Bill Dalton

I am delighted that the government has announced that there will be a referendum on MMP although it appears to me that the long drawn out process is planned to fail.

No one likes change and the whole MMP process has been managed to give it time to be accepted before the question of its future as an electoral system is challenged.

But whilst I appear to be increasingly in the minority, I am still of the opinion that MMP is a ridiculous system.

Take the Napier electorate as an example – and I stress I am not critical of the people involved – I am strongly critical of the system.

We had an elected Labour MP – Russell Fairbrother. Along came the National candidate, Chris Tremain and he beat Russell fair and square. The people of Napier said “We want Chris Tremain to be our representative in the House of Representatives”. So off Chris went to Wellington but so did Russell. He was high enough on the list to get back in.

Then in to town on his big red charger rode Stuart Nash. He challenged Russell Fairbrother for the Labour nomination and lost. The Labour party said we don’t want you Stuart, we want Russell, so Stuart went off and began the restructure of the Art Deco Trust.

At the next election Chris Tremain trounced Russell Fairbrother and Russell went back to the private sector feeling like the lucky lion who had escaped from the zoo.

Then the odd Labour member decided to go and do something else and a vacancy occurred in Wellington. So they rang Stuart and said “How would you like a seat in the House of Representatives?”, and off Stuart went to Wellington.

Who is he representing? Chris Tremain is our elected representative – the Labour Party rejected Stuart – how can we possibly accept a system that has people sitting in our House of Representatives who represent no-one?

And what does an opposition list MP do all day? They’ve got no constituents, can achieve nothing in Wellington – frankly they are just a spare part – a spare part in an electoral machine that needs a full overhaul.

Well before I became a Napier City Councillor, I made the call to link the Napier CBD with Ahuriri using an appropriate public vehicle.

One of the first things I did as a City Councillor was to renew that call and the Council Officers are now investigating that proposition as part of their review of Marineland and other tourism facilities.

Exactly one year ago on this radio station, I again canvassed the idea of a tourist link between the Aquarium and the old Customs House in Ahuriri.

Now Councillor Mark Herbert has embraced the idea but he wants to install a transport system that was all the vogue over 100 years ago.

Well I’ve got to tell you Herbie – I would not want to be the one who had to tell Marine Parade residents that their peace was going to be destroyed as we installed the tracks down an already narrow transport corridor – as we installed the ugly poles that will carry the untidy mess of wires overhead. I would not want to be the one who had to tell the Motelliers along Marine Parade that their ongoing peace was going to be shattered by noisy trams and that the view from their premium rooms would be blighted by the ugly infrastructure required by trams.

And what about at the other end? Hardinge Road would look great with poles and wires everywhere and if we decided to sneak down the bypass there could be major disruption to port traffic.

In my view, a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem makes no sense at all. We need to be thinking about an aesthetically pleasing, environmentally sound, energy efficient solution that gives us flexibility. For instance, it may turn out that the service is only viable for 6 months of the year. Nothing could be a sadder look for a city than all the infrastructure that trams require sitting there with no trams running.

So I support Councillor Herbert in his call for a proper link between Napier’s CBD and Ahuriri – I just don’t think that old fashioned trams are the answer.

What next Herbie – are we going to see Vinnie delivering our council papers on a Penny Farthing.

I don’t know about you but this Global Warming argument is starting to wear a bit thin with me. We’ve just had the coldest winter I can remember – two weeks of spring – then straight back into the depths of winter. Right now you could make a very good argument for the place to be warmed up.

And as I sat by the fire on Sunday night, reports were coming in telling us that hundreds were stranded on the Napier-Taupo Road. But the report that really got me thinking on Sunday night was the one that told me that the police, including the armed offender’s squad, were pursuing a dangerous armed offender through rural southern Hawke’s Bay. These poor cops had been dragged away from their warm homes and families, to trudge through mud, snow and sleet, knowing that at any time the offender could take a pot shot at them.

These cops were working, as it turned out, long hours in appalling climatic conditions, in distinct danger and you know, as a society we take them for granted.

We pay them appalling wages and we don’t even think enough of them to provide them with decent working conditions. I have been in both Napier and Hastings police stations in recent times and the working conditions we ask our cops to work in are simply, in my opinion, unacceptable. Appalling interview rooms, lack of good clerical equipment, smoko rooms that are an insult to the staff, nowhere for the staff to put their bags so they all end up down the hall, the list goes on.

Right next door to the Hastings police station, the government has built a new courthouse and the court staff is justifiably proud of it. Wonderful facilities for all the staff, brilliant facilities for those accused of crimes and – well I won’t go into the palatial facilities for judges.

My argument is simply this. Somehow we can find the funds to build beautiful new courthouses whilst at the same time we deny our front line police what I would consider basic amenities.

And don’t start me on cost cutting by cutting down the number of police cars, etc.

It is high time we recognised the job our policemen and women do and rewarded them appropriately in every way.