Northland is the home of our nation’s most northern point. Photo / NZME
Northland is the home of our nation’s most northern point. Photo / NZME
THREE KEY FACTS
The Government says it will accelerate work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme.
A NZIER survey of 800 Northland businesses found the cost of the Brynderwyns closing was $3.3m to $14.6m per day in business costs and losses.
Consent for a multimillion-dollar expansion of Northport has recently been declined, due to the scale and extent of the 11.7ha reclamation at Whangārei’s Marsden Point.
Alwyn Poole founded four schools and was a principal for 18 years. He now heads Innovative Education Consultants, conducting research into the education system. As an educator and Northland business owner, he is deeply interested in the development of the Far North.
OPINION
I lived in the Far North from 2017 until 2021 and still own two tourism-related businesses in the Bay of Islands and love being there.
There is so much beauty in Northland – beaches, islands, forests, magnificent sea life, bird life, and even New Zealand’s greatest tree. It is, of course, the home of our nation’s most northern point – although it is not, as you quickly realise when you stand by the lighthouse, Cape Rēinga.
There are so many wonderful people and genuine friendliness. There are remarkable historic sites throughout the province and I am completely convinced that every New Zealand school student should spend a day at Waitangi and that their education is incomplete if they don’t have that experience.
Northland is also home to an excessive amount of another species: members of Parliament. There are 72 electorates in our nation and, factoring in list MPs, each has an average of 1.7 MPs.
Not Northland – it is a political phenomenon. It has three electorates within its boundaries, Te Tai Tokerau, Whangārei and Northland. Across those three electorates, it boasts eight MPs – including some of genuine prominence. The three electorate MPs are Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti and Grant McCullum.
The list MPs are the current Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, another Minister in Shane Jones, Willow-Jean Prime, Mark Cameron and Lyndon Hūhana. It should be remembered that the Labour Party Deputy Leader, and Corrections Minister, Kelvin Davis, also came from the region as have many esteemed leaders of the past.
If you were unfamiliar with our nation, or maybe even a tourist here, and learned of Northland’s political wealth you would surely expect this beautiful part of New Zealand to be thriving in all ways. You would expect abundant support for the education of its young people – maybe even some of our very best schools. You would expect outstanding infrastructure.
You would think that there would be clear policies to enhance tourism in the area to generate not only regional wealth but also to help the nation’s current account. It is our country’s warmest region and is called the “winterless north” … because it is, and you would expect to see it thriving as a remarkable year-round destination.
Te-Oneroa-a-Tōhe/Ninety Mile Beach. You would expect many of the marine areas to be protected to allow huge regeneration of fish stocks to help guarantee a prosperous future, Poole says
There would be clear incentives to invest and to carry out R&D in forestry, horticulture, agriculture and all aspects of the beachfronts, ocean and waterways. You would expect many of the marine areas to be protected to allow huge regeneration of fish stocks to help guarantee a prosperous future.
With such political clout, you would expect in all ways that it would be the clean, green, vibrant gem of our nation … despite being a long way from Wellington. Well – the people have been promised a big new road that will start to be built in, wait for it, four to 10 years (maybe).
What is the reality? The results for Northland’s high schools show it as the worst region in New Zealand for education.
Across all ages, the full attendance rate in Northland in Term 1 of 2024 was 47.9% when nationally it was 61.7%. Students in the area leave school with lower qualifications than any other – indeed 21% leave with none at all. They have the lowest progress into tertiary study and, post-school, the Far North has a NEET rate (young people not in employment, education or training) of 19.3% – when the national average is 11.2%.
The average per capita income for New Zealand is $47,175. That generated in Northland, as a whole, is $39,139 and for the Far North is $35,406.
This clearly correlates with the percentage of the working-age population being on benefits. Nationally this is 10.2%. In Northland it is 16.9% and in the Far North 21.5%. Some of the towns and suburbs from Whangārei north present with genuine poverty and, especially in the hottest parts of summer, even water can become scarce and Coke is half the price of Pump.
The long closure of the Brynderwyns and, even longer, closure of the Mangamuka Gorge are signs of the long-term neglect of major spending on quality infrastructure.
Many of the roads are significantly damaged and the economic and social cost of the long closure of the Brynderwyns and, even longer, closure of the Mangamuka Gorge are signs of the long-term neglect of major spending on quality infrastructure. We still have the one-lane bridges – I know that for certain as my car met one as I travelled to Auckland early one morning.
Northland also still deeply feels the effect of being pseudo-locked down in the Government’s Covid response – every time Auckland was.
It is well past time for change and with eight local MPs that can surely be generated. The last Labour Government had a Māori caucus. Maybe during this time, there could be a cross-party Northland caucus. It really is well past time to up their game and ensure huge investment in the region that needs it the most.
They could work hard together to improve schooling and focus hard on seeing young people leave school well qualified and with huge support into further education or training. This is desperately needed.
This remarkable group of eight could ensure that the Far North is seen to be as much a part of the tourism circuit as Rotorua, Taupō and Queenstown. The whole nation would benefit as these MPs fight to restore national tourism from currently being 17% below pre-Covid levels. Northland should be a huge part of that – and progress things into the future. Facilitating direct flights from Australia should be a near-future plan.
They could get the roads fixed – fast.
If you haven’t been to Waitangi maybe this is the spring or summer that you do.
It can’t all depend on the Government though. Kiwis are at their best when they are doing good things for others – while having a great time themselves.
If you and/or the family haven’t been to and around the Far North, if you haven’t been on the boats to the Hole-in-the-Rock and seen the teeming snapper off Urupukapuka (or the other 143 islands), the dolphin, seals and Orca.
If you haven’t eaten at the fabulous restaurants in Russell … and, especially, haven’t experienced the beauty, museums and deep sense of history at Waitangi – then this is the spring and summer to do so.
The area will benefit hugely after some tough times. The superb locals will look after you at every stop – and you may even see a politician in the wild. Tell them it is Northland’s time to shine.
