This week, I was one of over 50 mayors and regional council chairs to sign an open letter to the Government voicing our opposition to the changes the Coalition Government is proposing to Māori ward and constituency poll provisions. You might ask what this is all about. For me, it is not so much about Māori wards as it is about consistency and fairness in our law.By way of background; CODC currently has four Wards, Vincent, Cromwell, Teviot Valley and Maniototo. This is the way it has been more or less (the Vincent Community Board was a combination of two separate Wards until 6 years ago) since CODC came into existence in 1989. We have these Wards to reflect the communities of interest within the broader district and to ensure that decision-making reflects the views of those closest to where the effects of those decisions are felt. The Wards also ensure that smaller population bases such as the Māniatoto and the Teviot Valley have representation around the council table so the views of those communities will always be heard. Something we could do, but aren’t considering at present, is introduce a Rural Ward, so people who live outside of our main population centres could vote in a Rural Ward in an election, rather than in one of the other four wards. You could see the sense in this if we consistently had no rurally based people on council, because you don’t know what you don’t know, and if we didn’t have our two farmers and one grape grower on the council at present, the voice of a really important part of our community would be silent around our table. This is why many councils in New Zealand have introduced Māori Wards; so that Māori, who have been largely absent from council tables in the past, will have a place so their voices can be heard. Were we to introduce a Māori Ward (something CODC is not contemplating at present), folk on the Māori role could vote in that Ward rather than one of the current four. They wouldn’t get to vote twice, just once, same as everyone else. Māori wards and constituencies were first introduced by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2001.At that time, the law had a poll provision allowing referendums on the issue of introducing Māori wards and constituencies, meaning if 5% of the ratepayers in a district or region where the council decided to bring in a Māori ward called for it, a binding referendum on the matter had to be held. As a consequence, a number of council decisions to introduce such a ward were overturned. In 2021, the law was changed, which eliminated the poll provision and as a result, following the 2022 local elections, six of the 11 regional councils have Māori constituencies and 29 of the 67 territorial authorities had Māori wards. This is the law that the current government is looking to overturn. What gets me, and perhaps it is the lawyer coming out in me, is that it is this one, solitary decision of council that can be overturned by a poll and referendum. If we were to establish a Rural Ward as discussed above, there is not right to call for a referendum at law. If next week as part of our Representation Review council decides to drop one councillor from the Vincent Ward as we have suggested, anyone can ask the Local Government Commission to review the decision, but no-one can force a referendum. Just to be totally clear, of all the hundreds of decisions that councils make in a term, the only one where a poll can trigger a referendum is a Māori wards decision. And that, to me, is wrong. I was on the telly on Wednesday night making this argument and as a consequence received an email from someone that stated, “I want to vote for who represents me in Council”. I replied that this, with respect, didn’t make sense. As we have four geographically based Wards, wherever a voter is in Central Otago, they do not get to vote for the majority of the councillors that represent them, as they can only vote for councillors in their Ward. Indeed, in our smaller wards, voters only get to vote for one of the currently 11 councillors around the table, plus the mayor. The same would apply if we had a Māori Ward, not everyone in Central would get a vote in that Ward, the same as now I don’t get to vote in the Cromwell, Teviot Valley or Maniototo Wards. But, it could be argued that, if we did have a Māori Ward, and/or a Rural Ward for that matter, people might better be able to vote within their community of interest than they can at present. As a footnote, I have a lot to do with other mayors from around the country and I have not heard any of them say that, of those that do, having Māori wards bringing a stronger Māori voice around the council table has given anything but benefit.

Tall Poppy Central Otago has won the medium franchise of the year award for the fourth time, along with the New Zealand franchise of the year award at the businesses national conference and annual awards evening. Business owner Peter Hishon said it was a milestone for the team and they were excited to nab the win over 30 other franchises and keep building on their success. “I have to emphasise that it was a big team effort between Cromwell, Alexandra [and] Clyde, where we had . . . about three or four of us in the top 10 for the company.“[We] did extremely well for the size of our area, because we're up against successful franchises in cities where they've got thousands of houses compared to our little minuscule amount. So, our market share has been very healthy over the last 12 months to win that award.”Peter said housing affordability in Central is “still quite good” and although nationwide house prices have cooled off, Central remains a popular location as it offers one of the better lifestyle areas in the country.“Young ones [are] dropping out of Wānaka, Queenstown into Cromwell because it's more affordable and you're getting a lot of the young ones in Cromwell dropping down to Alex and Clyde for affordability. And, over the past year or two, we've even had people dropping further out into the outer areas like Omakau and Roxburgh for affordability.”  Today’s The Outlet podcast features Peter talking about trends in Central’s housing market, tips for first home buyers, and those looking to downsize or retire in Central.Read more: Peter Hishon - Property Contributor on Downsizing for retirement Read more: Peter Hishon - Property Contributor on Upsizing for growing families

Financial pressures are continuing to hit home for many Central residents, with many faced with rising costs and changes to their employment situation.Central Otago Budgeting Services has been busy supporting individuals and families as a result, and that workload is expected to increase, co-ordinator Pam Hughes said.She said health issues were another aspect affecting some people, which was adding to what was already a challenging and stressful time for people.In other cases, some people’s circumstances have changed, due to job loss, reduced work hours, or a growing family, which often meant less money coming into the household.A lack of childcare throughout the district also means some parents have no choice but to stay home instead of going back to work.Increased mortgage rates are another challenge many people have to work through.“In some cases, people’s mortgage rates have tripled.”However, Pam said there could potentially be help at hand for some people, which is where her expertise and knowledge comes in.“Some people don’t realise they might be able to apply for a rates rebate. They might not get the full amount, but they could get something towards it, but people don’t know these things.”She said people are having to think about where their money is going - not overspend or over-indulge.“It’s so easy to put things on tick.“You do have to stop and think about what are these costs, have you got two cars when you could really get away with having only one car.”She also suggested people talk to their employer to see if there were any avenues of support they could offer.In some cases workplaces might be able to assist by way of a fuel card, a phone or vehicle for work use.“It’s all about talking,” she said.Central Otago Budgeting Services has recently put together several pamphlets to provide people with practical financial information, including for those planning ahead, or in regards to money and practical matters after a death.The Ministry of Social Development also has a page on its website called 'check what you might get', which supports people to better understand their entitlements.To find out more tune in to this week’s The Outlet podcast where Pam talks more about the situation in Central.For more information email [email protected] or phone 03 448 8072.

Otago Regional Councillor Gary Kelliher has compared the proposed Land and Water Regional Plan as “a sales brochure for a new Ferrari that delivers a broken down Mini that is costing ratepayers a fortune."He then told the council meeting yesterday that farmers and foresters should stop all of their good environmental work and save that money for lawyers' fees to fight the plan.Despite his analogy, Otago Regional councillors voted 7-5 to send Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds an outline of costs, benefits and implications of notifying the Land and Water Regional Plan before the National Policy Statement on fresh water was released.Chief executive Richard Saunders told the meeting, staff were well aware of the strong differences in opinion around the table, but were not pushing their own agenda, “and it's wrong and inflammatory to suggest staff are doing that.”Cr Michael Laws then questioned him about the contents of the letter, implying that some of the statements were clearly subjective, and based on a judgement.“So who made those?” he asked, with which Richard replied that it was staff who gave their expert opinion to discuss as a draft at the council meeting.Contents of the letter outlined that while some areas of Otago have improving water quality trends, many were degrading, including the lower Manuherekia River, with nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and E.Coli levels measuring below the bottom line.However, the letter did say that there were improving trends in the river quality due to significant on farm effort. Cr’s Laws and Kelliher believe the degradation of the river was questionable.In terms of water quantity, many catchments in Otago also had a medium to high ecological risk as a result of water abstraction. The ORC said historical consenting of stored water has resulted in poor structuring of water allocation and low levels of water efficiency.Since 2018, the Otago Regional Council has invested around $18 million on science, monitoring and policy work to support the development of the new planning framework. That included around $2 million which has been spent on developing a minimum flow for the Manuherekia catchment. ORC chair Gretchen Robertson said despite the opposition around the table, they didn’t have a choice about sending the letter to the Environment Minister - “we have been directed to do this.”

Central Otago was in a unique position to now have two local representatives on the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) executive from one council.Councillor Tamah Alley was recently appointed chair of Zone 6 - incorporating all of the councils from Waitaki south - including the Otago Regional Council, and replacing Bryan Cadogan.The Clutha District Mayor has announced this would be his last term, which brought about a vacant role for the rest of the term on the LGNZ executive committee. His brother Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan is also on the Zone 6 committee and the representative for the national council of LGNZ.“Central Otago is punching well above its weight in terms of representation on a national scale,” Tamah said.A former police officer, Tamah said she brings perseverance, patience and persuasion to her new role, and was not afraid to have serious conversations, “or hold the line to a point that needs to be made.”“It’s much easier to get things done in this world if you’re a collaborator rather than a bulldozer.”Her proven capabilities in high stress situations and managing big egos has already come in handy in the world of local politics, and in her new role as Zone 6 chair she’ll be mixing with many different personalities - from Invercargill City Mayor Nobby Clark through to new Queenstown Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers.Her role will also involve supporting other elected members to work together, combining everyone’s strengths and knowledge, as well as further across the Zone 6 boundary - sharing information with representatives from numerous councils.“I think it’s really important that we build a community whereby lots of people want to stand to help democracy survive in our communities. And, that’s only going to work if we support people once they get there . . . so they don’t feel isolated and in the deep end."To hear more about the work Tamah is doing, listen to this week's The Outlet podcast.

Central Otago’s tourism market is experiencing a significant surge, thanks to an influx of visitors, once again, adding New Zealand to their bucket list post Covid.Tourism Central Otago head of destination Antz Longman said visitor numbers were “starting to come back”, which had provided some normality for tourism and the hospitality sectors.A wide range of nationalities had added a welcomed boost to Central’s tourism numbers in recent times, particularly those from Australia, the US, UK, Germany and the Netherlands.“[Numbers are] starting to come back in and we’re getting a bit more, I guess, normality to the kind of numbers and trends we saw back pre that little bug that got around the world.”He said a range of highly respected global travel organisations had helped remind people that Central Otago was a place to visit.“Lonely Planet had Central Otago and the Southern Lakes, with our neighbours in Queenstown and Wanaka, as one of the top value destinations in the world to visit. So that’s great in terms of building awareness of our offering, especially our cycle trails on a global scale.“And then just last month, Booking.com released its annual Traveler Review Awards and Otago was number seven in the top 10 most welcoming regions in the world. And, that’s based off surveys completed by those using their booking platform.”Tourism Central Otago also recently commissioned a year-end December 2023 Market Perceptions report, which revealed that the district sits well above the regional benchmark and ticks all the boxes as a recommended travel destination.Tourism Central Otago head of destination Antz Longman. PHOTO: Geoff MarksThat research is specific to Central, excluding the Southern Lakes towns of Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown, which are often considered part of the region.Another critical insight to how the district is tracking is the Net Promoter Score, a metric used to measure the balance between advocates and detractors.An NPS greater than +1 means there are more supporters than detractors.The higher the score, the stronger the support.“For 2023 Central Otago returned an NPS of +44 per cent, versus the national benchmark of +18 per cent for other regions of New Zealand who partake in the research,” Antz said.“This confirms that what we have thought anecdotally is true, in that our people and our place are exceptionally appealing and that this really is one of the best places in New Zealand to visit.”The research also looks at what things travellers associate with Central Otago, with wine, cycling and warm weather coming out on top.Antz said visitors are also often in search of an authentic, small community vibe with open spaces, something Central also lends itself to.He said the district’s many cycle trails enable visitors to do just that.“So, we’re definitely very, very fortunate to have the range of great rides that we have in Centro Otago.”Those trails meant visitors could get on a bike, connect with locals and move between various communities.To hear more from Antz, listen to this week’s The Outlet podcast.Read more: Otago, one of the world’s most welcoming regions