Letter to the Editor, Thursday February 18, 2016

Time to get moving

The Northland economy is doing much better. It has just posted its lowest level of unemployment in nearly eight years - down to 6.2 per cent. That's really good to see, but it's not enough. What we are all looking for is a much more transformative change - a sustained lift in the region's growth rate and prosperity that will finally see Northland realise more of the economic potential that's been talked about for decades.

That's the reason for the Northland Regional Action Plan that was launched in the Bay of Islands just before Waitangi Day. The plan contains 58 separate initiatives that will help achieve exactly that - and now is the time for us all to get in behind it and make it happen.

The action plan is the result of 18 months' hard work between central government, local government and business and community leaders. It started with an opportunity report which was commissioned in April 2014 and launched around Waitangi Day last year. Now that report has been converted by a team of local leaders and key government officials into a series of projects that will attract the investment and diversification that Northland needs.

The plan identifies projects that will help develop the tourism industry, primary industries like horticulture, honey, aquaculture and forestry, and specialist hi-tech industries like the IT sector and marine manufacturing,

There is plenty of room to be cynical about economic plans. Many have been written over the years, and they often end up gathering dust. In my view it is the action that is the important bit, and this must now be the focus. One of the encouraging things about this plan is that it has already kicked off a number of projects.

One example is the manuka plantation initiative at Northland College in Kaikohe. This project is hiring unemployed local people to establish the plantation on the college farm to provide research and training opportunities for the manuka honey industry and Kaikohe's young people.

There's also the collaboration between the Queenstown Resort College and Shanghai Cred to build a dedicated tourism training college in Paihia, to train up young Northlanders to work in the hospitality industry, and the Kaikohe Growth Industries Pathway project, which is readying young unemployed people to take up some of the growing numbers of vacancies in local industries.

And of course there is the announcement of the government's $4 million contribution to the Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Maori Art Gallery in Whangarei. This strikingly beautiful building will join the impressive new Waitangi Museum in a growing list of must-see Northland attractions that will further boost the fast-growing tourism industry in the region.

In the infrastructure space, the government is moving ahead with the further roll-out of ultra-fast broadband and rural broadband enhancements, including the roll-out of fibre to smaller Northland towns like Dargaville, Kerikeri, Kaitaia and Kaikohe. Meanwhile tenders are out for the Puhoi to Warkworth section of State Highway 1, the widening of the same state highway through Whangarei is nearing completion, and NZTA is readying itself for construction work for the first four of the 10 one-lane bridges to be replaced on the Twin Coast Discovery Route.

However, the real test of the plan will be whether it attracts more private investment to the region. That's why the active involvement of the business sector is important, and it's great to see new investments being made in the marine manufacturing sector and the new container crane being installed at Northland Port.

A big determinant of the success of the plan will be whether it can unite all the stakeholders in Northland behind it. The region will achieve much more if there is a shared commitment to success. Not everyone will agree on the relative importance of every project. But that is not actually what is important. The important thing is building momentum behind the plan and moving forward on as many projects as possible. It's much easier for central government agencies to play their part when regional leaders communicate a shared vision of what needs to happen.

We are off to a great start. The launch was a big success, with around 150 business, community and central government leaders attending.

This week the regional steering group is getting together to drive the various projects forward. I have written to them, congratulating them on their progress so far and giving them the commitment of ministers that we will stay closely involved and that central government agencies will be stepping up to support them. I have proposed we meet again in the middle of the year, to check on progress.

This economic action plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move Northland forward. Let's all take that opportunity and run with it.

STEVEN JOYCE

Minister for Economic Development