Opinion: Battling for regional New Zealand

PHOTO/FILE

I spent a day in Kawerau this week. I spoke with the councillors and mayor, visited businesses and the economic development unit. It was a great day, except for some very scary realities hitting home yet again - problems certainly not unique to Kawerau, but systemic in small towns across the country.

Regional New Zealand seems to be being undermined by this government in a scenario I liken to a death by a thousand cuts. The latest examples are police stations. With Kawerau down on sworn officers and no administrative staff, this is certainly now a common and frightening scenario up and down rural New Zealand.

NZ First has said this will change if we have the numbers in 2017.

The closure of bank branches by Australian-owned banks, clearly with no loyalty to this country and the provinces, shutting up shop despite individual branches apparently still breaking even and an industry taking billions of dollars a year in profits out of this country year after year.

What hit me the hardest was actually a battle I have already been having on behalf of regional New Zealand. It was this battle that was first and foremost on the minds of the Kawerau community. The Electricity Authority (EA) has decided to change the way electricity pricing is measured across the country.

In a move supposedly designed to reflect the costs of moving electricity generated in abundance in the South Island up to the North Island the EA has come up with, in my view, a cockamamie way to pit region against region. Those closest to the power generation will pay less and those furthest away will pay more, is the simplest way to summarise the thinking. What they seem to forget is that it was the whole country that built those dams, and it was always the intent for the whole country to share in the benefit of those investments equally. Since the EA first made its proposal, NZ First has adamantly opposed this disconnected thinking.

Earlier this year I noted publicly that "as predicted, many in regional New Zealand are likely to be slammed with higher power charges to guarantee profits and fat salaries of big energy companies and the Electricity Authority. Those needing high voltage connections such as schools or hospitals may be paying an additional $22,000 per annum in some regions. Many of those facing higher prices are in regions that are already struggling - like Northland and the West Coast."

What hit me incredibly hard this week was just how real this problem is and how close to home it is. The mill in Kawerau, despite generating much of its own electricity is looking at an approximate increase in its electricity bill to the tune of $15 million per annum.

That's a decision that apparently means looking at closing the operation down. The people of Kawerau are terrified that this arbitrary decision could lead to in excess of 700 job losses in the Eastern Bay. That's more job losses in Kawerau, here in Rotorua, and Whakatane and Opotiki.

I promised I would try and raise awareness nationally, because the locals have spoken to their National MPs including Steven Joyce and they have received no joy. No action is being taken to save this community. Yes, it's the EA making this decision but we know that the government can act to stop it and we are all running out of time.

Further down the track, how is business supposed to make informed decisions if actions like this can be made uncontested out of nowhere.

- Fletcher Tabuteau is a Rotorua-based NZ First list MP.