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This week we are also celebrating the warming up of the social climate of New Zealand, with November 27 marking three years of a successful innovative Labour government in New Zealand. The Wairarapa has benefited along with the rest of New Zealand from a strong, growing economy, reduced unemployment, political stability and better access to health and education. The next three years will see the country build on these achievements to attain sustainable economic growth and move New Zealand towards the top half of developed nations.
Last week we had our own economic summit here in the Wairarapa. Many proposals were discussed as a step towards realising a vision of economic growth in the region. We have already come a long way from the days when employment figures were falling and the economy of the region was in total economic decline. Many of the losses in jobs were from government services, including health and education as well as losses in the textile and clothing industry due to the lifting of tarrifs. While the national economy grew by 2.5% between 1995 and 2000, our local economy was sliding backwards. We were not alone of course. Several other regions such as the South Island's West Coast and Northland were in the same predicament. However now, along with every other region in New Zealand, the Wairarapa is expanding economically.
This positive economic climate would no doubt have helped encourage Southland Alliance Group to buy the Dannevirke meat plant last week. This is really good news for everyone in the area, especially those who had lost their jobs in January when the plant closed down, and the purchase should boost both the employment and population growth figures for the region.
Despite an overall improvement in the employment statistics for the Wairarapa, we still have too many unemployed young people and too many unemployed Māori and Pacific Island New Zealanders. One of the problems has been that many of these people do not have the skills for any jobs that are available. But the government has been addressing this skills shortage by already placing 3,800 young people in Modern Apprenticeships, while preparing to establish 6,000 new Modern Apprenticeships by the end of 2003. In addition the plan is to increase the 68,000 already in industry training to 100,000.
The message that came out of the economic summit was that the local economy is doing much better and with the region just an hour from the capital and possessing world class land, air and water, a temperate climate, and plentiful land, the future prospects are endless. But the message was also that it's not enough just to hope that the sun shines, the rain falls and the grass grows. We need to produce more goods and services that the rest of the world wants to buy, and which are based on uniquely New Zealand creativity and talent. We already have many businesses in the region that have developed new ideas and turned them into world class successes. Let's make sure that we keep building the culture that celebrates and applauds such businesses so we can see more being established every year.
Strengthening the linkages between schools and business to pave the way for students into workplace training is the aim of the government established Gateway programme. So it is welcome news that Greytown's Kuranui College has joined the 61 other schools in the country who are part of the programme. Gateway enables senior school students to start national qualifications while on work experience thus allowing them to incorporate workplace learning with their school-based studies. This can only be good for all sectors of the community.
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