Provincial Growth Fund is still giving Ministers the chance to score a photo opportunity

Buzz from the Beehive

Remember the Provincial Growth Fund?  This Government got rid of it, on being elected in 2020 without the need to take New Zealand First on board as a coalition partner.

But Ministers in the current Cabinet can still delight in turning up for ceremonies to mark  progress on projects funded by the PGF. All going well, this provides a photo opportunity and will score favourable headlines in the local press.

Two Ministers have been busy showing off what has happened to the money previously distributed by their predecessors, one of them benefiting from PGF spending.

Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash turned the sod for the new Whakatāne Commercial Boat Harbour, cut the ribbon for the revitalised Whakatāne Wharf, and inspected work underway to develop the old Whakatāne Army Hall into a visitor centre, noting that all of these are part of the $36.8 million Government-funded Whakatāne Regeneration Programme.

The new boat harbour received $19.6 million and the first stage of remediation work at Whakatāne Wharf received $9.6 million from the from the Provincial Growth Fund,  and the new visitor centre to be built by Ngāti Awa has received $7.6 million from the Government’s NZ Upgrade Programme.

It looks like a trough and $438m (or so) has been dished out on completed projects – but the name keeps it nicely camouflaged

It looks like the holidays are well and truly over and our hard-working (and big-spending) ministers are back at work.

Some are boasting of policy triumphs.

• Justice Minister Kris Faafoi was keen to tell us the latest Youth Justice Indicators Summary report shows a continuing substantial drop in the rate of youth offending.
• Finance Minister Grant Robertson wanted is to know the OECD (in its 2022 Economic Survey for New Zealand) agrees our economy has proved strong and resilient while noting the country has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.

Police Minister Poto Williams wants to assure us she is keeping us safe, reminding us that the government is committed to reducing firearms violence with further changes to our gun laws which take effect from today.

The Arms Amendment Regulations 2021 come into force and are among many changes called for by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 2019 terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain, in which 51 people lost their lives and 40 were injured.

“Gangs and other violent criminals cannot continue to threaten, intimidate, and exploit our communities and these additional regulations provide the Police further tools to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, and to keep our communities safe,” said Minister Williams.

“Owning a firearm in New Zealand is a privilege, not a right and these changes are another step towards combatting firearms violence and making our communities safer.”

Keeping up with Jones: Mahuta (to help marae) and Parker (for moana remediation ) are dab hands at dishing out millions, too

Our uncharitable suspicions have been allayed.  NZ First’s Shane Jones insists he is not feverishly dishing out millions of dollars in the last few days of the election campaign in a desperate effort to curry favour with voters.

He has described expressions of outrage over a $100 million boost for marae from the Provincial Growth Fund, announced this week as “tawdry”.

And let’s be fair –

• Only some of the marae funding is bound for Northland, where Jones is campaigning for election – $9,287,603 of a total $96,515,895;
• Labour’s Nanaia Mahuta attached her name to the joint announcement about the goodies for marae;
• Environment Minister David Parker brought good news (and money) to the Far North, too. He signed a Memorandum of Understanding at Waihāua Marae between the Crown, local iwi and councils

“ … to protect, restore and enhance the mauri of Kaipara Moana in Northland”.

 Parker recalled that in this year’s Budget, as part of the Jobs for Nature package, the Government committed $100 million towards the remediation of Kaipara Moana, New Zealand’s largest estuarine ecosystem, with a matching $100 million contribution from local councils and landowners.

“The $200 million Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme will restore mauri to Kaipara Moana while at the same time creating local jobs and opportunities. Close to 100 jobs will be established in the first year alone,” David Parker said. 

The MOU is the catalyst to establish the Joint Committee between Kaipara Uri and the councils to govern the remediation programme.

It was quiet on the Beehive front until Jones announced another PGF project and Hipkins drew attention to “free” education

There’s been a bemusing paucity of buzz from the Beehive over the past few days.

Paucity – but not absence.

And Shane Jones, never mute for long, has yet to empty the Provincial Growth Fund.

He has dipped into the fund and come up with $4.6 million to help Ruapehu District Council develop two new shared use trails from Turoa to Ohakune, to Horopito and Erua. This will create a continuous path from Mount Ruapehu to Whanganui and the Tasman Sea that can be completed by users over a number of days, taking them on a journey through two national parks.

Several existing trails in the region will  be upgraded, improving access to the landscape and World Heritage areas and creating a more sustainable visitor experience.

When complete, the trails are expected to attract more than 27,000 visitors to the region, and will create up to 127 local jobs through construction, maintenance and ongoing operation.

We suppose this means 27,000 visitors a year. Let’s see.

Another gin maker is given an expansionary tonic with help from the PGF

The government is pumping more public money into the booze business.    

The beneficiary of an $800,000 loan is BeGin Distilling, in New Plymouth, which makes Juno gin.  It is borrowing the money to expand its operations, employ more staff and provide greater opportunities for local farmers.

In other words, the Ardern Government is borrowing to lend money to BeGin and other businesses which become the recipients of loans through an array of developmental programmes.

The Reefton Distillery Co last week became the recipient of a $928,000 loan for its expansion.  

 The South Taranaki museum,  and a Pasifika building firm will benefit, too, from Government investments totalling more than $1 million announced yesterday by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says.

Sio makes a tierful announcement (with a funding fillip) for Pacifika languages and (with Shane Jones) delivers $10m to Pacifika churches

Churches – or 27 Pasifika churches, to be ethnic-specific – are to benefit from the government largess being distributed in the name of the Covid-19 response and recovery programme.

These churches will receive a total of nearly $10 million in government funding for renovations and improvements, “to improve facilities for the communities they serve and create jobs”, as Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio explained.

Provincial Growth Fund money for the renovation of town halls, war memorials, Pasifika churches and marae were earmarked in May as part of at least $600 million refocused on projects with more immediate jobs and economic benefits as part of the Covid-19 recovery.

The churches that applied are spread throughout the regions – from Balclutha to Oamaru and up to Hamilton, Jones said.

A good question to ask is how many missed out on getting a helping hand from taxpayers and why did they fail to be given the government’s blessing.

DOC staff in Hokitika could have been housed for a song a few years ago – now it will cost us $22 million

“Going for a song” was how the former Hokitika government building known as Seddon House was advertised in 2014.

According to an NBR report at that time, Barfoot & Thompson was listing Seddon House at $295,000, down from $1.2 million in 2008.  It had a rateable value of $340,000 and had last changed hands in 2002 for $90,000.

Its value today?  We can only guess, but Hokitika has been described as “the most affordable” suburb in the Westland district and has a median house price of $274,700.

We checked out those property figures after learning the government has earmarked Seddon House in Hokitika (“once a hub for government on the West Coast”) for government use once again.

A hub for government sounds impressive, although the press statement referred only to DOC staff  working from there.

A brick, timber and corrugated iron construction, Seddon House is a Category 1 historic place on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero.  It will undergo seismic strengthening and be refitted for use as offices for the Department of Conservation (DOC), which will lease the building.

So how much does it cost to find new office space for around 85 DOC staff?

Brace for a nasty surprise, dear taxpayer.

Millions are committed to a Covid vaccine and to Northland’s wellbeing – there’s kindly Crown news, too, for the Dodds family

When we first checked the Beehive website for press statements this morning, we found just one announcement – from the Deputy PM – had been posted since September 19.  His news was that the Coalition Government has committed to invest $27 million in Covid-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX Facility.

This initial investment of $27 million is part of the allocation the Government announced in August from the Cocid-19 Response and Recovery Fund.

Peters grandly declared:

“The agreement will ensure that New Zealand receives enough vaccines to cover up to 50 per cent of the population of New Zealand and the Realm, which includes Tokelau, Cook Islands and Niue.” 

But whoa.  Hadn’t the PM announced that Auckland will be lowered to Alert Level 2 this week while the rest of the country has been lowered to Alert Level 1?

Indeed.  You can hear her deliver the good news here, via RNZ, but there was no written statement.

Since our morning check several more announcements have been posted on the Beehive website, including changes to various Covid-related programmes – 

Nanaia Mahuta joins Jones in announcing a $2.96m handout – but the PM signals the plug will be pulled on the PGF

News about the Provincial Growth Fund, which often features in our daily Latest from the Beehive reports, typically involve announcements of the latest grants or loans.

Today Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced a battle site of the 1860s Land Wars will receive $2.96 million from the fund.

But other news about the PGF came not from the Beehive, but from the Labour and New Zealand First Parties.     

First, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern advised that the plug will be pulled on it if she leads the next government (presumably without a New Zealand First partner).

A new trough – with a weak $200 million gruel rather than $3 billion chowder – will be established in its place.

Ron makes his mark on the distribution of military gongs while Shane shows the PGF hasn’t been emptied yet

Latest from the Beehive

Shane Jones, as Regional Economic Development Minister, is still in business with announcements from the Provincial Growth Fund.  He has announced two more distributions today while his colleague, Defence Minister Ron Mark, was cheering an overhaul of the distribution of gongs.

The Beehive’s announcements show:

• Funding of $12.2m, from the Te Ara Mahi allocation of the Provincial Growth Fund, will support a range of education, skills training, pre-employment and job pathway projects in Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay, Northland and Manawatū-Whanganui.  The projects will increase the number of people enrolled in PGF-funded skills and employment programmes from the 11,090 announced last month to around 13,150.
• $6.7 million will go to nine programmes around the country to address the toll meth is taking on people in the regions, their families and whanau, and communities. This funding is part of the $20 million allocated from the Provincial Growth in July to fight meth harm in the regions.
• A $2 million expansion of the Backcountry Trust’s programme to repair and maintain huts, tracks and bridges in some of New Zealand’s more remote places as part of the Government’s $1.3 billion Jobs for Nature programme.  The trust has a long-term partnership with DOC to help maintain our nationwide network of backcountry tracks and huts.