Opinion Exile on Main’s street: Why Whanganui wants to lynch me

I said plenty of positive things about Whanganui too (cheap houses, great schools, positive people) but that didn’t stop the local rag vilifying me on the front page.

To be fair Whanganui isn’t the only place facing CBD decline: Palmerston North, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Tauranga – they’re all suffering too. The big retailers are moving to the fringes of town and taking other businesses with them. It’s fair to say there’s plenty of concern about falling dairy prices.

There are other issues too – rates are too high, earthquake strengthening is a problem and parking is expensive, to name but a few. Most mayors have actually accepted they face a challenge and are doing something about it.

The two-week national road trip for my radio show was designed to get out of Auckland and take the pulse everywhere else. There was no agenda – if I saw success I celebrated it, if I saw and heard concerns I reported them.

My column last Saturday – inspired by the good life I saw in the South Island compared to an overpriced and overpopulated Auckland – certainly sparked plenty of debate.

A lot of Jafas were clearly rattled. The southerners chided me for blabbing the secret of how happy they are.

My point remains that as a country we must promote and build populations and jobs in the regions. The Government’s focus has been on Auckland for too long, as record numbers of immigrants flood into our largest city.

We need to have a national debate about the future of smalltown New Zealand. This must include a discussion about whether it is viable to bond new immigrants to live and work in smaller centres.

All up, the past fortnight has been fascinating. In the regions people are largely positive.

Yes, I saw some ghost towns. I can’t see how they can be revived. But I have also seen thriving and wealthy regions, towns and cities with much to be excited about.

Viv’s Kitchen, a cafe in Sanson, is expanding and doing well. Palmerston North has a diverse economy but businesses are worried about what the dairy slump will mean.

Andrew Hoggard runs 563 cows north of Feilding and if the dairy payout is below $4 for the next year he will have to borrow to make ends meet.

In Taranaki, businesses are starting to feel the slowdown and are worried it will get worse. Patea was quiet. I could say dead but I might get in trouble (again). Those issues go back years and there is no industry there.

One dairy servicing plant I visited in Stratford employs 24 people and has a $1 million wage bill. The owner has put on hold his plans to expand his warehouse because farmers are starting to slow their payments.

Hamilton is getting 57 more people a week setting up home in the city – that’s 3000 a year. Over the next decade, Hamilton will grow by 30,000 people.

In Matamata, buses of foreign tourists leave every 30 minutes for Hobbiton. This venture is going gangbusters. In summer, more than 40 buses a day head to the film set for the Lord of the Rings.

In Tauranga, the growth is astonishing. Aucklanders who can’t get on the property ladder are buying up there instead.

I never set out to bash Auckland, but surely anyone who lives there can see it is suffering from serious growing pains.

I sat on the motorway last Friday for 64 minutes, just to drive 39km in a straight line. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic and it was 2pm.

It’s these little moments that firm up my opinion that the regions are our best-kept secret. The houses are bloody cheap. If you want a job, you’re likely to get one. The people are good buggers.

And in the interests of one day being allowed to return to Whanganui without being lynched, I highly recommend the lamb shanks at the Rutland Arms Inn.