Dinner with Taranaki Mayors

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

May I then specifically greet you: David MacLeod, Chair of the Taranaki Regional Council; Your  Worship Ross Dunlop, Mayor of South Taranaki; Your Worship Neil Volzke, Acting Mayor of Stratford; and Alex Matheson, Deputy Mayor of New Plymouth. 

Thank you for accepting the invitation from my wife Susan and I to join us here for dinner at the Stratford Mountain House.

I want at the outset to express, on behalf of both Susan and myself, our condolences on the recent death of Stratford Mayor John Edwards, who died in August.   While he had been a councillor since 1995, having only been elected mayor in 2007, his time in the service of his community had been sadly cut short. 

While the Mayor of New Plymouth, His Worship Peter Tennant, kindly hosted us to a civic reception at the New Plymouth District Council civic centre yesterday, we believed it was important to also meet Taranaki’s local government leaders.

While this venue is on land that forms part of the Stratford District, we thought that being high up here on the side of Mt Taranaki in the Egmont National Park was a close as we could get to neutral territory!
As our dinner awaits, I would like to make a few brief remarks about our visit, of which we are now two-thirds of the way through. 

In addition to the civic reception yesterday, we were welcomed on to Owae Marae and have visited Methanex at Motonui and received a briefing from Venture Taranaki.  We have also visited Coastal Taranaki School, Tawhiti Museum and the EnviroFur factory.

Tomorrow awaits a visit to the Tupare garden as a part of the Taranaki Rhododendron Festival, a meeting with Department of Conservation staff and a dinner for patronage organisations.

We came here to learn more of Taranaki’s peoples and their stories and your region’s plans for the future.

The impression we had at the end of the first day has been further reinforced as we have travelled around the great maunga Taranaki.

It is of a region that is not sitting on its laurels, but is moving forward.   Every part of New Zealand, and indeed the world, has been affected by the global economic recession.

But as I noted yesterday, Taranaki provides a fine example to all New Zealand about what can be achieved in difficult times.  

The example Taranaki gives is of the importance of looking for new opportunities and initiatives that build on the strength within our own communities.

Local government plays an important role in this.  It provides the infrastructure—roads, water, sewerage and refuse disposal—that is essential for all modern businesses to prosper and generate the wealth that creates jobs.

It also provides the community infrastructure—libraries, museums, theatres, parks, sports facilities and the like—that make regions, towns and cities places people want to visit and live in.

While economic indicators suggest New Zealand is slowly emerging from the downturn, economists are also warning that the recovery is still tentative. 

There is a cliché in management circles that says that at difficult times, one should “think smarter, not harder.”  Well, I suspect that local government will not be so lucky.  You will no doubt have to work both smarter and harder!

In meeting the challenges of the days and months ahead, requires leadership and the need to think afresh.  It will fall to you, Taranaki’s leaders in local government, to continue to look for new ways to collaboratively and co-operatively work together for the betterment of the communities you serve.

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.