1. Do you believe HBRC is ‘tough enough’ in enforcing environmental protections when challenging actions (or omissions) by other HB councils and businesses?

At times we have been too tough and at other times not tough enough. Illegal burning is a good example of the latter. It’s much more than a nuisance – it is a serious health issue as anyone with a respiratory complaint will tell you. Trouble is, the fines, which are decided by central government, are too small and don’t deter people from doing it. This and other illegal activity is going to be an increasing issue and funding of prevention will be harder as the Council keeps a lid on rates. So community support is going to be more important than ever.

2. Current estimates put the cost of all feasible flood control options for the region at around $600 million. How do you believe HBRC should approach this huge challenge … how much is ‘safe enough’?

We all want to be “protected” from floods but protected is a relative term. There is no such thing as absolute protection. There are two components to the answer – one is to take the community along with us so they can have input into flood mitigation options and understand the costs of that. This is a major communications exercise and that work is underway. The second component and arguably the hardest, is to make decisions taking into account community feedback, expert advice and costs. A gold-plated solution is too costly and inevitably there will be people who feel that they are not getting enough protection, but that is a reality of living in Hawke’s Bay. We have a great climate but with that comes extremes including floods and droughts

3. To help reduce the ratepayer cost of such a major potential scale of flood protection, do you believe HBRC should consider selling down its shares in Napier Port in order to invest instead in better earning financial assets?

Ultimately the ratepayers will decide. Personally I am reluctant to sell down assets. Our assets are the light at the end of the tunnel as far as rate rises are concerned. Currently our income from assets equals about one third of our rates bill. In other words they subsidise our rates a lot. The good news is we can do even better.

4. HBRC has committed about $3 million to investigating the feasibility of a storage dam on a tributary of the Ngaruroro River. At the same time, an effort is underway to revive construction of a ‘new’ Ruataniwha Dam in CHB. Do you support either initiative? Would you support HBRC Council putting ratepayer funds into the construction or future operation of either dam?

A note of clarity here because people are confused about the two dam projects. One is a 27m cubic metre dam on a tributary to the Ngaruroro river. This is to augment river flow in summer and to underwrite existing commercial and urban water use on the Heretaunga plains. The other – Tukituki water storage (old Ruataniwha) is a 100m cubic metre dam that potentially provides new irrigation water to central Hawke’s Bay and also augments Tukituki river flow in summer. I am a strong advocate of the storage dam on the tributary of the Ngaruroro river. We know there are water shortages looming and they could be catastrophic for Hawke’s Bay, both environmentally and economically. If we know that, we are irresponsible if we don’t do something. But there are caveats. First we need to be sure that the project stacks up. Dams are complicated to build and they need to be commercially and environmentally viable. Intensive feasibility work is being done now to address these things. We expect to know that outcome of that work in the first half of 2026. The second caveat is “ownership” of the project. HBRC recently transferred this to those who benefit most from water storage. That is Hastings and Napier Councils, mana whenua and commercial users. This is a good structure. These are the main groups to benefit from water security and they will also be the main funders of the project. Regarding HBRC ratepayer investment – I see this as being a small amount, if any. The majority of the funding needs to come from the users, as indicated above. For Tukituki water storage, HBRC invested $20m in the original project and much of that expenditure is relevant to the current project. We haven’t seen the financial model for the scheme but it’s hard to see more being invested by HBRC. Again, it needs to be driven and funded by the beneficiaries of the project. I do support their efforts though. This is a major undertaking and one that can be a game changer in Central Hawke’s Bay.

5. Do you believe HBRC is doing enough to develop potential reductions in the region’s water demand? What possibilities of this sort do you see?

No we are not. Several of us Councillors have been advocating hard for this and we are now getting traction. Solutions need to involve supply and demand, and there a number of options. We can do much better with water recycling, especially industrial water, more efficient irrigation, more efficient urban water use and so on. Shortly we will have a paper which outlines all the options with a view to prioritising those to get best bang for buck.

6. Do you believe HBRC is doing too much or too little with respect to adapting and/or mitigating climate change impacts in the region?

Our focus needs to be on mitigation. Cyclone Gabrielle was a devastating reminder of what can happen. Following Gabrielle HBRC undertook a huge programme of urgent works removing silt, repairing stop banks and a range of other flood repairs. Now the focus is on better flood resilience for those areas that are still exposed. This will take another two years and will cost $250m. Beyond that is region wide flood resilience and this will take a number of years to design and complete. So this is a vast work programme and doesn’t even include what we are doing to mitigate the other side of the coin and that is drought resilience.

7. Do you personally support retaining Māori seats at your council table?

Yes I do and I support our Maori Councillors at the table. The two we had in this term – Thompson Hokianga and Charlie Lambert didn’t drive a Maori agenda, but they did give a Maori perspective and that was important. That said I look forward to the day (and I hope it’s not too far off) when we don’t need Maori seats.

8. Does Hawke’s Bay need five councils, or do you support amalgamation, in any form?

Yes I do support amalgamation and I voted for it when the referendum was held in 2015. It’s a frustrating subject though. Superficially most people do support it, but when it comes to the crunch they often vote against it which is what happened last time. If we want better, more efficient local government (and who doesn’t) then amalgamation is a very good way to achieve that.

9. Would you support Councils appointing an independent “Hawke’s Bay Auditor General” to monitor councils’ spending and programme performance?

On the face of it yes, but monitoring things like programme performance is a massive task and the auditor general could easily become a bureaucracy in itself. Also comparing HBRC with say Hastings and Napier, is not that helpful because their operations are quite different. I would support comparative analysis alongside similar Councils. For example, how does HBRC stack up against the other Regional Councils in New Zealand in such things are rates, staff numbers etc. This creates valid comparisons and is easier information to collect