Letter to the Editor, Thursday September 24, 2015

The regions matter

Over the past months the Labour caucus have been travelling the country and doing a series of regional visits. We are still working our way around the many communities and regions, but there is something that is becoming increasingly stark as we go. That is the regional neglect that has gone on over successive years.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to regional growth. Rather regions grow in varied ways, and the simple concentration of resources and effort in a couple of places is not sufficient for long-term growth.

But a one-size-fits-all approach is exactly what the government has applied. Ever since it came to power it has relied on the dairy boom, overheated Auckland property and the now-peaked Canterbury earthquake rebuild to keep our economy ticking over. It is short term management, not long term vision.

It was obvious to the people of Northland, who could easily tell the difference between a proper regional strategy and a few bridges that came out of the blue and went nowhere.

Too late for most regions, the government is only just realising it is not working. Pity, because if you actually go to the regions it's been pretty obvious it wasn't working for a while.

The numbers don't lie: unemployment in Northland is 8.6 per cent, in the BOP it's 6.7 per cent%, in Manawatu-Wanganui it's 7.0 per cent and in Gisborne/Hawkes Bay it's 7.7 per cent.

But this isn't just about numbers. It is about people.

We have visited and heard regional New Zealand's stories. In Taup I was told there are 20 vacant shops in the CBD " in a 'thriving' tourist town. Ruatoria just lost its last bank because there's so little money in town; in Kaitaia empty shops are too often the norm; and Opotiki has been waiting far too long for its harbour development to deliver 300 new jobs.

When I talk to some of those community-led projects, it breaks my heart the hoops that they have had to go through to even get this government to take notice " until now. When they are desperate.

Now the government has its Wellington officials running around some regions doing, what it has termed, regional growth studies. Basically it is a public relations exercise. They are just hoovering up projects that local communities have already been working on, and often have received no support for.

My prediction is that this government will start throwing some money at those regional projects over the coming months and claim them as their own. It is clever politics, but not particularly clever development.

Yes they should support those projects but it is not creating a pathway for more projects like them to get the support they need to succeed.

Wouldn't it be good to actively identify and support the seedlings of development projects and support the communities and leaders working hard to make them work?

Wouldn't it be better to stop relying on officials to tell regions what is right and what is wrong and find ways for communities to have a bigger voice in policy-making in Wellington?

And wouldn't it be better to be making some meaningful investment in our regions, so the many young people who still live in those areas have the opportunities to meaningfully participate in a smart economy at something more than a minimum wage?

None of us benefit from neglecting the regions. Let's hope the government realises that before it's too late.

DAVID CUNLIFFE MP

Regional Development Spokesman

Labour