Govt dragging chain with SuperGold
New Zealand First list MP Ria Bond responds to Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt’s column (May 30) on the possibility of Stewart Island ferry crossings coming under the SuperGold Card scheme.
Councillor (Peter) Kett’s idea for a limited number of Stewart Island crossings for SuperGold Card holders is a good idea. What is better is to treat these crossings, and others like it, just like Auckland’s Waiheke Island.
Mayor Tim Shadbolt rightly asks why this isn’t the case. Unbelievably, that concession to Waiheke all goes to a single foreign-owned company called Fullers.
Meanwhile, a Kiwi rival, Explore Group, has had to suspend SuperGold cardholders because National won’t allow it access to Fuller’s $1.5 million SuperGold Card pot of gold.
So much for the spirit of competition.
Yet Mayor Shadbolt highlights a wider issue with the SuperGold and that is an interminable number of reviews by successive ministers into the SuperGold transport subsidy.
It almost rivals the number of reviews our fire services have seen into their funding. I imagine rural firefighters reading this will nod in agreement.
The fact is this: the Government has frozen SuperGold transport benefits for more than three years, locking in sweetheart monopoly deals for providers like Fullers. This review started in 2013 and was meant to finish after the 2014 general election but we’re still waiting.
You could say National has adopted a stance similar to an ostrich, but that’s insulting to ostriches.
The Rt Hon Winston Peters wrote to Minister Maggie Barry last month asking when the SuperGold Card transport subsidy review will finally be completed. Unsurprisingly he is yet to get a reply to that letter aside from this flippant verbal ministerial reply: ‘‘There is no delay. The review has been going on since 2013 and will go on until it is finished’’.
In Invercargill, Bus Smart trips are free for off-peak trips being 9am to 2.55pm on weekdays and 10.30am to 3.40pm on Saturdays.
All you need is your SuperGold Card and a Bus Smart Card that’ll be swiped but no fare deducted from it.
While full fare bus patronage may be sharply down, a recent council survey, however, showed that 11 per cent of full-fare paying passengers were also SuperGold Card holders. Off peak, three out of every 10 bus passengers were SuperGold Card holders, so, undeniably, SuperGold is putting passengers on buses that is of benefit to our retailers, attractions and eateries.
Of course, adding SuperGold Cards for foot passengers crossing Foveaux Strait could help propel Stewart Island into the South Island’s answer to Waiheke Island.
One thing is for certain, Stewart Island needs more people if Halfmoon Bay School is to keep its second teacher.
That demands younger families who could live there but they need jobs and the most likely source is tourism. Our best source for these tourists is less foreign travellers but getting Kiwis south as in, ‘‘don’t leave home until you have seen Oban’’.
In this respect, attracting people down from Auckland appeals because Waiheke Island’s permanent population has grown. This of course feeds growth on both sides of Foveaux Strait.
The Rt Hon Winston Peters also has a bill before Parliament that would greatly benefit rural and urban Southland alike; that is adding three free GP visits to the SuperGold card.
Experience from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service supports the financial, social and medical benefits of agetargeted health checks. Preventative medicine saves lives and health dollars equally.
It also helps make the case for why Southland is a better place to live than Auckland’s Sandringham. We have what Auckland doesn’t; a sense of community and that’s a marketable asset making Southland not just a great place to visit, but an even better place to live.