Bill Dalton

On the local scene, we are seeing yet another restructure of Venture Hawke’s Bay. This organisation has spent more time reorganising itself then it has in providing successful outcomes for Hawke’s Bay. It has constantly changed its name – Vision 20-20 – Hawke’s Bay Inc – Venture Hawke’s Bay and has had a regular turn-over of staff. Under its different brands, Venture Hawke’s Bay has, over the years, produced countless plans and strategies to boost visitor numbers to Hawke’s Bay but frankly the problem is a practical one not a theoretical one.

Venture Hawke’s Bays success can be partly measured in visitor numbers and we are one of the worst performing districts in the country in terms of visitor nights.

I just hope this latest restructure is not yet another re-positioning of the deckchairs on the Titanic and that at long last we might get the outcomes from Venture Hawke’s Bay that their budget demands.

I attended Doug Black’s funeral on Monday. It was a huge funeral and, despite being the longest funeral I have ever been to, it was a fitting send-off for a good sound citizen.

Doug served his community in a way that most people would never bother to do and he was a man I admired tremendously. However his time had come and in the end his death was a happy release.

As someone who served in the Pacific in the second world war, Doug was accorded a RSA tribute as part of his service and I have to say I was shocked by the small number of ex-servicemen who were there to pay their respects – and quite a few of them were ex the Malayan and Vietnam wars. It brought home to me how we are very quickly losing a valuable link to an incredibly important chapter in our history.

It is now 65 years since VJ day and inevitably the number of living veterans of the 39-45 conflict is declining. Even a young recruit of 20 in 1945 is now 85 years of age.

I suppose what it brought home to me more than anything was the fact that I’m getting old. I grew up surrounded by people I regarded as heroes – those who went to war and fought for my future. Now sadly, most of them are no longer with us.

I never cease to be amazed by people who somehow think that they must get a whole lot better deal when they deal out of town.

We see it in the share broking industry. We often discover that locals are dealing with brokers in Auckland or Wellington because somehow they think they are getting a better deal. And what’s worse of course is that often those same people rely on the support of locals for the success of their own business.

The truth is that a broker in Auckland or Wellington sits looking at exactly the same data screen all day that a broker in Hawke’s Bay does. There is absolutely no reason why a provincial broker can’t give exactly the same service as a metropolitan broker can.

Look what the Art Deco Trust has done regarding entertainment for their Deco Decanted weekend. They have got entertainers coming from Australia, Auckland and Wellington. Why? Why aren’t they using the huge pool of excellent talent that we have right here in the Bay? Why do we have a made up “Big Band” coming to town, when the Hawke’s Bay Jazz Club “Big Band” is available?

I often discuss the matter with people I meet who insist on doing their business out of the district and almost without exception they tell me that somehow or other they think they are getting a deal in Auckland or Wellington that they can’t get in Hawke’s Bay. That of course is rubbish.

I wonder what these people’s expectation of the future of the Bay is.

Don’t they have a vision as I do, that the Hawke’s Bay economy will prosper – that businesses will grow – that growing businesses will provide jobs for their kids – that having their kids working locally means their grandkids will also be here in the Bay.

Two of my three children currently work out of Hawke’s Bay. In time, if appropriate jobs are available, both of them would like to settle back here. I could think of nothing better.

And if supporting local businesses means I am increasing the chances of having my family around me, then I am all for it.

Buying goods or services outside the district when these goods and services can be bought locally makes no sense to me – nor does bringing musicians in for an event like Deco Decanted when here in Hawke’s Bay we have a pool of talent as deep as anywhere in the county.

There is no doubt politics is a tough playground to play in. Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister was one of the strongest and most decisive leaders during the economic meltdown that struck the world in 2008 and 2009. He acted whilst others dithered. But it appears the British public have given him no credit for that international leadership.

And now Britain has got a ridiculous government that is bound to fail. No coalition government has run full term in Britain other than in war time, and this one will be no different. How can a party on the right of the political spectrum, work successfully with a party that is radically left of the Labour Party. It beggars belief.

It is almost as stupid as the situation we have here in New Zealand. How any one party can produce Don Brash and his Orewa speech and John Key and his pandering to all things Maori, I don’t know. How does a government made up of a steady as you go – don’t upset the voters party, a redneck right wing party and a what’s in it for us racist party, govern New Zealand? And the answer to that is not very well. Clearly the New Zealand economy is being as well managed as possible in these extremely difficult times but the degradation in the social fabric of our country is alarming.

We will never compete with Australia economically but we can be a nicer place to live. Right now we are not.

A client said to me yesterday that all the bright kids are heading overseas and New Zealand is becoming a nation of dumbos and slick-willy financial conmen. A bit radical I thought but I know where he is coming from.

We seem to have our priorities all wrong. We have armies of policemen doing booze checkpoints at 4.30 in the afternoon in Waipukurau and yet violent crime is out of control on our streets. We are told by the police hierarchy that they are having a war on speeding and if necessary they will sit policemen up trees to catch speeding motorists.

How bloody silly is that? Don’t waste the time of police personnel by sitting them up trees to catch some poor sod doing a few clicks over the limit – put them on the streets in our cities and let’s get rid of the scumbags that are increasingly giving New Zealand a poor reputation.

Our Government needs to know that there is more to running a country than fiddling with the figures and pandering to their junior coalition partners.

Recently I made my strongly held views about the Corrections Department’s decision to bring PD and parole centres to a busy street near you, very clear.

In that piece I referred to criminals frequenting these facilities and I have been taken to task for that. I’m told it is disrespectful to call them criminals, they are people who somehow society has let down. I’m told that it is not the criminal’s fault they decided to break the law, it is the honest citizen’s fault for somehow failing them.

What a lot of rot. If a white collar worker commits fraud and is convicted for it he is a criminal. If a storeman steals from his employer and is convicted for it he is a criminal. And if an unemployed person is convicted of a crime then he is a criminal. Calling them clients is just crap.

Sure society could do more for the underprivileged in our society to guide them into positive activities rather than anti-social ones. And sure it is better to attend to the ills of society than simply parking an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. But if individuals make a personal decision to indulge in criminal behaviour, it doesn’t matter what socio-economic group they come from or whether they are black, white or brindle, they are criminals.

I am certainly not saying – and never have said that the criminal justice system is the answer to all of society’s social problems but it is a necessary evil and the facilities need to be put in appropriate places.

So what is an appropriate place? Well it is certainly not on a busy arterial route into the CBD with houses down one side of the street. It is not next door to a school shop frequented by youngsters and it is not just along the road from a large liquor store and a dance and fitness studio where youngsters are arriving and leaving in their performance attire.

Surely it is at the back of an industrial area somewhere, where these fellows loitering around do not create an eyesore or a threat to the security of local businesses.

Again I stress, these people are not clients as the Department of Corrections likes to call them, anymore than prisoners are guests. For whatever reason, whether it is a failure of society or not these people are criminals and they should not be encouraged into inappropriate areas.