Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Budget 2017: Hopes for spending to flow into regions

By Nicki Harper
Hawkes Bay Today·
25 May, 2017 06:40 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

Reaction to this year's budget from the region's mayors and the regional council chairman has ranged from glowing to cautiously optimistic.

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said that the Government had already proved it was listening to the region through the recent announcement that more new police officers would be added to the local force.

"Last year our community was really worried about law and order.

"We took a remit through the council to Local Government New Zealand and the government has listened - we are going to get more new police officers."

He said the announcement that $4 billion would be spent on infrastructure across education, health, defence, justice, housing, the primary sector and transport was unprecedented.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This is one of the most extensive spends in history - we are yet to know what that means for Hawke's Bay but we will get a share of it - I would be surprised if there was not further investment in local roading, including from Napier to Wairoa."

Napier mayor Bill Dalton was also optimistic about the commitment to infrastructure spending on state highways and the potential to improve the route to Wairoa.

"If we can just get a little slice of that to do up the Wairoa road that would be fabulous for the whole Hawke's Bay economy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Wairoa is a hidden gem of Hawke's Bay - the only thing holding it back is access."

He said that overall it was very much an election year budget but it also reflected how well the economy was doing.

"You have got to give the Government credit for that."

Wairoa mayor Craig Little said that although he had not read the budget thoroughly when contacted yesterday, it sounded as though there would be some benefit for families.

Discover more

Ruataniwha Dam: Accountability is getting it right

26 May 12:00 AM

Big local family has Budget blues

26 May 02:00 AM
Politics

Budget dubbed woeful and insulting

25 May 09:30 PM

"I just hope this stuff for families is great, and it should be, because children are the future of our country," he said.

On the tax cuts offered by the budget, Mr Little said he thought residents could enjoy having the extra money.

"But to be quite honest they're talking $10, or $20, which is pittance when people are struggling."

He said he was disappointed not to have seen more initiatives, or investment, for rural New Zealand.

"With all the people coming into New Zealand and Auckland getting overloaded you'd think there'd be some initiative or encouragement for people to move out to other areas."

Central Hawke's Bay mayor Alex Walker said it was a very positive budget for Central Hawke's Bay's lower income earners to get some of their tax back in their pockets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She also welcomed extra spending on Research and Development and innovation.
"Innovation is something we in CHB do well already but we need to do more.

"The spending on innovation around land use and nutrient management is key for us when the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme is built and we have leading farmers in that space."

Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis said it was great to see assistance being given to families, as anything that helps them then flows back into the community.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Rex Graham said presenting a budget in a buoyant economy was a wonderful opportunity.

"The government seems to be making efforts to help the poorest people in society."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Sense of community': Youngest frontline ambulance officer wins award

Hawkes Bay Today

From Hastings to the world stage: Teen chess champ heads to Colombia


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Premium
Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years

'I really believe that the young ones are going to come in and just be more innovative.'

13 Aug 06:11 PM
Premium
Premium
'Sense of community': Youngest frontline ambulance officer wins award
Hawkes Bay Today

'Sense of community': Youngest frontline ambulance officer wins award

13 Aug 06:00 PM
From Hastings to the world stage: Teen chess champ heads to Colombia
Hawkes Bay Today

From Hastings to the world stage: Teen chess champ heads to Colombia

13 Aug 06:00 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP