Prime Minister Christopher Luxon during his visit to Gourmet Blueberries in Hastings. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon during his visit to Gourmet Blueberries in Hastings. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon picked an appropriately “blue” site to examine on a trip to Hawke’s Bay today.
Luxon was a special guest at Gourmet Blueberries in Flaxmere, hearing first-hand about the scale of the operation and the challenges currently facing growers.
Gourmet Blueberries runs a 162-hectare site, with about100ha in blueberry production.
The business employs about 100 permanent staff year-round, rising to about 200 during peak harvest, with additional seasonal pickers made up of local workers, Solomon Islands, RSE employees and backpackers.
Hayden Higgins, chief executive of Gourmet Paprika – a branch of the NZ Gourmet group – said the Prime Minister’s visit was an opportunity to show both the scale of the operation in the region and the challenges faced.
“It’s good to show him the scale of our business here in Hawke’s Bay, but also to highlight to him the opportunities that are for businesses in this area in terms of potential future growth,” Higgins said.
Higgins said the workforce had stabilised since the disruptions caused by the pandemic, supported by long-term local pickers and returning RSE workers, the majority of them women.
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said it was good to see a local company creating jobs in the community for a diverse workforce, including students, and exploring its products globally.
“It’s really good to have the Prime Minister here seeing first-hand, the amazing business, but also the challenges that they face as well,” Wedd said.
“It’s good for us to understand and look at the challenges that are faced. From the water issues, and consenting issues to, workforce issues, we need to make it easier for our growers to grow, and to export that quality.”
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd (left), Gourmet Paprika chief executive Hayden Higgins and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
As chairwoman of the environment select committee, Wedd says an upcoming reform is aimed at making the consenting process more efficient.
“We’ve heard here today how challenging consenting and water access can be. If we can streamline those processes and make things better for businesses like this, we can see growth, and that’s what we want to see.
“We want to see growth, so that creates jobs and opportunities in Hawke’s Bay.”
Luxon said the Government was aiming to cut red tape to allow businesses to focus on growth.
“The major thing that we can do as a government is get the operating system and the settings much better, so they can carry on and grow their businesses, which they’re doing an exceptionally good job on,” he said.
“The heart of that is actually simplifying the Resource Management Act, and that is without doubt the biggest thing that can unlock a huge amount of value for them and make their life much easier.
“That’s what we will be bringing to Parliament, the first reading of these new bills, and new acts, that will actually make life simpler for them.”
