Third try for trust board role

THIRD TIME LUCKY? Craig Roberts is running for Masterton Licensing Trust in the 2013 local body elections.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Craig Roberts is hoping it will be his third time lucky.

Mr Roberts is going for a spot on the Masterton Licensing Trust board in the local body elections, in an attempt to get the trust's finances back in order and increase profits.

"With Brian Bourke [chair of the trust] retiring, I thought it was now more than any other time to have someone with the financial skills on the board."

He is currently the business delivery manager at Taratahi agricultural training centre and chair of the Te Kura-a-Rangi Trust, which provides youth services in Wairarapa. He said he was standing for a third time as he was still concerned about the trust's financial position and strategic direction.

"I could ignore it but I'm really concerned. Some of the things they have done are not within the core purpose of what the trust was founded for."

Lots of other licensing trusts had been lost because of poor finances, he said.

"We are really lucky to have this trust in the community."

The trust had a net loss of $5.5 million in the two years to March 2012 and the value of its assets were down, Mr Roberts said .

He said if those trends continued it was inevitable that the trust would fall over.

Mr Roberts came close to being on the board in the 2007 and 2010 elections, initially seeking to inject change into what was typically an older male board of trustees.

Now he is better known in the community than in the 2007 election, he hopes that will help land him a place on the board.

He still wants to increase the diversity on the board. "The core people in the trust have stayed the same.

"When it comes to governance, you need a balanced board, a balance of skills."

The trust needed to be a sustainable business, said Mr Roberts.

The trust is the 75 per cent owner of Trust House, which owns many businesses in Wairarapa and hands out grants to community organisations.

Money for grants should come from business profits and not from gaming machines, as the majority of it currently did, said Mr Roberts,

He said he supports the Masterton council's sinking lid policy, which aims to reduce the number of pokies in the area.

"One of my concerns is that there's a lot of harm from gaming machines."

"In the medium term, I would like the trust to reduce the number of gaming machines in the Masterton community, replacing the gaming grants with grants generated by running the underlying businesses better."

The grants should also go to smaller community groups, rather than large groups which could get corporate sponsorship.