Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

Don't you just love it when the All Blacks continue to win?

We all love the ‘feel good' of winning. Unfortunately the media just loves to push the ‘bad news' stories. I am sick and tired of the Dot.Com saga. Unfortunately the media has turned him into a cult figure, and this just highlights negativity, rather than seeking genuine solutions to employment and growth in these trying times.

The regional council has just announced an operating surplus of $3.4m (against a planned deficit of $4.3m), but what ratepayers really want to know is what they got for the $80.9m that the regional council spent last year. Sure we had the Rena disaster that distracted from their work programme – but the reality is that council has been well reimbursed from central government for this.

Of course the regional council investment in the Port of Tauranga is now worth currently $928.5m, having returned a compound annual growth of 24% during the past twenty years, and an annual dividend return to the regional council this year of more than $28m certainly helps prevent too much ratepayer pain. The port investment cushions regional council accountability to its ratepayers, and we have to do better. Our region is lagging in real GDP (the measure of economic activity of our nation) when compared to most regions, and is also growing slower than all other regions during the past 13 years (see table).

Our regional economy will only grow if the business environment is right for investment, and the regional council should be focused on ensuring this happens. Taranaki shows us the benefits of having a strong economy (the lowest regional unemployment and the strongest GDP growth in the country) focused around not only the dairy industry, but also oil and gas exploration. The Bay of Plenty has a huge opportunity to capitalise on this in a similar manner. And yet the naysayers continue to oppose oil and mineral exploration and development despite the strong likelihood that it could be a game changer for our region. Come on regional council and use your resources and influence to ensure that the Bay of Plenty is just that – a true bay of plenty….

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at [email protected] or visit www.vond.co.nz