Bill Dalton

It will come as no surprise to you that I have been involved in some pretty fiery political debates recently – mainly with the poor demented souls who still believe that MMP is good for New Zealand.

The basis of the pro MMP argument seems to be that minority views now have a voice.  That view – of course – completely ignores the fact that these groups have always had a voice within the main stream political parties.  Both Labour and National had their environmental lobbyists – their champions of all things Maori – their right or left wing rumps.  The sort of totally ridiculous nonsense we are now hearing from the Greens about New Zealand becoming totally organic would be noted but not become policy.  These views were heard within a balanced framework.

Just look at the bizarre scenarios that are being suggested as being possible after this election.

National – only able to govern with the support of the Maori Party.  The Maori Party has made it clear that they are not prepared to simply support on supply and demand – they want to be equal partners.  So a party with 7 seats or less could be an equal governing party with a party that gains say 55 or 56 seats.

The Greens have nailed their colours to Labour’s mast.  Doesn’t that prove what a nonsense MMP is?  Surely if they were really subscribing to the MMP myth, they would have left their options open so they could have environmental influence on whichever party is in power.

So the polls suggest that it is just possible that Labour might be able to stitch a government together with support from the Greens, Jim Anderton’s so called political party, perhaps the Maori Party and God forbid, Winston Peters.  The only way that could work is if they all agreed to do nothing.

Can you imagine the likes of Sue Bradford, Winston Peters, Hone Harawera – making collective decisions in New Zealand’s best interests.

I have said so often – I will vote for the party that promises a binding referendum on MMP and for that reason National will get my vote.

You don’t have to travel far from Hawkes Bay to realise we live in one of the best spots in the world, but we need to do more to ensure our way of life is preserved.

We are a tourist region and yet we are a little off the beaten track – we need to provide attractions and facilities that encourage tourists to visit the East Coast.

Napier, with its Art Deco quarter is a jewel in Hawkes Bay’s tourism crown. And yet Napier has its’ own problems that we need to address.

We need a beach and one day the Council will have the guts to run with this project.

We have a very real problem with more and more motels being built along our Marine Parade and more and more bars and restaurants being built in Ahuriri. How do we link the two? How do we make sure those that are staying on the Marine Parade enjoy Ahuriri and those that are staying in Ahuriri enjoy the inner city.

My view is we should set up a small train-like vehicle with carriages that would run on the road between the refurbished Marineland and West Quay. If you have ever transferred from International to Domestic at Honolulu airport on the Wiki Wiki you will know what I mean.

The Deco Deliverer could be made up of a tractor unit and the number of carriages would be determined by demand. The carriages would have speakers in them and a recorded commentary would tell the passengers about the Marine Parade, why the Sea Wall was built, the history of the Port, Ahuriri’s history. Done properly it could be a great experience and it would be a point of difference for Napier.

Hawkes Bay needs to look at ventures that are unique. We have wonderful wineries but so do many other areas of New Zealand. We have wonderful orchards and market gardens but so do many other areas of New Zealand. We have a wonderful climate but so do many other areas of New Zealand.

We need points of difference to encourage people to visit Hawkes Bay and perhaps the Deco Deliverer could be one of those things.

Put your thinking caps on and if you’ve got any bright ideas, let me know.

Much is being made of the need to extend the runway at Hawke’s Bay Airport – yet I remain unconvinced that the project is worthwhile.

I do know there is some absolute rubbish being spouted in support of the project.

There is no way that any airline is going to schedule international flights out of Napier – and if they wanted to we would need to spend as much again as the runway cost on security,  – a police station – customs facilities – immigration facilities etc etc.

Look around the country and see what has happened.  Invercargill extended their runway in the hope of attracting international flights into Southland – they have never had one.  Hamilton extended their runway in the belief they could attract three flights a day.  They have never attracted more than 3 a week and some of those have just been cancelled.  Palmerston North, which services a far larger area than the airport at Napier does, has just lost its international provider.

My real worry is that we will lose frequency of flights.  At the moment we can jump on a plane at all sorts of times during the day and be in Wellington or Auckland in about 50 minutes.  From there we can go anywhere in the World.

What is wrong with that?

Efficient airline schedules are based around hubs.  In the States you have places like Denver and Charlotte that are enormous hubs.  Auckland and to a lesser extent, Wellington and Christchurch are New Zealand hubs.

I don’t have a closed mind on the subject of extending Hawkes Bay Airport runway and as a Napier City Councillor I am intrigued that no one has ever asked my opinion or tried to convince me, that the project is worthwhile.

I just make the point that at this stage,  I am yet to be convinced that it makes economic sense to extend the runway when all we can hope for is perhaps the odd charter flight and maybe the odd freight plane.

I just wonder if there is not a better way of spending such a large amount of public money.

There is no doubt that the worlds financial system is under serious threat right now.  And there is no doubt that – just as day follows night – good times will follow bad.

One thing has become very obvious over recent weeks.  The American system of unfettered, unregulated capitalism simply doesn’t work.

Take the housing market for instance.  After the 1929 crash, most states changed the rules for borrowing.  What they said was that if someone borrowed money secured over their house and they defaulted, the bank could only seize the house.  They couldn’t pursue the individual.  The assumption was that if a homeowner defaulted on his mortgage, then his credit rating would be so bad that no-one would lend to him.

Of course, in recent times the system has fallen down.  Because first line lenders were not going to hold the mortgage, they were just going to flick it on, they didn’t care who they lent to.  So these people who had simply walked away from a previous mortgage were eagerly lent to by greedy mortgage brokers.

Hence the sub-prime mortgage saga which triggered this crisis.

Bush, Bernanke and Paulson are all rushing around with clever solutions.  They are presenting themselves as the saviours – the clever guys with all the answers.

Make no mistake – this crisis has happened on their watch.  Sure its origins may go back a long way – but the Bush administration has been in charge for 8 years.  They must carry a huge burden of responsibility.

Many people believe that in some way, this crisis is caused by the Share market.  We hear commentators blaming the crisis on Wall Street and people assume that Wall Street is the stock exchange.

Stock Exchanges around the world reflect the strength of an economy and the companies in that economy.  They are an indicator of strength or weakness not the direct cause.

So where to from here?  There is no question that the totally free market capitalist system will be replaced.  Just as the Berlin Wall coming down was a momentous occasion in politics this crisis is a momentous occasion in economics.

We will see a new system evolve – one with checks and balances and one where wealth will relate to real assets not speculative profits.

I have long held and touted the view, that money is the most corrosive product known to man.

I have seen families disintegrate over money – despite there being plenty to go around.  I have seen businesses collapse over silly arguments about money and I’ve seen organisations disappear completely because of petty arguments about money.

And now Napier’s most iconic event – our Art Deco Weekend is under threat and you guessed it – it is all about money.

The Art Deco Trust has run Art Deco weekend events for years.  They’ve done a good job and the event has grown in stature year by year.

The Hawke’s Bay Vintage Car Club has run a vintage car rally on the same weekend for over 20 years.  The car rally is now recognised as the premier vintage car weekend in New Zealand and attracts well over 300 entries.  The Vintage Car Club committee works for about 9 months of the year putting the rally together and it has become the major fundraising activity for the Club.

The Art Deco Trust’s Art Deco Weekend benefits from the 300 plus vintage cars in the city and the 1,000 odd period costumed participants all here for the vintage car rally. The vintage car rally benefits because the entrants can enjoy the wonderful events put on by the Art Deco Trust. Where, therefore you may well ask, is the problem?

The Art Deco Trust would claim, they are professional event organisers and therefore they should control the whole weekend including the car parade.

The Vintage Car Club would claim that it’s all about the safety of the people watching the parade – they just want assistance with crowd control, road closure, parking etc., for “their” parade.

The truth is that it’s all about money.  The Art Deco Trust has decided that they, being in possession of the address list of previous rally entrants, can control the parade – charge the entry fee and parking fee and pocket the surplus from the weekend.

The Vintage Car Club is saying bugger you – this is our Vintage Car Rally, it is our principal fundraising activity and we will take our events out of the city.

So it’s all about money.  One organisation trying to hijack the activity of another because of money and the other digging in their toes totally – you guessed it – because of money.

It is just a shame that wise cool heads could not get together and come up with a compromise that would suit all.

At the end of the day the event will suffer and no-one will benefit.

Sad really.