'Talk fest' ILG doesn't impress some

Central Hawke's Bay mayor Peter Butler

Big talk about working together among the amalgamation debate seems to be a moot point when it comes to the relatively new Hawke's Bay Intersectoral Leadership Group (ILG).

Formed almost two years ago it is made up of leaders from around the region, from mayors to MPs, heads of central government departments and Maori leaders, it has been labelled as one of the "more important' bodies to be formed in the Bay.

It was instigated by the Hawke's Bay District Health Board's chairman and chief executive Kevin Atkinson and Kevin Snee to address some of the more pressing health issues facing people here.

While it has been well-received by most leaders, Central Hawke's Bay mayor and shared services proponent Peter Butler sees the ILG as nothing more than a "talk fest". He said it was not his version of shared services.

"My shared services are Napier running the roading division, Hastings running the sewerage division, Central Hawke's Bay running the finance division something like that," said Mr Butler.

Mr Butler also questioned how such a group was going to address the myriad of health issues facing the Bay.

"How are they going to stop it? You know a lot of these things are talk fests and is that going to stop Johnnny Smith eating a pie? These talk fests they wear a bit thin for me."

When asked if he would attend a meeting in the future? "If I find that I am not busy doing stuff that I was elected to do in the Central Hawke's Bay I could very well be there."

Mr Butler's views are in stark contrast to those of the group's chairman and Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule, who said while participation at the meetings was voluntary the ILG was pretty significant.

"It is an important committee. It is the only one that really gets (leaders) together right across the region," he said.

"I mean I think that it has got huge potential and it is incredibly important it is probably one of the more important committees we have as a region."

The ILG is the only one of its kind in New Zealand was formed on the basis that a wide range of stakeholders come together to address health problems such as smoking, obesity and diabetes.

"To be honest, no health system in the world has been able to do it on their own," Mr Atkinson said. "So we invited what we thought was the range of people we needed - everyone who in some way can impact on working together with others to make us a better region. We need to work collaboratively with all those other agencies that can help us achieve our goal of having a very healthy population living in the region."