Poutama Newsletter

June 2009

Getting to know Poutama - Office Manager Gail Maxwell

Back to top

Office Manager Gail Maxwell

Q. Where are you from/raised/iwi affiliations? 

  1. I was raised in a little blink and you miss it settlement of Awahuri which is four miles from Feilding and approx eight miles from Palmerston North in the Manawatu. My tribal affiliations are Ngati Raukawa and hapu are Ngati Kauwhata and Tukorehe.

Q. Where are you based now?

  1. I am based in booming Upper Hutt and working at our Head Office based in Wellington.

Q. Tell us about your family.

  1. My husband Roger and I have six children all of whom have families of their own now. Our Maxwell clan now consists of 16 mokopuna with one grand moko thus far. Our daughter Tui lives in Taneatua along with her four children and Vonese and her family live on the farm where I grew up in Awahuri and my 92-year-old father is living with her. The other children live within the Wellington area and Sunday is our get together day. Our pet is a cat named Flabby - spoilt rotten and sometimes I don't take too kindly to sharing my bed with another female.

Q. Hobbies/interests.

  1. I love all sport and have played tennis, badminton and basketball at representative level during my lifetime. Most of my time is now devoted to watching my moko's or children playing their sport mainly rugby & inline hockey. Hobbies vary from gardening, the do it yourself stuff, music, dance, homemaking skills, reading, teaching and property investment. I still like to give my sight reading in music a good work out and of course keep my fingers nimble and play the piano as often as I can.

Q. Favourite book of all time and why?

  1. This was very hard for me to pick a favourite as I enjoy reading immensely and I enjoy reading a huge cross section of genres.

I have chosen - Seven habits of Highly Effective people written by Stephen Covey. After reading this book I participated in the Stephen Covey training course and learned so much in leadership skills and team management skills and have many opportunities to put my knowledge into practice.

Q. What is your role at Poutama and how long have been doing it?

  1. My role is office manager and I have been in this role since Feb 2005.

Q. What is it that most excites you about your job?

  1. I have come from an organisation that is reactive and I thoroughly enjoy working for an organization that is proactive and looking at different and innovative ways to assist our clients further their business.

Q. You’re meeting Maori in business everyday. If you were a guest speaker at a high school careers day, what advice would you give students wanting to establish their own business?

  1. Dream the dream, follow the dream, live the dream and be your dream.

    Dream the dream - know what you want to do
    Follow the dream - set goals that will assist to attain the dream both short & long term (be SMART)
    Live the dream - Be positive, surround yourself with people who are positive and always be aware of opportunities that present themselves to enhance your dream.
    Be your dream - Be grateful for your success, for those who have helped and share with others.

Q. What most impresses you about Maori in business?

  1. Maori are willing to share their knowledge with others. Maori helping Maori is awesome in any field.

Q. If you could choose three people anywhere in the world to join you at a dinner party, who would they be and why?

  1. Nelson Mandela - I remember at the World Cup 1995 in South Africa seeing this little figure of a man who was instrumental in bringing apartheid to an end. Even though he was half way down the field from where I was you could feel his aura and his humility as he stood on the podium and waved to the crowd. I admire his dedication, his never-ending desire for the people of South Africa to live with equality, harmony and peace.

    Thomas S Monson - The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I would be humbled to be at dinner with this man as I know that he has been given a great responsibility to enhance the spiritual well being of all members of the church during this time of spiritual decay.

    Oprah Winfrey - I would love to know more about her charity Angels.

Q. What three words that best describe you?

  1. Confident, capable and caring.

Q. What is your favourite New Zealand holiday experience?

  1. Put our golf clubs in the back of the car and doing a golf crawl with my hubby for a week.

Q. Can you reveal one thing not many people know about you?

  1. I have entered two amateur singing competitions and won them both. Can only enter professional competitions now.

Q. What’s your idea of a great day off?

  1. Not having to get up early to come to work and relaxing at home with my knitting and watching DVDs and someone else cooking dinner.

Ezy-Flo Trailers – Bill Groves

Back to top 

A couple of cardboard boxes, an ice-cream container and some milk bottle tops hardly conjure up images of a ground breaking invention but for Rotorua’s Bill Groves that’s exactly what they represent.

The managing director of Ezy-Flo Trailers is about to take his revolutionary trailers to the world. The trailers have been designed so the deck can be hydraulically lowered down to the ground, allowing for ease of loading, with no ramps required. It’s called Ground Loading Trailer Technology™ and it all began with Bill’s basic cardboard model.

His inspiration came while he was in the business of moving houses. He’d moved houses all over New Zealand and seen many people and hours of labour were spent lowering houses onto trailers.

“I thought about it a lot. I thought there’s got to be an easier way.”

His idea broadened from moving houses to any load that commercial users needed to shift. Bill believed that by mechanically raising and lowering the deck of the trailer, that the time, effort and the number of accidents from loading trailers would substantially reduce because there would be no need to use ramps or manpower to lift the loads onto trailers.

He knew he had a good idea but did not really have the money to get designs drawn up so with a few basic materials he made a model of his concept.

“I just went out to the garage and got a couple of boxes to resemble a trailer, I got an ice-cream container. I just made the wheels out of the milk bottle tops and all the mechanisms out of an ice cream container and glued it to the two boxes.”

That was six years ago.

He took that cardboard model to an engineer where the first trailer was drawn up and a friend who had seen the model gave him the money to build the first one.

From a cardboard model almost a decade ago to this revolutionary trailer using Bill Groves' patented
Ground Loading Trailer Technology™. There are five global products built using this design.

 

“We took it to a field day and people from all over the world gave us the thumbs up. We had huge interest, especially from New Zealand and Australia.”

Since then Bill’s intellectual property has secured a world patent for his Ground Loading Trailer Technology™.

“We’ve got a world Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 148 countries but what’s really amazing is that it’s the first time in patent history that a product has gone right around the world with no opposition. That’s a real testament to the design of the trailer.”

Bill said 14 world first prototype Ezy-Flo trailers had been developed and manufactured in New Zealand resulting in sales between $3500 and $35,000 per unit.

He currently has 11 state of the art trailers coming back from China where they are now being manufactured.

Bill said having the trailers built in China allowed manufacturing below 69 percent of New Zealand or Australia manufacturing costs.

It took seven trips to China, visiting 120 different factories for Bill to choose Wuxi Rainbow Special Vehicles to manufacture the trailers. Now the company has an ongoing three-year joint venture with Ezy-Flo Trailers.

Bill said the early years were spent doing vast market research and designing. He was working night shift at Fonterra to free up his days to do the work but the last two years had been flat out in his business.

3 stages of the Ezy-Flo trailer in action

Mike Gibbons has been brought on as the company’s CEO to steer Ezy-Flo Trailers into commercialisation, said Bill.

“It’s a huge time for us. We’ve five products we are taking to the global market in August of this year, a new research and development programme for the bigger trailers and we’ll be continuing with that over the next 12 months. Over that same 12 months we’ve also got four other projects we will be bringing to the market.”

In September he was heading to the United States.

The company’s roll out strategy for New Zealand and Australia included splitting New Zealand in two, hoping to attract two Territory Licensees. While in Australia Ezi-Flo Trailers wanted eight licensees for the eight states.

The Exclusive Territory Licences (ETL) will enable an ETL to distribute and sell five of Bill’s trailers including the Ground Loading Horse Float Trailer, the Ground Loading Stock Float Trailer, the Ground Loading Furniture Trailer the Ground Loading Commercial Flat-Deck Trailer and the Ground Loading Car Trailer.

“I’m just stoked with the way things are going and that we’ve got such an amazing product,” says Bill.

For more information – www.ezyflotrailers.co.nz

www.ezyflotrailers.co.nz

First Nations visit, Romeo Crow Chief

Back to top

 
  Romeo Crow

Earlier this month, Poutama business advisor Oscar Nathan spent time hosting Canadian First Nation's representative Romeo Crow Chief on a recent Rotorua business visit.  Romeo is a respected council member of the Siksika tribe from Albert, Canada. Romeo works within the areas of financial and administrative management, strategic planning, conflict resolution and community development.

With a specific interest in aboriginal economic development, Romeo's two-days in Rotorua were spent visiting a diversity of Maori businesses and including;

Commenting on his trip before heading to Auckland and onto Melbourne where he is speaking at an international indigenous conference, Romeo thanked Poutama for facilitating the various introductions and discussions.  He looks forward to following up with a number of the businesses he had met and welcomed the opportunity to return the hospitality should anyone be visiting in the wider Calgary area.

Romeo recently published a book called “First Nation Leadership Practices and Tools for Success” and his Siksika people have recently opened a significant cultural historical park complex called Blackfoot Crossing which can be viewed at www.blackfootcrossing.ca

Food and Agribusiness Marketing Experience (FAME)

Back to top

Poutama is pleased to be assisting Shane Heremaia and Hugo McCallum in the third Food & Agribusiness Market Experience (FAME) Programme.

FAME offers emerging leaders in the food and agribusiness sectors a unique professional development opportunity in a course offered jointly by Otago, Lincoln and Massey Universities.

Poutama Chief Executive Richard Jones, who participated in the 2007-08 FAME programme, said Poutama's support for the programme was all about helping develop leadership among Maori involved in primary sector activities.

He said it also gave participants exposure to international markets in areas such as supply chain logistics, marketing and exporting strategies, distribution systems, technology advances and consumer tastes and trends. A key benefit from the programme was the relationships and networks that were formed among participants.

Shane is currently the General Manager of Te Arawa Fisheries in Rotorua. With a Master of Laws with first class honours under his belt his impressive career has included working as a solicitor at Phillips Fox Barristers & Solicitors, one of Australasia’s largest firms with 185 partners and 1500 people. He went on to become a law lecturer at The University of Auckland and has also worked for the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission as General Counsel based in Wellington.

Working in London between 2004 and 2007 Shane was employed by the University of Surrey as a contracts manager, he provided legal services for Thurrock Borough Council, Nestor Healthcare Group and Genworth Financial before his return to New Zealand in 2007.

 Shane said the FAME opportunity provided an in-market view of food and agribusiness across comparative countries, regions, ethnicities and models.  

“Our expectation is that this knowledge will help Te Arawa Fisheries build better designs in relation to our quota, aquaculture, freshwater fish farming and aquaculture businesses improve our understanding of market access issues and opportunities and improve value chain positioning for present and future global markets."

Affiliated to Te Atiawa and Te Arawa, Hugo is the Northern Regional Sales Executive for Tohu Wines.

After completing a Diploma in Film and Television at South Seas Television School on the North Shore in Auckland, he ventured off shore to London for his O.E.

On his return from overseas he joined Tohu Wines as sales and marketing manager in 2005 and has had positive results in all aspects of the company.  In particular, his success is evident in the level of increased market share in the domestic market.

Hugo enjoys golf, touch rugby and watching all sport. He and his partner Maryanne are proud parents of 20-month-old Tiare-Manea and recently they purchased their first home in West Auckland.

“My hopes and aspirations while participating in the FAME programme are to further develop my business and leadership skills,” he said.

FAME has been initiated by AGMARDT who have a commitment to developing leadership talent and capability for tomorrow’s global markets.

The full immersion course, which begins in New Zealand and extends to modules based offshore, offers a wide range of topics covering all aspects of the supply chain from farm gate to retail outlet.

The third FAME programme commenced this year with Module One held at Clearwater in Christchurch from April 27th - 30th , 2009. Shane and Hugo are two of 28 participants spanning a wide number of industries and points within their respective supply chains. 

Module One included introductory sessions on the global food market and innovation, retailers, international legislation, market strategy, supply chains and the countries they will be visiting.

Modules two (in June,2009) and three (in October, 2009) will further enhance these topics with specific reference to the countries they are in  including China, Europe, USA and Japan.  It will also provide more of a focus on and experience of the customers and cultures.

Module four (in March, 2010) will provide time for reflection and feedback to enable the learning experience to be completed as planned.

Charmeyne Te Nana-Williams – What Ever It Takes

Back to top

Iwi - Ngapuhi, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Kahungunu ke Wairara
Hapu - Ngati Kuta, Tukorehe, Ngati Hinewaka, Ngati Mamoe
Marae - Te Rawhiti, Tukorehe, Kohunui, Waihopai

Rarotonga and Saudi Arabia want her business model, she’s taken on 50 staff in six months to manage the growth but for Charmeyne Te Nana-Williams it’s the elation she feels from actually doing her job that is most rewarding.

It’s the fact she and her family are leading a normal life after her husband’s brain injury in 2002 and she’s helping others to do the same.

Her business, What Ever It Takes Home Based Rehabilitation and Support Services is a programme designed to work in partnership with clients, their family and support networks to achieve quality delivery of home based rehabilitation and support in the community.

The programme offers a combination of services such as attendant care, home help, childcare, social and recreational support, rehabilitation support, acupuncture whanau ora, social correctness and training to support care in the home.

According to Charmeyne, the programme is client focused with an emphasis on rehabilitation and family goals to support a holistic approach to wellness and support in the community.

The company was established by Charmeyne and her husband Peter Williams. Peter was an elite athlete who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2002 when he won the New Zealand Superheavy Weight boxing title.

At the time Peter and Charmeyne had eight-month-old twin daughters and they had to battle to try to return home and remain together as a family.

Once they did return home the next challenge involved bringing together a highly competent team of rehabilitation assistants and caregivers to support them as a family and Peter’s rehabilitation goals.

The What Ever It Takes programme has been developed as a result of Peter and Charmeyne’s personal experience and is based around the simple philosophy of creating a completely conducive environment to care and rehabilitation.

 “Our outcomes have been so significant. Their goals and aspirations are the driving force behind the programmes we develop with them”

What Ever It Takes had one client who was a high profile musician.

“He was a bass player and he slipped over in the shower one day and suffered a spinal injury. He didn’t walk for years. We took over his contract in October last year and he’s walking now. In six months he’s walking.”

She said all she had done was bring him a team who he knew he could have confidence in regardless.

She said it was the company’s whanau-based approach that it had attracted a lot of recent offshore attention.

She is currently negotiating programmes in Rarotonga and Saudi Arabia, and while she said this was a fantastic opportunity she gained most satisfaction with the families and helping people.

With a background as an export consultant for Trade New Zealand, Charmeyne was aware it could sometimes take years for offshore opportunities to pan out but she has hardly been able to catch her breath.

“Our inquiry came from Rarotonga in April and now it’s May and they’re wanting us to finalise details for us going over in September.”

She said Saudi Arabia made inquiries in March and she was planning to travel there in August.

Charmeyne said it was costing Saudi Arabia $3.6 billion to look after their families in the hospitals.

“So they’ve been told taking their family members out of hospitals and setting up support for them in the community will still cost millions but it won’t cost them billions.”

They are interested in a commercial transaction around our intellectual property. We will go over there and train them to deliver their own programme, she said.

“It’s surprising because they are very family orientated but they have never ever contemplated looking after their families in the communities.”

In New Zealand she said the need for such a programme was obvious and there was no one really doing what she was doing.

The Labour Government developed a strategy called the Carer Strategy recognising in the 2006 Census that 420,000 people identified they looked after family in the home.

It also identified 20 per cent of those were in the working age group so it was effecting the New Zealand economy. The Census also showed a large proportion were youth. Maori were over represented in terms of serious injury and looking after whanau in the home across generations.

So whanau are looking after the sister who has had an accident, and the nana who’s elderly. It can create an inability for a family to function normally, she said.

“I was at a conference recently full of carers, health professionals, people with disabilities and my kids were the only kids there living with someone at home with such a severe disability, that were still able to function normally.”

What we’ve found is that not only have we been developing these programmes for families but we’re having to educate a community how to embrace people with disabilities or illness to participate in their activities. Just because you’re tetraplegic or you suffer a serious illness doesn’t mean you have to stay in your house for the rest of your life.

“When my husband had his accident all I knew was I wanted to keep my family together. I was not going to let my husband and my girls be separated and it was right for me to have that opportunity.”

What Ever It Takes means that families all over New Zealand are also getting that opportunity.

The growth has meant the company has taken on 50 staff over six months.

“ACC want us to take on three Maori clients on Nelson, four in Porirua, one in Johnsonville, one in Lower Hutt, we’re currently looking at three in Auckland. With each client comes five staff because they’re that high needs.”

Her husband Peter is a perfect example of how the programme works.

“We identify things, events, activities that our whanau with disabilities were passionate about pre-injury.”

For Peter, his waka ama crew were world champions in outrigging before he had his accident so they have used that as a tool to try and rehabilitate him.

“We get him out in the community. We get him sitting up and we challenge him cognitively because he’s coaching his crew.”

This year, it’s been six years since he had his accident, and it’s the first year his crew got back together and they won the Open Mens gold medal at the Waka Ama Nationals at Lake Karapiro.

“It was amazing, they took Peter up onto the podium and everyone broke out into a spontaneous haka.”

They’re also paddling over in Samoa for Independence Day Celebrations on June 1. They have asked if Peter can go over and be part of that so the entire family is heading to Samoa.

“That’s what it’s all about. We want people to have the confidence that even if you’ve got a disability you can still lead a very normal life. If you want to heal you must have a good environment and if it’s not you have no motivation to get well.”

She said sometimes there were no words to express how much of a difference What Ever It Takes could make to these family’s lives.

“When I see people that can all of a sudden go back to work or get up and walk to the door or travel overseas to participate in an international event, that’s what this is all about.”

What is most important for me about our model is that it’s values driven, said Charmeyne.

It takes into account values such as whakapapa, recognising there are a whole group that are involved in this process, whakapono, being open, honest and transparent, mana recognising that everyone has mana so regardless of the issues treat them with the mana they deserve.

“It’s basic stuff but sometimes as a society we forget about our basic values.”

For more information view – www.whateverittakes.co.nz

Government announces $50 million for national cycleway.

Back to top

The Prime Minister John Key recently announced the Government will spend $50 million over three years to build a national cycleway.

Mr Key said the initiative would create a series of 'Great Rides' of New Zealand that would have the long-term aim of creating a network throughout the country.

Routes would be influenced by existing cycleways, facilities, and tourism attractions.

“Some promising routes have already been identified and I expect to have announcement on them in the next couple of months," Mr Key said.

The first route could run from Queenstown to Invercargill, and on to Bluff.

The cycleway would help create jobs, a high-quality tourism asset which would help attract higher-value cycle tourists and complement the 100 per cent Pure brand, Mr Key said.

Poutama chief executive Richard Jones says Maori need to be aware of and have input into the development of regional cycleways and rail trails. This can include business opportunities such as the provision of bike hire facilities, transportation, food and accommodation.

He believes there is potential for Maori Involvement for such developments in regions like Te Taitokerau, Hauraki, Rotorua, Taupo, Te Rohe Potae, Murihiku and Te Tau Ihu. He says that some of the cycleways and rail trails are bound to go over or be in close proximity to Maori land and that Maori organisations should also be considering partnerships with each other as well as with local and regional councils and the Department of Conservation.

Hospitality Association of New Zealand chief executive Bruce Robertson said the cycleway was a good investment and had the potential to provide cash injections for hotels along the route.

“For example, on the Queenstown to Invercargill route there are a number of country hotels that will benefit, which will see local communities benefiting from tourism to a greater extent than in the past," he said.

Paul Yeo, chief executive of the Inbound Tour Operators Council, said any investment in the tourism sector was a good thing.

“I hope this will be the first step in a wider programme of investment in tourism infrastructure and marketing," he said.

 However, it would be for the tourism industry to find ways to add value to the cycleway, through innovative ideas around packaging and product development.

David Perks, chief executive of Positively Wellington Tourism, said the cycleway would give New Zealanders a good reason to travel.

“For international tourists, there are probably a lot who would cycle, but not the whole of New Zealand. But this will appeal to those who want to do a short scenic section and enjoy a different experience," he said.

 Mr Key said the cycleway was the first of what he hoped would be a number of initiatives that would help deliver on the Government’s vision for the New Zealand tourism industry.

“That we make the very most of our competitive advantages, and that we seize the many opportunities they provide.”

Mr Key listed five key things New Zealand tourism needed to do to achieve that vision.

"We need to make New Zealand a higher-value destination. We need to respond to the world as it changes. We need to improve the business environment. We need to work more closely with each other, and we need to make the most of the Rugby World Cup."

He emphasised the importance of delivering on the expectations of visitors that come to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

"We must make sure visitors get what they come for and more, and that they go home singing our praises and yearning to return."

He also highlighted the importance of China to the future of New Zealand tourism as a market with much potential for growth.

Indigenous New Zealand database update

Back to top

Poutama is working closely with the New Zealand Maori Tourism Council (NZMTC) on a collaborative project that will collate the most up to date information on Maori tourism in New Zealand.

Both organisations have had separate databases. Poutama with resource support from the Ministry of Tourism developed a website called Indigenous New Zealand – www.inz.maori.nz. Embedded into the website is a database that collected statistical data on each Maori tourism business that registered on the website. The website was developed prior to formation of the NZMTC.

INZ

The NZMTC is in the process of updating its database and the information on its Living Landscapes website. This collaboration will allow both Poutama and the NZMTC to work with the best information we can gather between us and to provide a current, accurate, database that will continue to feed the Indigenous New Zealand website and potentially the Living Landscapes website.

An amalgamation of the databases will have other benefits, including:

Poutama CEO, Richard Jones says “it is a waste of resources to duplicate information that has already been collected and seems pointless to have two databases on Maori tourism operators. The merging of the NZMTC database information with the Indigenous New Zealand website makes good sense and will effectively provide a one-stop-shop for the collection and analysis of information on the Maori tourism sector. By doing this, resources can then be more effectively targeted to help benefit Maori tourism operators”.

“It makes complete sense for these databases to be merged, particularly given the current climate where organisations are finding ways of working together. Poutama and the NZMTC have slightly different focuses but tourism is a common feature of our work. To be able to provide an accurate, credible database that guides the development of Maori tourism is vital for our development in the future. Maori tourism will reap the benefits of a co-operative approach to this project”, says John Barrett, Chairman NZMTC.

Poutama and the NZMTC have finalized the questionnaire that has been sent out to all database contacts. Maori tourism operators have been asked to complete and return the forms to Poutama. If you are a Maori tourism operator and have not received the questionnaire, please contact Vonese on vonese@poutama.co.nz to register.

Contact Us

Back to top

Tom Manaena, Commercial Manager ( 021 538 838 or 04 495 1132) – Tom is responsible for the finance, investment and accounting side of the business and also spends a lot of time out on the road covering the lower North Island, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Central and Upper South Island regions. He also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.

Oscar Nathan, Business Adviser (  021 801 559 or 07 348 8903) – Oscar covers the wider Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions and deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.

Vonese Walker, Information Manager ( 021 683 681) – Vonese covers the Northland, Auckland and lower North Island regions. She deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.

Gail Maxwell, Office Manager ( 021 375 090 or 04 473 2652) – Gail is often the first point of contact for Poutama clients. She also supports Tom with the accounting function and provides back up to all of the team.

Kylie Stafford, - Communications, ( 021 494 977 or 03 570 5333) – Kylie is responsible for Poutama’s newsletter and communications. Feel free to make contact with her with any relevant information or networking events for publication in the newsletter.

Richard Jones, CEO ( 021 619 075 or Skype richtj) – Richard works nationally and internationally on strategic issues and also likes getting out and about dealing with clients at all levels and in all sectors.

Your Subscription
The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 has come into effect, so we need your consent to continue sending you emails from the Poutama Trust. If you wish to continue receiving our newsletter via email then please do nothing. If you wish to update your subscriber options or if you wish to unsubscribe, then please email

Other News

Trendz kicks off in Auckland in June

Back to top

Auckland, New Zealand’s major international gateway, will be showcased to hundreds of international travel trade representatives this month.

For most international visitors, vibrant multi-cultural Auckland is their first taste of what New Zealand has to offer. So it’s appropriate that our biggest city will host TRENZ 2009, New Zealand’s largest international tourism business event, at the ASB Showgrounds, 8-11 June 2009.

About 260 international travel and tourism buyers, and media representatives, from New Zealand’s major visitor markets including China, USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan will stay in Auckland during the event.

This will be the first time TRENZ has returned to Auckland since 2003.

http://www.trenz.co.nz

“International travellers spend about $2.5 billion a year in the Auckland region. That’s $6.8 million every day. It’s a vital part of Auckland’s economy, supporting numerous jobs and businesses, from hotels and restaurants, to hairdressers and accountants,” Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Tim Cossar says.

TIA manages TRENZ which brings together about 270 of New Zealand’s leading providers of accommodation, transport, activities and attractions to showcase the best of what New Zealand has to offer, and the latest developments of interest to international travellers.

“We’re looking forward to showing Auckland to buyers from around the world. The buyers not only attend the trade show at the ASB Showgrounds, but are also hosted at networking events each day at a range of venues around the city. Auckland’s unique blend of cosmopolitan city environment, harbour, islands, Polynesian, European and Asian cultures will offer our tourism buyers an experience that is second to none,” Mr Cossar says.

Tourism Auckland Chief Executive Graeme Osborne says he’s delighted to be partnering TIA and New Zealand tourism suppliers in hosting TRENZ 2009 in Auckland.

“As New Zealand’s largest city, the City of Sails is ideally positioned to host this year’s TRENZ.”

Auckland welcomes 70 per cent of international arrivals to the country and hosts 34per cent of all international visitor nights in New Zealand, Mr Osborne says. 

 “In the six years since TRENZ was last in Auckland, our product offering has grown extensively and we’re looking forward to showcasing both our products and our diverse region to the line-up of international buyers and media.”

Auckland Airport chief executive Simon Moutter says it is thrilled to be a platinum sponsor of TRENZ 2009.

“As the gateway to New Zealand, Auckland Airport welcomes 70 per cent of international visitors to our shores so we understand the importance of embracing tourism. We are thrilled that the event is on our doorstep this year and look forward to sharing some exciting opportunities with our trade partners”.

Simon Jamieson of SKYCITY Auckland is delighted that the show will be coming to Auckland and many of the TRENZ delegates will be hosted at SKYCITY.

"Every year we have new aspects of our business to introduce to local and international buyers as well as updating on improvements to our current offering. We are launching a harbour view breakfast option at Observatory Restaurant at the top of the Sky Tower for groups of existing and new clientele staying at SKYCITY Hotel and SKYCITY Grand, from this coming high season,” Mr Jamieson says.

“We have made changes across the 18 restaurants and bars in the SKYCITY complex, making sure that we really do have something to offer everyone who visits us and delegates will be able to sample these over the course of the week.

SKYCITY is the home of entertainment in Auckland offering visitors the choice of two hotels, a casino, dining options, the SKYCITY Theatre, cinemas and of course the world famous Sky Jump and Sky Walk right in the heart of the city."  

For more information visit www.trenz.co.nz.

Key Facts

International visitor expenditure accounted for $8.8 billion or 18.3% of New Zealand’s foreign exchange earnings.

Visit www.tianz.org.nz for more information.

www.tianz.org.nz

Maori Aquaculture Deed of Settlement signed

Back to top

Iwi and the Crown have formalised an agreement over ‘pre-commencement’ (1992-2004) aquaculture interests in Te Waipounamu (the South Island) and the Hauraki Gulf.

The Deed of Settlement, signed at Te Papa on May 6, covers the vast majority of New Zealand’s aquaculture development areas including the Marlborough Sounds, Tasman Bay, and Hauraki Gulf along with the rest of the South Island.

It gives effect to a pre-election Agreement in Principle signed in October last year.

Prime Minster John Key and Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley sign
the Maori Aquaculture Deed of Settlement at Te Papa last month

At the heart of the agreement is a one-off cash payment of $97 million in full and final settlement of the current Crown obligations for “pre-commencement space” or aquaculture space that was approved between 21 September 1992 and 31 December 2004 under previous marine farming regimes.

The agreement also marks an historical level of cooperation between the iwi of Hauraki, Ngati Apa ki Te Ra To, Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia, Ngati Rarua, Ngai Tahu, Ngati Tama, Ngati Toa, Rangitane and Te Ati Awa (Te Tau Ihu). The iwi have worked together to develop a fair estimate of their entitlements in respect of pre-commencement space and – in the case of Te Waipounamu – to agree how the resulting payment will be shared between them. Richard Bradley (Rangitane) said that iwi had been waiting since 2004 for these obligations to be satisfied and that having that happen in 2009 will contribute to regional economies.

"Without this agreement, iwi would have had to wait another five years to receive the financial equivalent. In effect, this agreement brings delivery of that forward by five years, which is good for iwi, good for the aquaculture industry and good for our regional economies. He said the Marlborough and Tasman District Councils and the aquaculture industry, through Aquaculture New Zealand, all recognised and supported iwi in their calls to government to resolve this matter. The Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act obliged the Crown to provide iwi, before 2014, with the equivalent of 20% of existing aquaculture space (called “pre-commencement space”) created between 21 September 1992 and 31 December 2004. That equivalent could take the form of a percentage of new aquaculture space, marine farming permits purchased by the Crown for the purpose, or the financial equivalent value. In 2008, there was acknowledgement from the Crown that it would have to pay some kind of financial equivalent in a number of regions.

The Act also provided iwi with 20% of all new aquaculture space created from 1 January 2005. New space will continue to be dealt with under the Act as it arises.

Ngati Rarua Iwi Trust deputy chairman John Morgan echoed sentiments shared by all iwi involved in welcoming the Deed signing.

“As an iwi with interests across the northern South Island we see this settlement as brining our aspirations to own and manage marine farming operations another step closer.”

He saw the benefit for future generations of Ngati Rarua as well as wider communities of Te Tau Ihu. Matiu Rei (Ngati Toa) acknowledged that the settlement represents the commitment of successive governments to deliver on Treaty settlements. “While iwi engage with ‘the Crown’ over Treaty settlements, today’s signing serves as a reminder that governments change. Iwi were fortunate in that their calls for early settlement were answered by the former Minister of Fisheries, Rt Hon Jim Anderton, and that foundations put in place by the former government have been built on by the new Minister Hon Phil Heatley and his government. Its often said that Treaty settlements should not be made political footballs and today we have an example of that principle in action.” Harry Mikaere (Hauraki Maori Trust Board) said the agreement was fair and reasonable and that a lot of work had been done on the market value of the iwi entitlements in reaching the figure of $97M.

"The settlement amount represents the value of the space that iwi would have been entitled to if space was available. Many of the iwi parties to the settlement are involved in the aquaculture industry and could not have settled for anything less than fair value. In doing the valuation work we had a great deal of support from Te Ohu Kaimoana (Trustee of the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Trust) and industry leaders.

“With changes to the way aquaculture is managed looking likely, we look forward to continuing to work together on shaping a regime that will unlock the potential of the industry. The industry has set a target of having $1 billion turnover per annum by 2025, we all recognise changes will be necessary in order for that to be realised and, through this settlement, iwi in key regions will be in a position to play their part.” Mark Solomon (Ngai Tahu) cautioned that the settlement will not be completed until legislation is passed through Parliament.

"The agreement has been signed and sealed but we shouldn’t forget that it won’t be delivered until amendments have been made to the Aquaculture Settlement Act. We trust that – with the support of both former and current governments – Parliament will expedite those amendments so that we can get the funds working for our people.”

Gently does it - Commentary by Dr Ganesh Nana, Senior economist at Business and Economic Research Ltd (BERL)

Back to top

We are told that this time it is bad. But how bad? Have the oxygen masks really dropped? If so, can anybody remember the emergency briefing?

More pointedly, does not the inglorious scramble by financial forecasters to predict the next Armageddon risk becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? Some are saying we are witnessing the biggest destruction of wealth we have ever seen.

I beg to differ.

I find it curious, to say the least, that some measure wealth in terms of what some people are prepared to pay for bits of paper.

I prefer to measure ‘wealth’ in terms of the physical resources available to humankind to produce and supply the things we require to improve our collective lives.

Taking this frame of reference, the recent past has seen little destruction of the machinery, equipment, land and buildings that are available to us.

Transport, energy and communications infrastructure around the globe remains sound, while the collective skills and abilities of the people remain undiminished.

Yes, there is some destruction of wealth currently in, for example, Afghanistan.

But such destruction hasn’t been seen on a global scale since, arguably, WWII when chunks of the UK, Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia were destroyed.

Without doubt, wars destroy wealth.

But while financial crises destroy the paper value of the wealth we possess, they do indeed leave the real or physical attributes of that wealth intact.

Thus, the primary challenge facing New Zealanders and its businesses is to not get overwhelmed by the gloom from financial media and associated commentaries.

In particular, we need to recognise that the economic issues facing New Zealand and its businesses remain essentially unchanged.

If not, we seriously risk talking ourselves into an economic hole that is a lot darker and deeper than conditions warrant.

This may sound trite or, even, ostrich-like defiance.

In my defence, I feel obliged to openly admit and state without hesitation that the current global crisis is very bad.

But just like the chook that ran around crying the sky is falling, jumping up and down shouting “the end is nigh” at regular intervals is not very helpful; especially if you’re surrounded by passengers who would probably prefer help with their oxygen masks that have just dropped from the overhead panel.

So, what is required? As you no doubt will recall from the emergency briefing at the start of the flight, we should calmly follow the instructions of the flight crew.

And what are their instructions?

“Remember your training; this is what we have trained for,” they should be saying to themselves.

So what should our flight crew be remembering from their training? Well, it is all about those resources.

Apologies for the long sentence, but here goes:

The challenge for New Zealand is, and always has been, to use our resources to produce and supply goods and services for overseas customers to generate sufficient income to invest in maintaining, sustaining and enhancing our productive resources so as to protect the lifestyle most New Zealanders believe to be our birthright.

And the more successful we are in meeting this challenge, the more resilient our safety net for when the next crisis arrives.

The list of resources on which we should concentrate our efforts should be familiar to those who have studied business and/or economics (not to mention our official advisors).

The list begins with people, skills, experience, networks, and adds machines, equipment, buildings, land, water, technology, innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship.

As argued above, most of these resources remain unscathed by the financial turmoil. But, the last three in this list are vulnerable.

The destruction of paper wealth potentially destroys enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation. This is because these are susceptible to those ephemeral beings: mood, confidence, sentiment, climate and perceptions as to the future.

In the current climate, it is the threat to these concepts that is dangerous to our future prospects. It is this threat that needs to be countered.

To maintain the spirit of innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship, we must keep New Zealand open for business.

A seriously-large investment programme across all elements of the list of resources would be a good start. New Zealand desperately needs to step up the pace to overcome our long-term infrastructure deficit.

Now would appear to be the ideal time.

Note, my list of important items doesn’t include interest rates, exchange rates, debt-to-equity ratios, credit ratings, share prices, dividend yields and all those other concepts that dominate financial writings and commentaries. This is because I am unashamedly an economist, not a financial market analyst.

But meeting our challenges will also require an overhaul of the financial sector.

This must entail the establishment of a new, closely-regulated financial payments system that enables business and trade.

And this new financial system must be subservient to the needs of business and trade, not the other way around as it seems to have developed over recent times.

It is time for New Zealand business and government leaders and advisors to look past the assessments of the media-ready financial economists. Given it was their financial sector that has caused the present global catastrophe, I find it curious that we continue to hang on their every utterance.

Consequently, I await our captains of industry on the flight deck – along with officialdom and their political hosts and hostesses in cabin class – to remember their training and calmly guide us to the emergency exit.

Dr Ganesh Nana is a senior economist at Business and Economic Research Ltd (BERL), www.berl.co.nz.

Back to top