How Northland Became New Zealand’s Deepest Shame

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, June 25th, 2024 - 27 comments
Categories: Economy, infrastructure - Tags:

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.

27 comments on “How Northland Became New Zealand’s Deepest Shame ”

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  1. Descendant Of Smith 1
    25 June 2024 at 12:07 pm

    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/

  2. Mike the Lefty 2
    25 June 2024 at 12:08 pm

    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.

  3. William 3
    25 June 2024 at 1:37 pm

    "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.

    • Ad 3.1
      25 June 2024 at 4:23 pm

      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.

      • Jimmy 3.1.1
        25 June 2024 at 5:08 pm

        They removed the bolts / nuts of three legs all at once!

        If they hadn't been doing 'maintenance", it wouldn't have fallen over.

      • William 3.1.2
        25 June 2024 at 6:51 pm

        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.

        • Ad 3.1.2.1
          25 June 2024 at 7:44 pm

          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:

          A map of Transpower's corrosion zones, used to help determine wear on power pylons.

          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.

          • William 3.1.2.1.1
            26 June 2024 at 12:18 am

            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.

  4. Rosalene Bradbury 4
    25 June 2024 at 2:33 pm

    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.

    • adam 4.1
      25 June 2024 at 5:34 pm

      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.

  5. roblogic 5
    25 June 2024 at 2:46 pm

    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.

    • tc 5.1
      25 June 2024 at 4:11 pm

      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 Feel Love 5.1.1
        25 June 2024 at 6:19 pm

        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).

  6. Descendant Of Smith 6
    25 June 2024 at 3:49 pm

    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.

    • tWig 6.1
      25 June 2024 at 5:03 pm

      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?

  7. Stephen D 7
    25 June 2024 at 6:09 pm

    Shane Reti, Winston Peters, Shane Jones.

    What have they actually achieved for the people of Northland? Sweet F All.

  8. Sabine 8
    25 June 2024 at 9:40 pm

    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?

    • Westykev 8.1
      26 June 2024 at 3:32 pm

      Stop talking sense, you will upset the usual suspects here that think blue=bad, red=good.

      • SPC 8.1.1
        26 June 2024 at 5:58 pm

        You do not do this on Kiwblog.

        • Westykev 8.1.1.1
          26 June 2024 at 8:56 pm

          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.

    • SPC 8.2
      26 June 2024 at 5:57 pm

      Missing the point. This is not about one event.

    • Ad 8.3
      26 June 2024 at 7:36 pm

      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.

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