By Waikato Chamber CEO, Don Good
A change of government means a change of tack for the country and the opportunity for several Waikato projects to be advocated to the new team. So here is what we have been lobbying for and will continue to do so with the new Government.
Cambridge to Piarere
Just do it and do it properly. It is not a Waikato project; it is a Road of National Significance and remains a sad example of the previous government’s poor decision making as it stood as a silent but deadly witness to their inability to get simple, common sense things done.
The Waikato Medical School
New Zealand needs many more doctors every year to replace those leaving or retiring and we do not need the extension of a duopoly.
Southern Links
This is a project the whole of the Waikato needs to get in behind. The economic benefits to locally, regionally and nationally are enormous and long lived. A ring road around Hamilton, Te Awamutu receiving the economic benefits that Cambridge is enjoying, and opening up the southwest of Hamilton to the industrial, commercial and residential development that we have seen in the north.
Housing
That we need more residential housing is obvious. The 100,000 houses promised never eventuated but are still urgently needed, especially if it helps re-house the motel generation and re-invigorates the residential building industry. There is a great deal more to it than can be put into a quick paragraph but if the new government want to make a difference to the lives of so many in dire straits, then more housing is a significant piece in the jigsaw. Wellington centric centralisation is dead and will be buried But what will follow it?
Kiwis are independent, diverse, and wanting more local decision making if the election result is a guide. Having Mandarins in Wellington drop into a region for a flying visit to “understand” local needs has not cut it over the past 6 years.
This article by Steven Joyce should gives business and bureaucracy food for thought over the Christmas break. Steven Joyce: Centralisation isn’t working, time to trust the regions - NZ Herald
Bureaucrats tried to implement centralisation over the past 6 years, and it has failed. They will now have to do more with less resource. Business could see opportunity in the coming significant retreat by Wellington.
