Auckland not the only game in town

Ayear ago, the South Otago town of Kaitangata found itself the centre of world attention when it set out to attract new residents with two attractive points of difference – cheap housing and plentiful job opportunities.

In a purely local initiative, the town’s business leaders offered potential newcomers a house-and-land package for as little as $230,000. They were trying to breathe new life into the town and attract badly needed workers into the local primary industries.

Before the campaign, the town’s population of about 800 had been shrinking. A year later, house-building is about to begin for the first of 12 new families. Local farmer, property developer and town cheerleader Evan Dick hopes that 20 new homes can be built in the next three or four years.

Kaitangata’s success shows that, while New Zealand may be dotted with small towns which have seen better days, there is still plenty of potential in the regions given a bit of innovative thinking, faith and love for the idea of a smalltown way of life.

At the same time, our rapidly increasing population – which has just passed 4.8 million, according to Statistics New Zealand’s constantly updating online ‘‘population clock’’ – is concentrating in our congested urban centres. More than 1.6 million people are now living in greater Auckland. While little Kaitangata is celebrating the prospect of a dozen new families, 45,000 extra people are settling in Auckland every year, which is why you now have to be a millionaire to buy a mortgage-free house in the northern city.

New Zealand has become a lopsided country, with urban areas driving ahead while the regions lag behind them in comparison.

The national population growth is 2.1 per cent a year. Auckland is growing by 2.8 per cent annually. Only neighbouring Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury come anywhere close to it. All other regions are below the national average and the number of people on the West Coast is declining.

This explains why the Government’s newly announced housing infrastructure agency, which has $600 million to spend to help speed up housing projects, is an Aucklandfirst initiative. Its first two programmes are on the Auckland fringes – at Wainui in the north and Drury in the south. By comparison, a regional economic development plan announced in last year’s budget allocated only an extra $95m for the whole country, to be spent over four years.

Regional development is the responsibility of no single agency. It is split mainly between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and the Ministry for Primary Industries. A regional growth strategy document published last month noted that it came under 11 Cabinet ministers, as if this was a good thing and not a lack of focus and commitment.

Meanwhile, the Government is also backing down on an announced immigration law change following a backlash from regional employers and Canterbury mayors who argued that it would not help the skills shortage in agriculture and small-town businesses.

There are plenty of Kaitangatas across New Zealand, which could improve their lot with the right resources and commitment from the Government. Unfortunately, as the Canterbury mayors noted, initiatives designed to help Auckland don’t do much to help businesses, growth and people in the regions.