Kia ora! Māori community in Wairoa

Penny - Population expert

Based in New Zealand, Penny primarily looks after our Kiwi clients but also lends her expertise to the Australian context. Penny has extensive experience as a Communication Manager in Local Government and has a degree in Business and Communications. She also brings a breadth of generalist management experience in fields as varied as research, civil defence, project and event management, marketing and training. Penny’s knowledge combined with the .id tools help clients work with their communities to empower grass roots decision-making, advocacy and grant applications, and focus on strengthening council-community relationships. Penny has a rural property and enjoys growing and eating food and wine, which she runs, walks, bikes or swims off, when she’s not in the art studio.

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2 Responses

  1. Wairoa is characteristic on many small NZ towns, lost its main industry the freezing works, major flood a few years ago washing out the bridge and now loosing its rail link to Napier and Gisborne. PS it is Nuhaka..

    • Hi Graeme, it is true Wairoa has its struggles. The land is incredibly fertile and with agriculture and forestry as leading industries in the area losing the rail link was a massive blow.

      But those challenges have also probably had a hand to play in how connected the place feels. I had the pleasure of spending a day training in Wairoa this week and – as with so many other small places I visit – the Wairoa community appeared very connected. People were working together.

      Wairoa has experienced a significant decline in population over the last 20 years and our profile, which goes back to the 1996 census, shows that this was particularly strong in the late 90s. Outward migration slowed between 2001 and 2006 and I understand that the Wairoa District Council is working hard to encourage employers back into the area. They are also in the enviable position of having low or no debt levels. While this is a double edge sword comment, I guess a conservative fiscal approach is sensible given the population decline.

      PS Thanks for the spelling lesson

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