A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
The Government will place its stake in the sometimes stony ground of economic development and job creation for this region when several Government Ministers visit to launch the Tairawhiti Economic Action Plan on Tuesday.
Nearly two years in the making, Tairawhiti’s plan is the final one to be launched of
the initial cohort of five regions — those identified as being in most need of assistance, as well as having strong opportunities for growth — in the Government’s Regional Growth Programme. Since then most of provincial New Zealand has joined up and is at varying stages of implementation.
Initially pencilled in for launch a day after the Hawke’s Bay plan in July last year, Tairawhiti’s was sensibly delayed to ensure what had been separate work on boosting the Maori economy was brought into the one plan.
This “action plan” for boosting our economy has been developed by a local governance group including representatives from business, iwi, local government, community and development agencies, in partnership with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
It will be a comprehensive (and no doubt compromise) plan of actions and investments to help unlock the potential of our region and people, that will be ours to roll out. The most interesting and keenly awaited detail, though, is what the Government chooses to support. Will it really drive its stake into the ground and back this region in efforts to turn around our economic fortunes, or will it just scrape at the surface?
