You might not realise it, but on things that truly matter, Hawke’s Bay already has regional government of sorts. 

It’s called the Matariki Governance Group (MGG). Sort of a cult group like Havelock North’s early 20^th Century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but without (as far as we know) the secret handshake and mystical symbol-decorated temple.

MGG decides important stuff like what funding priorities our region should beg the Government for. And just this week, it declared how HB should organise itself to best pursue regional economic development, issuing its Review of Regional Structures Report.

On this matter, MGG gutted the HB Regional Economic Development Agency (REDA, its Board and CEO resigned en masse last Friday), kept the legal shell, and set in motion transition planning for a “refreshed” REDA to be in place by April 2026.

Why that date? Because that’s when Crown funding ends for another regional entity, the HB Regional Recovery Agency (HBRRA), putting jobs of some expensive staff in jeopardy. So REDA’s budgeted $1.7 million becomes the nest egg of the new, improved REDA. I can hear the deck chairs scratching the floor.

Accounts differ as to how comfortably REDA and RRA played together over the last couple of years. Their respective chairs are good mates, enabling a modus vivendi. In theory, RRA focused on near-term patching up and REDA on long-term regional viability.

RRA, with a Board and top staff drawn from Hastings Council, had the very tangible, practical task of lobbying the Government for post-Cyclone money, and so its ‘wins on the board’ have been high-viz, easy to count and immediate in impact for a grateful community and beaming mayors.

REDA, also with a Board and one senior staffer, had a murkier ‘vision thing’ agenda, animated by a chairman who believes strongly that anything truly worthy of being called ‘economic development’ must lift those at the bottom. No quick wins or ‘trickle down’ here, just dull stuff like workforce development. Far fewer ribbon-cuttings.

My impression is that REDA struggled to get timely, informed guidance from its MGG ‘governors’ or ‘shareholders’, whose poor governance practices I suspect were a factor in REDA’s team resigning. While the Board was appointed in December 2022, REDA did not receive a Letter of Expectations from MGG until June 2024.

So what has MGG done (I’ll get to ‘Who are they?’ in a moment)?

The politically predictable – they reaffirmed the high-minded rhetoric of REDA and the ‘Matariki Strategy’, waved good-bye to the REDA team, likely to be replaced by the RRA team after a no doubt careful ‘recruiting’ process.

And, arguably far more important than who won the economic development mantle, they promised to clean up their own MGG act, given that ‘Matariki’ has been an unaccountable fig leaf covering what is basically the region’s mayors, HBRC chair and a collection of Māori leaders (NKII and six Post Settlement Governance Entities) meeting from time to time to decide matters of regional import.

The MGG has no legal standing or authority in Local Government Act terms. It doesn’t even have a website. Anything it decides (behind closed doors with no transparency) can only be actioned by the councils, which (I’m frequently reassured) ensures that proper elected governance ultimately occurs. Whereas in fact, a common complaint of our ‘rank and file’ councillors is that they are clueless and uninvolved in ‘Matariki’ decisionmaking. Yet another reason to ask: Why do we need all these dozens of rubber stamp councillors anyway?

When I queried MGG Co-Chair Mayor Alex Walker about all this (Leon Symes, Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa, is other Co-Chair), I referred to Matariki and the MGG as “the biggest structural failure of all”. Mayor Walker responded as follows:

“It was very important to me that we use this opportunity to step-change the structures and processes for MGG itself. In fact the recommendations and actions from the review, for the members of MGG are the most important to get right if we are going to sustain joined-up regional leadership on our vision for the future and our strategy for achieving it. Matariki and MGG have evolved since 2016 and 2018 when they first stood up and our context has also changed. Our whakapapa has been grounded in voluntary collaboration and a unique approach to economic development which has given some great achievements in some areas, but it has to work more efficiently than that now, and with greater focus and accountability.” 

“MGG are named by the shareholders in the constitution of HBREDA as their representative. So we are definitely in scope for adopting the recommendations as MGG. The key decisions for councils (and PSGEs) will then become confirming the Terms of Reference of MGG and their delegations, participating in, and endorsing the “regional priorities” approach and ensuing Letters of Expectation, and connecting this to the funding decisions. Going forward, there will be a far more interactive relationship between MGG and the governing bodies of the members.”

I hear this as a promise from one mayor to rectify about nine years of fundamental accountability and transparency failures. We must all keep a careful watch on such promises.

As much as I fault the Matariki Governance Group for its governance style to date, I still feel obliged to cheer it on as a needed interim band-aid – an embryonic attempt to fashion regional consensus and identify regional challenges and priorities.

Eventually it might inspire the public to see the wisdom of what’s really needed … amalgamation! More to come on that and the forces driving local government in that direction.

Here’s the MGG Recommendation Report: Review of Review of Regional Structures.