Lets show them
The oft-repeated assertion that tourism is at the centre of Waiheke’s economy and prospects needs to be put into perspective.
In describing “Island demographics” [Gulf News 12 February] I said “we can assume at least 4000 Waiheke residents are in paid jobs at present.” Of those jobs about 2200 are held on Waiheke. The remaining 1800 will therefore be jobs held by commuters to the mainland.
At 2013 census time 25% of all the 4000 jobs were part-time. Assuming 25% applies equally to on island and mainland jobs and those part time jobs average half time, there would be about 1500 full time equivalent [FTE] jobs held on the mainland.
If your eyes are glazing over by now please note why this matters – $60,000,000 per year. That’s the amount of money earned by commuters if their FTE jobs pay a conservative average of $40,000 p.a. If, as I suspect, their average FTE pay is nearer $50,000, make that $75,000,000 per year.
Our island Gross Domestic Product [GDP] is now about $230m. Compare the
$60 – 75m earned by commuters to sectors such as “accommodation and food services” – $10.3m; “retail” – $18m; “agriculture and fishing” – $13.8m and our “manufacturing” sector, 80% of which is in wine making by our wonderful vineyard operations, $27.8m.
Our commuters provide a key underpinning to our economic wellbeing. They need to be a central feature of our forward planning, particularly in respect of public transport and Matiatia.
It’s our people that count
Of course tourism is important to Waiheke. But what came first – our lifestyle or the many talented individuals who have come here to share in and build on it; our wine makers, building on creative, first class eateries, or wine tours; our entrepreneurial artisans and artists or the visitors who come to see their work in our wonderful settings, our markets and festivals?
Tourists are attracted to Waiheke because of our gorgeous environment, sure. But the world is full of beautiful places. Nearby we have the Bay of Islands and Northland, the Waitakeres and Auckland’s many attractions, the Coromandel, Rotorua and the central plateau and much more.
Visitors have to make a special effort to come to Waiheke. So why are so many making that effort? Let’s take a hint from Wellington’s tourism success. Despite its own environmental [but not climatic] charms, not many moons ago Wellington was the place you passed through on the way to a ‘real’ holiday, north or south. Since the late 80’s it has grown into a vibrant, artistic and gastronomic destination in its own right – the ‘coolest little capital in the world’ some say.
Something similar [better?] has been achieved on Waiheke. Not a week goes by without a resident or a visitor being quoted in our papers praising the attraction of our community and its generous spirit – our relaxed lifestyle, our somewhat bohemian outlook, our feisty engagement and our generosity. There is a Waiheke “feel” that people love which complements and is nurtured by our environment. Where else would give rise to Hip-Operation?
Greater local control more effective
As an island community, I believe we need more direct ability to influence the shape of our economic development. We do not want economic development that has as a major objective the creation of jobs that cannot support paying a living wage for adults. We want to have more direct influence on building on the high skill levels we already have and on sharing them with the next generation – as has been impressively done by the Otorohanga District Council for a long time now.
We want to secure Council work that needs to be done on the island for locals wherever possible. At present procurement processes put up so many hurdles for local firms that most Council work goes to mainland companies. I am also convinced that contracting where scale or highly specialist expertise is needed would be more cost effectively done locally because we would have greater transparency and more direct feedback from our very vigilant residents.
Our economy in the future
Over the next 10 -20 years technology is going to change the face of most process driven jobs, worldwide. There’s not too many of those types of jobs on Waiheke so I think we can expect less structural change in our labour market than the average for NZ. {Labour market economics was central to most of my career.]
Meanwhile, our increasingly creative and professional residents will be able to access enabling infrastructure like Ultra Fast Broadband, which is already here, to use technology to create new jobs and enterprises that will provide economic resilience and complement our tourism related industries.
Access to specialist Council services such as ATEED
Some people are concerned that if a Waiheke Council is established, we would lose access to agencies such as Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development [ATEED] in promoting Waiheke as a visitor destination. There is every reason to believe that it is in ATEED’s interest to continue to promote Waiheke. We are now an attraction of some note for Auckland.
In similar vein, we should be able to negotiate access to services such as the library system and scientific, research or functional specialists. This is common practice among Councils all over NZ. Under the law, Auckland Council would be expected to collaborate with us, on a reasonable fee for service basis, to ensure continuity of services. The Local Government Commission, if it establishes a Waiheke Council, will be accountable for ensuring the success of any transition required.
Here is John Meeuwsen’s article as it appeared in the Gulf News
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