2019 Elections

Our region and our council

• Our region

  

  From the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula to the slopes of Ruapehu, the Waikato is the beating heart of the North Island. Collectively, we’re more than 460,000 strong, living in one city and 10 districts.  Find out more about our region and its boundaries, here.

   

   
• Council and committee structures

  

  The council, made up of 14 elected councillors, is the governing body for Waikato Regional Council. The chair and deputy chair are appointed by the council when it takes office.  

  Councillors meet monthly (or as required) in committees and subcommittees to look closely at the issues and make decisions on or recommendations to the council. The full council generally meets on the last Thursday of each month to consider recommendations and make decisions on a wide variety of activities and policies.

  >> View the full diagram, here. [PNG, 349 KB]

• HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT | HE TAIAO MAURIORA

  Mike Scarsbrook, Science Manager for Waikato Regional Council, works to keep our environment healthy and believes we’re defined by the environment we live in.

  The environment we live in gives us a sense of who we are in the world. The region locks us into our community and where we all reside. But a healthy environment is what we all aspire to and sets our aspirations for the future.

  So, how healthy is the Waikato?

  Parts of the region are very healthy. Lake Taupō is as good as it gets for a lake of that size, but there’s an expectation it will remain with 10-metres-plus water clarity and will always be in a ‘close to natural state’ or with very minor impacts on it.

  Despite improved management of human impacts around Taupō there is still a real need for vigilance and response to emerging issues. For example, in late 2017, we had signs of algae blooms growing in parts of the lake, and the district health board stopped people from using the lake for a short time over the busy summer period.

  In partnership with local iwi Tūwharetoa and other partners, we’ve put new lake quality monitoring procedures in place so we will be able to respond more rapidly to give the community better information.

  In contrast to Taupō, Lake Waikare in the Lower Waikato is a shallow lake that’s severely degraded. In terms of water quality, it has extremely high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and algal growth. The lake is not safe to swim in. Improving our degraded waters, like Lake Waikare, will be a massive and lengthy challenge.

  With the Waikato and Waipā rivers, we’ve teamed up with local iwi. The Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River tells us what the river needs from us. We recognise the river is degraded and needs to be improved, protected and restored because the river gives to us and we need to look after the river in return. This document provides leadership and direction. We are quite lucky to have a vision document like this.

  If we destroy our environment, we essentially destroy ourselves as a region because it takes away our future options and what we can do.

  The rivers, lakes, groundwater and coastal waters integrate all of the impacts humans make in the catchment and on the land.

  As a freshwater scientist, I always need to remember the issue is wider than water. The key message is how we use our land can degrade our water resources and our freshwater environments as well as our land environments.

  We need to remember that, a few decades ago, discharges from pipes along our rivers were a much greater pollution source. Through improved technology and stricter consent conditions, these point source discharges are substantially improved. For example, 60 years ago, the bacteria levels in the Hamilton section of the Waikato River were 100 times today’s levels. We should be proud of the substantial investments made to achieve these results. Our greatest water quality challenge today is improving diffuse discharges – what runs off the land.

  The work farmers are doing to improve their practices is giving us some benefits in water quality. But we’ve got a long way to go in terms of getting that balance right between the level of intensive use of our land and water quality. Then there’s the push from central government about how we should manage the environment. From an environmental perspective, the Government’s paper, Essential Freshwater, has some very significant policy changes because it will provide national direction on how we’re going to manage water better.

  Regional councils already have controls in place on resource use, but government is really driving for a much faster process. The drive is to restore some of the ecosystems or the fresh water health that people have lost.

  The biggest area where we will contribute is going to be around protecting catchments. We can manage the source of contaminants through better targeting of actions to ensure people are managing the loss of contaminants from their land.

  I swim in the Waikato River just above the Hamilton city water intake and the water quality there is acceptable for swimming almost all year round. When I’ve come out of the river people have asked, “isn’t it polluted?” I say “no, it’s safe to swim in”. Of course, it’s a swift and powerful river so not suitable for everyone, but the risk of getting sick at Hamilton Gardens is low.

  People’s values and perceptions about water have changed. In New Zealand, there’s an increasing aspiration for clean water, for healthy rivers and healthy lakes. In terms of our overall environmental aspirations, the bar has lifted and regional councils and central government are responding, saying we need to put in place the things that are going to give the community what they’re looking for.

  We have a valuable monitoring network across our rivers, lakes, our groundwater, land and our air quality and geothermal activity.

  We monitor all of these resources with the idea that we can inform the community about the current state of the resource, how it’s changing over time and what the key pressures are.

  A healthy environment is at the heart of the Resource Management Act.

  If you have a healthy environment you have options; you have a wider range of options for the future, and you’re giving future generations those options. If we have a degraded environment we’re not giving future generations any options.

  Overall, we’re on the right track to manage the effects of land on water. But there are some massive challenges. We’ve got more work to do around how we manage our biodiversity and where we might be wanting to go in the future.

  The landscape will also evolve as we adapt to climate change. In contrast, a lot of the changes we make in relation to water quality are about choice.

  With fresh water, we’re heading in the right direction but our rural communities need to be supported through that change because we’re asking people to make substantial changes.

  We’ll be asking farmers to do farm environment plans, provide us with detailed information and make changes on their farms. We’ve got a great team at the council to help farmers through that.

  But we also need to continue to provide regional leadership and advice to central government.
• STRONG ECONOMY | HE OHANGA PAKARI

  Blair Keenan,  principal economist for Waikato Regional Council, says economic wellbeing is more than balancing the books.
  

  We want people to be able to make their way in the world.

  We want them to choose how they want to make it without undermining other people’s values and their own future values. That’s why having a strong regional economy is so important to us as an organisation.

  If you were to describe what the regional economy looked like, you would need to look at the bigger picture.

  The Waikato region and our position in the country is part of a golden triangle that covers Auckland and the Bay of Plenty. A huge proportion of freight that goes around New Zealand comes through the Waikato. We have, or are building, the places to manage that freight.

  The drivers of change are already here and happening now.

  Huge numbers of people are spilling over the Bombay Hills into the Waikato. Consequently, we have that slightly broader perspective of understanding the links and flows that characterise an economy.

  I think regional councils have a really important role in this space.

  This is not to say central government isn’t important. But they can only do so much at a regional level. They don’t have feet on the ground like we do, and as city and district councils do. Of course, iwi have an important role to play, too, especially those who have settled their Treaty claims. And so do the thousands of businesses throughout the region.

  At the end of the day, it’s a coordinated effort: iwi, businesses, central government, territorial authorities and us. There are others we’re working with, too, like Te Waka, the business entity in this region with its boots on the ground doing economic development work. We contribute funding to the tune of $350,000 every year.

  If we go back 20 years, the regional council was largely seen as an environmental regulator. We managed the natural resources. This is still a critical role but today we seek to be effective by recognising the interdependencies between the environment, communities and economy. It can create tension – economic development on the one hand and environmental and community standards on the other – because to grow our economy people have to be able to access natural resources. It’s a balance the council has to manage.

  Water is critical at the moment and it’s an evolving space.

  If everyone is taking as much water as they need and things are still okay with the water, there’s no problem, no need to regulate.

  But with more people comes more activity. We’re now at the point where we are hitting limits and access to water needs to be regulated. We need to make sure we’re balancing things out so there is enough water to meet our needs, and we’re not using it in ways that cause too much damage to the resource. So, in fact, water quality and allocation are intimately connected.

  If we didn’t have flood infrastructure, there would be places in the region where you certainly couldn’t farm. A dairy farm sitting behind a stopbank, producing a lot of stuff that contributes to our regional economy, just wouldn’t exist. It may instead be part of a wetland. Now, wetlands are also valuable, so understanding the balance and the trade-offs is important.

  Without flood infrastructure, the transport corridors between here and Auckland would be adversely affected. That’s because State Highway 1 and the rail corridor sit behind our stopbanks. If those stopbanks weren’t there those transport corridors, which are the busiest in the country, just wouldn’t function for part of the year. People would, if they had an alternative, have to drive the long way around, which would be expensive and time consuming, or it just wouldn’t happen.

  Flood protection is often invisible until a flood occurs and the economy is affected, but it reduces risks to our communities all the time.

  Pests can also have a huge impact on the economy. Possums can do a lot of damage to our forests and vegetation. They also carry bovine tuberculosis (TB). Unchecked, they can spread TB among dairy herds, affecting the productivity of one of our biggest industries.

  If we weren’t managing pest control, farmers and others would be wearing the costs.

  Economics is fundamentally about allocating resources. I believe businesses need to access natural resources but balance is important. We want to make sure that the use of resources now doesn’t undermine our ability to use them in the future, otherwise businesses may not be able to continue using the resources they rely on in the years ahead. And, if they want to hand their businesses on to their children – or, indeed, sell them as a going concern – they’ll still be able to do that, too.

  That means the thousands of resource consents we grant, giving people the right to use a natural resource, are as much about supporting our economy as protecting our environment.

  Energy is a really important resource. How do we deal with our energy systems?

  We’ve got a whole lot of hydro dams along the river. We’ve got wind energy. We need to ensure the whole energy system is working in the interests of the region and the country.

  When it comes to the region’s economy, we’re not the doers, we’re enablers! We enable people to build a strong economy and that starts with the work we do to enable a healthy environment. The outcome of all that? We enable people to live in vibrant communities.
• VIBRANT COMMUNITIES | HE HAPORI HIHIRI

  Janine Becker, Chief Financial Officer, says one of Waikato Regional Council’s jobs is making the Waikato feel like a really good place to live.

  One of our jobs is to support communities to be self-sustaining, vibrant and connected. Where it’s safe to raise our families, and the community is resilient enough to bounce back from natural disasters.

  To prepare for and recover from the worst, we work with communities, organisations and government agencies. It’s all about making sure people have the ability to look after themselves and each other.

  Public transport is also one of our responsibilities, helping to connect and engage communities with the kind of services they need, like the hospital and university. Today, we have just over 4 million passengers a year compared with 1.5 million passengers 16 years ago.

  Later this year you’ll be able to use buses for free with a disability card. This is a first in New Zealand. It removes barriers for isolated parts of our community. We’re also helping to get people out of cars by supporting the rail, cycling lanes and walking paths.

  The proposed Hamilton to Auckland passenger rail service will help to revitalise the landscape between the two cities. I think we all understand the congestion and the issues of getting into Auckland from Hamilton.

  But it also opens up more opportunity. You can actually jump on the train and not worry about traffic jams. You can be productive that whole journey. You know you’re going to get to your destination at a particular time.

  The council is increasingly moving into the facilities space.

  The build of the velodrome five or six years ago was supported by the council. We gave them an upfront contribution of $6 million to build it, but we don’t have an ongoing role in the running of the complex.

  Same with the proposed regional theatre.

  We have $5 million going into the capital build, but there’s no commitment to its ongoing operation. It’s seed funding, we’re not doing any of this on our own.

  It’s the initiation, the support and the partnership with businesses, philanthropic organisations and other councils.

  Both venues allow people access to recreational facilities in their own backyard.

  It’s an interconnectedness with vibrant communities, regional development and a range of economic benefits. We want to attract people to live in the Waikato. We want people to feel it’s a really good place to live, with ample facilities.

  Our long term planning processes are important for key projects. These are the projects where we need to go out and consult with the community. Asking them the question: “Is this the type of investment you want this council to be making? Do we have a role to play in it?”

  As long as projects are supported by the community, the Local Government Act gives us a broad mandate to get involved to support the wellbeing of the community.

  Twenty years ago, we were very much focused on our core legislative roles. We were doing flood protection. We were managing natural resources in the region. We were doing biosecurity. We were seen as an environmental organisation.

  We were Environment Waikato.

  Climate change, I believe, is one of the biggest challenges that we have coming at us. The challenge is around the sustainability of the existing infrastructure that’s been built over the years. How does climate change impact on where people currently live? How does it impact on the activities that they’re able to undertake on the land that they own?

  We could be looking at quite a different landscape for the region. How will it affect our social, environmental, economic and cultural wellbeing? What happens if flood protection assets become unaffordable for communities to maintain? What happens to that productive land that is protected by those assets?

  I don’t know and none of us have the answers to that at the moment! It’s one of the big challenges.

  I love the way the younger generation are so engaged and passionate about these things. That’s who we need to be thinking of 20, 30, 50 years from now – it’s them, not us.

  A challenge we have is a constrained financial envelope. But I think we are on the right track towards building vibrant communities.

  On behalf of local councils, we provide funding to volunteer emergency services.

  Another space we work in, from a community perspective, is the range of community groups that we support: river care, coastcare and pest management groups. And there are many more.

  We need to be enabling communities to take their own action, creating the spaces they want to live and raise their families in.

  From a community perspective we have a part to play in people’s safety on roads, as well as on water. We have Maritime Services, that’s our harbourmasters who look after every aspect of water use, from jet skiing to paddle craft and boating.

  Ours is a vast and diverse region. Ours is an extraordinarily complex business. It’s never about a single issue. Understanding the complexity of what we do and what we’re trying to achieve is challenging.

  But making the Waikato the best it can be ends up back with the communities. In doing that we acknowledge there are some hard trade-offs that need to be reached. A single issue focus doesn’t work for a business of this nature and complexity. You need to have a more holistic view on the business of council.

  I think we absolutely have a responsibility around financial responsibility because rates are a form of tax. It’s about giving communities the maximum value we can for their rates.

  What we do needs to be affordable for our communities. Be of value and add value. It’s pretty tough out there for some people; for a lot of our communities it’s tough.

  People don’t have a choice when it comes to a lot of our services. But they have to pay for them.
• OUR IWI RELATIONSHIPS | Ō MĀTOU HONONGA Ā-IWI

  Mali Ahipene wears two hats. She heads Tai-ranga-whenua, which supports the council’s co-management arrangements with local iwi and leads policy and strategy work aimed at growing capacity to engage with Māori. She is also head of Democracy Services, which, among other things, manages the elections for the council.

  I hadn’t been here long when all of our democratic services were put to the test. This was the day in 2012 when the council voted eight to four in favour of creating two Māori constituencies for the 2013 triennial elections. The decision impacted our local government procedure for staff and councillors alike. But, on the other hand, it broadened Māori participation in democracy.

  No other council had introduced Māori constituencies under the Local Electoral Act and that’s an important part of our history right there.

  It makes you appreciate the importance of how the democratic process works.

  We now have co-governance partnerships with Waikato River iwi. Key to the relationship with iwi is to understand the rules of engagement and the legislation that governs our respective entities. Then you need to know how to weave all the strands together. It’s like a korowai or a cloak, you have to learn the art of weaving the strands correctly otherwise it’ll unravel. And it takes a lot of time and a lot of practise to get the tension of the weave right.

  Weaving the cloak of partnership isn’t foreign for iwi who have already negotiated their Treaty settlement with the Crown.

  For the council, it began with the establishment of the two Māori seats in Chambers back in 2012. I believe the foresight our councillors had six years ago gave our relationship with local iwi the kickstart it needed.

  We now have five joint management agreements and one co-management agreement with Waikato River iwi. They are with Tūwharetoa, Maniapoto, Te Arawa, Raukawa and Waikato-Tainui.

  The first joint management agreement (JMA) was signed in 2012. From experience, we now know the initial phase of JMA development is hard work. However, once implemented, the agreements have proved to be beneficial to the council by enabling collaboration with iwi.

  The council has become more confident in working in partnership with iwi. We should always strive to do more because it is the sum of all parts that gives substance to Māori participation.

  The Treaty settlement legislation was the catalyst to forging long term partnerships with iwi. But I firmly believe the glue to working in partnership with iwi was the introduction of the river settlement legislation.

  I see the relationships continuing to grow. We haven’t stopped at Treaty legislation. We haven’t thrown in the towel developing joint management agreements. We haven’t given up the chase since the introduction of Māori seats in council.

  At the beginning, we didn’t have the trust and confidence in each other. Over time, with maturing of that relationship, we started moving more in sync. To achieve that, you need skin in the game. You’re no longer just looking to meet your statutory requirements, you’re actually looking for greater opportunities to work together. There are huge benefits for the council, communities and iwi. You only have to look at the environmental and social impacts that occurred from the late 19th century after iwi were excluded from local decisions. The wider community has a lot to benefit from iwi values and approaches towards managing our natural resources.

  Just like a family, everyone comes with a different personality, different needs and different aspirations. It’s the same with iwi.

  What we’re doing differently with Hauraki is that we’re doing some pre-Treaty settlement work with them beforehand. By the time we get to the settlement the plan is that both parties have grown our existing relationship. It’s that relationship which will provide the substance and the glue.

  It doesn’t matter what you have in a joint management agreement. If you can’t adopt the right mindset at the beginning and make an effort to understand each other’s values, it’ll put unnecessary strain on the relationship.
  Iwi and councils have different skills and a different knowledge base about the catchment. Working together means that we are able to maximise opportunities of mutual benefit.

  Iwi organisations aren’t resourced in the same way as council, so we need to factor that in the way we work with iwi. It’s not realistic to expect iwi to jump into the partnership boots and all. They have other obligations. We need to accommodate that, acknowledge it and to plan for it.

  We have so many legislative requirements and obligations that aren’t as important to iwi. So we do have to be prepared to engage in a way that iwi can respond, do it in a way that allows them to feel heard, acknowledged and respected. To help with this, we developed an award winning app, Kawe Kōrero, to help our staff and others confidently engage with Māori.

  Waikato Regional Council has come a long way in delivering on its Treaty obligations and growing its partnership with iwi for the benefit of the wider community.

  The river settlement legislation for the Waikato River set the precedent for the co-management of the river, giving stakeholders a vision and leadership around what was best for the river. When it came to Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora: Proposed Plan Change 1 for the Waikato and Waipā rivers, iwi were given the mana to sit at the table alongside councillors. They had an equal number of votes on all decisions relating to this ground-breaking policy. However, the journey is far from over.

  I believe council can look forward to forging mutual partnership arrangements in light of:

  1. the recent Tūwharetoa settlement

  2. the pending Pare Hauraki and Maniapoto settlements

  3. the outstanding Waikato-Tainui Treaty settlement for the west coast harbours of Raglan, Aotea and Kāwhia.

  I’m convinced the drivers for change will emerge from this space.

  I think we will see a future where iwi Māori are enabled to engage and participate effectively as an equal partner and there is a focus on joint projects and ventures that are effective and valued by both parties and the wider community. 
• WORKING TOGETHER | MAHINGA TAHITANGA

  Karen Bennett, Manager of the Chief Executive’s Office, supports the Chief Executive with stakeholder relationships and strategy. She also looks after corporate sustainability and the legal and risk team.

  We’re here to make a positive difference to the community and the environment, now and for the long term.

  Caring locally, competing globally – that’s our vision for the region. It’s about working together: caring for people and the world we live in to make the Waikato the best it can be, environmentally, socially and economically.

  But good intentions don’t provide for a clear path forward. It can be tough finding common agreement on what a better world looks like, the steps needed to get there, who’s going to do what and, always the tricky bit, who’s going to pay.

  No one can whistle a symphony, it takes a whole orchestra. We need to work together to build the Waikato we all want to see. That involves central and local government, iwi, community groups, health and social agencies, scientists, educational institutes, activists and others co-operating, collaborating and networking to understand our risks and opportunities, the technical complexities, the players and the audiences.

  We need to listen to and walk alongside stakeholders to understand the issues that people care most deeply about so we can make good decisions and enable actions that will make a positive difference.

  A great example is the work our staff do in partnership with landowners and philanthropic funders to fence and plant stream banks to enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, reduce sedimentation and help mitigate the effects of land use on climate change. Some 152,000 metres of streambank were permanently protected last year and an extra 720,000 plus plants put into the ground. Now, I’m no land management expert but I love being outside and it’s always a good day when you spend it with a care group planting trees, or even checking pest traps.

  On a formal level, we have stakeholders from each of our eight catchment management zones that sit on zone committees to advise the council on work programmes and services.

  Over the past 10 years, there’s been a shift in what matters most to Kiwis. The focus has moved from just the economic bottom line to a more holistic view. That’s why sustainability is no longer an add-on but central to the strategy of New Zealand’s leading businesses.

  As a community, we’re concerned about pollution of lakes, rivers and seas, caring for the ageing population, the cost of living, suicide rates, affordability of housing, climate change and more. These issues influence our own strategic direction and actions.

  Some people think this council is only interested in water and other environmental issues. Yes, we have statutory responsibilities to protect the environment and to sustainably manage the region’s natural resources. These resources underpin our economic wellbeing and sustain our lifestyle. But we also have a mandated role to play in community and economic development activities at regional scale.

  The ingredients are all there for success. The Waikato region’s natural resources, prime location, diverse economy and can-do communities offer great opportunities. But to make the most of these opportunities, we need to take action on environmental and social issues that are having a negative effect on people right now and also threaten to strip future generations of the ability to enjoy a high quality of life.

  Complex and interconnected issues like water quality, climate change, biodiversity, waste, transport, the future of work, growing inequalities and community participation are so challenging that no organisation can provide the solution on its own.

  That’s why our mission talks about working together. Shifting the dial on big societal issues that impact wellbeing can only be achieved through collective effort.

  We’ve already seen the power of partnerships. The Protecting Lake Taupō project, The Peninsula Project on the Thames Coast and the Tui Mine remediation in Te Aroha, all of these achieved important environmental, economic, cultural and social objectives. More recently, the partnership with the Waikato River Authority has resulted in $8.5 million in funding, and that has meant we’ve been able to do more than business as usual to achieve work on the ground to protect our waterways.

  A ground breaking example of collaboration was the process to develop Healthy Rivers/ Wai Ora: Proposed Plan Change 1 for the Waikato and Waipā rivers. Iwi sat alongside councillors as decision makers. The community held the pen and we facilitated the process.

  UNISA (Upper North Island Strategic Alliance), Waikato Mayoral Forum, Waikato Plan and the region’s economic development agency, Te Waka, are some other key relationships that illustrate the importance of working together. Some of our partners say we can be hard to work with. I think that’s true of any collaboration. It’s not easy and we’re always looking to improve.

  Everyone has to give up a degree of control, respect the value each organisation brings to the partnership and accept that resourcing, culture and motivation might differ. It’s always about nurturing the relationship.

  But by building on each partner’s strengths and bringing together resources, new ideas and know-how, access to key audiences and decision makers, we should trust that we can make stuff happen and that our collective effort will magnify the impact, increase effectiveness and reveal new opportunities.

  I think it’s nicely described by the whakataukī:

  Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.

  With my baskets and yours, the people will thrive.