Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief Don Good is calling on Waipā Rotarians to bring their business skills to local government by standing for council themselves, or supporting those who do.
Waikato Chamber of Commerce head Don Good, left, with Te Awamutu Rotary Club president Kylie Brewer and Cambridge Rotary Club president Gary Smith. Photo: Viv Posselt
“There is a place for good people to take hold of the purse strings in local councils. I urge you to stand for council or get in behind good business candidates who do stand,” he told a group of Te Awamutu and Cambridge Rotarians last week.
He was speaking at a Te Awamutu Rotary Club-hosted meeting in the town, which was also attended by about 25 Rotarians from Cambridge.
Good said people with a strong business background know how to get things done.
If combined with the strength to ‘call out the bureaucrats’, they could offer councils a significant advantage.
He also repeated his call for discussions around regional amalgamation, saying it would improve efficiencies, reduce bureaucracy at local government level and have better financial outcomes for all communities. In addition, it would give the wider region more clout when it came to lobbying central government for funding to meet its needs.
“There would be a more unified approach to central government,” he said. “We know that right now treasury doesn’t listen to Waikato. To get the attention of central government for any decent amount of treasury funding, we need to have a strong voice.
“Hamilton is about 3.5 per cent of the country’s population… the whole of Waikato would be about 10 per cent. Central government can’t ignore 10 percent … the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. By unifying, we would have the weight of numbers to go to Wellington and ask for what we want.”
Good is on record for having previously suggested that if amalgamation were to happen, Hamilton could represent the regional ‘hub’ of an imaginary wheel, with the spokes spreading out to Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Morrinsville, Matamata, Huntly and Ngāruawāhia. He said other bodies, such as North and South Waikato and Coromandel should be included in discussions as each offers different competitive advantages.
He said the Waikato Chamber has for some time advocated for three core improvements for the region – the Cambridge to Piarere expressway, a Waikato medical school offering bachelor-degree qualified people an opportunity to go on to do medical training, and the continuation of the southern links four-lane highway to Te Awamutu, and potentially beyond.
“The extension of the southern links will liven up Te Awamutu hugely,” he said. “Ideally, we would like to see a four-way highway all the way to Taranaki, which has the only good all-weather port on that side of the country. It would give us a massive advantage should there ever be something like a tsunami hit the east coast of New Zealand.”
Good urged the Rotarians to familiarise them with the ‘Overton window’, an American term that suggests politicians can act only within the acceptable range of public acceptance.
“It is worth remembering that the Overton window moves at the behest of voters, not politicians,” he said.
Waikato Chamber of Commerce head Don Good urged Rotarians in Te Awamutu and Cambridge to stand for council. Photo: Viv Posselt
