An unnecessary 'kick in the guts'

INDUSTRY FOR LOCALS: Clean Stream Northland's recycling centre in Kaitaia, which Hone Harawira says should still be in local hands.

The Far North District Council's decision to "dump" Clean Stream Northland (CSN) and give the northern rubbish and recycling contract to Whangarei's Northland Waste was a real "kick in the guts", not only for CSN's partners, CBEC and Te Rarawa, but for the whole of the Far North, according to MANA's Hone Harawira.

The council's decision was based on cost, and should have been about more than that, he said, particularly in a community with high social deprivation and massive unemployment. Council contracts had to take account of cost, but also had to consider local business, the local economy, local workers and local development.

Mr Harawira said he could give two examples of how things could be done differently.

"When Te Rangi Aniwaniwa built their indoor heated swimming pool they were required to tender widely for the building and the pool," he said.

"The lowest tenders came from Hamilton and Auckland. But they decided to raise a little bit more money and negotiate with the locals, and in the end were able to give both contracts to local businesses. And why did they do that? Because they wanted to hire locals, and because they wanted to see as much of their money as possible get spent in the Far North. Because that's where their kura is, that's where their families live, and that's where their commitment is. And because they wanted to know that if anything broke, they knew where to find the builders as well, but to their credit they've never had a problem. The work was top-class.

"And then when they built the gym they did the same thing. They called for tenders and then closed a deal with a local contractor again - local business, local workers, and money getting spent in their own home town. And the same result too. Top-quality work from a local businessman and his team.

"That means they were able to spend nearly $2 million on locals. And that's why I say councils need to think about more than just the bottom line. Because people up here matter. Knowing that local work is being done by local people matters, and knowing that we can help our neighbour's business survive matters.

"Because we all feel good if a local business does well. Not too well, of course, especially if we gotta pay for it out of our rates. But certainly I would expect the Far North District Council to be a lot more Far-North-centric and a little less super-city in their thinking, and a little more willing to step outside the box to keep local businesses in the game."

Mr Harawira understood that the UK had legislation in place to help protect local contractors in small communities and keep the "big boys" in the big cities.

"Sounds like something we might need to do here," he said.

"I also recall talking to a guy from down Wairoa who was looking at ways to make council contracts smaller so that the big boys wouldn't even bother bidding for them. That might be worth a look too.

"Another thing about this council decision is that it ignores the long and often difficult years of excellent work done by CBEC to teach us all about the importance of recycling and making recycling part and parcel of our lives [up from 30 per cent in 2003 to nearly 70 per cent this past year]. CBEC's work has made the Far North a national leader in recycling, and seen them provide advice and assistance to local bodies all over the country. That's something to be proud of, really proud of.

"And then of course there is the community/iwi deal that CSN represented, the opportunity for a local business to partner up with a local iwi, sharing ideas and creating new pathways for our future. That is also now at an end, and that's sad, particularly given the impact that iwi assets and iwi money is likely to have on the Far North in the very near future.

"Be good if the council could take another look at this contract. There's a lot at stake here."