S.I. towns being ‘milked’ of people

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 12

S.I. towns being ‘milked’ of people

PA Dunedin South Island towns and cities were “being milked of their people” by a sustained population drift to Auckland, delegates in a Municipal Association conference discussion group were told yesterday by the Mayor of Invercargill, Mrs Eve Poole.

She said there was a dangerous imbalance of people in New Zealand.

“It shows in that we have 25 Parliamentarians for the South Island and there are 25 in Auckland alone.

“In the south we are rich in resources — electricity, afforestation — which would benefit the whole country, but they are not being fully developed because there are not enough people. “We are becoming a pastoral land for the rest of New Zealand and the rest of the world,” Mrs Poole said.

Invercargill was losing its young people to the north — “this is something which is affecting the whole country.” The Mayor of Wanganui, Mr D. G. Turney, also commented on the concentration of people now living in Auckland. “If industry and then people continue moving away, then eventually it will come to a point where a city becomes unviable,” Mr Turney said. The population drift was hurting provincial North Island areas as much as the South Island.

Mr Turney put a resolution to the 20,000-50,000 population discussion group, calling on the Municipal Association to set up a working party to investigate ways of ensuring that regions outside Auckland maintain economic activity to halt population loss. “I can see why people

are going to Auckland — there are more jobs, it is more exciting, and it is a lovely city to be in,” he said.

“But the question is whether it can go on for ever.”

Mr Terry King, an Invercargill City councillor, said Southland, with 4 per cent of New Zealand’s people, produced 14 per cent of the country’s export earnings.

“Let us look at the areas in New Zealand which provide the wealth and let us ensure that a fair percentage of this wealth is returned to these areas.

“We might even see people from Auckland coming to live in the Deep South,” he said. The Mayor of Timaru, Mrs H. D. L. Mclver, said that instead of whingeing, South Islanders should produce some ideas.

She said the Government should take a close look at its regional development policy. It should assist with freight charges in areas removed from Auckland, and it should consider freeing up immigration laws to allow people with required expertise to come to New Zealand.

Support for Government incentives for development in areas outside Auckland also came from the Gisborne delegation. However, one of a minority of Aucklanders at the session, Mr W. P. Donnelly, of East Coast Bays, blamed the situation on a lack of South Island promotion in the North Island.

“I can’t recall in the last 12 months being invited to come to the South Island on holiday, but I have been asked two or three times in the last week to go to Australia. “If that is happening in

one industry, tourism, how many other industries is it happening in? How many Auckland businessmen have been asked to come to the South Island?” Mr Donnelly said. Mr R. N. Ballingall, of Papatoetoe, said Aucklanders coming to Dunedin to do business “get a frosty reception.”

“You need to do some work on your act here in Dunedin, and make Aucklanders more welcome here,” he said.

The Mayor of Nelson, Mr P. H. Malone, said many people in his city “are quite happy with the way things are.” “We don’t want any change, we don’t want any more people,” he said. Mr Tumey’s resolution was passed at the discussions group, with dissenting voices from the Aucklanders.