In the past few weeks through my column, press releases and visits, I have concentrated effort on stocktaking and showcasing businesses, schools and agencies in the Whanganui electorate.
The strength of the economy is primary production, manufacturing, particularly in the pastorally aligned sector, and also the energy sector in the north. As much as people would love the electorate to be a tourist destination, people tend to pass through as they always have done and our challenge is to make them want to stop over long enough to whet their appetite to return.
The primary and secondary education sector is strong with not just good schools, but excellent schools across the range of decile and public and private provision. There is an over-capacity problem, but schools do work together to ensure that subjects are available where without this co-operation, students would miss out.
Schools also recognise the threat to youth who are not involved in employment, education or training remaining in a cycle of low-paid work and unemployment through their entire working lives if not cajoled, challenged and encouraged to gain skills and remain and return to education in order to get jobs, keep jobs and get better jobs.
But the fabric of a community is not all about dollars. The social fabric is about relationships and how we deal with the scraps and scrapes of work, living, families, and neighbours. The social structure of the region can gain strength through building on an initiative that was piloted in Whanganui in the mid-1990s and now spreads around the country, leading a worldwide trend - Restorative Justice, or by its modern name, Restorative Practice.
