The problem is three-year electoral cycles do not equate to tough decisions with long-term benefits or consequences.
The old saying of turkeys not voting for Christmas comes to mind.
Here in Central Hawke’s Bay previous councils have overseen the gradual rundown of our towns’ water and sewerage systems rather than biting the bullet and increasing ward rates or borrowing money to invest in these fundamental services.
Now, inevitably, the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council keeps getting into difficulties with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council as Waipukurau’s and Waipawa’s wastewater plants will never meet their resource consent conditions.
A report out last year indicated somewhere between $12 million and $36m will have to be spent to sort it out – a rating burden the townsfolk can’t afford and the proposal that the rural community help fund it was roundly criticised on the grounds of setting a precedent.
We also saw the proposed Ruataniwha Dam shelved, in the end over the inability to do a land swap with some very poor Conservation Department land but before that our own regional councillors also showed poor leadership in not supporting a long-term solution to help the future prosperity of our region.
Another, more recent, issue is the rise and sway of social media.
A small group of committed and passionate people can wage effective campaigns to kill off any proposal they disagree with. They don’t have to be burdened with facts or even the truth.
They just need to have a keyboard, an internet connection and the ability to milk social media for all its worth.
Waimea Irrigators chairman Murray King has said in this paper “This is a short-sighted response inflamed by a vocal minority of ill-informed residents acting purely in self-interest with no concerns for future generations.”
I believe that progress of any type is going to become increasingly difficult under the scrutiny of the social media phenomenon.
Tasman, like Hawke’s Bay, has great soils and contour but suffers from summer droughts.
Those of us in the rural community think water harvesting and storage. Using massive surpluses in times of water shortages is a no-brainer.
Many town and city folk don’t get it. I think it is because they are not conditioned as we are in the rural areas to squirrel away surpluses in times of plenty to be used when needed.
We have big deep freezes full of meat, bread and dog tucker while they have a supermarket within walking distance.
We cut and split firewood and gather sacks of pine cones for our inefficiently insulated homes where they, not being allowed to have fires, have instant access to heat when needed with heat pumps and gas connections.
We install and maintain several water tanks, clean out the gutters and make sure everything is in place to capture winter rain then spend much of the summer banging on bathroom doors reminding family members to have just a short shower and trying to convince our wives not to have baths but a quick shower instead.
Townsfolk are quite used to turning on a tap and water is always there or has been in the past.
Not many in the cities are climate change deniers but they haven’t got their heads around that it will affect them as well.
They would be well advised to look across the Tasman to the poor buggers in New South Wales at the moment.
And those living in the Tasman towns who were dead against the Waimea Dam will still have to face water shortages themselves in the future and deal with the consequences of reduced job opportunities and reduced spending leading to further provincial decline.
Like here in Hawke’s Bay, it’s a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
