Chester Borrows: It's time for action not criticism

LAST week I spent two days travelling in Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay on a Rural Roadshow discussing Provincial Priorities (Politics is all about alliteration these days and almost as important as being able to name an alternative All Black backline. The perception of credibility is so important in our game).

The point of these visits being undertaken by four National MPs is to listen to those communities living away from airport towns, how government can get out of the way of them doing business and enhancing their lives in provincial New Zealand.

We hear so much about metro economies and regional economies but less so about rural and provincial growth and expectations. These areas provide so much of our national wealth and resilience and yet there are road blocks to growth in smaller centres that don't exist in metro areas and larger provincial cities.

A national business based in Gisborne needing to travel to Canterbury on a regular basis pays $1000 a trip. An Auckland business doing the same can travel for $200.

Freight hubs are in or close to big cities but produce in Poverty Bay is trucked to Napier three hours away or Hamilton and often gets on to a train or ship; the alternative is truck yourself all the way to the customer.

With depopulation came loss of agencies and services. No doubt this sounds very familiar.

Similar road shows in electorates such as Whanganui, Kaikura and Southland have found similar situations and everyone is suggesting similar solutions.

Solutions like decentralisation of government agencies out of Wellington in spite of the inefficiencies.

People scratch their heads over ways to attract new business and want to offer Auckland enterprises all sorts of incentives to move south.

Every province wants to be Silicon Valley or is absolutely convinced that their town or city is where everyone would want to live if only they came and sampled the experience with an open mind.

But it seems to me that most of these solutions don't stack up.

Moving national agencies to provincial New Zealand would have huge dead costs such as officials travelling back to Wellington to talk to government and aligned agencies which under this programme will have been decentralised to Ikamatua or Eketahuna.

You can only do so much by Skype. Rates and tax holidays to move out into the regions would truly and justifiably brass off all those loyal business who have resisted the temptation of moving their businesses from the Whanganui's and the Timaru's to South Auckland, South Australia or South China.

It would cause jealousy and rivalry, which would destabilise the local economies in a different way. Entrenched ideas and long held grievances never nullify and consolidate.

A discussion we never seem to have is what government, both central and local, can do to encourage business, organisation, clubs and sports to grow 20 per cent over the next 10 years.

That's jobs and wealth, classroom places, retail spaces, infrastructure, rate-take and an enduring future. Some businesses would do it on their own; some would need land freed up, consents and permits, more water, more electricity, a deeper port, stronger recruitment.

That's the job of council and government to remove the bureaucratic drags that prevent the boat being streamlined. It is a suggestion of the Whanganui-Manawatu Regional Growth Study and it makes good sense.

It seems that many of us have been sitting back thinking of excuses as to why things aren't the way they used to be, or not consistent with our view of the way they should be.

We point fingers at politicians, leaders, schools, minority groups, bad press, unions, employers, the weather, the Chinese, Americans or Russians. But we forget that when we are pointing the finger, three of our fingers are pointing back at ourselves.

Other people just get in and do it themselves in spite of the rest. They are doers, not talkers, and we need to join them or get the hell out of their way.

- Chester Borrows is the MP for Whanganui.