Gisborne Chamber of Commerce

E kui mā, e koro mā e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Kia ora tātou katoa.  Ladies and gentlemen, warm greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Your Worship, Mayor of Gisborne Meng Foon; Trevor Helson, President of the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce; and Dr Api Mahuika, Chair of Te Runanganui o te Ngati Porou - tēnā koutou.

Janine and I are pleased to join you here this evening for this Chamber of Commerce reception. 

While we have visited Gisborne before, today marks the start of our first Vice-Regal visit to Gisborne.  The philosopher Heraclitus said “you cannot step into the same river twice”, so I thought I would say something about the purpose of our visit. 

Visits to the various regions – regional visits - are important to us, in terms of what we do as the Vice-Regal couple and for me as New Zealand’s Governor-General.  They are a way for us to be better informed about the opportunities and challenges in our country for New Zealanders so I can represent those things to the Queen and the wider world.  The sort of information I take away with me I use in my conversations about New Zealand and New Zealanders, elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas.  Our visits are also a chance to celebrate the unique character and identity of New Zealanders.

Our visit here is for three days – three packed-out days!  The itinerary for our regional visits is similar.  They usually include a visit to a marae, a school, a commercial enterprise, local volunteer organisation(s) and something oriented around the environment, conservation or special theme; and a meal with civic leaders. 

Janine arrived last night and met with and presented awards at a GirlGuides Gisborne event.  Our visit began this morning at Te Poho-o-Rawiri Marae.  Starting at a marae, and initiating a visit with local iwi, gives appropriate recognition to manawhenua and the role iwi have in the district.  We then had lunch with His Worship the Mayor; met senior secondary school student leaders from the region at Lytton High School; met a cheery bunch of volunteers at Gisborne Sunshine Service; and had an encounter at a logging skid site with Chamber President Trevor Helson, wearing his other hat -a hard hat in this case- as CEO of Eastland Wood Council.

Tomorrow, we’re off up “the coast” to Tolaga Bay for the morning to see the IT hub at the Hauiti Centre of Excellence; to speak with Tolaga Bay Area School students who’ve just returned from the 28 Maori Battalion Legacy Tour; we’ll join students at the Uawanui Environmental Sustainability Project; visit the surf club and coastguard; and have a hangi!  Tomorrow night we’re involved with the Te Ha 1769 Trust – a sites tour and reception.

On Friday, I’ll visit the EIT Trades Academy Campus and the Toko Toru Tapu Church and Manutuke marae before heading off to Tauranga for the Ahuwhenua Maori Excellence in Farming Awards.

While the programme is a busy one, it’s aimed at giving us an understanding of life in Gisborne, the work that’s being done here, the people that call it home, some of the things you care about, and some of your concerns.

The climate and land give this district some huge advantages in the primary sector and the local economy with forestry, viticulture and farming.  The support industries that spring from these are also good for the region. 

I am aware there are some successful examples of manufacturing entrepreneurial activity.  Companies like Universal Engineering  and Pultron Composites demonstrate that companies with national and international reputations can be built here.

We all know though that while good things are happening, it’s not all Sunshine Brewery Pale Ale  and radiata pine skittles.  Gisborne, like many regions in New Zealand, faces significant economic challenges.

High unemployment, a lack of skilled workers and negative population growth and geographical isolation are serious challenges for you.  Like many provincial centres, you lose many of your young people to higher education outside the region and never get them back.  But as a friend of mine once observed, “challenges are just opportunities playing hard to get!”

In promoting and marketing this region as a tourism destination and in promoting economic, business and enterprise development, the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce is providing a platform for local businesses to thrive.  The Chamber’s biennial Business Excellence Awards, for example, reward innovative businesses and also bring to wider public attention the enterprising culture of the district.  These are two ideas that resonate with the themes I have set for my term as the Governor-General.

As American author Ken Blanchard  said “None of us is as smart as all of us” and by working together and in tandem with the Council and other agencies, who knows what innovative ideas might be formulated.

The recent formation of an Economic Development Agency will be of great assistance.  A partnership between the Gisborne District Council and the Eastland Community Trust , sends a strong message that Gisborne is serious about helping people to do business here.

I would also point to the contribution of local iwi.  Having charge of their destiny economically, and with the wherewithal to be major investors in this region, is good for iwi and the wider community in terms of employment and the social good that comes with it.

There’s a lot of hard work ahead but the reality is that these are exciting times. I am reminded of the line from Denis Glover’s poem ‘Home Thoughts’, “I dream of what will yet be seen, in Johnsonville and Geraldine.”  It is outside the big cities where people can find the time to innovate and the space to create new and exciting ways forward. I’m looking forward to seeing how this district is doing twenty years from now.