John Key is right. Mining and treaty settlements are two areas of potential economic growth for Northland.
Neither are direct results of any strategic economic stimulation from any central government initiative though.
Economic development in Northland over the past few decades has tended to be haphazard. There is no single agreed common vision for the North, other than of course, we want the region to succeed.
But the complicated and fractured set-up of four local bodies plus a health body means getting those people in a room to agree on a unified strategy to grow the region is a difficult ask.
It can't be that hard, you ask.