Whanganui easy target again

SUPERFICIAL: Duncan Garner should have dug a bit deeper. A-230514HOSSPLWINTEC10

THIS week we have seen another commentator come to Whanganui to slag us off. Duncan Garner's considered opinion is there must be something wrong with empty shops in the main street.

But it is no different than any other provincial city or town finding that, with less population but increased mobility, central business districts are bigger than they needed to be in the early 1900s, when town plans were configured. We do more electronically than mechanically; we do less manually, so there is less staff; we do it remotely, so businesses and government agencies have regionalised; and communications are faster, so queuing at a counter means less than it did.

I don't know where national media commentators get off, thinking they are the oracle on all things political and economic, but the fact that they are paid a penny for their thoughts means they self-impose kudos for any observation that is plain for the rest of us to see.

We know the shops are empty in some places and wish they were full - not just for the hell of it, but with real value, adding businesses, creating jobs and wealth is our preference.

And it all seems like an easy hit to turn up and repeat what Shamubeel Eaqub of Zombie Town fame or former mayor Michael Laws have previously said. It is hardly earning Duncan Garner his keep.

Duncan should maybe have taken another angle, dug a bit deeper, done some research - but it really was the superficial he was after. Less work, less expense, and tell the rest of New Zealand what they want to hear. Do the media make the news or report it?

It hacks me off in another way too. I always thought Duncan Garner was better than that. We get on pretty well and he took a smack in the ear that was meant for me on the rugby paddock on one occasion.

I quite like the intuition he has shown in looking at social issues beyond the rhetorical, but that intuition was sadly missing this time. The thing that annoys me most is that it automatically puts Whanganui people into defence mode.

We have to come out and once more defend the town, and argue against what others say about us. Encouraging them to look a little harder and be a lot more objective can make us sound like whingers and grizzlers, and it happens so often we are almost reinforcing their view that there is so much wrong with our place we should all move somewhere else. All we really want is a fair go.

Next week there will be another report on the region, which will be positive and thought-provoking. The Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Growth Study will be the culmination of months of in-depth work across government agencies, local councils, local business people, and economists and experts.

I wonder if this will be reported with as much vigour and stating the obvious outside of the region? Or will Auckland and Wellington roll over, scratch their nether regions and drift off back to sleep?