Big trouble in little old New Zealand
There are hard choices ahead on how to keep small towns running, but the heartland is fighting back, write Libby Wilson and Joanne Carroll.
He believes players forced into retirement through injury or concussion face the biggest mental obstacles. ‘‘They’re not tough and brave by saying nothing. They need to be able to express how they’re feeling, so we can get them the help they need, because that’s the most important thing,’’ Sigmund said. The former All White is now working with the country’s Professional Footballers’ Association to introduce a similar programme in football.
Association member Harry Ngata, who made 28 appearances for the All Whites, saw several footballers fail to find their way after retirement.
But he hopes the stigma around mental health will continue to fall away and retired athletes will be more willing to access the support available to them.
‘‘For everyone that puts their hand up, how many more are there?
‘‘It takes a lot of courage. It’s as much about their masculinity, about being a man, to be able to ask for help.’’
It’s the willingness of those who have emerged from depression that can help break the cycle. DEEP in the rolling hills of the King Country, John Farnham loves his small-town life.
He shares Ohura, 50km west of Taumarunui, with just 130 other souls and loves meeting a few of them for a beer at the local Cossie Club. But the walk home afterwards is fraught – there are potholes on Kereru Rd that he can’t see in the dark.
Ruapehu District Council says there’s simply not enough people alongside Farnham to warrant a streetlight outside his house and they are struggling to simply keep the water coming out of his taps.
With New Zealand’s rural hinterland set to continue haemorrhaging people to the cities, the combination of declining ratepayer bases and rising costs for basic infrastructure in larger Kiwi towns is a looming spectre in small communities.
‘‘Some communities are already saying, ‘Our water supply is up for renewal. It’s going to cost X to develop a water supply, it’s actually cheaper to put tanks in all of those houses so they collect rainwater’,’’ Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule says. And septic tanks might be more cost-effective for sewerage in a small community miles from anywhere.
Population growth across most of New Zealand is forecast to stop – or reverse – by 2043, according to a Maxim Institute report.
That swathe of the country is home to about a quarter of the population, but covers most of its land area – 44 territorial authorities out of 67. Think pretty much anywhere outside the main centres and their immediate surrounds and the tourist magnet of Queenstown. Councils need to accept that and get planning, the report adds.
Small-town population decline is a global phenomenon and Local Government NZ made the issue a top priority two years ago, says Yule.
‘‘At its worst, in some parts of New Zealand the population will decline to the point where infrastructure upgrades will be unaffordable because there will be not enough people left to afford to fund them. Yet they still need the basics of stormwater, sewerage and water supplies.‘‘This is never going to be easy. As a nation, we really need to decide at some point whether in fact the centre and the more populous areas should be funding the declining rural areas.’’
But many places are feeling the pinch – including Ohura.
Its old water plant and pipes would cost about $2 million to replace. They date from the 1950s, when Ohura was a thriving place with coal mines and a busy railway siding. The local school now has about seven pupils and you can buy a two-bedroom house on two sections for $67,300.
The cosmopolitan club remains, and is planning a pig hunt in July. Tourism brushes by with Forgotten World Adventures Rail Carts stopping in on their Stratford-Taumarunui journey.
In a 2014 referendum, Ohura residents rejected shifting to rainwater tanks.
Now they pay extra rates to keep their water system going, but need a long-term solution.
Farnham moved to the town in late 2009, after discovering it online. Like most others there, he loves the place, but hates the high cost of living.
The 66-year-old’s rates bill is about $3000 a year – he has no sewerage connection and no kerbside rubbish collection.
Waimangaroa – a small town near the abandoned Denniston coal mine on the West Coast – is really suffering.
The locals call it ‘‘Waimang’’ and it used to have a school, shop, pub and rugby team, and miners used to munch on Lonely Planetendorsed pies from Coalface Food Stop – but owner Raewyn Fern has just closed it after 10 years in business.
The Buller District has lost more than 1000 jobs since 2013 – including in the coal mining industry, after the closure of Westport’s Holcim cement works and Reefton’s OceanaGold mine, and knock-on job losses in rail and shipping.
The area needs more tourists and passing trade to survive, Fern says.
‘‘We won’t get tourists until we get a road put in through from Northern Buller to Golden Bay. Tourists don’t want to drive back the way they came, they want a loop.’’
Buller mayor Garry Howard has been lobbying the Government to investigate a road through the Kahurangi National Park.
He’s also doing his best to reverse the downturn, helping with an economic stimulus fund and a ‘‘Move to Westport’’ campaign.
The population forecasts in the Maxim Institute paper are for 30 years from now, but it’s not hard to see that some of our smallest places already face tough choices.
They’re not tough and brave by saying nothing. They need to be able to express how they’re feeling, so we can get them the help they need.’ BEN SIGMUND. As a nation, we really need to decide at some point whether in fact the centre and the more populous areas should be funding the declining rural areas.’ LAWRENCE YULE