Mike Williams
The last week in politics saw some watershed events including the election of a new leader of the opposition, the departure of a former prime minister, the launch of a key government initiative and some overdue and welcome attention to a long standing problem.
The election of Simon Bridges as National Party leader was concluded without rancour, though the media seemed to have greeted this event with a prolonged yawn and his first few days in office featured a bungled attack on Regional Development Minister Shane Jones.
Leaders like Simon Bridges who take over defeated parties have a very hard task – think Jim McClay and Phil Goff – and we know that there are at least four other National MPs who think they can do better.
The next few political polls will tell observers a lot about Mr Bridge's fate. If Bill English takes a chunk of support with him and National support drops, leadership rumblings won't be far away.
Judith Collins has effectively nominated a plunge in support to 35 per cent as a trigger point for her renewed interest in a leadership bid; however, I can't see this happening soon.
Bill English left politics with the dignity and good humour we've come to expect from him over a 27-year career and must go down with Bill Rowling as one of the unluckiest politicians.
Bill Rowling led the Labour Party when it got more votes than National in 1978 and 1981 but had only a brief term as prime minister following the death of Norman Kirk in 1974.
In his valedictory speech Mr English virtually pleaded for attention to his flagship social investment policy whereby state assistance is focused on those most vulnerable and in need and the new Government should take this belated initiative seriously.
Employment Minister Willie Jackson this week pointed out the sad fact that despite some years of relative economic prosperity the number of young people classified as NEETs or not in education, employment or training, has remained stubbornly high at around 80,000.
Maori are heavily over represented in this statistic as The Howard League has discovered with its unlicensed driver programmes in Hawke's Bay, West Auckland and Whangarei. These programmes deal mainly with people who have been accumulating offences and a majority are beneficiaries.
Our experience is that is a driver's licence is very often the key to employment.
The programme that was developed in Hawke's Bay is maintaining a 90 per cent pass rate in the three centres it operates and last calendar year had 500-plus successes.
A serious government initiative aimed at getting many thousands of the NEETs their licences linked with opportunities created by other government could heavily impact this most negative statistic which costs us all a fortune when these people become offenders and fetch up in jail.
I recall one of Hawke's Bay's largest growers pointing out to me that during the picking season, more than 3000 workers had to be imported, mainly from the Pacific Islands under the recognised seasonal employment programme, while unemployment levels never seem to fall below 3000 in the region.
Despite its social investment ambitions and the ability to identify and target NEETs, the previous government really gave up on a largely solvable problem. It was heartening to hear that ministers in the new Government, namely Shane Jones and Willie Jackson, are targeting what should be a national disgrace.
Some of the themes of the new Government became apparent with the launch of its Provincial Growth Fund which should link in with the attack on the NEET problem.
This is a flagship New Zealand First policy and will expend as much as a billion dollars per year on projects in provincial New Zealand.
Hawke's Bay is an early beneficiary with funding allocated to the repair of the Napier to Wairoa railway line which is aimed at taking 5700 logging trucks off a vulnerable road link.
I'd personally like to see the Wairoa to Gisborne section of the rail link evaluated for refurbishment as a tourist project. I had the good fortune to travel on this line a decade ago and it must be one of the best rail journeys on the planet.
Shane Jones has described his new fund as "a bloody big risk", but I was reminded of a conversation I had with Parekura Horomia when travelling around the region in 1999.
He bemoaned the very high levels of unemployment on the East Coast and told me that Cyclone Bola which ravaged the region in March 1988, creating the need for a massive clean-up was the best thing to happen to the region in years as, briefly, there were jobs galore.
Shane Jones' fund has ambitious forestry objectives and with a billion dollars to spend a Cyclone Bola effect is a possibility.