Over the years Hawkes Bay leaders have commissioned literally dozens of reports on the economic and social future of the Bay. They have been done by Napier, Hastings, the Regional Council and various collective bodies like Vision 2020 and Venture HB. The most recent was done in 2007 and that report was refreshed in 2011 by a group led by the Regional Council. Funding for the 2011 report was provided by the Regional Council, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Regional Strategy Fund.
There has been hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on these reports and yet Lawrence Yule will tell us that we are still an economic and social basket case. And it is the same Lawrence Yule who now wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more of your money on yet another study.
For a while he had me convinced. For a while he had me thinking that a study might be worthwhile. But over the last couple of days I have re-read several of those reports and paid particular attention to the July 2011, Hawkes Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy – The Strategy Development Document. Frankly the work has been done.
Mayor Yule has written to try and convince us to support his call for a study. In that letter he used the analogy – you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
That’s interesting isn’t it. I presume Mayor Yule is saying that his predetermined result is an omelette and he will use whatever ingredients are required to produce the result he desires. And it is the same with his call for a study. The required predetermined result is a strong recommendation for amalgamation and he will put whatever resources into the campaign he deems necessary to achieve that result. Hence the call by Mayor Yule and his supporters for the study, their suggested terms of reference, their suggested timeline and the fact that they have made a strong call for their nominated study leader to be appointed.
And the silly thing is that we could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of your money on a report which results in no change. We know the economic side of things – that work has been done. And if there was a call for amalgamation as some hope there would be, then we would need to go to a referendum. There would be huge disruption as the pro and anti lobby’s squared off against each other. And if Napier ratepayers vote against amalgamation as polls suggest they will, what have we achieved? Nothing except a bad taste in mouths.
Frankly the time for studies and reports is in the past. What is needed in Hawkes Bay is for us all to get off our butts and to work in a unified way for the good of all.
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