Jacoby Poulain: Hawke's Bay needs to get Parliament's attention

Jacoby Poulain is a Hastings district councillor, a board member of the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and is on the EIT Council. Photo / Duncan Brown

By chance I happened to be driving in my car the other day listening to the radio when the speeches in Parliament declaring the Government's Budget were being announced.

I must say, I've never listened to the Budget announcement debate before but I did find it quite interesting and entertaining.

Of course the National Party think the Budget is the best thing since sliced bread, and of course the Opposition aren't quite so complimentary.

What is for sure though is that this Budget will influence the lives of almost every New Zealander.

The Government gets to decide what people or groups to invest in, and which ones not to.

Largely, within the Budget, the Government also gets to decide which region gets what. That is some serious power.

This brings me to the next issue; how does Hawke's Bay get its share of the pie?

The problem is that the voice of Hawke's Bay is fragmented, diluted and weak in the ears of parliamentarians.

Due to this, Hawke's Bay misses out on funding for initiatives and pilot programmes and projects that are being snatched up by other regions who have a stronger more united voice and pull than us.

Just to make sure this problem isn't a figment of people's imagination or simply being made up, I took the liberty of asking one of our Ministers about the matter when I was down in Parliament recently.

I won't say the name of the Minister, except to say he has some serious pull down in the wings. I posed to him that I hear on the grapevine that Hawke's Bay's voice is fragmented and weak down in Wellington and for this reason we miss opportunities for government support - what say you? The answer was in the affirmative.

Couple this with a scenario played out in a different meeting recently. Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley was visiting Hastings Council.

It was an opportunity to have a brief roundtable to discuss the social situation in Hastings and Hawke's Bay.

Councillors raised all sorts of issues from the social investment fund to housing, from education to child welfare to domestic violence.

On the domestic violence front I was disappointed when the Minister explained that this area was to receive no further funding from this year's Budget.

However, Minister Tolley did go on to explain that the Government was conducting pilots elsewhere around the country and that efforts were being made to support these. Problem is, it's not us.

Our united voice needs to get on the radar of Wellington's parliamentary chambers to pull support in for our region.

This is one of the reasons why the Hawke's Bay's Regional and Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan (REDS) was created.

I sat in a workshop last week held by regional leaders who presented a plan of attack on this front.

The governance group outlined a new structure that pulls together organisations from across all of Hawke's Bay (councils, iwi, businesses and government agencies) to work together on the goals of raising employment opportunities and incomes throughout Hawke's Bay.

Hawke's Bay REDS will also incorporate Hawke's Bays social development priorities alongside economic development.

Overall, in terms of REDS, I think its biggest challenge is also its biggest reward - that is, pulling Hawke's Bay's united efforts and voice together.

We simply must work together if we want to be competitive and progress our region and our people.

The greatest value REDS can provide I see is helping to provide this united direction and voice. We have some clever people at the helm so I look forward to seeing development on this front.

Jacoby Poulain is a Hastings district councillor, a board member of the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and is on the EIT Council.