a mission to help New Zealander’s feel great in the skin they’re in for over 30 years. Specialising in advanced skin treatments and injectables we’re lucky to have local clinics in Napier, Havelock North and Hastings. We sat down with the team and cut straight to the most popular treatments on offer: Cosmetic injectables.

How do the most common injectables work?

There are three types of cosmetic injectables that we love at Caci all with different purposes to get you great results. Cosmetic Injectables are the most common non-surgical anti-ageing treatment globally. It has been proven to be an effective treatment for millions of people worldwide.

The first are anti-wrinkle injectables which says it all in the name! As we age and our collagen and elastin production slows down, lines become more pronounced. Anti-wrinkle injections made from a purified protein that temporarily reduces the action of the targeted muscles. We treat frown lines, crow’s feet, and forehead lines with toxin. As a result, lines and wrinkles are softened, giving you a younger, fresher-looking appearance. Results take up to 2 weeks to fully take effect and will last 3-4 months. We’ve made it easy to have regular treatments with our membership and payment plans.

Next up is Dermal Filler. A clear injectable made from hyaluronic acid injected to add lip volume and to smooth or define facial features. At Caci our goal is enhancing your best features for a natural look. Dermal filler results are immediate and can typically last up to 12 months.

At Caci, we also offer a bio stimulator injected just under the surface of the skin to stimulate new collagen and elastin to improve hydration, wrinkles and skin firmness while giving a tightening and lifting effect. When having treatment for the first time you will be recommended to have at least 2 treatments 4-6 weeks apart to get the best results.

What are possible side effects of injectable treatments?

It’s so important to be selective about the clinic you choose to visit. Skills, experience and credentials should be your priority when selecting a provider. Our cosmetic medicine treatments are only performed by highly qualified and trained Registered Nurses with the backing of our Caci Clinical Advisory Board, so you can rest assured you are in safe hands! At Caci we pride ourselves on our professional and clinical environment. We are one of the largest appearance medicine providers in the Southern Hemisphere and have treated well over 20,000 New Zealanders with effective and natural-looking results. Each injectable type we’ve covered has the possibility of side effects, and these are all thoroughly explained during your free consultation.

What areas can be treated?

For antiwrinkle injectables: Frown and forehead lines plus the crow's feet. For Dermal Filler: Lips, cheeks, jawline, chin, marionette lines plus the nasolabial folds which are the lines or fold that from around the nose, mouth and chin.

How do I get started?

At Caci our consultations are always complimentary, we’d love to see you for a chat!

We will put together options for a personalised treatment plan just for you. It is important to us that you have all of your questions answered and that our team of experts give you the best results!

Life

Learn the lines on fine wines. Get the lowdown on the recent colour and controversy in Civic Square. What’s in an office?

Channelling strength into sport. Prepare to weather the winter. And what’s Life without Taste?

Photo: Florence Charvin

The new way we work

REMOTE POSSIBILITIES

Words

and pictures

by Simon Shattky

Life Simon Shattky

I meet Annette at an open home. She’s looking to make a permanent move to the Bay, keen to leave the famous Wellington wind well behind her. ‘But on a good day…’, the often-heard refrain that Wellingtonians trot out to justify living in a wind tunnel just isn’t cutting it anymore.

None of this is unusual, there are many who have visited the Bay, fallen in love, and never left. Figuratively and literally. What gives Annette’s story a twist is that while she works in New Zealand, the office is in London.

Annette Wullems, who has a rather fancy job title – Executive Producer Visual Effects, works for Framestore, a global company that makes the magic that we see on films and television. Or rather magic that we often don’t see – their visual effects work being so real and seamless when complete, you won’t know what’s real and what’s not.

Her work and that of the 700 or so artists and visual effects crew on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was just nominated for a visual effects Oscar, and her CV includes a long stint at Wētā, working on Lord of the Rings, Avatar and King Kong. So yeah, arguably her business card isn’t fancy enough.

As it was for many, Covid paved the way in making remote office work not just possible out of necessity, but legitimate. Annette was working out of Framestore’s London office when the pandemic hit. “They had us all out of the building in about three weeks,” she recalls, the producer in her still in awe of all the logistics required. Staff were well armed with multiple computer monitors, and a nifty device called a teradici, which the teams use to move the petabytes of visual data between locations at high speed.

“For every pro there’s a con,” Annette offers, by way of describing her own

remote work experience. Obviously there’s the time zones, as Annette juggles crew in London, Montreal and studio clients most often in Los Angeles. This cuts both ways though.

There’s the 4am video calls, often held in appropriate work attire over a nightie. Surprisingly though, and early mornings aside, Annette believes these calls enhance the creative and production process. “When we all were on-site, we’d screen work in a darkened theatre, and you never got to see how everyone was reacting,” explains Annette, who fiercely protects the well-being of her crew as much as the client’s budget and vision. “A video call allows me to read the room better,” she adds. Nuance is everything.

I wonder though, if something might be lost in translation, when trying to do a sales call via Zoom, for example, where it’s crucial to establish a quick and easy rapport. It’s a thought that gets quickly shot down when I talk with Jessica Knapp. As the CEO of SaferMe, a predictive psycho-social risk management tool, used largely in the construction and mining industries – all remote workers themselves – Jessica has been doing remote sales calls since 2016 with enviable success.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” says Jessica, whose clients are largely American, and laughing as she recounts for me a sales call with Walmart’s Head of Marketing, pitching up a storm while walking amongst the Braeburn trees and the odd sheep. Jessica grew up on the family organic pip-fruit orchard in Longlands, and while she lives not far from there, Jessica leads a remote team of eight all over New Zealand, and as far afield as London. But Heretaunga is home. “It’s my tūrangawaewae, it’s where my feet are,” says Jessica.

Remote working requires high trust as a leader, a quality that Jessica

“A video call allows me to read the room better.”

Annette Wullems

embraces naturally. “They could work from the moon,” Jessica explains. “I don’t need eyeballs on my people to know how productive they are.” Adding that her brain is no less valuable because of where she works.

Jessica’s own situation illustrates just how hybrid and varied office work has become. Rather than working totally from home, Jessica spends a few days a week in the Hastings co-working space Bad Company. This gives her the community that working from home can’t, adding a dimensionality that head office falls short on too. “You get to collide with different people and ideas. Curiosity increases,” explains Jessica. So there’s a win right there.

Other winners are work from home mums, who according to Jessica are one of the biggest segments of remote office workers. “Being in a specific location doesn’t increase productivity, nor does it make for a better employee,” she says, being equally sure on what does – citing autonomy, trust and flexibility. It’s the work life balance that Jessica treasures, you’d have to drag her kicking and screaming to get her back into a full-time office role, that’s for certain. As a leader she wants her people to enjoy the same benefits of the hybrid lifestyle. “If you give back, people rise to the occasion.”

Giving back is an intrinsic part of the Bad Company DNA too, according to local operator Belinda Williams. The co-working outfit is growing, with spaces in the Bay, the Mount and Wanaka. There’s a couple of

Left: Annette Wullems, Executive Producer Visual Effects, Framestore

pre-requisites for hiring a hot desk at the Bad Company space in Karamu Rd, “Be kind and be able to spare five minutes,” says Belinda. The kind bit is obvious and sparing five minutes is simply a reflection of that. “Someone might ask you to proof-read an email, or ask for a quick point of view,” Belinda explains.

“Many of the people that work here get business referrals and work, often from someone that’s sitting right beside them,” she adds. Helping others is all part of creating a shared office culture, and what goes round comes round.

Case in point, the morning I’m there coincides with a Bad Company birthday. They’re having a bad hat day to celebrate, and as I search for a suitable backdrop to take Belinda’s photo, Fran

“They could work from the moon. I don’t need eyeballs on my people to know how productive they are.”

Jessica Knapp

Arlidge, who works for the Chamber of Commerce but has popped in to deliver birthday wishes, instantly offers up an idea much better than my first choice. “Shoot her in the orange room. It’ll really pop,” Fran says, rushing out the door. She’s not wrong either. Pop it does.

Belinda wears a couple of hats, three

if you count the mad one she’s donned for the party. She used to work as an ICU nurse, and also helps run clinical trials for Pharma companies, again remotely. Maybe there’s a wee bit of self-interest, or maybe it’s just her bedside manner, but Belinda doesn’t believe it’s healthy working on your own at home the whole time. “We all need connection,” says Belinda. “There’s no toxicity in a shared space, because there’s no office politics. No reliance on those around you to do your own job.”

Over at Populous People, a local recruitment firm, founder Rachel Cornwall agrees with the hybrid model, having no problem with her own people working from home when they feel the need. But it’s not a trend

Above: Jessica Knapp, CEO of SaferMe. Right: Belinda Williams, Bad Company.

“There’s no toxicity in a shared space, because there’s no office politics. No reliance on those around you to do your own job.”

Belinda Williams

“It was just getting too hard to live in Auckland.”

Claudia Chandler

that seems to be growing. Rachel sees a significant shift in the opposite direction from her clients, who are increasingly demanding a return to the office.

I’m keen to understand what’s driving the ‘return to office’ policy.

To be fair, Hawke’s Bay has never been a big work from home region, Rachel explains, but this is due to the type of work that gets done here, with fewer roles being what we might traditionally call ‘professional’ and many more being in the primary sector.

But beyond this, clearly some businesses – especially when they’re under the pump – simply believe their employees are more productive in the office. “There’s enormous pressure on businesses in challenging times,” says Rachel. She’s right about the pressure of course, but the remote workers I’ve met all claim to be better at their jobs by being out of the office rather than in it and, if that’s true, surely more empowered and productive employees would help relieve the pressure businesses are under. Rachel is sceptical. “Are they really more productive though?” she challenges.

Not according to Nike CEO, John Donahoe, who in a recent television interview blamed remote work for the company’s failure to innovate, claiming it’s hard to build disruptive products over Zoom. It may well be, but it’s slightly disingenuous all the same. University of Pittsburgh research professor Mark Ma suggests cutting office leases and reinvesting that money back in R&D might help Nike more than getting people back to the office.

Seems a perfectly sensible idea, given Nike mandated a 3-day return to office in 2022, increasing this to 4-days a week last year, yet still managed to lose 25% of its stock market value

since November. “Does the CEO really believe one more day in the office will lead to disruptive innovation?” asks Ma, observing that Nvidia Corporation, a two trillion dollar company, nearly 20 times the market cap of Nike, and makers of the chips that are powering the AI revolution, was just named the world’s most innovative business by Fast Company, despite not having any ‘return-to-office’ policy at all.

No one seems to have any issue with Claudia Chandler’s productivity. She works for Sky Television in Auckland, from her lounge office overlooking Te Awanga beach. I imagine you’ve got to have incredible discipline to get anything done given the outlook, but it’s a quality Claudia seems to have in spades. She reckons she’s twice as productive as when she worked in the company’s head office. Yes, it’s anecdotal and probably hard to quantify, but as she points out, she’d soon hear about it if she wasn’t.

Claudia has a degree in journalism from Massey and now works in the Partnership team for Sky dealing with complex licensing and contract work on the many shows the broadcaster screens across multiple channels and platforms.

A recent arrival to Hawke’s Bay, love brought Claudia to town in between lockdowns. With her fiancé, she’s been able to buy a house, something she doubts would have been possible in Auckland. There’s a diligence required, a prerequisite of remote working, and she’s extra careful ‘not to take the piss’. Her words not mine. “If I’m going to go out during the day, I’ll always tell someone in my team what I’m up to,” Claudia says. That in itself is interesting. Would she have done the same if her boss was in the next office? “Probably not,” she admits. It’s her lack of visibility that

drives the extra transparency.

There’s a reason for this apart from her obvious integrity: the Sky role initially came with a requirement to be based in the Auckland office. “They were really understanding,” says Claudia of her employer and the hiring process that brought a turnaround in their thinking. “I guess something just clicked,” she adds rather humbly, completely underselling her own ability and skills that would have seen her offered the role in the first place.

The obvious plus about remote working in the Bay is not having to spend two hours each day traipsing from home to Sky’s Mt Wellington headquarters. “It was just getting too hard to live in Auckland,” says Claudia. Time shifting is a bonus too. “I’ll get up and check emails before anything else,” she says. Then coffee, a bit more work, then a shower. It’s a way of doing things that office work doesn’t allow.

Yes, she misses the social aspects of working together, but workmates are never far away thanks to the technology that enabled remote work to begin with. And she doesn’t miss it that much that she’d be willing to go back. Out here on the Cape Coast Claudia’s life has changed dramatically. She’s spending more time in the kitchen and bakes a mean sourdough. She’s learning to surf. What’s not to like?

There’s wax on her board, a spring in her step, and a shiny new ring on her finger. She loves the leap she took, the new friends that surround her, and is grateful for an empathetic employer that allowed her to make the move.

Like Annette and Jessica, you’d be hard pushed to get Claudia back in the office full-time. Or any time for that matter.

Because here, the way she sees it, the possibilities are endless.

This page: Claudia Chandler, Sky Television

Story by Rosheen FitzGerald

Photos by Florence Charvin

RAINBOW WARRIORS: THE FIGHT FOR YOUNG HEARTS AND MINDS

August 2020. Upstairs at Hastings Library is abuzz, kids and carers relishing in relative freedom.

A gathered bubble of mothers and our boys, then aged between eight and two, were eager for Rainbow Storytime, the brainchild of Erika and Coco Flash, a pair of Taranaki drag queens on tour. Dressed respectively in a floor length pink frilled evening gown and a sparkly rainbow caftan, they read aloud a selection of kids’ picture books such as Giraffes Can’t Dance and Chicken Divas, themed around believing in oneself and accepting difference in others. Then we all danced to the Birdie Song.

By the time they returned in 2022 my boys had aged out of being read to aloud, but the queens visited without incident.

Not so this year when they were due to pass through in late March. In the preceding weeks social media became aflame with outrage. The library disabled comments on the Facebook event.

Pentecostal megachurch, Destiny, took up the cause with zeal, organising a protest. Posters featuring the face of Wendy Schollum, the councillor most vocally in support of the event, captioned ‘ProPerversion’ were printed. Nevertheless Trust, a rainbow advocacy group, planned a counterprotest.

Until the day before the event, council was adamant to persist, but at the last minute cancelled citing safety concerns. Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and Councillor Schollum made statements affirming Hastings District Council’s support for the rainbow community and their intention to celebrate Pride Month in June. Hazlehurst had received death threats, the first of her seven year career, and the event was pulled on police advice.

“Paradoxically, Rainbow Storytime’s cancellation led to a much more public display of pride. Rather than being tucked away upstairs, queer people were singing and dancing in the street.“

Community support

Social media’s outrage dial flipped from right to left. The counterprotest became a day-long ‘Love and Peace Action’ supported by Kahungunu and Council, who raised the rainbow flag above their building. Civic Square filled with a colourful representation of the rainbow community and their allies. Signs proclaiming, ‘Love Us the Same. Hold Us the Same,’ ‘Aroha not Hōhā,’and ‘Kids are safer at drag shows than they are at church’, mingled with pride flags. Tino rangatiratanga and Palestinian flags signalled other left leaning causes turned out in solidarity.

Teen drag queen, Eru Heke, performed a rousing routine to Lady Gaga’s Born this Way complete with cartwheels and splits. There was a free sausage sizzle, a co-creative painting corner and poetry; a lot of karaoke and a heavy police presence. Songs and performances, many from the recent Manioro festival, interspersed with speeches from members of the rainbow community and their allies.

Representatives of both Hastings and Napier Councils spoke, Mayor Hazlehurst’s voice thick with emotion. Several clergy from Hastings parishes stood in solidarity, keen to distance themselves from Destiny’s stance. A small ‘Man Up’ contingency observed for a time, helping themselves to sausages, before drifting away.

Paradoxically, Rainbow Storytime’s cancellation led to a much more public display of pride. Rather than being tucked away upstairs, queer people were singing and dancing in the street. Nevertheless Trust founder Shaqailia Uelese stresses the importance of visibility for her community in, “promoting inclusivity and diversity to enhance the mana of rainbow takatāpui peoples. It gives the wider community an opportunity to see and embrace us. We have our own

events but mainstream events are so important because they reach a wider audience.”

Uelese founded Nevertheless in 2021 as a mental health advocacy group for Māori and Pacifica takatāpui youth. Last April they created Manioro Nu’u Rainbow Hub, supported by Hastings District Council and Te Taiwhenua. Twice a week they offer a safe space and kai for rangatahi. In the past year they have delivered over a hundred workshops and produced the Manioro festival. Their kaupapa, Uelese says, is to “disrupt shame with aroha”.

Destiny Church

Unconditional love is what Pastor of Hastings’ Iwi Tapu Destiny Church, Michael Ngahuku, claims to show all his congregation, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. He likens the queer community to gang members, both of which, he says, Destiny

welcome despite their ‘choices’ – hate the sin, but love the sinner.

Ngahuku adopts a less confrontational style than Destiny leader, Brian Tamaki, who claimed natural disasters such as Cyclone Gabrielle, are caused by sin, including homosexuality, but Ngahuku does believe in a biblical wrathful god, and does not believe in climate change.

Despite not having seen Rainbow Storytime, he believes drag is ‘adult entertainment’, no matter the content. He objects to this use of ratepayer funds and claims Council are pursuing a personal agenda rather than reflecting the will of the people. He thinks “certain (members of the rainbow community) are pushing their beliefs into the public forum”, and that he voices a silent majority afraid to speak out.

That silent majority will have a chance to be counted in the privacy of the ballot box when Ngahuku stands

“Algorithms reward conflict. Divisive opinions expressed in inflammatory terms stimulate engagement, resulting in a race to the bottom. We are served more of what is popular and what is popular is what sows division.”

in the Takitimu by-election, where he hopes to challenge his imagined Council agenda. He won 379 votes in the Tukituki electorate last year, or 0.009% of the vote – fewer than the 0.012% of spoiled votes. Voting in the by-election ends 24 May.

Promotional material for the proposed protest, circulated from Destiny headquarters, claims Rainbow Storytime is ‘sexualising children’.

Ngahuku cites his church’s work counselling victims of sexual abuse. He alleges drag queen Erika Flash, played by Daniel Lockett, makes children vulnerable to abuse.

Evidence is produced in the form of a promotional video for a 2019 performance of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in New Plymouth, in which Lockett played Miss Understanding. Further stills of Lockett as Dr Frankenfurter in the M-rated Rocky Horror Show were used to prove his unsuitability.

Sunita Torrance, who plays CoCo Flash, pointed out the pair are professional actors who take on a myriad of roles in their career for a range of audiences, and accuses Destiny of bullying. They are police vetted and have Working with Children qualifications. A Give-a-Little for legal fees to “hold Destiny accountable for threats and defamation” raised $25,000 in a week.

Following Tamaki’s lead, Ngahuku will be taking legal action against Hastings District Council for “rainbow washing”, cementing his intention to be combative. He repeatedly charges the rainbow community with bullying, claiming the country “has been lost to the trans/gay ideology”, characterising queer activists as “demonic”.

Accusations of bullying, suppression of freedom of expression, bigotry

and agenda pushing are flung across an increasingly polarised ideological divide. Rainbow Storytime has become a battleground in a culture war where everyone is shouting and no one is listening.

Media role

The way we got here has everything to do with the way we communicate and consume media. The internet was founded on libertarian principles –extreme freedom of speech, and, in its vastness, a degree of freedom from consequences. As social media slowly suffocates the fourth estate, in the information age, we are not the consumer but the product.

Algorithms reward conflict. Divisive opinions expressed in inflammatory terms stimulate engagement, resulting in a race to the bottom. We are served

more of what is popular and what is popular is what sows division. Without the checks and balances of legacy media, sensationalism rises to the top of our news feed, while reasoned truth sinks into obscurity. Navigating the current media landscape is a minefield with technology moving faster than our capacity for critical thinking.

Winston Peters has been on a campaign against relationship and sexuality education. Much was made over a book, Welcome to Sex, that offers frank advice to teens. A University of Canterbury sex educator praised the book. Through a mixture of inflammatory misinformation and homophobic pearl clutching, a large cohort on social media have come to believe that 8 year olds are being taught the mechanics of anal sex in schools.

Even though the book is for teens, has never been a school text, and the guidelines on relationship and sexuality education have no mention of sex of any kind beyond the correct naming of body parts until intermediate, reasoned appeal falls on deaf ears compared with emotive outrage. Many scared parents are now campaigning to remove the education that will ultimately make all our children safer. The sad truth is that inadequate sex education has a direct correlation with sexual abuse, and children who are left uneducated will learn about sex through pornography.

The current moral panic around drag queens has its roots in obscure and lawless corners of the internet but has filtered into the mainstream. The conspiracy theory claims the world is run by a cabal of child sacrificing paedophiles who intend to depopulate the planet through a combination of vaccines, 5G and turning children transgender. It first appeared on message boards 4chan and 8chan, sites known for hosting child pornography, and is widely believed to be the invention of the owners of those boards, who profited from the engagement.

The theory relies heavily on tenuous connections and symbology, similar to the lines drawn between Lockett’s theatrical work and child abuse. As it makes its way to the mainstream some of its more outlandish edges are rubbed off, so aspects can end up being parroted by our loved ones, our community leaders and even some of our elected officials.

This is not the first time an imported moral panic has invaded Aotearoa.

Thirty years ago, satanic panic manifested in the persecution of Peter Ellis, a flamboyantly gay early childhood worker, who spent seven years in a Christchurch prison for crimes of which he was only posthumously acquitted. Ellis’ ‘sexual deviance’ was used as evidence, just as Lockett is framed as unsuitable to work with children today.

Proponents of a so-called transgender agenda prey on our fears for our children, while dehumanising those with different viewpoints. They are no longer people with different opinions and lifestyles to us, but demons intent on destroying us and our way of life.

Social media exacerbates divisions by emboldening people to speak in harsher tones than they would face to face. Behind the screen we so easily forget we are speaking to real people with thoughts and feelings.

Fears are stoked by a perceived explosion in gender nonconformity, with schools having to navigate issues of bathrooms and sports, as well as a mental health epidemic. Many young people are rejecting gender norms and openly identifying as nonbinary – neither male nor female – asking to change their names and pronouns – red rag to a bull for some. Critics accuse pride celebrations and events like Rainbow Storytime of forcing gender ideology on impressionable children. But these opinions and accusations are based on feelings, informed by our divisive media landscape that farms emotions for clicks.

Youth whose whānau or religious leaders suggested they could or should attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity were at significantly higher risk of self-harm and almost three times as likely to attempt suicide than rainbow youth whose difference was accepted.

Gender identity

The University of Auckland’s Adolescent Health Group has been monitoring youth wellbeing since the turn of the century across a broad range of areas. Their 2007 study found a need to ask teenagers not just about sexual orientation, as they had done previously, but about gender diversity. The next study, in 2012, found 1.2% identified as transgender and 2.5% as gender questioning. In 2019 these numbers had reduced to 1% transgender and .06% gender questioning; yet, crucially, in 2019 more than half had told someone about their gender identity compared with just a third in 2012.

This points to increased visibility of gender questioning youth rather than their numbers increasing. Like the perceived increase in homosexuality after decriminalisation, which plateaued rather than increasing exponentially, queer youth who have positive role models and feel safe to do so, are more likely to be out, proud and visible. In this both the right and left agree on the facts – that events such as Rainbow Storytime, and the normalisation of queerness will result in more diversity of gender and sexuality in the public eye.

Critics believe removing queer icons from public view will result in fewer queer people because they believe deviation from heteronormativity to be a choice – a sinful one to be overcome. However, the data shows there is a shrinking silent minority of LGBTQIA+ youth who choose suppression and conformity over embracing

their identity.

Every available metric agrees that queer and gender nonconforming youth suffer significantly higher rates of bullying and have consistently worse mental health outcomes than the general population. They are more likely to be victims of a crime and less likely to report it. They experience more than double the rate of sexual violence.

A 2022 study, the first of its kind in Aotearoa, found youth whose whānau or religious leaders suggested they could or should attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity were at significantly higher risk of selfharm and almost three times as likely to attempt suicide than rainbow youth whose difference was accepted as an intrinsic, immutable part of them.

Clearly queer youth are some of our most vulnerable children, in need of protection. This has been reflected back to us consistently by science for decades. This is the data on which we base the relationship and sexuality education we provide in schools; the programmes our councils fund.

Creating a society in which our rainbow youth can be accepted rather than judged, bullied or gaslighted back into the closet requires investing in organisations such as Nevertheless Trust, who can provide safe spaces like Manioro Nu’u Rainbow Hub. But more than that, we need to examine and take responsibility for our own prejudices and fears, rather than projecting them onto those who are different to us, and perpetuating them through our children.

Life Wellbeing / Kate McLeay

Turning tragedy into triumph

The inspiring journey of Candis Timms and Weston Sports

In the heartlands of Hastings, nestled off Omahu Rd, Weston Sports celebrates nearly a decade of serving as a beacon of community strength. Behind its success stands Candis Timms, a woman of quiet confidence and boundless inspiration.

Weston Sports, a haven for the community, emerged from the depths of tragedy. In January 2015, Candis and her husband Nathan faced the unimaginable loss of their firstborn, Weston, at just eight weeks old, to a rare disease known as EB.

Candis, gripped by grief, found solace in a resolve to heal through action and service. “When I lost Weston, I knew I needed to heal,” she confides. Fueled by her passion for physical activity and community engagement, Candis, alongside her sister Celeste Lowe, embarked on a mission to commemorate Weston’s memory. The Weston Sports Touch Academy was born, a Kids Holiday Programme at Frimley School, built on the sisters’ illustrious careers in women’s touch rugby.

Both sisters, as well as their legendary mother Honey, have represented New Zealand in women’s touch rugby for decades. Candis was just 15 years old when she was first selected to play for the under 19 NZ Women’s Touch team and has gone on to play in the NZ under 21s, Open Women’s and now in the NZ Masters team. Candis was a member of the New Zealand side which won silver at the 2021 World Cup in Scotland. These incredible sisters most certainly had abundant skills and knowledge to pass on and the motivation to give it wings. The holiday programme attracted 50 kids for two weeks. “I wanted to teach children what I would have loved

to teach Weston,” Candis shared.

The programme worked. Candis enjoyed it so much. “It really filled my cup, and I loved seeing how much the kids enjoyed it, and parents appreciated it.” She started to look at what else was possible.

Candis is proudly born and bred in Flaxmere, initially educated at Irongate School and then Flaxmere College. She had community firmly at the heart of her vision. She wanted to create a safe space, a home away from home, for fitness and community uplift. Growing up, Candis had strong, resilient role models and a life kept busy with sport. Their home was a home for many, a place where her cousins and friends felt welcome, cared for and loved.

Talking with the community of Weston Sports today, this is exactly what Candis has created and held for the last decade. I heard stories of the creation of great friendships, families bonding, people flourishing, fitness goals reached, the positive addiction of being at Weston Sports, of the magic of this home away from home, the felt sense of being loved and so much more.

The journey to Weston Sports’ fruition was not without its trials. Yet, fate intervened when Candis crossed paths with local entrepreneurs Connie and Farrell Crystal. Connie and Farrell had recently bought a large industrial building off Omahu Rd that had formerly been a kitchen joinery business.

Candis and her friend Sarah King pitched their vision to them to provide the community with an environment that provides opportunities to connect with others, to develop lifelong friendships and to achieve their aspiration through exercise, sports and programmes focused on youth and whānau development. Farrell asked

them what their time frame for opening was. When Candis said six months, he said, “How about we open in six weeks?” The rest is history.

Weston Sports now hosts ten-week blocks of indoor netball competition for up to 62 teams every week. Everyone is welcome. Games start at 5.30pm and they host six games a night over five different grades of play. The venue is also rented out for private functions and special events. In addition to this Patu Aotearoa rent the space for four daily group fitness classes. And a catering company, The Morning Kitchen, rent the commercial kitchen to provide 500 school lunches per day to local schools.

The main challenges have been around keeping the activities at Weston Sports affordable. With change of ownership of the venue and ensuing lease negotiations, Candis has a dream of owning the venue one day, as well as seeing it used more during the day.

Candis affirms that she didn’t do this alone. She praises the consistent support of whānau and friends, but adds, “It’s not that people believe in me, they believe in my values and what I try to portray.” These values have become the values of Weston Sports.

Whanaungatanga

To be a whānau away from whānau, and create a safe, supportive environment for people to be themselves.

Manaakitanga

To care for one another and support one another to be the best they can be.

Rangatiratanga

To show pride by role modelling our values and supporting members of the community to achieve their aspirations.

Since the inception of Weston Sports, Candis and her husband Nathan have gone on to have two beautiful daughters, Willow and Wavey. Candis has passed the day-to-day running of the venue to trusted and much-loved staff. Candis remains driven by her wish to serve community, to honour Weston and be a good example for her daughters.

Today, Weston Sports stands as a testament to resilience and community

spirit. Hosting vibrant indoor netball competitions, offering spaces for private functions and partnering with initiatives like Patu Aotearoa and The Morning Kitchen to foster health and wellbeing. It remains a cornerstone of Hastings’ social fabric.

I bow deeply to the beautiful heart that Candis Timms and the Weston Sports team shares with the world. They inspire me. They give me hope.

Kate McLeay is a mindfulness mentor, yoga teacher and retreat host based out at the iconic Hawke’s Bay Cape South Country Estate and Wellness Retreat. She teaches weekly yoga classes at Focus Health in Havelock North and runs events and retreats around New Zealand and overseas. www.katemcleay.com

Candis Timms and daughter Wavey at Weston Sports. Photo: Florence Charvin

Life Food / Ian Thomas

A matter of taste

Nomadic gatherers used tongue and nose to test possible foods. Not in a pretentious sommelieradjacent way (cat’s piss on a gooseberry bush was just that in those days), but in a prehistoric ‘will this do me good or harm’ way. Does this taste indicate nutrition or death? Is this kale food or foe? (Foe, obviously).

It’s all just so much easier now! We have labels, lulling us into a false sense of nourishment. Could we survive without use-by dates and printed dietary claims? Have we lost the knowledge and trust in our own ability to taste and categorise what we sense? Yes. Although we have the diagnostic equipment of old we don’t know how to use it. Apart from with kale of course.

It’s all about the buds … between five and ten thousand of them depending on your age. They’re mainly on your tongue but also around your mouth. Replaced every two weeks, they’re only here for a short time, but a sensational time.

Taste has five accepted categories with a further three putting their hands up for recognition. Sweet, sour, bitter, salt and savoury (umami) are in. Fat, spice (heat) and ammonium chloride are the pretenders to the gang.

The last, whose origins predate ‘use-by’ stickers, is a taste present in decaying food and so has an important role in our decisions of what not to eat. Think of the whiff you get from the yellowing, ‘ripe’ brie you bought on special. Now buyer’s remorse has set in along with that challenging “window-cleaner” tang.

Flavour, taste’s more voluptuous cousin, is all about enjoyment, fun and hedonism. Gustatory sensors in the mouth team up with olfactory receivers in the schnozz to afford us literally limitless combinations. Lip-smacking, finger-licking, nuanced variations and

combinations made to make you go ‘Yum!’.

Taste sensors play a part in flavour, but are more importantly signposts along the road to help us work out what is the good, bad and ugly. Salt is an indicator of minerals. Sweetness of energy. Umami of proteins and nutritious density. Sour can be bad and bitter is often ugly.

Myriad content makers used Covid lock-downs and smartphones to launch themselves at us, showing us cool things to cook and eat. We watch and we listen to hacks doing kitchen hacks, paying little attention to the signals coming from our own mouths. Should we trust our buds or TikTok? I suggest the former has less to gain and therefore more to offer.

Our taste buds are ancient and link us back to primitive humans and beyond. We produce 25 proteins encoded by 25 genes to detect different bitter, alkaline flavours. Bitter is there to warn us off things. But there are just three receptors, used in different combinations, for sweetness and umami. Some scientists think the over abundance of bitter detectors developed to help us avoid a variety of toxins. Similarly, a sour taste indicates acid, which could burn body tissues or indicate spoiled food. Sweetness is just sugar, in lots of different forms, but sugar nonetheless.

Then why do I like banoffee pie more than my cat does? Evolution. Cats and most birds have lost the ability to detect sweetness because they have no use for it. But they do carry historic traces of the necessary genes, which indicates evolution has steered them away from the cake trolley. Hummingbirds are a feathered exception and go for honey sweetness, while a song thrush turns up its beak in favour of worms. Hummingbirds, incidentally, shun artificial sweeteners and so should you.

Knowing about these ancient tasting

It’s all about the buds … between five and ten thousand of them depending on your age. They’re mainly on your tongue but also around your mouth. Replaced every two weeks, they’re only here for a short time, but a sensational time.

super powers is one thing, finding interesting ways to use that knowledge is where the really juicy stuff lies.

How do we translate these taste indicators into conscious appreciation of the food we eat? From the perspective of appreciating markers of nutrition, detecting toxins and discerning spoilage, sure, but yawn, yawn, yawn.

Much more deliciously interesting is how taste sensations and flavours are combined in the food we prepare and enjoy. As an example, how we perfectly balance sweet, sour and umami in Wednesday’s Wok Wonder. Or identifying the manipulating tactics of satiety in highly-processed snack foods. You can’t trust your buds, they’re being lied to by the Doritos.

There are many more conundrums to be considered in the next issue:

Is boujee salt all that it’s cracked up to be? What soured the cherries and why are lemons bitter about it?

Parmesan and steak are both umami, but are they the same umami even if they’re in the same pie?

I’m also going to quiz some local chefs to garner tips on balancing flavours while cooking anything you like. Except kale of course.

Ian Thomas is a caterer and formerly free range egg farmer, cooking demonstrator, and manager of a commercial food production business. He specialises in cooking paella. paellaagogo.com

A CRUSH COURSE IN WINE LINGO

Life Wine / Yvonne Lorkin

We’ve all been there.

Picked up a bottle of wine and turned it over to see if we could learn a little more about it from the back label. Only to view some sort of vinous verbiage like, “This vintage is truly reflective of its terroir and displays petrichor-pricked aromas alongside modestly moist hay morphing into mineral-laced nuances of sea breeze and followed by a palate powered by citrus complexity, oily oaky-ness and acacia bark fringed with feijoa.” Ummm. Pardon?

Or you’re sipping something at your favourite Hawke’s Bay cellar door and you ask a simple question like, “How was this wine made?” and the person hosting your tasting whacks you with a word salad of wine tech waffle and expects you to understand it perfectly.

It can be baffling. I mean, for starters, try explaining what a feijoa tastes like to someone not from New Zealand. That’s next level tricky!

But there’s actually a whole (dare I say) bunch of grape-related language that’s useful to learn and will help you sound flash in front of your friends. Whether they’re written on bottles or on wine tasting notes, we’re going to break some of them down and explain, in plain English, what they actually mean. We might also bust a few myths along the way.

Vintage

The year the grapes were harvested. It’ll be written on the label (front, back or maybe on dinky ribbon across the cap or cork). Some wines (e.g. Champagne and sparkling) may not

have a date on the label, instead they’ll say ‘NV’ which means ‘non-vintage’. This happens when the wine is made from a blend of wines crafted during different harvests, years, vintages.

Terroir

French for ‘earth,’ the term terroir [tear-WAAAH] in winespeak encompasses aspects of winegrowing like climate, soil type, terrain/altitude and winemaker influence. It’s an umbrella term to describe how those factors affect the wine in the bottle. Climate affects how the fruit ripens and, consequently, the residual sugar and alcohol levels in the resulting wines.

Soil types like Havelock Hills’ limestone, Bridge Pa’s red metals, Crownthorpe’s sandy loams, SH50’s stony gravels, Central Hawke’s Bay’s argillite shale, Esk and Bay View’s deep sandy and seashell-peppered pockets alongside volcanic ash and pockets of coastal greywacke and clay also contribute to differentiating aromas and flavours of wines from Hawke’s Bay’s different sub-regions.

Terrain and altitude can explain why, for example, a sauvignon blanc grown in mountainous Central Otago tastes so different from a sauvignon blanc grown beside the sea on the Te Awanga coastline. And winemaker influence is where a combination of treatments and processes is chosen for that wine to undergo as the winemaker shepherds it from berry to bottle.

Crushing and Pressing

Crushing grapes means breaking their skins and releasing the juices so that fermentation can happen. Crushed grapes form a sweet, syrupy pulp of juice and skins called the ‘must’. Pressing is the separation of grape juice or wine from the solid stuff like skins, seeds, stalks, pulp etc. This solid waste material is known as ‘marc’ or ‘pomace’. It’s also extremely high in nutrients, it’s great for compost and livestock love it as feed.

Maceration

A flash word for ‘soaking’, it’s the period between crushing and pressing when the juice still has the skins, seeds and solids floating around in it. That stuff contains colour, tannin and texture, so commercial white wines won’t usually macerate much because absorbing those things could make them bitter and mask their fruitiness. For rosés a short maceration is great to absorb a hint of pinky colour; however for full-bodied, dark reds, maceration can happen pre-ferment (cold soak), during ferment, and up to a couple of months after ferment (post soak).

Carbonic maceration

Carbonic maceration takes place when whole berries are held in an anaerobic atmosphere (no oxygen). The berries begin to ferment inside themselves without the need for yeast and eventually the grapes burst and normal

fermentation can begin. It produces lighter, fruitier red wines and is most famously used in Beaujolais, and pinot noir loves it too.

Fermentation

Fermentation is magical. It’s how grape juice becomes wine. If you’ve ever walked into the Sophia Room at Craggy Range when that ring of twelve 5000 litre open-topped oak fermenters is bubbling away, the spiced berry smell is so intoxicating. Fermentation occurs after the grapes have been picked and crushed, and yeasts convert the sugar in the juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

There are two ways it can happen. By ‘inoculation’ (where a winemaker adds commercial or manmade yeasts to the juice to begin fermentation), a process that’s speedy, reliable, clean, and efficient. Or by letting it happen naturally via ‘wild’ or ‘indigenous’ fermentation utilising the yeast cells present on the grapes themselves or in the winery atmosphere. Wild ferments can be unpredictable and tricky, but many winemakers feel they create the most interesting wines.

Malolactic fermentation

Often called malo [may-low] or MLF, it’s a sort of secondary ferment (after the alcoholic ferment) where malolactic bacteria take the edge off a wine’s acidity by converting the sharper malic acid into softer lactic acid (hence the name malolactic). It can inject creamy, buttery layers into chardonnay for example. Next time you’re at the Urban Winery in Ahuriri, ask Tony Bish about the malo regime across his chardonnays – you’ll learn buckets. Malo raises pH and lowers acidity, so it also makes tannins in red wines feel smoother and rounder. Red wines will usually go through malo naturally during Spring. AND if you happen to be in a winery while wines are going through malo, ask for a sample, then put the glass up to your ear to hear it crackle.

Lees

During a ferment, as the yeast cells die, they fall to the bottom of the vessel and form a rather gross-looking, yellowy-grey paste called ‘lees’. What this paste lacks in visual appeal, it more than makes up for in flavour and texture potential. The winemaker can choose to ‘stir’ these lees through the finished wine in a process known as ‘bâttonage’ to add complexity, texture, and a creamy mouthfeel. The longer

the wine ages on its lees (or ‘sur lie’ in French), the more intense those aromas and flavours will be.

Nose

It’s just another way of saying ‘aroma’ or ‘bouquet’ or ‘smells like’.

Minerality

I use the word ‘minerality’ all the time and it’s a term which really rubs some wine folk up the wrong way. Sozz babes. For me it’s a way of describing the stony, flinty, quartzy, crisp and slightly saline aromas, flavours and textures of certain wines. It’s not a provable or a literal way of tasting the actual rocks or minerals found in a vineyard though. I mean, I guess one could go out rock-licking and dirt chomping, but you’d soon attract the wrong sort of attention.

Legs

Chances are you’ve seen someone swirl their glass, hold it up to the light and announce “Wow, that’s got amazing legs!” as if it’s some measure of quality. ‘Legs’ are the lines of liquid that run down the inside of your glass after you’ve swirled the wine. The alcohol immediately starts to evaporate and the remaining liquid condenses into tears and gravity pulls them back down into the glass. So ‘legs’ just means the wine is a bit boozy and not much else.

Complexity

You’ll see this word used in pretty much every aspect of the wine world. Put simply, when a wine is described as being ‘complex’ it’s got a lot going on. It’s like when you can’t quite pick one aroma, flavour or texture out above all the others. Or if there’s a smorgasbord of stuff leaping out of the glass, then it’s an easy shortcut to say something like “I’m loving the layers of complexity in this wine”.

Body

The ‘body’ of a wine refers to how light or heavy it sits in your mouth. A wine’s body can be influenced by the natural characteristics of the grape it’s made from, the winemaking techniques, its maturity and its alcohol level. The higher the alcohol, typically the more viscous, heavy, and ‘full-bodied’ a wine will be.

Tannins

Tannins are part of the vital combo of elements that make wine so awesome and unique as a beverage. They’re

compounds derived from the skins, seeds and stems of grapes and they’re responsible for the astringent, slightly chewy, cheek-puckering characters found predominantly in red wines. ‘Tannin’ is a centuries old word derived from using plant extracts to cure leather—a process known as ‘tanning’. Plants have tannins to make themselves unpleasant to creatures who might eat them. Tannins can also come from the oak barrels used to store wine. Oak trees are plants. Grapes are plants. Ever chewed on a grape seed? They’re super-bitter. Chew just the skins or stalks of grapes? They leave a dry, furry feeling in your mouth. And yet when they’re released into wine, they contribute hugely to the depth, structure, texture and ageing potential. Tannins can be soft, delicate, silky, round, sinewy, fine-grained, firm, grippy or dusty.

Plunging

Not a neckline or something you do to your coffee, rather it’s a technique winemakers employ to intensify colours and flavours mainly in red wines. During a red wine ferment, the CO2 produced by the yeast converting sugar to alcohol pushes the skins and seeds to the top of the vessel, forming a ‘cap’. For all their essential colours, tannins and textures to be incorporated into the final wine, that ‘cap’ needs to be ‘plunged’ back down into the liquid and kept wet. Plunging can be mechanized or, if you’re the unlucky cellar-rat, done by hand at regular intervals until your arms fall off.

Fining and filtration

If you’ve ever tasted a wine straight out of the tank or barrel, chances are it was a tad cloudy in the glass. Yet by the time it ends up in a bottle, it’s clear as a bell and stable as hell. That’s because it’s likely been through a fining and filtration process.

For most commercial white wines, it’s standard practice to clarify and stabilise them with products like egg white, casein, isinglass, gelatin or vegan options like bentonite, carbon or silica. Technically, no trace of these fining agents should remain in the finished wine, but as a safety precaution, some countries require allergen warnings to indicate whether certain products were used.

Many big, bold red wines are now being released ‘unfined’ and ‘unfiltered’ as winemakers may prefer to retain the pure, true character of the

wine rather than worrying about it looking bright and glossy. Invivo’s Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is bottled unfined and unfiltered for example.

Acidity or TA (titratable acidity)

This tells us the concentration of acids present in wine. Typically, wines range between 4 and 8 grams per litre. 4 is fresh, 8 is getting to the squinty side.

pH

The pH level tells us how intense the acids taste. The relationship is inverse so the lower the pH number, the more intense the acids in the wine will taste. And (here’s some science), each number is logarithmic (sorry, maths too), so a pH of 3 has 10 times more acidity than a pH of 4. The pH range goes from 0 - 14, with 7 being neutral. (You can do this.) pHs of less than 7 indicate acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates alkali. (Tighten your straps.) pH is actually a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the wine. (Breathe. It’s over now.)

Brix

Pronounced ‘bricks’, it’s a measurement of the percentage of sugar in the grape juice and tells us how ripe and sweet the grapes were when they were picked. Multiply it (sorry more maths) by 0.6 and you see the potential alcohol. So when your Bridge Pa-based winemaker mates start raving about their merlot reaching 24 Brix with a pH of 3.3 you can anticipate 14.4% of sippy salubriousness.

RS

This stands for Residual Sugar and it’s the measure of sweetness in wine. Typically, wines with less than 10 g/L are considered dry ... meaning less sweet.

Petrichor

If you’re still with me and still wondering what that weird word in that opening wine tasting note meant, here it is. Petrichor is that awesome scent of rain falling on hot rocks, dry soil or warm asphalt and it’s a scent present in loads of different wines.

Yvonne Lorkin is a wine writer, the Co-Founder and CTO of WineFriend (NZ’s No.1 personalised wine subscription service) and she’s a proud, born and bred Hawkesbaylien. winefriend.co.nz or yvonnelorkin.com

Wine: Stories from Hawke’s Bay

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

A splendid new book … an extraordinary trove of images.

John Saker, Cuisine

An engaging read that I heartily recommend for the depth and character it adds to the Hawke’s Bay wine experience.

Alwyn Corban

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

Mark Sweet. Photographs Tim Whittaker

Havelock North Village is the vibrant heart of Hawke’s Bay. Sip great coffee at the local cafes, discover stunning natural attractions, eat and drink your way around the Village eateries, or wander around stunning boutique retailers and artisan providores; there is something for everyone to love about Havelock North!

Life Mouthy Broad / Jess Soutar Barron

We’ll weather the weather, whether we like it or not

I need to have serious words with you about your attitude. I know you’ve been thinking some negative thoughts about the weather and winter and dragging out the woolies from above the wardrobe, but it’s time. There’s no turning back, we’re going there: Winter is coming, ready or not.

Now we’re not bears so we can’t just hibernate and wait for spring. We’ll get SAD and we’ll have to take vitamins D, B6, zinc, omega-3 and iron just to stay alive. Worse than that we’ll get really really boring going on about how much we hate winter and people won’t want to spend time with us and we’ll get lonely and just fade away due to lack of interest.

Instead, we must reset our thinking and become chionophiles, frost-fans, winter-winners not whiners. We need to embrace winter with the verve of a Viking, and get our hygge on.

Cosiness is quintessential to a satisfying winter. But whether you’re seeking Norwegian koselig or Dutch gezellig or German gemütlich it’s all about getting cozy with company. Loneliness is a quick way to feel inner despair when it’s miserable outside.

In Hungary, winter is celebrated with rowdy roaring and men in monster masks for a carnival called Busojaras designed to scare off the cold. Now I’m not suggesting we get too rambunctious, we are Kiwis after all but perhaps we could strum a uke and have a bit of a sing-song. Carousing – or social connectedness as shrinks like to call it – is a viable panacea to the winter blues. Even just having a natter is a legitimate nostrum. And rather than an ad-hoc pop-in, plan to party. Research says having things to look forward to – as well as the things themselves – is helpful when it comes to surviving winter.

Let’s band together to bring back Sunday Lunch. Let’s roast a slab of

We must reset our thinking and become chionophiles, frostfans, winter-winners not whiners. We need to embrace winter with the verve of a Viking, and get our hygge on.

sunlight and movement into our frozen bodies. Simply put, that’s the highest priority when it comes to staying sane ‘til Spring arrives. If you can take your bike rather than driving, do so. If you can take the stairs rather than the lift, do. If there’s a choice between scrolling and strolling, do the walk. If you can fit in a swim before work or after, or on a drizzly Saturday, do it. Don’t look at the rain and see it as an excuse to slouch on the couch watching Taskmaster.

meat, do some complex carbs in duck fat and call up the crew. Having ten round the table, with all the trimmings and fruit crumble with homemade icecream, will certainly fill your weekend. And by the time you’ve finished a game of Articulate, packed them off with doggie-bags and cleaned up, you’ll be so zonked you’ll be catching zees by 8.

Another beneficial facet of mid-winter revelry is exercise. Whether it’s kachina dancing or zumba, shaking your booty is a good way to feel good. The very thing you should not do in winter, is stop doing things. In fact, getting up early is important to absorb as much light as possible and get that serotonin flowing, because it’s dark again at 5pm. You don’t want to cut yourself short by lazing about too long in bed.

That’s why sourdough and old dogs were invented.

If we didn’t have sourdough starters to feed at sparrow’s fart (or scobies or kefir grains) – or old dogs to walk around the block – we wouldn’t get up at all. We’d languish. And languishing is not healthy for anyone, especially in the depths of winter.

Once we’ve given a kick start to our winter days we have to keep going, and keep making as much out of every nippy moment as possible.

Every day is full of ways to get

I’m all talk. Obviously. I welcome winter solely because of hibernation. I count a grey sky and sub-18 degrees as gluggavedur: weather best experienced through a window. If the sun goes behind a cloud for longer than ten minutes I’m up and prepping mise en place for mulligatawny. Seasonal affective disorder is my addiction not my affliction. I practise the art of tsundoku specifically so I have a reason not to move a muscle or speak to anyone between May and September. I will even use a February sun shower as a bonafide reason to take to my bed and read all day. Experts say, “Soak up sunlight, eat healthy, keep active, stay connected, take this, do that”. But to truly survive the dark days we all need to give ourselves a bit of a break. Minimise stress, avoid guilt, dismiss angst of any kind. Relax.

Winter is wonderful whether you get-up-and-go, or go-with-the-flow. Just make sure you winter your way, on your terms and you’ll get through. You’ll have to. It’s annual, inevitable and non-negotiable. That is unless you book a July jaunt to Italy … (now there’s an idea!)

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