Mike Williams: Sir Jerry highlights literacy project

Mike Williams

A VISIT to Hawke's Bay last week proved more eventful than I'd anticipated.

I came for another Howard League prisoner literacy programme graduation at Hawke's Bay Jail and this one had The Governor General, Lieutenant General Sir Jerry Mateparae, as a special guest, but this was not to be the talk of the province on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Howard League trustees and tutors however were delighted at the positive coverage the celebration was given by Hawke's Bay Today at nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c-id=1503462&objectid=11462938 and Maori Television at: maoritelevision.com/news/regional/governor-general-fulfils-promise-howard-league.

Welcomed by prison manager George Massingham and Howard League president Tony Gibbs, Sir Jerry spoke movingly about the importance of reading and writing. Illiteracy, he said, was a "padlock" on the door to a better life on release. He thanked the volunteer tutors for their freely given interest in people whom most had written off.

The three prisoners graduating gave short speeches and I watched a moving tableau of a prisoner cuddling his small daughter who was holding the kid's book her dad had learned to read.

What couldn't be predicted was the release of the final report of the Local Government Commission on the proposed amalgamation of the five councils that make up Hawke's Bay. You'd have to be living under a large boulder if you don't know what that was, and what happens next.

Although amalgamation plans for Northland and the Wellington region were dropped, the Local Government Commission found sufficient local support in Hawke's Bay to confirm their (slightly) revised proposal.

From an outsider who grew up in Hawke's Bay, loves the place and visits often, this seems a very heartening next step and I hope that local people who will make the final decision in a referendum grab the opportunity for unity.

It is worth remembering the Bay has gone from one of the wealthiest and most hopeful regions in the land to one of the poorest and least promising. Given the region's advantages, I firmly believe it is time for Bay locals to take much greater control of their destiny, and the first step is surely unity. The opposition to the proposal is predictable, but the naysayers should have a look at what is happening in Manchester, England, as a possible signpost for a better future.

The latest Economist magazine describes a "bottom-up transformation of local government", beginning in 2011 when 10 councils combined to form the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). The explicit objective of this amalgamation was for local people to take control of their own destiny in what was a depressed, post-industrial region.

The UK Government has reacted positively to this locally driven initiative and last year gave the GMCA control of transport policy as well as a 300 million ($667 million) housing investment fund, and 500 million to spend on skills and training.

This experiment must be working because in February this year the Government announced control of GMCA's entire 6 billion health and social care budgets would devolve to the locals, allowing the spending to be integrated.

As local councils already have a strong influence over education in England, this means the local councillors and GMCA members will have more control over what used to be large chunks of central government spending. Local democracy in the GMCA is preserved via councils closely resembling the local boards proposed in the Local Government Commission report.

This might seem to be a radical step for the Bay to take after amalgamation but remote control from Wellington hasn't done the region much good in recent decades. Models for successful regional governance already exist with the District Heath Board and the Bay rugby union.

I suspect most Bay people will have not given a huge amount of thought to amalgamation until now, but this will change in coming months as the referendum looms. A democratic vote is the best way to settle this matter.

-Mike Williams grew up in Hawke's Bay. He is a supporter of pro-amalgamation group A Better Hawke's Bay. He is chief executive of the NZ Howard League and a former president of the Labour Party. He is a political commentator and can be heard on Radio NZ's Nine to Noon programme at 11am Mondays and Sean Plunket's RadioLive show 11am, Fridays. All opinions in this column are his and not those of the newspaper.