Bill Dalton

Being a recent retiree, I now have the privilege of being invited on shopping trips to the supermarket. Now I’m not kidding myself – I know my wife is more than capable of performing this task on her own – she just wants to prove to me how expensive things are these days. And need I say it? She has proved her point beyond any doubt.

I cannot believe what it costs for food these days. The staples like milk, bread and cheese are almost becoming luxury items and even the poorest cuts of meat are at ridiculous prices. A leg of lamb, once an absolute staple of the New Zealand table, requires a talk with your bank manager before you even contemplate purchase.

And every now and then the laundry products need replenishing – that carves a huge hole in the budget.

I cannot believe that a family on one modest income can even exist the way prices are today.

But exist they do and generally they also have a number of large animals to feed. We’ve only got a cat and a little ball of fluff that my wife insists is a dog and the cost of their food is significant. I can only imagine what it costs to feed some of the monsters I see snarling behind fences around the city.

When we are looking at costs, it is very easy to assume that the grass is greener over the fence – or in New Zealand’s case, over the ditch. Well I can tell you, having had two kids in Melbourne for several years, that people on modest incomes in Australia have exactly the same problems as we do in New Zealand.

Sure Australia is the lucky country with enormous mineral wealth in the ground. And some people have become magnificently rich based on that fact. But for the average city dweller, struggling to pay large rent bills, transport bills, food bills, not to mention compulsory superannuation – the problems are the same in Australia as they are in New Zealand.

And look at the price of beer in Australia.

During my working life as a sharebroker and investment advisor, I saw many clients, especially in retirement, move to Australia. A large proportion of these are now back in New Zealand because of the cost of living and the tax system in Australia.

So there is no easy answer. There is no way of avoiding the cost of living.

It’s just bloody dear wherever you live.

Living in Christchurch must be a nightmare and all of New Zealand’s thoughts are with our Cantabrian cousins. Having suffered the consequences of so many significant earthquakes – and I understand there was another one of magnitude 5 this morning – the good people of Christchurch must be at their wits end. And of course all this earthquake activity increases the chances that there will be a really huge quake sometime in the near future.

Understandably many people have already left Christchurch and many more will follow. And that creates a dilemma for other areas such as Hawke’s Bay. There are many Christchurch businesses which would fit well into the Hawke’s Bay business landscape and if they decided to relocate here we would welcome them with open arms. But how much encouragement do we give them to come. How do we say “Christchurch needs you but if you are going to relocate, we would love you to come to Hawke’s Bay.” There is a very fine line indeed between encouragement and being welcoming. The concern is that other areas may not take such a reasonable stand and Hawke’s Bay may miss out on some excellent additions to its business mix.

Christchurch will never be the same and its’ economy will take generations to return to the size it once was. The inner city could well become an iconic example of how to recover from disaster but whatever happens, the Christchurch we all know, is gone.

For an example of what happens to regional or city economies after a disaster, we can look at Kobe in Japan which suffered a catastrophic earthquake in 1995. In 2005 the city held a massive celebration to recognise the completion of the 10 year rebuilding of the city. But 15 years after the quake, the Kobe economy is just 50% of the size it was before.

So Christchurch will be rebuilt albeit in a vastly different form than before. Simply put a wealthy area like Canterbury needs a centre of commerce and Christchurch is it.

If there is one thing that Christchurch has taught the rest of the country, it is be prepared. Despite the fact that Shirley has always had us in a state of reasonable preparedness, we have undertaken further measures and I have to confess to a degree of smugness, when I heard so many houses were again without power, and I thought of the generator we have bought for emergency use. It was really expensive and one of my friends suggested that we would need to get a lot of use out of it for that sort of money.

Frankly we hope we never have to use it.

Councils around the country have all been hearing submissions to their annual plans. And sure you get the odd single issue nutters but largely I really appreciate those who take the time to make their views known to their councillors.

The Art Deco Trust made a submission to the Napier City Council and it struck a real chord with me because it was suggesting the sort of things I have been saying for years. Amongst other things, the Art Deco Trust wants to liven the town up – to get music into the streets – to get our vintage cars onto the streets.

Napier has the highest number of vintage cars per head of population of anywhere in New Zealand and we need them to be seen. We need to capitalise on this strength. We have also got a good number of accomplished entertainers who I am sure, if organised properly, would be happy to entertain on our streets. And what’s wrong with recorded music! Why aren’t our stores lifting their image by adding music to their marketing toolbag.

We used to send a bunch of people to London each year to try and encourage poms to come here to live. And we got a few too, and the ones who have stayed are good citizens. But they are not the entrepreneurial type – they are not going to start some new business that will employ 50 people.

For my dough the trips to London were a waste of time.

We have recently launched a campaign to encourage Australians to visit Napier. We are told that this has been a great success based on the number of hits on the website. Well I can tell you I have travelled the world over several times on the internet and have never visited or spent a cent in 99% of the places. Ask our accommodation suppliers how successful the campaign has been.

It is my view that we should be spending our promotional dollars right here in Napier. Let’s brighten the place up. Let’s get some vibrancy into the city. Let’s paint the Soundshell nice bright colours, get our beautiful vintage cars into the streets, get appropriate music creating a festive atmosphere. Let’s make the Marine Parade into a place where families want to visit.

If these media advertising campaigns have a measure of success, what do tourists find when they get here. A sleepy little village where the long term locals have their fun behind closed doors.

What we want is, visitors to Napier going home and telling their friends,” if you are going to New Zealand you must go to Napier it’s such a fun city.” The word will spread.

So I applaud the Art Deco Trust, not only for what they are doing but also for their vision for Napier.

Simply put, I think Napier residents have gone to sleep and we need to put some life back into the city we love.

The National Government has delivered its budget and frankly it was a bit ho-hum. I know it is a fine juggling act, trying to bring government spending under control without bringing the economy to a screaming halt, but in my mind, the government did not go far enough. More drastic action should have been taken.

There are a couple of things that really concern me. The growth forecasts of 3 to 4% per annum are pretty optimistic in a world economy that is still tottering on the brink of disaster. If those levels of growth can not be achieved, then all the budget forecasts go out the window.

Much is being made of the fact that the great hope is, the economy will be back in surplus by 2014 rather than 2015. What is not clearly pointed out is that until we do achieve a financial surplus situation, the government will have to continue to borrow enormous amounts of money so that they can continue to run the country. And when that surplus is achieved, be it in 2014 or 2015 or some other point in time, the repayment process can begin. By that time the government (that’s you and me of course) will be so deep in debt that the repayment period will not be measured in years, but in generations.

So naturally, in election year, the government is trying to paint a positive picture of their budget but in truth it is a sorry tale of New Zealand’s financial position. National appears to be on the right track but I believe they could have done much more and frankly Labours comments on the budget and their own pronouncements since, display an ineptness which, if they were in power, would be scary.

It is interesting to see Mayor Yule has launched his takeover bid for Napier. My wife pointed out his facebook campaign that his very slick, professional PR people have produced. I wonder who is paying them?

I believe there has been a slight shift of opinion on amalgamation in Napier but the majority of Napier ratepayers would prefer to retain their independence and identity although Lawrence’s takeover team have been doing covert surveys and their results must have given them encouragement.

Lawrence calls his programme a restructuring one. Most talk of amalgamation. The proposal produced by Lawrence is clearly a simple takeover of Napier by Hastings. Before any binding decision is sought from Napier ratepayers, we need to ensure that those ratepayers are acquainted with all the facts. Napier’s debt level compared to Hastings. What the representative numbers will look like after the takeover. What, if any savings this takeover will produce. Those sorts of things.

Only then can the citizens of Napier make an informed decision – one that will be good for Napier and indeed the whole region.

UPDATE: Since I prepared these notes, Lawrence has contacted me and suggested a chat – I’m all for that. But he has also suggested his plan is only a draft and could easily be changed – and that is my whole point. The ratepayers don’t know what they are supposed to be debating because the politicians are flying silly kites.

Let’s show the ratepayers some respect and get some facts together so the people have the chance to make a sensible informed decision.

The last week has been quite a break in my usual routine.

I haven’t been following central government politics so I don’t know whether Hone Harawira has been making any further ignorant racist remarks. I don’t know whether John Key has mutilated the English language this week and I have no idea, nor do I care, whether Chris Carter has even bothered to fill in his otherwise boring day by turning up to parliament.

And I haven’t been following local body politics either so I don’t know if any other outrageous, unsubstantiated remarks about the benefits of amalgamation have been made by the usual perpetrators.

The reason for my detachment from riveting, exciting things like politics over the last week is that we have had a house guest – and a very special one too. Trevor Taylor from Victoria in British Columbia Canada. We first met Trevor when he was touring New Zealand and visited Napier. We met him whilst out at dinner and invited him home to stay. Subsequently, a few years later, we arranged to meet up again in London and since then we have kept in touch by email.

So Trevor has been here and we have thoroughly enjoyed showing him some of our country. And the amazing thing is, when you are showing a guest around, you see your own back yard in a totally different light. Things that you usually don’t even notice – that you take for granted – suddenly hit you in the eye. Some because you are proud of them and some – well you hope your guest is looking out of the other window.

One thing that I was really proud of was the cleanliness of our city and the wider area. If Trevor said it once he said it half a dozen times – this place is just so clean. And having just returned from Kuala Lumpur, we had to agree with him.

So it’s been a worthwhile exercise – showing a guest around our region – an exercise that we should all do from time to time.

But today, with Trevor’s departure and a council seminar and a full council meeting this afternoon, we are back to reality.

A pity that – I was really enjoying being a relaxed tour guide.

I see in this morning’s Dominion that Lawrence Yule is pushing ahead with his plan to amalgamate all the Hawkes Bay councils. And I suppose he has to really because such a course of action was a major plank of his election campaign in 2010.

My very real hope is that we see more openness and honesty in the debate than we have seen in the past. Its seems every time an election is approaching some politicians who want to raise their profile, will trot out all sorts of unsubstantiated figures regarding the savings possible under amalgamation. Neil Kirton is a prime example. Every three years he comes out with some enormous figure, supposedly the savings available through amalgamation and then when asked to justify that figure, goes totally silent.

It is my view that any argument that supports amalgamation based solely on financial benefits is a false one. There could be a very strong argument put that amalgamation will cost local ratepayers. The real argument to support amalgamation should focus on the benefits to the region of speaking with one voice – of having one focus – of being able to put greater pressure on in Wellington. The financial saving argument is, in my opinion, a dishonest one and particularly so if huge savings figures are being bandied around with absolutely no credible supporting information.

From a Napier point of view – and let’s face it I’m paid by the ratepayers of Napier to represent them – I am far from convinced that amalgamation would be to our benefit.

The Napier City Council has been extremely conservatively managed financially over recent years – some would say too conservatively – and as a result has a very low level of debt. This contrasts with Hastings.

Napier has extensive land holdings which provide it with substantial lease income and also capital income as land is developed and sold off for housing. Hastings has not.

And at the end of the day Napier and Hastings are very different communities. Hastings with its focus on serving the rural sector and housing big box retailers and Napier with its focus on commerce, tourism, boutique retailing and the café culture.

Whatever happens at an administrative level it is essential that the individual communities within Hawkes Bay retain their character and uniqueness.

I was away last week so missed the political manoeuvrings of the minor parties. Manoeuvrings that will turn out to be very important in this madness we call MMP.

So I got up and watched Q & A on Sunday morning – and what a hoot.

First up was Hone Harawira like we’ve never seen him before. He was clearly a puppet with Matt McCarten pulling his strings. Gone was the thug, gone was the racist, and gone was the bully. Harawira gave the impression at least, that he was engaging his brain before putting his mouth into gear.

Of course these guys can’t help themselves and he also announced that he is going to resign and force a by-election costing you and I, the humble taxpayers, a half a million dollars, just months before a general election. That is madness and selfish in anyone’s language – as Pita Sharples put it, that money would refurbish 20 run down state houses for the very people Hone claims to be concerned about.

And guess who Hone’s greatest critic was – Jim Anderton for Gods sake. Jim Anderton, who by any judgement is the independent MP for Sydenham, yet claims to be heading a political party so he can squeeze more out of the public purse. Anderton has no shame.

And then of course there was Don Brash. You’ve got to hand it to Brash – he has got confidence in his own ability. To take-over a political party, to become its leader when a) he is not even a member and b) he has to crush the career of a former close friend and step over a bunch of existing MPs, takes guts. He will be a real force to contend with in November.

So where does this leave what we used to know as the “Major Parties”? Well Labours gone for all money. Phil Goff is an intelligent decent bloke but he is no leader and he will not lead Labour anywhere. Trevor Mallard is increasingly looking like a lame duck and if they have to start relying on egotistical lightweights like Cunliffe then they’re in real trouble. Labour, at this stage, is gone.

National is not without its troubles either. There is a strong perception that National is sleepwalking through the economic crises we are still in and that borrowing $300m a week is destroying our future. Steps must be taken to curb this borrowing (and on the other side of the coin to increase productivity) and clearly whatever National is doing, it’s not enough.

So from this far out – and of course things can change – it looks like the traditional left wing vote will be shuffled between Hone, the Maori Party, the Greens and Labour but that Labour will let the team down and they will stay on the opposition benches. National has a real problem in that they will not be able to vigorously oppose ACT and their policies because they might just end up as a government having to enact those very policies.

So for a political junkie like me, it’s shaping up to be an interesting year.

It is interesting to read that Hastings District Councillor Henare O’Keefe has come out and suggested that the new supermarket in Flaxmere should be liquor free. And it’s also interesting to see he is supported by Napier City Councillor Maxine Boag who strangely used a Licensing Trust area as an example of how this could work.

What intrigued me is that neither of these two individuals, both who have thoroughly enjoyed a life including grog as younger people, told us how banning alcohol in one supermarket was going to solve the obvious problem of excessive alcohol consumption in Flaxmere. Do they think that prohibiting one supermarket from selling booze is going to make one jot of difference?

New Zealanders, particularly our young people are more mobile then they have ever been. I am sure it makes no difference whatsoever to a group on the grog whether they travel 1 kilometre to get more supplies or 2 or 3 kilometres. It is my view that Henare and Maxine, having enjoyed their own youth, now want to ensure that following generations don’t have the same fun.

I concede we have an escalating alcohol problem amongst our young folk. But making them travel a few more metres to get supplies is going to achieve nothing. What we need to do is to educate all of society about the perils of excessive alcohol consumption. Look at how education has cut down cigarette consumption. We need to stop saying “thou shall not drink” and we need to start saying “thou shall drink sensibly.”

I have a drink or two every day and thoroughly enjoy it. Before dinner, I have a couple of gins and Shirl has a glass of wine and it is a really pleasant and relaxing time. We need to tell young people that there is nothing clever in getting off their face – anyone can do that. The clever people enjoy alcohol in moderation.

The abuse of alcohol amongst the young is a problem for the whole of society but is especially prevalent amongst Maori and I wonder what education programme Maori themselves are putting in place to protect their youth.

It is education and responsible people leading by example that will stop the problem.

All stopping one supermarket from selling alcohol will do is cause people to use more fossil fuels as they drive further to top up supplies.

Last week I spoke of my imminent retirement and I mentioned some of the things I wanted to do. Now, one week into retirement, I am already realising that I’m going to have to be more organised than I was when I was full time at the office. Because one of the reasons I really wanted to retire was I had so much to do, so many projects I wanted to tackle in my workshop. And guess what? I haven’t had time to get near the place since I handed over my office key.

One of the projects I have been looking at over the last few days is the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s proposal to form an investment company. Like all proposals it is not all bad or all good, but on balance I see their proposal as being structurally flawed. For a start it is proposed that all the directors will be elected Regional Councillors. That begs the question – why can these people make better investment decisions wearing their “director of an investment company” hat than they can wearing their “Regional Councillors hat?”

We are told that the investment company structure is a tool for enhancing the council’s capability to manage an active investment policy. How does that happen when it is the same people making the decisions?

We are told that the investment company structure will provide access to financial tools not otherwise available directly to council. What are these tools that are suddenly going to become available just because the structure has changed?

We are told that corporate governance should be separated from political governance and yet we are also told that the council can direct the investment policy of the investment company. How do you reconcile that?

Much is made of the suggestion that an investment company would reduce the risk to which the council is currently exposed. That one has got me beat. Risk is ultimately carried by the shareholders in this case you and I the humble ratepayers. How can an investment company, with a stated intention to gear-up its portfolio by borrowing be of less risk to you and I then a non-geared portfolio administered by the very same people.

And lastly, I wonder what experience the current Regional Councillors, who would become directors of this investment company, have had in the use of the sort of financial instruments suggested for use in this proposal.

I for one have serious misgivings about the structure suggested in this proposal and even greater misgivings about the proposal document which is written like a car sales brochure. The idea has some merit but I believe it needs far more work and yes – thought.

It’s a somewhat strange feeling sitting making notes for this week’s piece.

After 25 years of scribbling notes in between appointments and then tossing them out for a typist to try and make sense of, I have suddenly realised I am no longer going to have the services of a typist. I’m going to have to write more tidily and then type my piece myself.

Because tomorrow – the 31st March 2011, I retire. After 42 years in the workforce, the last 30 of them behind the same desk, I have decided now is the time to move on to the next phase of my life. And whilst it is a well planned and considered move, when it comes to the reality that on Friday I am no longer on the payroll, it really is a bit scary.

I have worked in the financial industry for the last 32 years and for much of that time, I have been advising clients on saving for retirement. Putting a nest egg together that will help them enjoy their retirement years. And it will be no surprise to you to know that the most frequently asked question I have been asked is “how much do I need?” What size portfolio do I need to allow me to retire in comfort?

The short and simple answer to that question is simply save as much as you can. Clearly with the cost of living today and the fact that salaries and wages have not kept pace with increased costs it is difficult to put money aside for the future. But any money you can put aside during your working life will enhance your standard of living in retirement.

But money is only one side of the retirement argument. The other is time, what are you going to do with your time when you retire? You have been so used to getting up and going to work every morning, what are you going to do now you don’t have to?

And that’s where I’m so fortunate. Firstly I have my Napier City Councillor duties and I’m looking forward to being able to devote more time to that responsibility. Secondly I have my workshop and my race and vintage cars to enjoy. And thirdly we are keen to do a bit more travelling. Oh – and did I mention – my wife wants me to start exercising, loose some weight and get fit.

So it’s going to be an interesting adjustment at every level and I’m looking forward to the challenge.