How Northland Became New Zealand’s Deepest Shame
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10:44 am, June 25th, 2024 - 27 comments
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Northland sent another SOS signal this week.
Last week Northland had a power pylon simply fall down on a still day. 100,000 properties lost power. Quickly restored, it underscored how vulnerable the Far North is.
The main state highway SH1 through the Mangamuka’s to the Far North has been out of operation for two years. It had been wiped out a couple of years earlier for several months. It will likely be 3 years total before re-opening.
That same state highway through the Brynderwyn Range was out of action in 2023 and earlier this year from massive slips for months at a time, requiring an hour-plus diversion. Who knows in a decade or three there might be a proper highway from Auckland to Whangarei. By a long way our worst section of SH1 is anything north of Kaiwaka.
There was supposed to be a new rail line from Whangarei to Marsden Point, but the whole thing is now iced as is the rail upgrade beyond that. The piles of fresh concrete sleepers before Kawakawa have long grass through them. Northport remains unable to assist Auckland. Rail out to Dargaville’s been abandoned for years and anything beyond Northern Whangarei is now the same.
The radiating wealth effect of Auckland has reached up to Laing’s Beach on the east coast towards Whangarei, but on the west coast side it’s not managed to get even past Helensville. There’s one flight to Kaitaia per day, Barrier Air, costing more than getting to Sydney.
Can anyone imagine any of the above occurring around Wellington?
Westside beyond Kaukapakapa toward Dargaville and up to the Hokianga, Rawene then Kaikohe then Kohukohu then Kaitaia the landscape tells a clear story: clearfelled of native bush and little restoration, degraded waterways, dying or marginal towns, almost no investment. Shacks of houses built in the 1940s now abandoned on the hillsides, piles of crumpled corrugated iron.
The state has indeed improved key bridges at Taipa and Kaeo. The state also recently generated new water storage facilities for the Far North District Council, and upgrades to the Ngawha geothermal area including an industrial park. Also major upgrades to the Treaty house and grounds in Waitangi.
There has also been major private investment in solar generation near Awanui. The sandy plains around Houhora are full of Avocados, rivalling Kerikeri in intensive horticulture. Manuka honey boomed but has plateaued. Marsden Cove south of Whangarei is a fully masterplanned marine living canal subdivision. Other longstanding bright spots include The Landing, Carrington Estate at Rangiputa, Rosewood Kauri Cliffs near Matauri Bay, and other beach resort enclaves.
It has no national parks. The Kauri are increasingly infected. Its Kiwi population are in terminal decline. You used to be able to hear them in the ranges south of the Hokianga or near Kerikeri or deep into Otangaroa’s hills. No more. The idea of a marine reserve that would have pulled tourists around the Kermadecs, using Whangaroa as a launch base, is dead.
Almost zero specialist healthcare. One base hospital and often over 2 hours drive just for the appointment. Northland’s health statistics, including diabetes, smoking, heart disease, and all the rest are here.
Homelessness is on the rise there. Back in the day when we still did proper Deprivation Index spatial mapping of poverty, Northland had about half of its area in the 20% most deeply deprived.
Northland has had no shortage of outstanding civic leaders, with Moko Tepania, its first-ever Maori Mayor, advocating powerfully through the media since the 2023 floods. There’s a giant history of them through to our nations’ founding and earlier. Of course Shane Jones, who has led major funding for needed projects and business, over decades. Yes and Winston. And for the first time we have a Minister of Health who understands Northland. There’s no doubt there are valiant and honourable people working and leading really hard in difficult circumstances to improve Northland.
But.
The neglect of power pylons installed during the 1960s is just another signal that Northland is the New Zealand we’d like to suppress: enclaves of millionaire holiday houses, yet millions of acres of degraded land, and neglected people and network systems they rely upon.
You neglect a whole region long enough, suddenly it just falls over. It is not just the shame of successive governments, but of investors, banks, politicians, the media, and frankly of us all.
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Gun lobbyist Nicole McKee and her conflict of interest has struck again, this time removing safety regulations from shooting clubs and ranges in New Zealand. ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt forgetting the 6000 jobs they’ve cut
The real problem in the public sector is ongoing job losses and cuts to the front line. ...5 days ago
- Government undermines public service with WFH crackdown
The Green Party says the Government’s retrograde move to tighten up on Work from Home arrangements is the latest in a series of blows to the Public Service. ...6 days ago
- Release: Ministers oblivious to cuts’ effect on families
The National Government is oblivious to the impact cuts to services will have on New Zealanders who are doing the hard yards caring for mentally ill family members. ...6 days ago
- Release: Public service set up to fail under National
Nicola Willis has set up the public service to fail to pay for reckless tax cuts for landlords and the tobacco industry. ...6 days ago
- Release: Coalition cooking up costly RMA replacement
National continues to dismantle environmental protections in the interests of rushing through unsustainable development that will ultimately cost communities. ...1 week ago
- Release: National red-faced as benefit numbers skyrocket
The economy has stagnated and the National Government is having to face the consequences of its atrocious lawmaking, as beneficiary numbers skyrocket past even Treasury’s predictions. ...1 week ago
- Release: National allocating police officers not hired yet
There are 104 fewer police officers now than there were when National came into Government. ...1 week ago
- Economic decline further cause for tax transformation
Today’s GDP figures combined with the injustice of our tax system will mean more pain for our lowest-income households while those at the top remain relatively unscathed. ...1 week ago
- Release: No growth under National, just cuts
The National Government’s decisions have hindered, not helped the economy. ...1 week ago
- Govt must act to avoid the worst of NIWA’s climate projections
New climate projections from NIWA underscore how urgently climate action is needed. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: More job losses as Government fails on manufacturing
The Government is failing the manufacturing sector with no plan for its future. ...2 weeks ago
- Tāmaki-Makaurau MP Urges Immediate Support for Families Impacted by Mill Closure
Te Pāti Māori Member of Parliament for Tāmaki Makaurau is urging a full wraparound of services to intervene quickly with families affected by today's announced closure of the Penrose Mill. Seventy-five people are set to lose their jobs right on the eve of Christmas. "I want to extend my thoughts ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Sentencing package misses the mark by a mile
Sentencing policy announced by Minister Paul Goldsmith today is anything but new, merely window dressing to make up for backwards violent crime statistics under the National Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Seymour’s Ministry of Double Standards
David Seymour doesn’t stick to his own standards of good regulation despite having a multimillion-dollar vanity ministry set up to do so. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour Leader to travel to UK
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins will travel to the United Kingdom this week to attend the annual UK Labour Party conference in Liverpool and meet with members of the new Labour Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Warned – Increasing Snapper Quota Breaches Fisheries Settlement
An imminent decision to increase the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for snapper would be a direct violation of the first-ever Treaty Settlement and inevitably breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi, says Te Pāti Māori. Te Ohu Kaimoana has sought a High Court declaration to prevent the Minister of Oceans and ...2 weeks ago
- Govt attacks workers’ rights once again
Today’s announcement from the Minister of Workplace Relations emphasises how deep in the pocket of big business this Government really is. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Māori business not a priority for this Govt
Scrapping the Progressive Procurement programme designed to support and grow Māori businesses is a missed opportunity. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: March 15 inquiry grants cut by Government
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has cut grants helping overseas family of victims to attend the next phase of the Coronial Inquiry into the 15 March 2019 Christchurch Masjidain Attack. ...2 weeks ago
- Minister of Injustice seeks to Entrench largest land confiscation in History
The Waitangi Tribunal has released an Urgent Report on the Government’s proposed amendments to the Takutai Moana Act 2011. The report calls out Paul Goldsmith’s proposal for what it is: a “gross breach of the Treaty” and an “illegitimate exercise of kāwanatanga”. The Tribunal is recommending the Crown step down ...2 weeks ago
- Takutai Moana changes another assault on Te Tiriti
The Government must abandon its Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act interventions after the Waitangi Tribunal found it was committing gross breaches of the Treaty. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call on Govt to leave Te Reo in schools alone
As Te Wiki o te Reo Māori approaches, the Government is considering deprioritising teaching Te Reo Māori in our schools. ...2 weeks ago
- Cost-benefit analysis for potential third medical school completed
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The Government’s new speed limit rule has today been signed to reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions and enable Kiwis to get to where they want to go quickly and safely, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions on local streets, arterial roads, and state highways ...21 hours ago
- Minister to meet with Pacific Island climate leaders
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is travelling to Fiji on Monday to attend a Ministerial Meeting (Talanoa) with Pacific Island Countries, Australia, and New Zealand. “Attending the Talanoa will reinforce New Zealand’s commitment to supporting climate resilience in the Pacific and advancing action in the areas of climate change,” Mr ...22 hours ago
- Human rights recommendations accepted
The Government is accepting the majority of human rights recommendations received at the fourth Universal Period Review in Geneva, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “We have considered all 259 recommendations from the United Nations. We are supporting 168 and partially supporting 12 of these recommendations. “Recommendations related to women’s rights, ...2 days ago
- Geotech work begins on Warkworth to Te Hana Road of National Significance
The Government is continuing to move at pace on the Northland Expressway, with significant geotechnical investigations now underway for phase one from Warkworth to Te Hana, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With thousands of motorists and freight travelling through Northland, we’re focused on delivering for this region to grow our economy. ...2 days ago
- Free mental health resources for business owners
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- Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission board appointment announced
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- New Game Animal Council appointments
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- STAR attendance system template released
Associate Education spokesperson David Seymour says the Government has released a new resource to inform the introduction of Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) systems in every school. “The response to the announcement of the STAR system has been hugely supportive. Educators have been in touch to express their support, which gives ...2 days ago
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Mr. President Nearly four score years ago, nations exhausted from a cataclysmic World War came together in San Francisco to create the United Nations Charter. Forged in the immediate aftermath of that war, then New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser held “the greatest hopes” for the Charter’s success, which he ...2 days ago
- Charter Schools Authorisation Board appointments announced
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- New reporting for amateur charter fishing vessels
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- Building a stronger weather forecasting system
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- Next steps on the New Dunedin Hospital
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- No child left behind with STAR system
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that the Government is delivering real solutions to get kids back in the classroom, introducing the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) system. “Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the ...3 days ago
- New Zealand concludes trade agreement with the UAE
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- Data shows school attendance is on the rise
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- Tougher sentences on the horizon for criminals
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- Changes to improve prison safety and rehabilitation
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- Better options for same-sex parents
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Thank you very much for the generous welcome Reverend Reihana. Thank you to Alcohol Healthwatch and your organising committee, including representatives from: FASD-CAN Aotearoa; Te Iho Tātai-ā-Rongo (the Māori FASD Coalition); Hauora Māori Services and Health Promotion Directorates, Health New Zealand; Oranga Tamariki; and the Centre for Addiction Research, University ...4 days ago
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- Greater investment in FASD support and prevention
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- Restoration of Customary Marine Title test begins
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- Northland transmission tower collapse report released
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- Lifting education outcomes for young Kiwis
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- Rollout of onboard cameras to continue
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- Milestone for return of petroleum exploration
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- Significant progress on SH1/29 intersection upgrade
Motorists and freight will now drive through a new roundabout at the SH1/SH29 intersection at Piarere, marking a major milestone for one of the Government’s Roads of Regional Significance that will improve safety and reliability for motorists and freight using this strategic corridor, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Government is ...4 days ago
- Parliament Bill passes first reading
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- Tougher sentences to improve transport safety
The Government is introducing a new aggravating factor for offences against public transport workers as part of its plan to restore law and order, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced. “In recent months, there has been a worrying increase in abuse and attacks on public ...5 days ago
- Workforce boost in specialist mental health training welcomed
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- Speech to the Caring Families Aotearoa National Conference
Thank you for the introduction and the invitation to speak to you here today. I would like to start by saying a big thank you to all the caregivers in the room, and those not able to be here today, for all that you do for our children and young ...5 days ago
- Speech to Caring Families Aotearoa National Conference
Thank you for the introduction and the invitation to speak to you here today. I would like to start by saying a big thank you to all the caregivers in the room, and those not able to be here today, for all that you do for our children and young ...5 days ago
- Caregivers thanked at their national conference
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Been shameful for a while.
2014
Grandmother falls between housing cracks
Helyn Tavita and her 5-year-old granddaughter live in a shed without running water or power.
Their toilet is a bucket which has to be emptied in a pit in the bush.
Water from a spring is piped to an outdoor tap and they wash themselves in an outside tub.
Their shed, up a gravel road near Kaeo, looks cosy in summer. But come winter chill winds blow through the floorboards and cold seeps through the uninsulated walls.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/living-in-a-shed/KVMHYX2VGXS5A26NUPROXX24XE/?c_id=1503450&objectid=11236849
2020
One kaumātua, who is in his 60s with a chronic health condition, lives in a house north of Kāeo with no power, no shower or toilet and no running water.
The windows of his house are boarded with corrugated iron as he can't afford to replace broken window panes and there is cardboard lining the inside walls.
A kuia who has suffered from a stroke, also in her 60s, lives under a lean-to in the same area.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/our-hidden-homeless-northlands-elderly-living-in-third-world-conditions/2EZ7PAJR6YQN35RRBZOMUXODIU/
It beats me why the Far North keeps voting National MPs time after time (except for the Jacinda mania 2020 elections) when National have done sod all for them except for the land owning class.
Only absentee landlords, Cockies and cookers voting in the Pakeha roll?
I wonder if sequestering the Maori vote onto a separate roll has backfired for the people of Northland.
Aye
To explain that, I refer you to Adam's comment at 4.1 below.
"The neglect of power pylons installed during the 1960s is just another signal that Northland is the New Zealand we’d like to suppress:"
But the pylon didn't fail due to neglect, it seems routine maintenance to ensure its reliability was being done incompetently.
Might want to investigate beyond the headlines.
When were they built?
What is the 100% lifespan of the pylons on the Ak-Whangarei route?
What is the replacement timetable in the AMP?
What year was their last upgrade?
Dug deeper.
They removed the bolts / nuts of three legs all at once!
If they hadn't been doing 'maintenance", it wouldn't have fallen over.
You've already claimed they were built in the sixties so I'll take your word for that.
The fact you haven't refuted my point by giving the other information leads me to think you don't have it.
Transpower are currently replacing some pylons near Wellington here and here. They claim those pylons were installed in 1924, so a life of 100 years. Given Wellington's climate I don't think the lifetime in Northland would be significantly less.
Since 2003 Transpower have been more proactive in maintaining the grid, evidenced by the activity at Glorit a few days ago.
We will of course get the full investigation from the Electricity Authority because that is what the Minister has ordered.
Here's some clues. From the Transpower 2023 AMP, this is the pylon risk profile map:
More placeholder pylons will be needed to provide security of supply to Northland, according to the Transpower CE. One of two 22KV lines is stuck under the fallen transformer.
This is the full Transpower 2023 AMP here:
https://static.transpower.co.nz/public/uncontrolled_docs/Asset%20Management%20Plan%202023.pdf?VersionId=mqwwdrlrYIVN2gdNo4FV0F93fSYK95eE
What the EA investigation will do is expose precisely how old the Northland transformers are, whether they are painted to lengthen their lives,
"Our approach to maintaining the structural integrity and performance of our steel transmission towers is primarily through our paint programme," the 2023 plan said.
That 2023 plan refers to a "backlog of now-due towers" for painting, and deferred painting. "We will start picking up the backlog of 'now-due' towers to be painted."
A second clue to the failure is in a Tranpower 2012 report, which says:
"if the tower is in very poor condition, numerous steel members and all bolts need to be replaced before paint can be applied",
Transpower are being as cheap as they can, extending the asset, rather than replacing them with new ones even in high risk areas.
If this doesn't remind you of the approach to every other state network in Northland including the state highways, rail, schools, airports, hospitals, then perhaps your glasses need testing.
Pop up there and see for yourself.
Thanks for the link. Have you found a way to search their static.transpower.co.nz/ ? After finding the docs I linked to I tried going up the directory levels to see the directory structure & files but it always returns 'access denied'.
The pylon risk profile map you show seems to be dated 2011, and Northland shows as mild compared to e.g. Wellington.
Paint is a very important means of preventing corrosion, even over galvanised steel. Probably not obvious in Central Otago but in more coastal locations unpainted galvanised iron roofs corrode much much faster than those with paint. On page 99 Transpower even list paint as one of six assets;
Our Transmission Lines portfolio incorporates six asset classes.
• Conductors
• Insulators
• Paint
• Structures
• Foundations
• Accessways
Where the 2012 report refers to "steel members and all bolts need to be replaced" they're referring to the fasteners holding the lattice structure together, not those holding the tower to the foundation. The latter 'bolts' are in place before the concrete is poured, they can't be replaced later. Fortunately steel in concrete is protected from corrosion. It is the nuts on those bolts that had been removed from three legs on the tower in Glorit.
If you look at fig 97 on page 119 of the 2023 AMP the Tower Performance has been improving & is well below the target failure rate.
Extending the life of an asset is the prudent thing to do so long as it doesn't lead to unexpected failure. Replacing early will cause power cost to rise.
The contractor has admitted fault, the Transpower CE has stated;
"Our view is that the specifications and procedures for this type of work were not followed. . . It is unprecedented and inconceivable that so many nuts were removed at once. . .the failure to follow procedure resulted in a significant power outage that had a real impact on the people of Northland."
She wouldn't be so forthright without being very confident of the outcome.
The Minister starting another review is merely him wanting to be seen to be doing something.
I have lived in Northland for 25 years – and are just a tiny bit "provincially paranoid." Enter Northland, hit the pot holes. Terrified of getting sick – NO specialists to speak off – and that's in the private system if you can afford it (90% of us can't.) Goods readily available everywhere else in the country take WEEKS to arrive when specially ordered.. Don't even start me on why our electricity costs more than anywhere else. Promised ‘economic improvement’ projects never eventuate . .. . or start and do not finish , ,, or finish and become white elephants because the locals can't afford to patronise them and the tourists don’t have the infrastructure to get here. Most NZers don’t realise that thousands of their fellows in Northland URBAN areas do not have reticulated DRINKING water – we buy or boil or use expensive filters. And as for employment- we just closed our largest employer and we train our young people to go to AUSTRALIA. Our base hospital for 200,000 people effectively closes in the weekends – no doctors in practice – and there is sewerage in its walls. If a country does not look after its weakest links it BREAKS.
Only lived here 4 what worries me is the amount of young people who leave this place, it is almost all. If you want to have a life you have to leave. Then half of those who I do know here under 30 and over 20 have a partner/husband/wife working in Aussie for the majority of the year.
Having been born and grown up in Otago, I just can't believe how shit the roads are up here. Lots of potholes, awful camber, and half of them are bloody closed.
Oh and the hospital, don't start. And we supply the health minister to this muppet government.
That said, it's been both the major parties who have shat on the North. BOTH.
It's the same story as the rust belt of America – all the wealth and advantage and govt policy is going to the centres of power.
I had a personal taste of the Northland health system in 2020 and it was a shambles. Could not get admitted or even looked at in Whangarei hospital, despite needing major orthopaedic surgery.
The old wooden bridge to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds is an ongoing symbol of this dysfunction – nobody wants to step up and fix it.
Yup i know a doctor whose instructed the family if hes ever in need of urgent care dont stop till over the harbour bridge at Auckland hospital.
Definitely dont take him to north shore once you get into akl was the message family have.
North shore have missed broken bones in xrays for another family member so I see where hes coming from.
I'm from up north & my family are still up there. My dad had a heart attack recently & was flown to AK by helicopter then spent a few nights in hospital (whereas had he been in Whangarei he prob would have been out sooner so a lot more $$ was spent on him). When I was a kid up there John Banks was our MP seemed so weird coz of the unemployment & poverty way back then. Also yes the roads I'm always amazed when I travel back north how bad they are. I'm in South Dunedin now & just read the Govt are not going to help us out ($130,000,000 was asked to buy houses to make plans regarding future flooding).
This is where things like moving work to call/contact centres and web-based takes jobs away from regions as does national procurement takes work away from local businesses and again admin staff and jobs out of regions.
The public service once was deliberately engineered to spread work around communities and ensure a decent proportion of local taxes went back into local communities.
By shifting away from taxation as a means of job and income distribution to lower (and removed taxes) and a personal wealth/choice distribution model then those who benefitted the most i.e. the well off control where money gets spent. They choose not to spend in Northland so Northland gets neglected, they choose to compete against each other for rental houses so house prices and rents go up.
It is the inevitable individualistic market choice failure. Many of us said this would happen when Labour did their big betrayal – we are only surprised it took as long as it did. The good news is is that we can now buy (or shoplift) 10 different brands of baked beans at the supermarket. Ain't choice grand.
Agree with you there regarding the importance of strategic use of public service to bolster provincial centres.
What did Jones's slush fund achieve for the Far North?
Shane Reti, Winston Peters, Shane Jones.
What have they actually achieved for the people of Northland? Sweet F All.
So it had nothing to do with the maintenance crew hired by transpower that removed all the bolts holding the thing in place.
It was the fault of some suits that won an election about a year ago?
Help me here?
Stop talking sense, you will upset the usual suspects here that think blue=bad, red=good.
You do not do this on Kiwblog.
Have not commented or read comments on Kiwiblog for a very long time as it is Red-Bad and Blue=Good there. I like an honest discussion rather than sticking to one view. I generally like reading the Standard as I like my world view challenged and it has resulted in some of my views changing.
Missing the point. This is not about one event.
The OP is about Northland and the remarkable similarity of a number of ageing public infrastructure network systems that support Northland. All major network failures are due to decades of under-investment, which fail in a specific point. That is what "it" is. Not one specific pylon failure.
Transpower has consistently admitted that it is falling behind in its maintenance of its pylons. And no, the maintenance of these ageing pylons is in no way keeping up.
In fact the entire transmission system has now got to the point where Transpower has submitted a spending proposal for accelerating upgrades for 2025-30 of 32% in capital expenditure and 20% in operating expenditure.
The scale of this programme will mean residential customer bills will go up by 15% per annum for the first two years, and then by 5% for the remaining three years of the five-year timeframe, for a total of $5.8 billion.
Also the Commerce Commission has also allowed local lines companies to increase their charges 50% over 5 years. So that they can get the revenue to do even more deeply needed upgrades.
Together, that's the bill you will get and Transpower's underinvestment has made sure of that.