Not all about the money

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne has received millions of dollars from government economic development projects but a new report shows the region will need more than job-focused cash incentives to improve its poor wellbeing ranking.

Of the nine wellbeing categories used by economic consultancy firm Infometrics in its Regional Wellbeing report, Gisborne ranked last or near-last in all but one.

Urban centres rated significantly higher than rural areas in seven categories, due largely to a greater mix of skilled employment options, white collar work, higher pay and lower crime rates.

The provinces outperformed in housing and civic engagement categories, where property is cheaper and declining election turnout wasn’t as steep as the cities.

“Often when wellbeing is being discussed it is only considered at a national level,” Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said.

“But nationwide figures ignore the very real and significant differences in wellbeing for people in different parts of New Zealand.”

Mr Olsen pointed out that Gisborne had been a prominent recipient from Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones’ Provincial Development Fund.

“However, Infometrics’ analysis suggests there are wider societal issues that will not be addressed by the fund’s current focus on jobs,” he said.

“Broader social policy initiatives are needed to prevent further declines in provincial wellbeing.”

The report listed Gisborne as the fourth-best region in terms of environment but that was the only positive. Gisborne was last for income and consumption, jobs and earnings, and safety and social connections.

Gisborne rated 13th for housing, 12th for health and 14th for civic engagement and governance.

Speaking to The Gisborne Herald, Mr Olsen pointed out that the wellbeing indicators were not necessarily countering other economic reports that showed Gisborne’s traditional economy had been growing.

ASB Bank last week rated the Gisborne regional economy as the nation’s most improved for the year to March.

“I think it’s important to look at both sets of indicators to produce a well-rounded view on progress in the local area,” Mr Olsen said.

“Gisborne is certainly going strong on economic indicators — our own internal analysis shows that the Gisborne economy expanded by 3.1 percent over the 12 months to March 2019.

“Traditional measures of growth give us an indication of how the economic output in an area is going, but it doesn’t — and to be clear, was never designed to — actually look at the fortunes of local people in the community.

“So we might have strong economic growth in Gisborne but if that’s not actually changing locals’ lives, is that progress?

“What I’d highlight is that Gisborne is growing strongly, which indicates a determined effort from the local community to progress the economy.

“Over time, that should lead to better outcomes for locals, especially if we coordinate economic growth with how to use this growth to drive changes in the community

“It’s not a case of choosing wellbeing or economic measures of success, it’s using both to evaluate how the local area is going, where the community wants to be in the future and how to get there — what things need to change and how will it happen?”