Waikato Business News | March 1, 2024

MARCH 2024 

Fight or flight? 

Five Waikato councils are 

struggling to balance the books 

and keep rates down while sitting 

on a significant shareholding in the 

region’s airport. Senior writer Mary 

Anne Gill poses the question, is it 

time to sell up? 

How much is 

Hamilton Airport 

worth? 

On paper about $234 

million, which makes 

the strategic decision by 

Hamilton City, Waipā, 

Waikato, Matamata-Piako 

and Ōtorohanga councils to 

pay $2.125 million in 1989 

seem a pretty astute one. 

Despite some rocky years 

- which included a $12 

million call on shareholders 

in 2008/2009 – Waikato 

Regional Airport Ltd, the 

company that manages 

the operation, says it is 

well placed to kick on and 

increase shareholder value. 

But Auckland City 

Council’s decision to sell 

seven percent of its 18 per 

cent stake in Auckland 

Airport for $836 million 

to reduce debt has put 

the Waikato councils’ 

investment back in the 

spotlight. 

What could Hamilton 

City Council do with $117 

million right now – it owns 

50 per cent - or even as 

city councillor Ewan Wilson 

suggests in an exclusive 

Waikato Business News 

column on page 12, a 

percentage of that and more 

dividends? The city council 

got its last dividend of 

$250,000 in the financial 

year ended June 30, 2023. 

Hamilton mayor Paula 

Southgate, in a recent 

column, said the council had 

considered selling a portion 

Hamilton Airport. Photo: Shaun Jeffers. 

of its airport shares, but 

“this is not wise at this time, 

although we have pursued 

dividends”. 

There is little appetite 

from the other mayors for 

them to follow Auckland 

mayor Wayne Brown’s 

lead and sell their districts’ 

shares. 

Waipā, Waikato and 

Matamata-Piako own 15.6 

per cent each of the shares 

while Ōtorohanga has 3.2 

per cent. 

Waipā mayor Susan 

O’Regan went as far as 

saying it could be beneficial 

for her council to buy more 

shares in the airport if 

they could. Shareholding 

councils get the first option 

to buy if others want to sell. 

Hamilton Airport sits 

at the northern end of the 

Waipā district, prompting its 

deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk to 

often suggest a name change 

should be considered. 

Waipā district plan 

changes opened the 

airport up to industrial 

development, transforming 

what had been maize and 

hay paddocks into Titanium 

Park. 

“We are very fortunate to 

have such a strategic asset 

in the Waipā district,” said 

O’Regan, who confirmed the 

council had not discussed 

the shareholding’s future 

and it had not been signalled 

for review. 

“The recent plan change 

opens up a good amount 

of airport owned land and 

the share value is likely to 

increase substantially in 

future years which means 

it could be beneficial to buy 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 

“ 

It could be 

beneficial to 

buy more if we 

were ever in 

the position to. 

Susan O’Regan Paula Southgate 

Adrienne Wilcock 

Jacqui Church Max Baxter 

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2 MARCH 2024 

Editor 

Roy Pilott 

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Readers’ contributions of articles and letters are 

welcome. Publication of contributions are entirely at 

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Contributions will only be considered for publication 

when accompanied by the author’s full name, 

residential address, and telephone number. Opinions 

expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers. 

Waikato Business News is published by Good Local 

Media Limited. 

Teens get down 

to business 

Almost 200 secondary 

school students were at 

Wintec’s Atrium for the 

annual Lion Foundation 

Young Enterprise Scheme’s 

– Yes - Kickstart Tīmatanga 

event. 

They were given 

information about the 

programme and time with 

about 40 speed coaches – 

and almost 50 companies 

were created. 

Yes is a long running 

programme which gives 

Year 12 and 13 students an 

opportunity to set up and 

run their own businesses. 

Their companies complete 

challenges throughout 

the year for regional and 

national awards and tertiary 

scholarships. 

Regional co-ordinator 

Maddie Walker said students 

were brimming with ideas, 

from unique products and 

twists on familiar ones to 

new services developed to 

turn a profit. 

It was excellent to see 

business leaders offering 

feedback, she said. 

“Yes is a fantastic 

experience for students and 

being able to connect with 

these mentors really sets 

them on the right track for 

the year.” 

Letters… 

Sky fall? 

I was amused at the photo of the “sod 

turning” collective (Waikato Business News, 

February). It seems it may have come right 

out of Monty Python’s Department of Silly 

Walks. It is amazing that the group all have 

to wear safety helmets, protective glasses 

and high visibility jackets when they are, (all 

but one) simply symbolically putting a foot 

on a spade in the ground. One would have 

thought the greater risk is for a foot injury - 

so therefore why not heavy duty footwear? 

Having driven through the junction many, 

many times over 30 years, the only potential 

danger I see from above is the sky falling on 

my head. Might I conclude that the photo 

smacks of health and safety gone mad? 

Greg Dunn 

Fairfield, Hamilton 

Also publishers of 

National MPs, from left Louise Upston, Simeon 

Brown, Tim van de Molen and Tom Rutherford 

at the sod turning. 

Maddie Walker pictured with Lincoln Drent and Eddie Stocks from Kiwibank. 

Fight or flight? 

This newspaper is subject to NZ Media 

Council procedures. A complaint must first 

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publication, to the editor’s email address. 

If not satisfied with the response, the 

complaint may be referred to the Media 

Council P O Box 10-879, The Terrace, 

Wellington 6143. Or use the online complaint 

form at www.mediacouncil.org.nz 

Please include copies of the article and all 

correspondence with the publication. 

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 

more if we were ever in the position to.” 

Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter said his 

council had no intention of selling its shares 

while Matamata-Piako mayor Adrienne 

Wilcock said it had not even been discussed, 

so its current position was to retain them as 

a strategic investment. 

Waikato mayor Jacqui Church said 

the airport company had worked hard to 

be the best regional airport and council 

would retain its shareholding as a strategic 

investment. 

“It (airport company) is well managed 

and governed,” she said. “It has diversified 

and strengthened over the past few years. 

The council is supportive of the airport as a 

regional asset and will continue to support 

the airport through its shareholding for the 

foreseeable future.” 

Outspoken Waikato district councillor 

Mike Keir recently advocated for 20 per cent 

plus rate increases to maintain the district’s 

“tired and non-compliant infrastructure.” 

But he would not sell the airport shares 

despite Waikato’s percentage being worth 

$36.5 million. 

“This council asset is likely to see some 

good growth in value over the medium term 

and should also be able to pay dividends so 

council should hold to maximise its return. 

“That is not to say divestment should not 

be considered in the future but in my book, 

now is not the time,” said Keir. 

• See: Not enough value out of airport, 

page 12 

Tim van de Molen 

Your MP for Waikato 

Backing Waikato Businesses 

Tim.vandeMolenMP@parliament.govt.nz 

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Briefs… 

On the move 

Kelvyn Eglington (pictured 

below) has moved to Craigs 

Investment Partners as their 

general manager following 

six years as chief executive 

of Momentum Waikato 

Community Foundation. 

Simon Wickham has taken 

on the foundation role. 

3 

Three up, two to go… 

Union Square, Hamilton’s newest 

central business district office and 

community space, opened the 

third of its five buildings last month 

and senior writer Mary Anne Gill 

was there. 

Chat GPT workshop 

Two Cambridge business 

people have formed a 

company to run twohour 

workshops on the 

last Wednesday of every 

month on ChatGPT for 

New Zealand organisations. 

Jamie Moore and Jeremy 

Suisted of Mosaic Partners 

take business leaders from 

0 to 1 with ChatGPT, a 

natural language processing 

tool driven by AI technology 

that allows people to have 

human-like conversations 

with a chatbot. 

New gig 

Former Hamilton City 

Council boss Richard Briggs 

has been appointed chief 

executive at Hamilton law 

firm iClaw. After he left the 

council two years ago, Briggs 

worked as an independent 

consultant focussing on 

strategy development and 

execution, best practice 

governance frameworks, 

corporate structuring and 

executive coaching. 

Tim’s back 

Former National Party MP 

Tim Macindoe easily won 

the city council’s Hamilton 

East by election last 

month. He replaced Ryan 

Hamilton, who was elected 

to parliament in October. 

Macindoe received 5874 

votes, 3666 ahead of Leo 

Liu, who received 2208 

votes. Turnout was low with 

just 22 percent (12,475) of 

eligible voters going to the 

polls. 

Clients are important, 

but to quote Virgin’s 

Richard Branson: 

“Clients do not come first. 

Employees come first. If you 

take care of your employees, 

they will take care of the 

clients.” 

While the 23,000 square 

metre Union Square 

development in downtown 

Hamilton – on the corner 

of Anglesea and Hood 

streets - is big, paramount 

throughout the design was 

the people who work there, 

developers say. 

At a celebration to mark 

the completion last month of 

Building E, the third of five 

buildings in Union Square, 

Fosters Develop manager 

Rhys Harvey said workers’ 

days in the complex would 

be “seamless” from parking a 

car or having a shower, “you 

know where to go.” 

Thirty showers, lockers, 

“ 

Creating 

hairdryers, a wellness 

centre, charging stations for 

bicycles, scooters and cars, 

350 dedicated car parking 

spaces, efficient open plan 

spaces designed to maximise 

natural lighting and a Union 

Square App – developed by 

tenant Company-X - are just 

some of the services available 

to people who work there. 

Building E will be the hub 

in the $20 million complex, 

said Harvey. 

The event was hosted by 

Hamilton Central Business 

Association, the Property 

Council of New Zealand, 

Waikato Chamber of 

Commerce and Fosters. 

Chief executive Vanessa 

Williams said the central 

business association was in 

awe of the latest development 

to transform the southern 

skyline. 

“Creating a productive 

workspace goes beyond a 

a productive workspace 

goes beyond a desk and a 

computer 

An aerial view of Building E and next to it, Rabobank, part of the 

Union Square development in Hamilton. Photo: Supplied. 

Hamilton Central Business Association general manager Vanessa Williams welcomes guests to the 

opening of Building E at Union Square in Hamilton. 

Photo: Mary Anne Gill. 

desk and a computer,” she 

said, quoting Branson’s 

mantra about clients. 

Employees’ wellbeing 

catered to with dedicated 

spaces would help create 

positive company cultures, 

she said. 

Chamber chief executive 

Don Good said what Fosters 

had created at Union Square 

was a fine example of 

High praise 

innovativeness. 

“(Hamilton) is a very 

wonderful place to live, work 

and play.” 

Fosters, which had its 

beginnings in Morrinsville 

in the 1950s and moved 

to Hamilton in the 1960s, 

was one of those Waikato 

companies that tended to fly 

under the radar, said Good. 

“Until they put up a 

building like this. They 

inspire vision every day.” 

Union Square tenants 

already include Rabobank, 

AA Insurance, Sentinel 

Outpost Café, BBO, Baker 

Tilly Staples Rodway, 

Company-X, Craigs 

Investment Partners, Reform 

Reformer Pilates and James 

and Wells. 

Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu, right, was pictured with Waikato Chamber 

of Commerce chair Senga Allen at Innovation Park in Hamilton during a two-day visit to the 

Waikato last month. Senior writer Mary Anne Gill caught up with the commissioner, whose visit 

also took in the Tatua Dairy Company’s Tatuanui factory, packaging company Visy at Hamilton 

Airport and a dairy farm south of Te Awamutu. See her story starting on Page 6 today. 

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Ruakura – a Waikato sentinel 

Maersk’s new integrated coldstore facility 

at Ruakura Superhub opened last month 

and senior writer Mary Anne Gill checked 

out the 18,000 square metre building 

wishing she had brought a coat. 

Maersk Ruakura Superhub 

site manager Peter Phillip 

opens the blast freezer 

door where inside it is -20 degree 

Celsius, and issues a warning. 

“…I’d just like to point out none 

of you are dressed for the freezing 

conditions so when we do go in 

there, you won’t stay long.” 

He was right. Two minutes, tops. 

It is one of three cool rooms 

Phillip shows us at the opening of 

Maersk’s $150 million integrated 

cold chain facility. The first has 

space for 3000 pallets, the second 

4500 and the third – a somewhat 

tropical -10 degrees – has 8000 

spaces with racking on one side and 

floor stacking on the other. 

It took a year to build the 18,000 

square metre facility less than 

two kilometres from the Waikato 

Expressway off ramp and only 

metres south of the East Coast Main 

Trunk railway line, Kiwi Rail’s rail 

freight route between Waikato and 

Bay of Plenty. 

There are new twin 800m rail 

sidings at the Ruakura stop and a 

daily service transports up to 90 

containers a day between Auckland 

and Tauranga. 

Maersk chief executive Vincent 

Clerc said the Danish shipping and 

logistics company was enthusiastic 

about fostering growth and forging 

long-term partnerships. 

“The facility will leverage landside 

logistic capabilities allowing for 

larger quantities of imported and 

exported goods to flow through New 

Zealand and the wider Asia-Pacific 

region.” 

Te Arataura chair Tukoroirangi 

Morgan told Clerc and other 

guests his iwi appreciated working 

alongside one of the giants of the 

shipping trade. 

Te Arataura is the executive 

committee of Waikato-Tainui’s 

tribal parliament Te Whakakitenga 

with responsibility to manage 

the business and affairs of the 

86,000-strong iwi. 

Ruakura stood as a sentinel, a 

reminder for people of the tribe 

and from the region that “Waikato 

Tainui are on the move and that 

we will embrace opportunities as 

we’ve done here at Ruakura,” said 

Morgan. 

Apollo Projects designed and 

built the facility to a Greenstar-5 

sustainability rating with Maersk 

saying it wants to get to six stars. 

Peter Phillip picks up on that 

during the tour, showing people the 

refrigeration plant in the mezzanine 

floor, all of it in the spine of the 

building. In addition to its solar 

Heeni Katipa, sister of King Tūheitia, unveils a plaque at the Maersk Coldstar helped by Moller-Maersk chief executive 

Vincent Clerc watched by, from left Maersk Oceania Reefer Integrated sales manager Tony Mildon, Tainui Group 

Holdings chief executive Chris Joblin, Maersk Oceania managing director Kylie Fraser, Apollo Projects executive director 

Paul Lloyd and Maersk Asia Pacific president Ditlev Blicher. 

Photo: Mary Anne Gill 

panels, the company collects rain 

and condensation for the irrigation 

system and water supplies. 

He is clearly proud to be leading 

the team at Ruakura and itching 

to get product into the facility 

which allows customers to retain 

the quality of their products during 

transit by housing nearly 30,000 

pallets in both cold rooms and blast 

freezers. 

The freezers do their job in less 

than 24 hours locking in the quality 

and ensuring a fresher product 

when it reaches its destination. 

When trucks arrive, containers 

can be unpacked and turned around 

in 20 minutes, taken to the cold 

rooms or snap freezers. 

The 390ha Ruakura Superhub 

is one of the country’s largest 

developments. It is in a ‘sweet spot’ 

for New Zealand’s supply chain – 

in the golden triangle of Auckland, 

Waikato and Bay of Plenty – and 

65 per cent of the country’s total 

freight passes through the strategic 

corridor. 

Last month New Zealand logistics 

company Big Chill Distribution 

opened its cool storage facility 

there and Tainui Group Holdings 

commissioned Calder Stewart to 

build a 1000 square metre facility 

for Refrigafreighters Ltd. 

Kmart opened its 40,000 square 

metre distribution centre there last 

September and moved its North 

Island operations from Wiri. 

The superhub is anchored by a 

30ha inland port operated in a joint 

venture with the Port of Tauranga. 

• More on this story and extra 

photos: wbn.co.nz 

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5 

Bullish Bridges looks ahead 

Former National Party leader and now Auckland Business Chamber 

chief Simon Bridges spoke last month in Matamata – and Viv Posselt 

found him in an optimistic mood. 

Simon Bridges predicts a lowering of interest rates 

in the second half of 2024 could usher in a more 

buoyant period for the business sector. 

Speaking at a Matamata Chamber of Commerce 

luncheon last month, he said business optimism remains 

high, particularly among those who sought change at last 

year’s election, but acknowledges the challenges still being 

faced by many around the country. 

“My personal view is that it is still not plain sailing. The 

first half of this year is going to be reasonably tough,” 

he said, “but I am realistically optimistic that the second 

half of this year things will see things improve. I reckon 

interest rates will come down in the second half of 2024, 

and that will have an effect on business confidence. There 

is something else we need to factor in … I believe the 

relatively new three-party coalition government will be 

going well by then and will be hitting more substantive 

reforms in areas where it is most needed.” 

He suggested tackling crime would be one of those areas. 

Concerns expressed in an Auckland business survey last 

year switched from a lack of volunteers and technology 

in the first half of the year, to crime topping the list in the 

second half. 

“I think we will see more going on in that area by the 

second half of this year.” 

Bridges said that at almost 170 years old, the Auckland 

Chamber was one of the oldest business associations in 

New Zealand. It oversees business chambers across the 

upper North Island. 

“We are like an octopus with many tentacles. For 

example, on the back of a decision a few decades ago that 

the country needed to help young people get their driver’s 

licence, we have grown into New Zealand’s largest driving 

academy,” he said. “We are the country’s biggest purveyor 

of export documents and certifications, and we are a 

massive events organisation, running about 150 of those 

a year. But at our heart, we are about making it easier for 

businesses to operate, particularly small and medium sized 

businesses.” 

He signalled the importance for chambers in the region, 

essentially from Taupo northwards, to work together for 

the benefit of all, adding that each was fundamentally too 

small on its own to maximise its effectiveness. There can 

be no room for parochialism, he added. 

Describing the upper North Island as the 

‘engine room’ for growth in New Zealand, 

he outlined several factors crucial to 

success. 

One was a good transport network, 

which he said was proven to bring a 

raft of benefits, with others being 

good broadband connectivity and 

a growing agri-tech sector. 

“I think agri-tech is going to 

be our number one sector in the 

next few years,” he said. 

“Realistically, we are a small 

country with too few people; 

we don’t have the money to 

do everything we need, but 

this government understands 

the value of private sector 

investments. They will become 

an important tool in the next 

three years.” 

Bridges said New Zealand was 

an attractive, safe option in a 

world facing security challenges. 

“We are the smallest, most 

remote developed country 

in the world. Our strategic 

disadvantage in terms of 

supply issues could over the 

next decade become a strategic 

advantage. I think New Zealand 

is entering a good period.” Simon Bridges with Matamata Chamber of Commerce chair Lynette Stanley. 

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Praise from 

What a great start 

to the year! 

While some people and 

the media are doom and 

gloom merchants, the 

Waikato Chamber of 

Commerce has been buzzing since 

mid-January with events that have 

been running at or close to capacity. 

Business people are out and about, 

enjoying the sun no doubt but putting 

a lot of effort into networking. 

Typically, we would see several not 

turn up to events after registering 

but that has almost evaporated 

as business people are looking to 

connect face to face, get to know new 

contacts and keep in touch with their 

current business circle. 

Networking is an art form that 

requires practise. People are 

discerning and are looking for 

authentic connections that can lead 

to trade. The Chamber’s events are 

the perfect place to refine your skills. 

The major event in the Waikato 

in February has been the Waikato 

University Management School’s 

Economic Forum. 

As befits the leading economics 

university in the country its speaker 

line up was stellar. It kicked off by 

the newly minted Minister of Finance 

Nicola Willis, who gave few hints as 

to the detail of her Budget due on 30 

May, but did give us an idea of the 

issues she is grappling with. 

On the subject of infrastructure, 

she reiterated the point that the 

Government cannot use public capital 

alone and that new tools such as PPP 

and iwi capital will be needed in an 

integrated approach if we are to build 

a pipeline of work that returns us 

back to the level of infrastructure that 

we wish to become accustomed to. 

It was not all politics as the 

Management School agenda saw 

attendees traverse subjects such as 

disruption in agriculture, health, and 

New Zealand’s changing demography. 

A set of very forceful addresses 

on social investment came from 

ImpactLab CEO Maria English and 

chair of Whānau Ora Commissioning 

Agency Merepeka Raukawa-Tait and 

some deep insights on trade policy 

and free trade agreements from 

the deputy secretary for trade and 

economic at MFAT Vangelis Vitalis. 

Friday morning had delegates 

hanging on every word of the Reserve 

Bank Governor Adrian Orr hoping 

for clues on the OCR. None given, 

Don Good, CEO of Waikato 

Chamber of Commerce. 

Networking 

is an art form 

that requires 

practise. People 

are discerning 

and are looking 

for authentic 

connections that 

can lead to trade. 

but for the tea leaves readers there 

was sufficient to conclude that the 

big issue for the RBNZ is inflation 

and, more specifically, our inflation 

expectations. 

As such it would be prudent for 

business to expect the OCR to remain 

at its current level or even higher until 

the inflation genie is back in its bottle. 

The session of Friday for me was 

the infrastructure panel of Alison 

Andrew – CEO of Transpower, Nick 

Legget of Infrastructure NZ and Chris 

Joblin of Tainui Group Holdings. 

New Zealand has significant issues 

across a whole raft of infrastructure 

industries. All three panellists agreed 

that we needed real urgency, a 

greater vision and better solutions 

than that which we have had over the 

past few decades. 

Across the two days there was 

a real sense that delivery is what is 

required. As usual, a rising tide of 

prosperity lifts all boats, and we need 

to get on with it. Here’s to a positive, 

productive and fruitful 2024! 

It might have been a fleeting visit to the Waikato, but 

Australian high commissioner Harinder Sidhu found success 

and innovation everywhere she went. Senior writer Mary 

Anne Gill caught up with her for this exclusive interview. 

Energy, optimism and innovation. 

Three words Australian career 

diplomat Harinder Sidhu used to 

describe Waikato businesses after spending 

two days in the region last month. 

The whirlwind visit started at Waikato 

University following by tours of Visy, Tatua 

Co-Op Dairy Company, Hamilton City 

Council, Gallagher Group, Tira, Everest 

Group and finished with a trip to Andrew 

Flay’s Te Awamutu dairy farm with Fonterra. 

“I need to understand the country. You 

can’t sit in the capital city,” she said. 

“You’ve got to get out and see the place. 

What I’ve been struck by in the Waikato, is 

the sense of energy and optimism. There’s a 

lot more activity and energy here than I’ve 

seen in other parts of the country.” 

High praise indeed from one of Australia’s 

most experienced diplomats who three 

weeks before her visit became a Member of 

the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 

Honours List for her “significant service to 

public administration and to foreign affairs.” 

Sidhu was born in Singapore to parents 

of Indian heritage and the family moved to 

Australia when she was 10. 

She studied law and economics at the 

University of Sydney and graduated in 1987, 

then decided she wanted to spread her 

wings a bit. 

“The one thing I have been driven by is a 

desire to make a difference and a desire to 

serve.” 

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She says that comes from her Sikh religion 

where one of the key tenets of faith is to 

serve the community you are in. 

She spotted a poster calling for people 

interested in a career in diplomacy and 

applied. It was a lengthy process and the 

further she got into it, the more amazed her 

parents became. 

She went to Egypt when she was 23 to 

learn Arabic for two years and had her first 

posting in Damascus. Next came Moscow 

where her daughter, now in her early 30s 

and living in Australia, attended a Russian 

kindergarten. 

To be a good diplomat Sidhu says you 

have to learn every part of the business, start 

at the ground floor and learn on the job. 

“You have to be humble enough to fit in 

another culture and not judge it. It’s more 

about understanding than judging.” 

One way of doing that is to learn the 

languages. Sidhu, who speaks seven 

languages, including Māori and Russian, 

says learning a country’s language is the 

most respectful thing you can do. 

“If you can really understand that country 

and look at it through the eyes of people and 

you can fit in, it is such a different experience 

and you actually deliver much more value to 

your people and your government.” 

In 2016, she was appointed the high 

commissioner in India after working as 

a senior public servant on two big public 

policy changes – establishing Australia’s 

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on high 

counter-terrorism frameworks post 9/11 and 

designing and delivering a policy solution to 

climate change. 

Two years ago, came the New Zealand 

appointment. It is not a political 

appointment, so she is expected to serve a 

three or four year term. 

Sidhu has been watching New Zealand’s 

post Covid recovery with interest noting it 

has been more challenging than other places 

she has visited. 

“I’m really quite impressed by the 

tenacity and perseverance of New Zealand 

businesses.” 

Australia is New Zealand’s second largest 

trading partner – China is first – but our 

largest source of investment. 

“Our economies are not dissimilar. What 

works here is bound to work in Australia.” 

“You can drop a Kiwi anywhere into the 

Australian system and they’d be up and 

running.” 

When she briefly visited Waikato last year, 

she realised she wanted to see more. Up 

stepped the Waikato Chamber of Commerce. 

Chamber chair Senga Allen said trade lay 

at the heart of closer economic relations and 

trading with Australia so linking Sidhu up 

with Waikato made good business sense. 

“Introducing Her Excellency to several 

Waikato companies will pave the way for 

introductions to Australian companies 

interested in what we produce, what they 

could invest in and what we can buy from 

them,” said Allen. 

Sidhu was impressed by Waikato 

business’s innovation. 

“Tatua is so clever. They had such a clever 

marketing strategy. Supply the niches in 

scale using product innovation.” 

Gallaghers’ focus on quality and values 

instead of cutting corners while being 

thoughtful and innovative was also a 

significant take out. 

She also visited 

Australian privately owned 

packaging and recycling 

company Visy at its $100 

million factory on 8.5 

hectares at Hamilton Airport. 

“Here’s what I love about 

Australian companies, they invest, 

they hire Kiwis from top to bottom 

and embed themselves in the 

New Zealand system. 

Sidhu packed a pair 

of Skellerup red 

band gumboots 

for her trip to a 

Fonterra-supplied 

dairy farm south 

of Te Awamutu. 

There she saw 

Andrew Flay’s 

379 cows have 

their afternoon 

milking session. 

And with that 

she was gone, 

vowing to be 

back if she 

could 

Fieldays in 

June. 

• More 

photos 

online 

wbn.co.nz 

for 

Australian High 

Commissioner 

Harinder Sidhu. 

Photo: Mary 

Anne Gill. 

7 

Festival 14 

is the biggest 

By Mary Anne Gill 

Cambridge Autumn Festival organisers are 

promising more events than ever before and a 

Main Street Festival on St Patrick’s Day which 

will see Victoria Street festooned in green. 

Chair Alana Mackay says the nine day 

event starting on March 15 - and now into its 

14th year - is a must attend on the Waikato 

calendar. 

There will be concerts, bands, children’s 

events, comedy, art and photo exhibitions, 

open studios art trail, hands on workshops, 

activities and literary competitions around 

the town. 

Originally the vision was to provide an arts 

festival for Cambridge with an opportunity 

for the town’s talented artists to show their 

wares. 

In recent years out of towners have also 

participated in the festival. Last year there 

were more than 200 entries in the writing 

competition from all over the country. 

“The festival and the brand are pretty well 

established in people’s minds now,” said 

Mackay. 

Two events in the Cambridge Town Hall 

will highlight decades of activity captured by 

photographers Reg Buckingham, from the 

late 1960s to the early 1980s, and Michael 

Jeans who is celebrating 60 years as a visual 

chronicler in the town. 

But it will be the Main Street Carnival and 

Autumn art market on St Patrick’s Day which 

will see Cambridge come alive. 

“There’s so much vibe,” said Mackay. 

“Musicians, dancers and entertainers 

perform, the footpaths will be brimming with 

original art, photography, jewellery, pottery, 

sculpture, woodwork and much more. I can’t 

wait.” 

• More coverage wbn.co.nz 

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Growing older – and fewer 

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley says funding 

superannuation and health costs for an ageing population is a looming 

problem for New Zealand. Senior journalist Viv Posselt reports on the 

upheaval and stress it will cause. 

The disruption set to come as 

New Zealand squares up to 

the challenge of supporting 

an ageing population amid fastdeclining 

fertility is just around 

the corner, says the country’s 

pre-eminent commentator on 

population trends. 

Distinguished Professor 

Emeritus Paul Spoonley predicts a 

transformative upheaval over the 

next two decades, one that will 

change the societal, cultural and 

demographic composition of New 

Zealand as we know it. 

It will also create enormous 

financial stress as superannuation 

and health care costs are increasingly 

squeezed. 

Speaking to the first Cambridge 

U3A (University of the Third Age) 

meeting for the year, Spoonley said 

the two main components driving 

the changes were a rapidly ageing 

population and fast-declining 

fertility rates, plus a drive towards 

urbanisation. 

“When we talk about population 

decline, we’re talking about people 

who look like me,” he said. 

“Māori populations will grow, as 

will Pacific Island groups, but by 

far the fastest-growing population 

group will be Asians. We will go from 

being a young-dominant country to 

being one that is old-dominant, with 

almost a quarter over the age of 65. 

We have never had that before.” 

At the same time, rapidly 

declining fertility rates put New 

Zealand at risk of being unable 

to replace its existing population 

without immigration. 

“ 

Talking to politicians 

on a three year cycle 

about things that will 

happen in 30 years’ 

time can feel like a 

wasted effort 

“Kiwi baby boomers [a 

demographic cohort born between 

1956 and 1964) recorded 4.3 births 

per woman. Today that is just 1.6, 

even slightly below that. If we get 

to 1.5, we get into a group called low 

fertility countries,” he said. “More 

children are born to women aged 

40 and over now than to women 

aged 20 and under. By 2030, there 

will be 30,000 fewer children in our 

education system.” 

Impacting that is that women 

today are becoming better educated 

than in the past, creating a workforce 

that is often 50/50 gender-equal. 

The cost of child-rearing another 

factor, meaning many who opt for 

children will have just one. 

That was a problem facing many 

countries, he said, and efforts by 

their governments to boost fertility 

rates with the offer of benefits, 

including tax breaks, were proving 

ineffective. 

Adding to New Zealand’s 

demographic upheaval is increasing 

urbanisation. 

Spoonley said that the Auckland, 

Hamilton and Tauranga ‘triangle’ 

was the centre for population growth 

in New Zealand, while populations 

elsewhere will either stagnate or 

decline. 

Some regions will face ‘hyperageing’ 

where between 30 to 50 

percent of their populations will 

be over 65. An increase in life 

expectancy here as in many other 

parts of the world added to the 

problem. 

“Have we prepared for that? No,” 

he said. 

He told the meeting that part of 

the problem was that the restrictive 

government cycle was not conducive 

to making long-term plans. 

“I do have some frustration about 

that. Talking to politicians on a 

three-year cycle about things that 

will happen in 30 years’ time can 

feel like a wasted effort.” 

In 2019, Spoonley left the role 

Paul Spoonley spoke in Cambridge. 

of Pro Vice-Chancellor of Massey 

University’s College of Humanities 

and Social Studies. Since 2013 

he has been a Visiting Researcher 

at the Germany-based Max 

Planck Institute for the Study of 

Religious and Ethnic Diversity. 

He was awarded the Science and 

Technology Medal by the Royal 

Society in 2009 for cross-cultural 

Photo: Viv Posselt. 

understanding, and was a Fullbright 

Senior Scholar at the University of 

California Berkeley in 2010. 

His latest book – he has authored 

29 – is entitled ‘The New New 

Zealand. Facing demographic 

disruption’, examines the country 

rapidly changing population and the 

ways it is already disrupting the 

status quo. 

Miho’s Jazz Orchestra 

J-pop, Cubano, Pacific 

infused Jazz instrumental 

ensemble, with Miho’s 

unique style and delightful stage presence. 

When: 7pm Fri 22 March 

15th March to 24th March 2024 

Concerts 

Venue: 

The Woolshed, Te Awa Lifecare Village 

Tickets: $25 from Paper Plus 

Cambridge or www.humanitix.co.nz 

Hamilton County 

Bluegrass Band 

Entertaining songs, 

smooth harmonies, and 

dazzling instrumental work 

by NZ’s original bluegrass band. 

When: 3pm Sat 23 March 

Thursday Night Blues with Grant Haua 

Bringing his acoustic show of blues, rock, and soul 

to the festival! 

When: 7pm Thur 21 March 

With support from: 

An Evening of Musicals 

Dane Moeke and Fiona Greaves in an 

unforgettable showcase featuring Les Misérables, 

Hairspray, Cats, Chess, 

Mamma Mia and more. 

When: 7pm Fri 15 March 

The Nukes 

Aotearoa’s award-winning ukulele trio bring their 

mix of musicality and fun! 

When: 7pm Sat 16 March 

With support from: 

NO A 

H E A L T H 

For advice on all your investment needs 

contact Forsyth Barr’s local Investment 

Advisers on (07) 823 0800. 

48 Empire Street, Cambridge | forsythbarr.co.nz 

See full festival programme 

with more than 25 events… 

www.cambridgeautumnfestival.co.nz 

Fees may apply for online tickets 

Specialist Healthcare Agency 

A Passion to Care 

0800 896 772 

info@novahealth.co.nz 

www.novahealth.co.nz


Spatial computing...the new frontier 

BUSINESS SHOWCASE 

9 

By Chris Gardner 

The release of Apple’s 

new Vision Pro mixedreality 

headset is creating 

innovative opportunities 

in multiple sectors on the 

new frontier of spatial 

computing. 

The notion of augmented reality was 

popularized in 1987 when Gene 

Roddenberry, creator of the Star 

Trek series, introduced the Holodeck 

as a central component of The Next 

Generation. It created a new frontier of 

imagination. “Trekkies” were suddenly 

able to imagine a world where every 

location, interaction, and experience 

could be simulated in a way that felt real. 

In the 37 years since that debut, with 

the right tech, people can now visit 

Disneyland and interact directly with an 

animated Mickey Mouse or beam up to 

the bridge of the Starship Enterprise and 

take the captain’s chair to explore the 

final frontier with Mr. Spock and Mr. Data 

at their side. 

And while images of people walking 

around the streets of New York city with 

a 23-million-pixel spatial computing 

headset doesn’t equate to the holodeck 

experience, it does normalize the 

possibilities of simulated experiences 

for Trekkies, tekkies, and technophobes 

across industries including agriculture, 

manufacturing, and defence. 

Spatial computing in agriculture 

For Waikato farmers, the combination 

of spatial computing capabilities and 

the right software can yield tremendous 

results for their crops and planning. 

Farmers can use devices like Apple 

Vision Pro for real time monitoring of 

crops at a micro level, collecting growth 

rate, plant health, and yield data from a 

variety of data sources thereby enabling 

them to create a three-dimensional 

virtual digital twin model of their fields 

and crops. 

Spatial computing technology can 

help farmers make data driven decisions 

by running simulations on different 

levels of farm inputs such as feed, 

fertiliser, and water. This approach 

reduces costs and drives a more 

sustainable approach to farming. 

Spatial computing in manufacturing 

Manufacturers can use devices like 

the Apple Vision Pro at all levels of 

the manufacturing process from 

complicated assembly to health and 

safety training. 

New employees can participate in 

virtual or augmented reality onboarding 

and training of complicated or 

dangerous processes, practicing again 

and again in the simulated environment 

at only the cost of the time taken. 

Product design can be taken to 

a whole new level; rendering an 

interactive conceptual product before 

any time and money is spent on physical 

development. 

Maintenance and repair are made 

easier with digital information overlays 

that are capable of walking the 

technician through the repair process in 

steps. 

Technicians can use FaceTime to call 

for expert support, using a digital avatar 

Apple refers to as a persona. 

Spatial computing in defence 

Apple Vision Pro is perfect for lucrative 

military contracts, posited Forbes senior 

contributor John Koetsier. 

Air Forces around the globe are 

a massive market for the high-end 

headset on account of the thousands of 

dollars per hour running cost of 

dome-type pilot training simulators. 

An appropriately Company-X 

developed Apple Vision Pro app would 

shrink the training costs to hundreds of 

dollars per hour. 

It could also be used to simulate 

military exercises with thousands of 

headset equipped combatants. 

All without the costs associated with 

climbing into a real cockpit. 

Spatial Computing in healthcare 

The healthcare sector has wasted 

no time in putting Apple’s latest 

flagship device to use, improving 

medical training opportunities through 

sophisticated simulation solutions, and 

assisting medical professionals in their 

work. 

It has already been transformative. 

• Thirty Apple Vision Pros 

have been deployed at Sharp 

Healthcare in San Deigo, USA, to 

monitor patients on wards and 

provide vital data during surgery. 

• Dr Robert Masson of the Masson 

Spine Institute in Orlando and 

Park City, USA, has already used 

an Apple Vision Pro to guide him 

during spinal surgery. 

• Radiologists are using the Apple 

Vision Pro to view high resolution 

radiology images. 

• Medical students are using Apple 

Visio Pro to learn about the heart 

through 3D models, images, 

and simulations before treating 

patients in the real world. 

Company-X has extensive experience in 

spatial computing, including augmented 

and virtual reality. 

Interested in learning more about spatial 

computing and augmented reality? 

Visit the Company-X website at www. 

companyx.com or contact Chris Gardner 

via email at chris.gardner@companyx. 

com or via phone at 

027 231 7007. 

About Company-X 

Data is the leading global currency 

and leadership belongs to those 

that can unlock the greatest value 

from it. At Company-X, we exist to 

empower those visionary leaders 

who want to run the world better. 

We create the software that 

enables change through datadriven 

insights and automation. 

For defence, manufacturing 

contractors, infrastructure asset 

managers, and CTOs, we integrate 

complex systems, advance safety 

through simulation training, and 

enhance efficiency with AI. Our 

exclusively senior level expertise 

works alongside your teams to 

code and design your next great 

innovation. But we don’t just deliver 

software. We forge paths to digital 

transformation and operational 

efficiencies that run the world 

better. 

Navigate the 

digital landscape 

with us


There has always been great 

rivalry, and comradery, 

between New Zealand and 

Australia. Such competition, 

currently continuing on the cricket 

pitch, also extends to the world 

of migration. In the year to June 

2023 Australia had a net migration 

gain of 518,000 people, while New 

Zealand recorded a gain of 126,000 

people in the year to December 

2023. During this year New Zealand 

also had a net loss of 47,000 NZ 

citizens, with over half moving to 

Australia. 

There are many factors for 

migrants to consider when looking 

to move “down-under”, with the 

two countries’ immigration policies 

a primary factor. For families 

looking to make a permanent 

move, their focus is on obtaining 

resident visas which allow then to 

live indefinitely in the country, and 

to potentially become citizens. 

Both countries have skilled 

residence programmes to attract 

qualified workers and to fill 

workforce gaps, and have similar 

requirements for good health, 

character and English language. 

So, what are the main differences 

between New Zealand and 

Australia’s skilled resident visa 

policies? 

New Zealand’s flagship workbased 

residence visa is the pointsdriven 

Skilled Migrant Category 

(SMC) for which points can be 

claimed for qualifications or 

occupational registration or high 

income, and additional points 

for up to 3 years of NZ skilled 

work experience. There are also a 

number of skill-shortage roles on 

the Green List Tier 1, which can 

enable a straight-for-residence 

application (no points required). 

Additional roles on the Green 

List Tier 2, and in some sectors 

(eg: care workforce) also provide 

a pathway to residence after 2 

years of work. All applications 

require skilled employment in New 

Zealand. 

Australia has a large number of 

work-based Permanent Residence 

visa categories, with many different 

streams fed into by different 

categories of temporary visas. 

The main, and more streamlined, 

permanent visa options are visa 

ADVERTORIAL 

New Zealand v Australia 

– with immigration also! 

subclasses 189, 190 and 186 (Direct 

Stream). Subclasses 189 and 190 

are points-driven with a more 

complex points system than New 

Zealand’s SMC. While New Zealand 

requires every applicant to have 

skilled employment, this is not the 

case in Australia, where there are 

options for state-sponsorship and 

recognition of skills/contribution 

which do not require employment. 

Two other significant differences 

between the countries’ skilled 

residence policies relate to age, 

and long-term residence. New 

Zealand residence applicants must 

Both countries have 

skilled residence 

programmes to 

attract qualified 

workers and to fill 

workforce gaps. 

be under 56 years when applying, 

while applicants for Australian 

residence must generally be under 

45 years. New Zealand applicants 

are also normally issued with 

Resident Visas which allow travel 

as a resident for 2 years initially and 

then there is the ability to obtain a 

Permanent Resident Visa – a PRV 

is a lifelong residence visa with no 

expiry date. In contrast Australia 

issues a 5 year “permanent resident 

visa” which must be renewed every 

5 years. New Zealand resident visa 

holders are also eligible to vote in 

general elections, which is not the 

case in Australia. 

Another key difference is in 

the criteria to become citizens. In 

Australia a person must hold a valid 

visa for 4 years with the last year 

as a permanent resident, whereas 

New Zealand requires someone to 

have been a resident for 5 years. 

So, while the Trans-Tasman 

rivalry continues on the cricket 

pitch, and the rugby fields, it also 

continues with our immigration 

policies as both countries seek 

to attract much needed skilled 

migrants. 

YOUR BUSINESS 

How to avoid a 

world of pain 

By JOSH MOORE 

If I asked you to think of someone that 

you’ve met at a networking event in the last 

year, who you would love to have as a client, 

who would that be? 

Now imagine this: That person is sitting 

on their couch this Saturday afternoon, 

and a notification pops up on their phone 

telling them you’ve sent them a message via 

LinkedIn or Facebook. But the problem is, 

you haven’t. 

Instead, your account has been hacked, 

and the hacker is now messaging all of 

your connections on LinkedIn or Facebook, 

looking for who they can suck in, as they 

pretend to be you. 

By the time you find out, it is too late. 

They’ve changed your password and have 

locked you out of your account. 

Your connections are now receiving weird 

messages from you, perhaps pushing some 

product they could buy online, or asking for a 

quick loan to get you out of fix. Whatever the 

hacker sends, it’s damaging your reputation. 

This isn’t a fictitious story. It happened to 

a friend of mine who is a sales rep. Months 

later, the hacker is still sending messages to 

her contacts, trying to suck people in. 

Two other business owners I know had 

the same thing happen to them, but with the 

added problem of losing access to their entire 

business profiles on Facebook and Instagram, 

because they were the only administrator on 

the page. Both had worked hard to build 

up their social media presence, which had 

become a good source of leads and brand 

OUR ENVIRONMENT 

awareness. They lost access overnight. 

This horrible situation happens more 

often than you might realise, but is easily 

avoidable. Here’s how to make sure this does 

not happen to you: 

Firstly, and most importantly, make sure 

that you have Two Factor Authentication 

(2FA) turned on for your social media 

accounts. You’ll use an authentication app, 

such as Microsoft Authenticator, which 

provides a six-digit code that changes every 

30 seconds. You’ll then need both a password 

and the six-digit authentication code to login 

to your account, which stops hackers from 

getting into your account, even if they know 

the password. 

If you don’t have this setup, when your 

account gets hacked, the hacker will setup 

2FA using their own device. This stops you 

from being able to get back into the account, 

and you’ve then probably lost your account 

forever. 

Secondly, for any social media business 

profile pages you have, make sure you 

have more than one person assigned as an 

administrator. That way, if your account was 

to get hacked, you’ll have someone else who 

still has administrator access to the business 

profile. For Facebook, the best way to do this 

is to setup Facebook Business Manager, and 

assign your staff access from there. 

With these simple steps, you can save 

yourself from a world of pain. 

• Josh Moore Marketing Director at 

Duoplus 

Let’s talk 

about it By PHIL MACKAY 

This column doesn’t relate to my ‘built 

environment’ remit, at least not directly. 

Rather I would like to share an idea. 

I’ve attended several conferences and 

events lately and observed common 

themes. On the one hand there is a sense 

of concern around government debt and 

levels of spending. On the other, we have 

an infrastructure deficit in the hundreds of 

billions of dollars, the result of decades of 

underinvestment. 

The main conclusion drawn by speakers 

has been that in order to address the 

infrastructure deficit without spending 

excessively, we need to achieve better 

value-for-money (and also that it doesn’t 

all need to be funded by taxpayer money, 

but that’s a whole other article). 

The consensus seems to be that one way 

of achieving this is by having a more stable, 

predictable pipeline of infrastructure 

projects, and to avoid wasteful changes of 

direction. 

A recent example is the scrapping of 

the project to replace Cook Strait ferries, 

having already spent $424M. Without 

arguing whether it was a good decision, this 

shows the inefficiency of political decisionmaking 

around infrastructure. 

Unfortunately, our politics are becoming 

more divided, and political discourse less 

productive. Social media is exacerbating 

existing divisions, and eroding our 

collective ability to make societal progress. 

As a society, we need to address this 

challenge, or things will get worse rather 

than better. Arguing our own points of 

view online is unlikely to help us move 

forward. It’s reasonably well documented 

that humans are good at ignoring 

information that contradicts our own 

point of view. Rather, if we recognise that 

we need to broaden our perspectives in 

order to achieve more productive political 

discourse, a good way to do this is to have 

a personal conversation with someone who 

has a different opinion to our own. 

In 2017, Jochen Wegner and the team 

from Zeit Online, an online German 

newspaper, realised this and began a 

project to see what would happen if they set 

up some conversations between strangers 

with differing views on key issues. When 

1000 people signed up in the first day for 

what was then called “Deutschland spricht” 

or “Germany Talks” they knew they were on 

to something. 

Following several iterations of Germany 

Talks, “Europe Talks” was launched, 

bringing 17,000 people from 33 countries 

together in the spring of 2019 to have 

conversations with strangers and broaden 

their perspectives. 

More recently The Guardian has been 

running a regular column called “Dining 

across the divide” where they send two 

people who have opposing political views 

out for dinner. The aim is to find out 

whether meeting in person over a meal can 

bridge divides. 

If New Zealand is to meaningfully 

address some of our long-term challenges – 

infrastructure, health, and housing to name 

a few – we cannot afford to waste time and 

money changing plans and direction, we 

need to find a way to build consensus. 

Maybe we need our own version of 

“Aotearoa Talks” or “New Zealand Talks”, 

the name itself might be a point of some 

discussion. 

• Phil Mackay is Business Development 

Manager for Paua Architects


TOURISM 

We’re in the 

top 10 By NICOLA GREENWELL 

MORTGAGE ADVICE 

The debt to 

income issue 

By CLAIRE WILLIAMSON 

11 

Tourism is a significant employer of 

Waikato people. From tour guides and 

travel agents to event planners and people 

in supporting sectors such as hospitality 

and accommodation, thousands across our 

region make a living from visitors coming to 

experience Waikato’s magic. 

This employment contribution, and the 

uptick in visitors we’ve seen over the past year, 

is a bright light amidst the gloomy economic 

news we’re seeing about challenges faced 

by other key industries and the state of the 

government’s books. 

Many of us felt the impact of the recent 

pandemic – reduction of operating hours, 

services, and staff. The impact of this sudden 

downturn – albeit temporary – had a profound 

impact on the vibrancy and livelihood of our 

town centres. 

Tourism was New Zealand’s largest export 

earner in 2020, before travel restrictions were 

introduced, delivering $41.9 billion to the 

country and directly employing eight per cent 

of Aotearoa’s workforce – 225,384 people. 

At that point the industry also indirectly 

employed an additional 158,802 people 

(representing an additional 5.6 per cent of 

the workforce), according to Statistics NZ’s 

Tourism Satellite Account for the year ended 

March 2020. 

We aren’t back to 2020 employment levels 

just yet, but tourism has had a strong year, 

and the numbers are heading in the right 

direction. 

There were at least 11,000 people directly 

employed in tourism in Waikato before 

the pandemic, and that number is already 

eclipsed, with 12,120 people now employed 

X-TRAIL ST-L FROM 

$39,990 +ORC* 

in tourism. The ripple effect of tourism is 

multifaceted and plays a crucial role shaping 

communities and sustaining support services 

such as mechanics, marketing agencies, local 

food producers and business services. 

The challenge many operators are grappling 

with is similar to that faced by many other 

businesses in industries experiencing growth. 

They need people. 

It is critical that industry, councils, and 

government all recognise the opportunity and 

pull together to foster a strong pipeline of 

work, as well as to promote tourism careers to 

the next generation. 

We need to dispel the myth that tourism is 

a low-income profession, or a temporary job 

on the path to something else. It only takes 

a chat with an event manager, a yarn with a 

tourism operator or a conversation with one of 

the many forward thinking entrepreneurs who 

have created their own businesses to see how 

far off the mark that perception is. 

While some in our industry do get their 

foot in the door as customer service staff or 

tour guides – an exciting career in its own 

right – many go on to become team leaders, 

managers and industry specialists. 

As visitors return to our country and tourism 

resumes its place at the top of the GDP ladder, 

more people will be needed to service the 

industry. Rather than taking the foot off the 

pedal, now is the time for industry, councils 

and governments to seize the opportunity 

and throw their support in behind growing 

tourism across New Zealand and here in the 

mighty Waikato. 

• Nicola Greenwell is Chief Executive, 

Hamilton and Waikato Tourism 

THE 

BIG 

While we’re starting to think the Reserve 

Bank may be crying wolf about continuing 

to increase interest rates at the next few 

meetings in February and April, one thing 

they are now quite sure about is integrating 

the debt-to-income ratios, or DTI’s, within 

the next 12 months. 

I’ve fielded a lot of calls from those in my 

network over the last month or so, concerned 

about the upcoming changes from a lending 

perspective, and I think there is also a lot of 

confusion about what DTI’s actually mean. 

So what are DTI’s? 

Essentially this refers to the ratio of money 

you can borrow with respect to your income, 

and it’s looking like this will be set at seven 

times overall income for owner occupiers, 

and six times overall income for investment 

property lending. This means the ratio of 

what you can borrow will differ slightly 

depending on whether you’re purchasing 

rental property or a place to live. 

Debt is counted as everything you owe 

(home lending, personal loans, credit cards), 

and income is your income from all sources, 

including business income and dividends. 

On that simple basis owner occupiers 

would need $100,000 income for a loan 

of $600,000 and investors $100,000 for a 

$700,000 loan. 

But as they often are, the banks are already 

one step ahead with their servicing calculators 

and the lending credit policy already in place 

to protect downside risk. Modelling has 

been going on in the background for several 

years since debt-to-income ratios were first 

discussed, and most banks have kept this in 

mind when developing their requirements. 

We’ve done some work around what this 

actually means for borrowers, because it 

seems there are numbers been thrown around 

left right and centre, and when uncertainty 

arises, it’s always useful to have some solid 

foundations to fall back on. 

For owner-occupiers (first home buyers, 

anyone buying and selling and owning a 

single property), bank calculations are 

already setting a ceiling at 15-25 per cent less 

than a DTI would dictate. 

For investors (multiple property owners), 

they’re already 25-30 per cent lower than 

they would be able to borrow if DTI’s were 

imposed today. 

This effectively means there will be very 

little impact of DTI’s on the existing levels 

of borrowing, due to current serviceability 

restrictions and bank policy requirements. 

It’s worth noting this may change as 

interest rates drop, lending policy evolves 

and bank modelling indicates variance in 

overall lending rates, but for now, there will 

be few, if any changes to what people can 

actually borrow when looking to purchase a 

new home. 

So, in a nutshell, DTI’s are unlikely to 

have a large effect on property values and 

the market as a whole, but even so, we’ll be 

keeping a close eye on these changes and how 

they affect borrowers across the longer term. 

And we’ll soon find out from the Reserve 

Bank whether there’s really a wolf in NZ’s 

financial landscape, or if the warnings of the 

committee for the past few months have been 

enough. 

• Claire Williamson is a mortgage advisor 

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ADVERTORIAL 

Latest Occupancy Figures 

– The Good, The Bad and 

The Rest 

OPINION 

Now is the time 

to talk By EWAN WILSON 

The latest commercial and 

industrial occupancy surveys 

to the end of December 2023 

is undertaken on a bi-annual/ 

annual basis in a partnership between 

CBRE Research and NAI Harcourts. 

Industrial 

Monitored industrial building stock 

in Hamilton reached 2,124,000sqm, 

following 57,700sqm of new supply 

reaching completion in the twelve 

months to December 2023. 

Industrial vacancy has increased 

from 1.2% at the end of 2022 to 1.6% 

in December last year, 

representing less than 

35,000sqm of physically 

vacant and available 

space, with over half of 

this vacant stock located 

in Frankton. 

The vacancy increase 

from a low 1.2% to a 

less constrained 1.6% 

is predominantly a 

result of the significant 

increase in the number 

of small industrial unit 

developments across the 

survey areas. 

Softer economic 

conditions are weighing on the future 

development/supply pipeline. Our 

2023 survey shows approximately 

24,200sqm of planned industrial 

projects, less than the 52,000sqm 

recorded in the previous year’s survey. 

The growth in Hamilton’s industrial 

sector has seen pressure on rental 

growth with new building warehouse 

rentals growing by some 10% to 15%. 

Part of the increase is due to higher 

land costs, materials and construction 

cost increases and in a number of 

cases, competition between tenants 

for the same space. 

Office 

Overall office vacancy in the Hamilton 

CBD decreased by 0.6% to 9.5% in 

December 2023. This is reflected 

in vacant stock decreasing by 

1,280sqm and occupied stock 

increasing by 4,100sqm. 

Vacancy in Grade A is 

essentially stable, with a minor 

movement from 1.5% 

to 1.4% in the second 

half of 2023 due to 

occupied new build 

stock additions. 

In B Grade, 

vacancy is also relatively stable, 

shifting from 7.7% to 7.8%, while Grade 

C vacancy decreased from, 14.7% to 

14.0%. 

Grade D vacancy was more 

significant, moving from 10.5% to 9.4% 

and finally Grade E experienced a small 

decrease in vacancy from 19.7% to 

19.5%. In percentage terms this grade 

continues to have the highest vacancy 

rate. 

Work environments and culture 

remain key drivers for businesses 

and their staff. We believe that 

occupier demand for high-quality 

office accommodation will remain 

strong, with businesses evaluating 

their growth opportunities outside 

of Auckland and government entities 

from Wellington. 

While hybrid working and more 

employee flexibility is here to stay, 

focus is shifting back to the office as a 

primary place of work. 

Retail 

The CBD retail vacancy rate 

increased over the second 

half of 2023, moving from 

7.9% in June 2023 to 8.9% in 

December 2023. 

The total amount of 

vacant space has increased 

from 6,342 sqm to 7,145 

sqm, with a small decrease 

in secondary grade, a 

decrease in tertiary grade, 

and a large increase prime 

grade vacant stock with the 

departure of JB Hi-Fi from 

Barton Street, being 1,476sqm. 

The impact of inflation, rising 

interest rates, and a difficult trading 

environment over the course of 2023 

have pushed vacancy up by 280 basis 

points. 

Quarterly (seasonally adjusted) retail 

sales values released by Statistics NZ 

for the Waikato region show that after 

three consecutive quarters of declining 

sales values reflective of tough 

economic and weather conditions, 

these factors are now less of an impact 

than inflation. Retail is expected to face 

challenges over the next 6-9 months, 

as mortgage rates and increased 

employment uncertainty impact on 

household spending. 

For your copy of the latest 

Hamilton Industrial, CBD Office or 

CBD Retail Surveys, please email 

hamilton@naiharcourts.co.nz 

It is my belief that Hamilton residents are not 

getting enough value out of Hamilton Airport, 

either financially or in terms of the service it 

provides them. Nor in recent years have they 

been given the courtesy of appropriate visibility 

or consultation over the airport’s strategic 

planning. 

The airport’s strategic future is at a 

crossroads and right now is the moment to 

have a conversation over what should happen 

next. 

This urgency is driven by two factors. 

The first is that last year Hamilton Airport 

Company directors made a unilateral decision 

to surrender a long-running resource consent 

which would allow them to lengthen the 

airport’s runway to accommodate more 

international flights. 

Since 2011 the airport has had 16 hectares 

of land designated for a potential runway 

extension, protecting the land from other 

development in case a runway extension 

was needed. This decision to let the resource 

consent lapse, which was made without 

appropriate consultation with any of its 

shareholding councils, appears at least partially 

due to the company not wanting to disrupt its 

own significant property development projects 

around the airport which in recent years have 

generated most of its income. 

The airport directors also received so-called 

independent advice from aeronautical 

experts. My concern about that is that the 

same consultants were also advising Auckland 

Airport and the last thing that airport would 

want to see is an international competitor just 

an hour down the road. If the proposal to 

lengthen the runway is permanently shelved, 

Hamilton Airport’s future is forever limited by 

the current runway length. 

Secondly, Hamilton finances are under more 

pressure than at any time in the city’s history. 

Ratepayers are staring down the barrel of a 19.9 

per cent rate rise and the city is $860m in debt. 

Historically Hamilton City Council invested $7 

million for its 50 per cent share in the airport. 

The airport asset is now valued at around $230 

million and if there was ever a time when 

Hamilton should be gaining some value out of 

its shareholding – it is now. Instead, the best 

the airport company could offer the city with 

in its last annual dividend was $250,000. Not 

good enough. 

Here’s my suggestion. The decision to 

surrender the runway resource consent needs 

to be urgently revisited and Hamilton City 

Council should be looking to sell between 10 

per cent and 15 per cent of its shares – possibly 

more. My reasons for suggesting this are that 

there could be significant opportunities for 

Hamilton Airport should it have a commercially 

minded shareholder in the mix. Why? Because 

Auckland Airport is under severe stress. It is 

at loggerheads with airlines over hiking its 

fees to finance an $8 billion upgrade of its 

infrastructure. 

What opportunities could there be for 

Hamilton Airport if it took on a commercial 

shareholder, lengthened its runway and then 

positioned itself as a competitor, just an hour 

down the road? While approved in principle, 

there is still time to re-think the runway plan 

but now is the time for a conversation. 

And there may well be other factors motivating 

a council move to sell off shares. How about the 

opportunity to pay off some debt and lessen the 

load on long suffering ratepayers? The spotlight 

on Hamilton City Council’s financial woes has 

sharpened in recent months. Why not have 

another discussion about selling shares? And 

while we’re at, it let’s get the public involved in 

the runway decision. 

This is our airport and the community 

deserves to be involved in the discussion. 

• Ewan Wilson is a Hamilton City Councillor 

TALKING ECONOMICS 

What economists 

really think 

By PETER NICHOLL 

I attended an economics conference at 

Waikato University on February 15 and 16. 

The topics discussed included the future 

of agriculture, the state of the health sector, 

demographic changes, the tax system, social 

investment, trade in a divided world, monetary 

policy, Treasury and the state of the books, 

unclogging the infrastructure arteries, climate 

change and the future of Fintech. 

All big issues. Clearly economists believe they 

have something useful to say about everything. 

I am an economist. I think economists are 

justified in having that view. However, the 

mistake a lot of economists make is that they 

think economists are the only ones who have 

anything useful to say on many issues. That is 

never the case. Debates on all economic and 

policy issues are always improved by hearing a 

wide range of views. 

There were many interesting points made 

at the conference – but also a lot of alarming 

ones. As economics is often called the gloomy 

science, I will give some of the points I found 

alarming. 

The Reserve Bank is oblivious to the 

enormous negative impacts of their low 

interest rate and quantitative easing policies. 

Inflation has been above their target range for 

11 quarters (and will be for at least three more), 

their quantitative easing policies will end up 

costing the country at least $12 billion (and 

one speaker said the policy had delivered no 

demonstrable benefits). Despite these terrible 

outcomes, the Reserve Bank has congratulated 

itself and intends to keep these instruments in 

its policy arsenal to use again. 

Government expenditure ratchets up 

dramatically when there is a crisis. That is 

usually appropriate. New Zealand’s problem 

in recent times is that it has only come back 

slightly when the economy improved. 

When government expenditure rises rapidly 

in response to a crisis, the quality of the 

expenditure gets forgotten. 

Government agencies are often chasing 

accounting targets rather than focusing on the 

impacts and outcomes they achieve. 

We are told now that NZ has an infrastructure 

deficit of at least $200 billion. This gap hasn’t 

suddenly developed. It’s been building up 

for decades. Why didn’t economists (and 

politicians) see it and start talking about it 

much earlier? 

New Zealand has got very bad at getting 

things built. Big projects require vision, 

leadership and perseverance. We now have 

little vision, little leadership and has frequent 

changes rather than perseverance. 

The Reserve Bank’s operational expenditure 

rose by 137% over the last six years. This 

was at the same time as the Reserve Bank 

was lecturing people on the importance of 

constraining expenditure in order to reduce 

inflationary pressures. It was certainly a case 

of the Reserve Bank saying ‘do what I say, not 

do as I do’.


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‘We need a 100 year plan’ 

Commerce follows arterial routes and that was illustrated last month when the Northern Infrastructure Forum 

met at Hautapu alongside the Waikato Expressway. Senior writer Mary Anne Gill was there. 

Strength in numbers and 

consistency in messaging 

have been identified as 

the key requirements for a new 

group which wants to advocate 

for the upper North Island on 

infrastructure issues. 

The Northern Infrastructure 

Forum – which describes itself as 

a voice for the upper North Island 

– drew business and transport 

representatives from Northland, 

Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s 

Bay and Waikato in Cambridge last 

month. 

The venue was C & R 

Developments in Hautapu which 

has grown rapidly as a business 

and commercial district since the 

Waikato Expressway opened and 

following Waipā District Council’s 

change to its District Plan enabling 

more industrial development there. 

Waikato Chamber of Commerce 

hosted the forum which was 

established by the Auckland 

Business Chamber last year. 

Waikato chief executive Don 

Good told attendees once-in-a 

generation decisions had arrived. 

“We want connected decisionmaking; 

we want the North Island 

connected.” 

The forum would need to lobby 

government and councils for 

a comprehensive North Island 

expressway network and each 

member would have to be as excited 

about a road in Kerikeri as in their 

own region. 

“Think NZ Inc,” he said. 

There had been heavy 

politicisation of infrastructure in 

the past and for things to change, a 

30-year plan had to be put in place 

Taking it in at the Northern Infrastructure forum were from left: Chris Webb (Chris Webb Contracting), Peter Nation (NZ 

Fieldays Society), Roger Gordon (Waipa District Council), Jacqui Church (Waikato District Council mayor), Robert Dol 

(Colliers), Pamela Storey (Waikato Regional Council), Mark Morgan (Waikato Regional Airport), Cathy Balvert (Morrinsville 

Chamber of Commerce), Jimmy Ormsby (Waitomo Energy). 


and that plan was not just about 

tinkering and fixing potholes. 

The forum comprises members 

from Northland, Auckland, Waikato 

and Bay of Plenty but membership 

needed to be expanded to broaden 

the focus from Auckland to include 

the whole of the upper North 

Island where 65 per cent of New 

Zealanders live, he said. 

The cost to join the forum is 

$7500 a year for medium 

enterprises, small businesses, 

chambers and not for profits and 

$20,000 for larger corporates. 

The fee would support proactive, 

sustained, impactful research and 

advocacy programmes, the forum’s 

presentation said. 

By becoming a voice for upper 

North Island infrastructure, it 

would be a think tank rather than 

a lobby group. It would hold local 

and central government to account 

without jeopardising political 

relationships. 

Forum coordinator Barney 

Irvine said research the 

group commissioned last year 

illustrated the economic benefits 

of the Cambridge to Piarere 

and Warkworth to Wellsford 

Expressway developments. 

The research conducted by the 

New Zealand Institute of Economic 

Research (NZIER) showed that if 

those roads went ahead, they would 

contribute almost $1 billion to New 

Zealand’s gross domestic product 

every year. 

The Cambridge portion 

would be $487 million and the 

Warkworth one $497 million. 

Long term improvements included 

reduced travel time, greater 

freight efficiencies, fewer travel 

disruptions and improved access 

for regional economies connected 

by the corridors. 

“But if we want a highway 

network to withstand the beating 

that took place a year ago (flooding 

and Cyclone Gabrielle), we need a 

100-year plan,” said Irvine. 

The government was prepared to 

listen to groups like the forum and 

was open to public-private funding 

options, said Good “because they’ve 

got no money.” 

Hawke’s Bay Chamber of 

Commerce chief executive Karla 

Lee said her region realised the 

importance of working together last 

year. “That’s when we were made 

an island.” 

In advocating to Government 

and opposition parties after the 

cyclone and flooding, Hawke’s 

Bay businesses stuck to the main 

subject which remained the same – 

roading and infrastructure. 

By acting as one body, their 

messaging became stronger, she 

said. 

Other research the forum wants 

to look at in the next 12-18 months 

include congestion charging – a 

way to ease congestion by charging 

road users at various times or 

locations – alternative funding and 

financing, an upper North Island 

highway strategy and electricity 

infrastructure. 

Waikato mayor Jacqui Church 

welcomed the forum saying the 

country of five million people 

needed to get over themselves and 

make a 100-year strategic plan. 

As an example, decarbonisation 

of the vehicle fleet would drive 

electricity demand and it was 

uncertain whether the country 

could cope. 

Roading, water, growth and 

energy all go together as priorities, 

she said. 

Northland Chamber of 

Commerce president Tim Robinson 

said chambers were able to bring 

more value if they did so together. 

“If we’re divided, we won’t get 

what we want.” 

Strawberry fields – not forever 

We look at the path followed by 

Meta Tyrell in setting up the LM4 

business recruitment group. 

It was picking strawberries 

more than two decades 

ago that led to Meta 

Tyrell’s foray into business 

and the success of a 

recruitment businesses. 

In her early years, she had 

a career in real estate, but 

the demanding nature of the 

industry took a toll on her. 

She switched to horticulture, 

initially picking strawberries, 

and it led to the establishment 

of a family business. 

Tyrell began assembling 

a team of pickers for 

horticultural jobs and it grew 

to be 37-strong, primarily 

comprising people from 

Pacific communities. 

The idea for a recruitment 

business emerged after an 

older member of her picking 

crew began struggling to 

complete tasks. Tyrell started 

to explore opportunities for 

full-time employment beyond 

seasonal picking work. 

It marked the beginning 

of her foray into recruitment, 

focusing on helping Māori 

and Pacific people secure fulltime 

roles. 

She approached 

businesses to build 

relationships and eventually 

helped 34 out of her 37 crew 

members find full-time jobs. 

But the project failed and 

she voluntary bankruptcy 

and sought husband Lesa’s 

assistance to establish Alignz 

Recruitment. His finance 

and accounting background 

was a valuable contribution 

to the business and they 

navigated a challenging 

financial period, learning 

about charge-out rates and 

profitability. 

“There were huge lessons 

learnt along the way. But 

ultimately, we wanted to 

carry on finding pathways 

into work for people,” Tyrell 

said. “So, when I talked to 

my clients all of them came 

over to Alignz; they valued 

the relationship we had with 

them and believed in me.” 

She says it’s those people 

who, when they run into 

her in the supermarket, 

are thankful. Many are still 

working in the same places 

and have been promoted 

The LM4 group, from left, Analisa Misa, Myka Asiata, Isabella Tyrell, Aliitaeao (TJay) Asiata, Felila Feausi, Meta Tyrell, Steven Misa, 

Lesa Tyrell, Alana Tyrell, Lua Sao, Sam Nonoa. 

along the way. 

Three years ago, her third 

child, TJay Asiata, returned 

to New Zealand and took on 

the role of chief executive. He 

set about restructuring Alignz 

and formed LM4 Group, 

overseeing subsidiaries 

Alignz Recruitment, Puatala, 

which delivers industry skills 

training, and Oyonnx, which 

helps build capabilities of 

SMEs. He also did his Master 

of Business Administration. 

LM4 Group now has offices 

in Hamilton, Auckland, 

Tauranga, Christchurch, 

plans to expand to Wellington 

and has opened an office in 

Apia, Samoa. 

“It hasn’t been the easiest 

ride, but we’re so proud of the 

growth of LM4 Group. And 

we want other Pasifika and 

Māori businesses to know 

they’re capable of doing some 

innovative projects that are 

making a meaningful impact 

on the lives of the people we 

train, put into jobs, and help 

grow their businesses,” Asiata 

says. 

Tyrell’s journey was 

recognised with the 2023 

Legacy Award from the 

Waikato Pacific Business 

Network. 

“I really encourage Pasifika 

and Māori businesses to take 

the leap, to give it a go in 

business,” she says. 

LM4 Group, “100 per 

cent Samoan-owned and 

operated” has more than 

450 contractors, almost 50 

full time staff and almost 100 

clients at Oyonnx. 

• Supplied copy.


15 

BUSINESS SHOWCASE 

An innovative tour to celebrate 20 years 

When building is in your DNA, it’s no surprise it’s not just 

great homes that are constructed along the way. 

Urban Homes, Waikato’s most awarded building company, celebrates its 20th 

anniversary this year and managing director Daniel Klinkenberg says he’s amazed 

at what’s been achieved when looking back. 

“My wife Bronwyn [Bronni] and I started back in 2004, newly married, out of our 

home office with a van, tools and a dog basically. 

“I am a builder by trade and in that first year, we had one apprentice and were doing 

mainly renovation work.” 

It wasn’t long though, before they broke into the new builds and the highs and lows 

of construction that come with that. 

“The GFC that arrived in 2008/09 really hit construction hard at the time and taught 

us a lot about the importance of having robust systems and process that certainly 

helped us prepare for future growth.” 

Urban Homes has won multiple awards in the prestigious Registered Master 

Builders House of the Year competition, across many of its categories, making it the 

most awarded builder in the Waikato. 

In addition, in 2022, it was awarded the national Platinum Award, which is an award 

presented to any company which has won more than five National awards – the first 

time any Waikato builder has done so. 

“We were pretty chuffed with that, to be honest; it was a testament to the hard work 

and drive our team has consistently put into what we do since we started.” 

The laurels don’t stop there. 

Deloitte Fast 50 is an award given to businesses which are recognised by the 

international chain as strong emergers and for Urban Homes, its award was given in 

the category which showed sustained strength year after year. 

It’s not surprising. Daniel and his team have continually striven to think outside the 

square when it comes to providing full service to their clients no matter what they 

might be wanting. 

As well as offering full home and land packages, there is also the ability for clients 

to come in and discuss requirements that involve having their own land – or wanting 

to build on land we own. 

“A client might also want a fully customised home with very specific features,” 

Daniel says. This is where our experienced team of designers and consultants really 

comes to life. 

Over the years this has seen Urban Homes develop and hone an industry leading 

design and build service that not only offers a wide variety of available plans that 

can be adjusted, but a full architectural design, selection and build service which can 

bring a client’s dream home to fruition. 

In 2020, the Klinkenbergs opened StudioU. This immersive, industry leading, stateof-the-art 

design centre takes inspiration to the next level. Located at Urban Homes 

HQ in Hamilton this interactive space has been designed with you in mind. From 

kitchen appliances to exterior claddings, from tapware to tiles, you can experience, 

hands-on, all the elements which make a house a home. “We have always been 

passionate about the client journey and StudioU certainly provides an exciting and 

enjoyable experience which I know our clients love.” Daniel says. 

“Building a home can be quite a daunting process, but by having everything 

available on display in one innovative space, combined with knowledgeable staff on 

hand, makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable for our clients.” 

To celebrate Urban Homes 20-year anniversary, Daniel and Bronni want to do 

something they believe reflects its community commitment throughout the Waikato 

and Coromandel. 

“Urban has long supported the children’s charity True Colours,” Daniel says. True 

Colours supports children with serious health conditions and their families. We 

have partnered with the amazing team at True Colours for several years now and 

so we thought what better way to celebrate then to organise an event that not only 

showcases some of the many amazing properties we have constructed over the 

years but also helps support True Colours. 

So, on Friday May 3, we are hosting the Urban Homes 20 Year Celebration Tour. 

For one day only we will be opening 10 stunning homes we have built over the years 

for people to come and have a look through and to gain insights and inspirations on 

what can be achieved,” he says. 

The homes that have been selected all showcase great ideas and ways a home can 

be made to be the heart of a family. 

“I am impressed at how well these homes have stood up to the rigours of family life 

over the years – the oldest one was built over 15 years ago. 

“The homes are open from 10am until 4pm and will be manned by a combination 

of our staff and our good friends at Lugton’s and other sponsors to help field any 

questions people may have,” Daniel says. 

Tickets will cost $50, must be pre-purchased and can be done so by going to 

urban.co.nz/celebration-tour. All proceeds go to True Colours. 

For Daniel and Bronni the tour showcases what lies at the heart of their business – 

long term commitment to the future. 

Urban Homes’ solid base continues its growth trajectory with the news that a new 

franchise model is being implemented in the Waikato and Coromandel in April and 

later this year into the Bay of Plenty and South Auckland. 

“We’ve got 20 years of consistent proven experience, awards, and innovative 

thinking behind us. It’s just a natural next step process,” Daniel says. 

urban.co.nz/celebration-tour | 0800 MY URBAN | sales@urban.co.nz


Aimlessly tossing and turning 

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in 

the Chinese lunar calendar and there was no way Alan 

Chew from Houston Technology was going to miss the 

opportunity to celebrate. Senior writer Mary Anne Gill 

was there with 100 other ‘movers and shakers’. 

The dress code to Alan 

Chew’s annual Chinese 

New Year celebrations 

was to wear something you 

didn’t mind getting messed 

up. 

Come prepared with 

non-stainable clothing, the 

invitation said. 

Held at the Canton 

Hong Kong restaurant last 

month, the event marked 

the beginning of the Year 

of the Dragon. Guests 

included Hamilton mayor 

Paula Southgate, deputy 

mayor Angela O’Leary, 

Waikato Regional Council 

chair Pamela Storey, city 

councillor Tim Macindoe 

on the eve of his election, 

National Party MPs Ryan 

Hamilton and Tama Potaka 

as well as other business, 

community and cultural 

leaders. 

Their collective admiration 

for Chew - who came from 

Malaysia to Hamilton 

50 years ago to study 

management at Waikato 

University and from 

1986 built an innovative 

technology company - and 

the opportunity to abandon 

etiquette and flick food 

around - saw yet another 

great turnout. 

The highlight came with 

the ‘Yee Sang Ceremony’ 

when guests aimlessly 

tossed fresh, raw salmon 

with a salad of many fresh 

plant ingredients and a 

dressing. 

Yee Sang stands for raw 

fish and in a culture steeped 

in tradition and good luck 

omens, raw fish was chosen 

because the word ‘raw’ is a 

homonym for ‘alive’. The 

ceremony symbolises the 

rejuvenation of whatever the 

participants wish to give new 

life to. 

The ceremony involved 

the placement of the 

ingredients on a plate 

and then performing the 

‘loh sang’ which is where 

everyone chipped in to stir 

the ingredients. 

The more vigorously you 

stir the more prosperous 

your year will be. If that is the 

case, the people who tossed 

their food to the ceiling are in 

for a cracker of a year. 

The ceremony was 

followed by a 10-course 

banquet prepared by a 

Chinese chef who has won 

international awards and 

included signature dishes 

like authentic Peking Duck, 

prawns with salted egg yolk 

and deep-fried sesame balls 

with ice cream. 

“Embracing cultural 

diversity is essential for 

creating an inclusive 

community within the 

industry,” said Chew. 

“Waikato people had been 

very kind to me and helped 

me build my company 

which is celebrating its 38th 

birthday this year. 

“I have wanted to repay 

this generosity and feel that 

one very small way would be 

to bridge the cultures of the 

locals with that of the Asian 

Alan Chew with Hamilton deputy mayor Angela O’Leary, left, and mayor Paula Southgate, at the 

Chinese New Year. 


community.” 

There are an estimated 

50,000 Asians living in the 

Waikato yet there is a dearth 

of opportunities for locals to 

understand and experience 

their special cultural events 

and customs, he said. 

The inspiration for 

Chew’s innovativeness 

and hard work ethic came 

from his father who was 

born in Guangdong, China 

and moved to Hong Kong 

where he learned carpentry. 

From there he travelled to 

Singapore and then Kuala 

Lumpur where he helped 

build service stations for 

Americans, amassing enough 

money to send his son to 

New Zealand to further his 

education. 

Alan Chew has been 

recognised for identifying 

the significance of contact 

tracing during the Covid 

pandemic. 

He and the Houston 

team devised an innovative 

tech-based solution: a userfriendly 

QR code system 

for contact tracing. While 

the eventual Covid app was 

developed separately by 

Rush Digital, the Health 

Ministry acknowledged 

Chew’s contributions to the 

QR code concept. 

Before the Yee Sang Ceremony: raw salmon with a salad of many fresh plant ingredients and a 

dressing. 

Classical without rules 

Classical music fans are in for a treat 

this month as three events come to the 

Cambridge Autumn Festival. 

Orchestras Central’s March 23-24 

programme starts with Comfortable 

easy to feel there are a lot of unspoken 

rules and that the music should be 

enjoyed in a certain way,” she said. 

“But our Comfortable Classical 

experience is all about creating a 

There will be a candlelight concert 

with the New Zealand musicians, 

Andrew Beer (violin), Luca Manghi 

(flute) and Samuel Brough (bassoon) 

presenting Vivaldi by Candlelight. 

Classical. Orchestra Centre chair welcoming and laid-back atmosphere, Rounding out the classical weekend, 

Catherine Gibson says of the concert: 

“We’re throwing out the rule book”. 

“Sometimes at a classical concert it’s 

where you can move to the music, sing 

along, or maybe even draw what you 

hear.” 

the Youth Orchestra Waikato will 

present a programme of orchestral 

classics and contemporary favourites. 

Youth Orchestra of Waikato perform at Cambridge Town Hall last year. 

After the Yee Sang Ceremony: food everywhere, including on clothes and the ceiling. 

Photo: Richard Lummus. 

Saluting the 

admin team 

A day to recognise 

administrative staff will be 

observed in April. 

AdmiNZ Waikato 

has delivered a series of 

professional development 

networking events over the 

past five years including The 

Power of Flow, Leadership 

Strategies, Change 

Management, Emotional 

Agility, Personal Efficiency, 

Building a Personal Brand 

and Public Speaking. 

Now it is gearing up for 

a breakfast to celebrate its 

members – ranging from 

receptionists to executive 

assistants – on what it has 

tagged Administrative 

Professionals’ Day on April 

24. 

“Over the years we have 

seen great support by 

local employers who give 

their administrators the 

opportunity to attend and 

celebrate; however, there are 

still many that are not aware 

of this local event,” recently 

appointed Executive Office 

Cris Armstrong said. 

“Face-to-face events 

provide an opportunity 

for all administrators to 

network with likeminded 

people and to grow 

connections, a key element 

to business success.” 

About 60 members 

are expected, and a guest 

speaker was being lined up 

as this edition went to press. 

The organisations has 

more than 400 members 

across the country. 

AdminNZ has two tickets 

to give away for the event. 

To be in the running email 

waikato@adminz.org.nz 

and put Waikato Business 

News in the subject line.


17

18 BALLOONS OVER WAIKATO 


An iconic event 

25 year Anniversary 

Balloons over Waikato is into 

its 25th year and for General 

Manager Michele Connell, who 

has spent 20 years with the 

event, the growth of it has been one of 

the most satisfying experiences. 

“A early ballooning event existed prior 

to the Trust, but when they looked likely 

to fold, the Trust that runs Balloons 

over Waikato was created and has been 

responsible for the event since October 

1999. 

“We wanted to ensure the event 

remained in Hamilton and the trust has 

done an admirable job in making that 

happen.” 

It has certainly done that, becoming 

one of Hamilton’s most iconic annual 

events, featuring on average between 

20 to 25 balloons each year, with a 

variety of different events culminating 

in the crowd favourite, the ZURU 

Nightglow at Claudelands and final night 

Sky City Hamilton fireworks. 

“We even managed to keep it going 

through Covid which was not an easy 

thing to do,” Michele says. 

She estimates the event touches 

around 100,000 people. 

“It’s not just those who physically 

come and see the balloons at the 

various sites around the city. It’s those 

who see them sailing past their window, 

or workplace, their neighbourhood or 

school. 

“One insurer told me though, that 

they also have their highest incidence of 

nose-to-tail crashes during the week as 

people look out up at the sky instead of 

on the road!” 

The event has an international flavour 

and usually has both American and 

Australian pilots joining in. 

“Most years we would have about 

five Australians attending, but this 

year there have been some budget 

constraints, so we have just the 

Americans coming with their special 

shaped balloons,” Michele says. 

Either way, the hundreds of 

thousands of metres of brightly 

coloured materials that make up the 

balloons that sail the skies over Waikato 

is always a week looked forward to by 

children and adults alike every autumn. 

$1000 Cash Grab 

Spectacular! 

Saturday 23rd March, 7am onwards 

Spend your Saturday morning amazed 

at the skills of the pilots as they attempt 

to win $1000 cash from the top of a pole. 

Visit the Radius Care tent for a free 

brekkie and blood pressure test. 

Proudly sponsored by 

Caring is our calling

Balloons over Waikato 2023 Programme of Events 


BALLOONS OVER WAIKATO 

19 


2024 PROGRAMME OF EVENTS 

Accenting autumn by balloon 

The beautiful colours of autumn 

are never more pronounced 

in Hamilton than the week of 

Balloons over Waikato. 

Starting on March 19, literally dozens 

of the giant hot air balloons will adorn 

the skies of Hamilton and it’s a great 

time to get the family up to see a sight 

that only comes once a year. 

Innes Common on the edges of Lake 

Rotoroa (Hamilton lake) is the place 

where all the action starts from 7am. 

There is nowhere better to see the 

balloons up close, inflate and fly off. 

Events on each day will include the 

Hamilton City Council Opening Fiesta, 

the Grassroots Trust Lift Off, WEL 

Energy Trust Muffins in the Morning, the 

First Credit Union Fun Friday, and 

the Radius Care Cash Grab on 

Saturday morning. 

The balloons will also 

pop up in other locations 

during the week. This 

includes the Love the 

Centre Walk Thru 

Balloon at Garden 

Place from 1pm – 

4pm on Saturday 

March 16, and again 

on Thursday March 21 from 4pm – 7pm. 

Waikato Sunrise Rotary will be running 

the walk thru balloon envelope where 

you can walk inside a real hot air balloon 

for a gold coin donation going to True 

Colours Children’s Health Trust. The 

trust is also giving you the chance to 

win some amazing prizes this way; you 

just scan the QR code on its fundraising 

poster, donate and you are in the draw 

to win. 

On Friday evening you have two 

great options. Either head to The Base 

in Te Rapa from 6pm to enjoy the hot 

and fiery Base Basket Burn to live 

music, or follow the balloons to Mighty 

River Domain, Lake Karapiro, when the 

balloons visit Waipa from 5pm – 8pm. 

Bring the family for dinner and enjoy 

ballooning fun as the sun goes 

down at both of these events. 

Saturday 16 March 

Love The Centre 

Walk Thru Balloon 

From 1pm – 4pm 

Garden Place 

Visit Garden Place for an 

amazing experience walking 

inside a real hot air balloon 

for a gold coin donation 

to True Colours Children’s 

Health Trust. There’ll be fun, 

music and entertainment 

helping kick off Balloons 

event week. 

Tuesday 19 March 

The Hamilton City Council 

Opening Fiesta 

From 7am approx. 

Innes Common, 

Hamilton Lake 

Don’t miss the first chance 

to see the balloons take to 

the sky! 

Wednesday 20 March 

Grassroots Trust Lift-Off 


Innes Common, 

Hamilton Lake 

Celebrate Day Two of 

our Festival with prizes & 

spectacular balloons. 

Thursday 21 March 

WEL Energy Trust Muffins 

in the Morning 


Innes Common, 

Hamilton Lake 

Bring the family and enjoy a 

complimentary muffin and 

some milk if you’re among 

the first hungry early birds. 

Love The Centre 

Walk-Thru Balloon 

4pm – 7pm 

Garden Place 

Make the most of late 

night in the CBD and visit 

Garden Place for an amazing 

experience walking inside a 

real hot air balloon for a gold 

coin donation to True Colours 

Children’s Health Trust. 

Friday 22 March 

First Credit Union Fun 

Friday 


Innes Common, 

Hamilton Lake 

Share in the fun with First 

Credit Union’s morning of 

games, prizes & balloon lift 

offs. 

Balloons Visit Waipā 

5pm – 8pm 

Mighty River Domain, 

Lake Karapiro 

Join us to celebrate the 

balloons coming to Lake 

Karapiro with food and 

entertainment for the whole 

family. 

The Base Basket Burn 

6pm – 7.45pm 

The Base, Te Rapa 

Come for dinner and enjoy 

live music, with our hot and 

fiery basket burn from 

7.15pm. 

Saturday 23 March 

Radius Care Cash Grab 


Innes Common, 

Hamilton Lake 

Be amazed by the skills of 

our pilots as they attempt 

to win $1,000 cash from the 

top of a pole. 

The ZURU Nightglow 

FREE Limited Ticketed Event 

4pm – 9pm 

Claudelands Oval 

Pre-Glow Mainstage Lineup 

5pm – 5.45pm: 

Steve & Kenny 

5.45pm – 6.45pm: 

Decibel 

6.45pm – 8pm: 

The Monroes 

The Glow Show 

8pm: Prepare to be thrilled 

as the balloons present the 

main event - a spectacularly 

stunning light and sound 

show, all choreographed 

to your favourite music. 

Followed by the spectacular 

SkyCity Hamilton Fireworks 

Extravaganza! 

Afterglow 

8.30pm – 9pm: 

Stay on to enjoy more music 

from The Monroes and more 

food and carnival rides! 

Don’t forget to pick up your Lodge Lost Kids bracelet, 

every morning at Innes Common or at the ZURU Nightglow. 

Note that all ballooning activities are weather-dependent.



Shaping history 


Hot air balloons have fascinated 

Kiwis since the arrival of the 

first one from America in 

January 1889 in Dunedin. 

‘Professor Baldwin’ as he was known, 

took to the skies in silent grandeur in 

a yellow oiled-silk balloon which was 

inflated by coal gas. This flight, the first 

of its kind in New Zealand, began trips 

by other touring American balloonists, 

and included as many women as it did 

men. 

The ‘aerialists’ as they were known, 

began with the at-times hazardous 

process of filling the balloon with hot 

air using coal fire, before performing 

acrobatic stunts on a trapeze suspended 

under the balloon, and usually ended 

with a death-defying parachute descent. 

Never known to be backward in 

being adventure adrenaline junkies even 

back then, intrepid New Zealanders 

were keen to give it a go. The first 

was David Mahoney (‘Captain Charles 

Lorraine’), who unfortunately drowned 

on November 2 1899 when he was 

caught out by a south-west change 

and his balloon ended up in the sea 

outside Lyttelton Harbour. Other early 

Kiwi balloonists included Bob Murie and 

Noah Ezra Jonassen. 

Times have since changes and 

modern day balloons are both much 

safer and are powered differently than 

they once were. 

From the early 1960s, nylon fabrics 

and butane burners gave the sport a 

serious rejig and in the next decade 

adventurers took to the skies across 

Cook Strait and over Aoraki/Mt Cook 

and the Southern Alps for the first time. 

While they used to be a standard 

round shape tapering toward the 

basket end, these days the brightly 

coloured balloons can be four to nine 

storeys high, and often take fantastic 

shapes such as giant animals and birds, 

buildings or cartoon characters. 

Two of the 20 balloons that will 

feature at this year’s Balloons over 

Waikato event are these. 

“We are looking forward to 

introducing you to Farmer Pig and Bila 

the Baby Polar Bear,” Event Manager 

Michele Connell says. 

The Farmer Pig is one of the world’s 

largest pigs standing at 36 metres tall 

and weighs 226 kgs and was built in 

2005 in Brazil. 

Indiana-based Jordan Cox is the 

pilot of Farmer Pig, is a private and 

commercial pilot, and has flown fly 

a few different shapes like a giant 

scarecrow and a one-eyed monster 

before purchasing Farmer Pig in 2020. 

The second special shaped balloon 

is Bila the Baby Polar Bear. She is a 

Kubicek and in Czech language, Bila 

means white. Pilot Doug Grime’s 

daughter came up with her name 

Bila, as her nana’s name was Beulah. 

Owned and operated by Doug and 

Patty Grimes from Albuquerque USA, 

both are commercial balloon pilots and 

owners of Discover Balloons, a balloon 

souvenir business. They spend their 

time travelling the US selling souvenirs 

at balloon events as well as flying one of 

their four special shape balloons. This 

is the third time they have attended 

Balloons over Waikato with one of their 

Special Shape Balloons. 

We’d love to see you. 

There’s always something to do, see, eat, drink and 

love when you visit Hamilton’s city centre. 

lovethecentre.co.nz 

Congratulations Balloons over Waikato for 25 years in the air.



21 

Congratulations 

on 25 years 

in the air 

Traffic’s expertise in traffic management is built from a solid 

reputation with our clients throughout New Zealand. Focusing on 

the best staff, uncompromising on quality of work and consistent 

efficiency, we enable our clients to get on with their project 

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The ZURU Nightglow 


For Balloons over Waikato, 

Hamilton’s biggest night out 

is The ZURU Nightglow at 

Claudelands Oval on Saturday 

March 23. 

For those of you with tickets, 

Claudelands gates will open from 4pm, 

where you can walk inside a real hot air 

balloon with the Walk Thru Balloon for 

a gold coin donation for the children’s 

charity, True Colours. 

30,000 tickets were snapped up by 

fans very quickly, but there is a Waitlist 

system available. For those people who 

secured tickets, but now no longer 

require them, they can release them 

back into our Waitlist pool to make 

them available for the many people 

who missed out and are keen to attend. 

Details on balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz 

There will be four hours of live 

entertainment on the main stage, 

starting at 5pm accompanied by carnival 

rides and games, plenty of food trucks, 

and stall vendors. 

This is all the lead to the highlight of 

the night – the well-known orchestrated 

hot air balloon glow, that lights up the 

night sky. 

In this, the 25th anniversary of one of 

Hamilton’s major iconic events, balloons 

of all shapes and sizes from all over the 

world will take part. 

This fantastic event culminates 

at 8pm with the SkyCity Hamilton 

Fireworks extravaganza. 

Organisers are also advising parents 

of youngsters not to forget the Lodge 

Lost Kids bracelets for the ZURU 

Nightglow, which can be collected at 

Innes Common during the week or at 

Claudelands on Saturday. 

You write your phone number on it, 

put it on your child’s wrist at the ZURU 

Nightglow, then if you and your child 

lose each other, you are easily contacted 

by the Lodge Lost Kids team. 

Parking 

There will be a number of full and partial 

road closures around Claudelands 

Oval from approximately 4pm – 11pm 

on Saturday March 23 for The ZURU 

Nightglow. 

Roads affected are Brooklyn Rd, 

Heaphy Tce, Boundary Rd, Thames St, 

Kitchener St, Stanley St, Oakley Ave, 

Piako St, O’Neill St and George St. 

PROUD TO SUPPORT THE 

BALLOONS OVER 

WAIKATO FESTIVAL 

For all your printing requirements 

0800 747 746 

sales@phprint.co.nz



23 

A full list can be found on the 

balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz website. 

Free parking will be available on 

surrounding streets where available 

and there is limited $5 public parking 

in Claudelands Park with access via 

Boundary Rd, while available. 

There will also be access via the 

Settlement Centre Waikato car park 

located at 46G Boundary Rd. 

Organisers suggest taking care when 

walking and suitable shoes are advised, 

as the ground is grassed and can be 

bumpy in some places and hard to see 

in the dark after the event. While some 

lighting is provided, we recommend 

bringing a torch for yourself to aid in the 

return to your car when it is dark. 

Car park will close at 8pm or once 

full. 

Disability parking will also be 

available on Claudelands Park for $5 

cash. If you display a disability permit 

please let the parking team know and 

they will direct you to the allocated 

parks close to the event. 

Scooter and bike parking will be 

available at Gate 3 off Brooklyn Rd. 

The best CBD walking route to take is 

across the Claudelands Bridge and then 

down O’Neill St to Heaphy Tce. 

SKYCITY HAMILTON IS THE 

IDEAL VENUE FOR YOUR NEXT 

CONFERENCE OR EVENT 

Proud to be 

a partner and 

celebrating 25 

years of Balloons 

over Waikato! 

WAIKATO 

ROOMS 

CONFERENCE 

CENTRE 

MARBLE 

ROOM 

We are the “Home of Entertainment”, conveniently located in the heart of Hamilton’s 

CBD. With multiple venue options, catering for up to 500 guests, chef-curated functions 

menus, 300 underground carparks, and several onsite dining and entertainment options, 

SkyCity Hamilton is the ideal location for your next event. 

Talk to our dedicated functions team about your conference and event requirements. 

346 Victoria Street, Hamilton hamilton.conferences@skycity.co.nz skycityhamilton.co.nz +64 7 834 4989



Fascinating balloon bits 


Hot air balloons today are fuelled 

by liquid propane or LPG 

carried in canisters: when the 

valves are opened, the gas is 

ignited by a burner under the envelope 

of the balloon. The hot air inside the 

envelope is lighter than the cold air 

outside it, causing the balloon to rise. 

Balloons can remain in the air for 

about two hours, depending on how 

much fuel they carry. Although they 

cannot be steered, the pilot can control 

the gas flow to descend or ascend 

and take advantage of wind 

currents. Once in flight, a 

balloon travels at the speed 

of the wind around it, so it 

is best to fly in light winds. 

Ground crew drive below 

the balloon to help it 

land and return it to its 

base. 

The sport of 

ballooning in New 

Zealand is governed by 

Civil Aviation Authority 

regulations, and local 

clubs are co-ordinated 

by the Balloon Aviation 

Association of New 

Zealand, established in 

1990. In 2020 a licence 

was required to pilot 

a balloon which carried 

passengers. 

To inflate a balloon, the 

envelope is stretched 

along the ground and 

attached to the basket, 

which is lying on its 

side. A petrol-powered 

fan blows air into the 

envelope and a burner 

is turned on, heating 

the air and causing 

the balloon to stand 

upright. 

The annual Balloons over 

Waikato festival started in 1999, 

taking over from a smaller event 

that had begun in 1988; the 

Wairarapa International Balloon 

Fiesta has been a regular event 

since 1999, and in 2005, Levin 

hosted a fiesta. Hawke’s Bay, 

Canterbury and Queenstown are 

also popular ballooning regions. 

Increasing numbers of tourists 

are taking to the air in balloons 

operated by adventure tourism 

companies. 

Sound and lighting you can count on nationwide for over 20 years. 

Congratulations to Balloons over Waikato. 25 years in the air. 

www.scottsound.co.nz 027 444 0073 scott@scottsound.co.nz



25 

Balloons over Waikato’s Event Team 

– Classic Events

26 REMARKABLE WOMEN 


Remarkable 

Women 

Over the past 28 

years each March we 

have profiled many 

Remarkable Women in 

the Waikato, alongside 

the rest of world who are 

celebrating International 

Women’s Day, on the 8 TH 

March 2024. 

We know you will 

once again be inspired 

by reading our 2024 

Remarkable Women 

profiles, discovering 

more about what has 

encouraged and enabled 

these women to excel in 

their chosen fields, along 

with how they can assist 

your business to grow 

and excel. 

If you see an opportunity 

for these Women to 

assist your business, 

they look forward to 

your call. 

ADVERTORIAL 

A remarkable vocation 

By helping and supporting 

families in their time of 

loss and grief, by relieving 

them of much of the burden 

as possible when they are most 

vulnerable, Ana-Maria Richardson 

says she and fellow funeral director 

Riki Dodunski of Ana-Maria Funeral 

Services don’t consider themselves as 

remarkable women. 

“It is about listening, compassion, 

empathy, trust, guidance, assuring 

families you will take good care of 

their loved one with dignity and 

respect, and carrying out their 

wishes.” 

“Riki and I both knew funeral 

directing was our calling.” 

Ana-Maria has many years’ 

experience as a funeral director, and 

Riki says she was privileged to join a 

few years ago. 

“For us it is a vocation in life, we 

are both honoured and privileged 

to be entrusted with the care of a 

loved one, and be able to gently 

guide and support their family to 

help create the right farewell, backed 

by our knowledge of the diversity 

of cultures and the different cultural 

sensitivities.” 

The Spanish Art Deco funeral home 

with its family home orientation at 82 

Grey Street in Hamilton is a heritage 

property. It is warm, welcoming 

and friendly with its ambience of 

tranquillity and peace, that is often 

commented upon. 

“I believe this is the ideal 

environment for bereaved families, 

it is what they want and need,” Ana 

says. 

Ana-Maria Richardson and Riki 

Dodunski say they are honoured to be 

entrusted with the care of loved ones. 

Ana-Maria Funeral Services is a 

family-owned, registered Funeral 

Home and a Member of the FDANZ 

operating within its professional and 

high standards. 

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an 

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Sandpit days lead to high-end career for Hannah 

ADVERTORIAL 

A 

When a young Hannah 

Julian showed more than 

the usual obsession with 

sandpits and volcanoes, 

her parents should have known there 

was a passion brewing in their daughter. 

That passion went on to become 

Hannah’s obsession and career. Earth 

science and all it entails is the very stuff 

that courses through her veins, but 

it’s the way she has crafted her career 

that makes this 30-year-old particularly 

remarkable. 

Hannah is a resource management 

planner and pedologist in Cheal 

Consultants’ Hamilton office. For 

the uninitiated, a pedologist is a 

soil scientist who analyses soil in its 

undisturbed, natural state so as to 

classify it and study its formation. 

It’s a dual role that effectively links 

two normally separate functions – 

that of planner, and of soil scientist. 

She started at Cheal as a planner in 

2017, then moved into LUC (land use 

capability) a couple of years ago. 

“It’s a great balance, one that means 

I get to do the outdoor-based field work 

that I have always enjoyed, as well as 

the planning side where I’m helping find 

creative solutions, completing resource 

consents, dealing with councils and 

the like. That has helped me develop 

a different set of people skills,” she 

laughed. “It’s almost like having two 

different parts of my brain working 

… one the scientific side, the other a 

more creative, solutions-based side. I 

find that diversity, that counterbalance 

Hannah Julian in her happy place – out and about in the fields as a soil scientist. 

really drives me. Now I just want to 

keep pushing, learning and exploring as 

much as I possibly can.” 

The excitement Hannah brings to her 

job is palpable, and it started early. 

Born and raised in Tauranga, she 

completed a MSc (Tech) majoring 

in Earth Sciences in early 2016, 

adding a raft of linked topics to her 

original interest in geology, including 

volcanology, soils, resource and hazard 

management, environmental planning 

and project management … winning 

numerous awards as she went. She 

then completed a thesis focusing on 

the volcanological interpretation of 

the Owharoa and Waikino ignimbrites 

found within the wider Waihi region and 

Bay of Plenty. 

The goal, she says, was a career 

in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 

either here or abroad. The postgraduation 

follow-through was to 

Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Station 

as an environmental assistant focusing 

on Regional Council compliance and 

environmental mitigation, then to Cheal 

Consultants in Rotorua as a planner. 

“I came in to Cheal as a planner and 

found I enjoyed it more than I thought I 

would,” she says. “When I moved to the 

Hamilton office, they let me pursue that 

along with my earth sciences role. I’m 

very lucky to be able to fulfil that dual 

function … it offers a very efficient way 

of working, but it is quite unusual.” 

When not out on the land or 

wrestling with complicated paperwork, 

Hannah enjoys life with her dog. 

Unsurprisingly, they enjoy being 

outdoors and often go hiking in their 

down time. 

Hannah reckons she landed the job 

at Cheal in Hamilton at the perfect 

time. Land use capability (LUC) was 

really taking off amid a growing focus 

on primary production in the Waikato. 

It meant her unusual skillset and range 

of interests were a uniquely good fit, 

and she’s very grateful that the team at 

Cheal ‘let her loose’ … albeit with the 

support of her soil mentor. 

“This isn’t a very popular field for 

women, but I’ve always been fascinated 

by the way the earth’s systems work. 

I’m extremely lucky in my role at Cheal 

… I don’t just handle the scientific, 

technical side of things, but I am able 

to drive projects forward, almost to 

the end of the line if I want to. That’s 

rare, and I’m deeply appreciative for the 

opportunity.” 

Level 1/533 Anglesea Street, 

Hamilton Central, 

Phone: 07 858 4564 

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REMARKABLE WOMEN 

Where empathy meets recruitment 

ADVERTORIAL 

27 

e 

. 

L 

The many parts that make up 

Karen Tan are also what makes 

her remarkable, that ensure she 

stands tall among her peers. 

She has built a suite of transferable 

skills across various sectors, and now 

willingly takes up the challenge on 

behalf of others, particularly migrants 

and youth - with whom she shares a 

special empathy. 

Karen, who has a Bachelor’s degree 

in Applied Business Management and 

a PhD in Economics, has split her three 

decades of working life across NGOs 

and her own international recruitment 

business. None of it has been easy, 

but Karen is committed, driven and 

empathetic, a combination not always 

found in the specialist recruitment 

world. 

Her own Filipino heritage has gifted 

her with a unique understanding of 

what it means to find ‘home’ in a place 

not linked to family origins, but she 

believes equal opportunities exist for 

those willing to integrate and immerse 

themselves in the Kiwi way of life. Her 

comprehensive skillset has broadened 

the way she delivers that knowledge 

to the individuals and communities 

needing it, and no-one whose life she 

touches is not better for it. 

Karen is the founder of a startup 

Hamilton-based company called 

Need4Skills, a recruitment and 

migrant settlement company that is 

much more than its name suggests. 

While it focuses primarily on Filipino 

recruitment, the family-based business betterment 

handles a wide cross section of 

of all through 

international and national recruitment employment, 

across numerous sectors. 

regardless of where 

More than that, through its sidekick they have come 

operation The Filipino Connection, it from. “Everyone 

steers several community-led initiatives has something to 

to help migrants and their families contribute. We all have 

settle. It offers careers guidance and skills to offer … we can 

counselling, helps craft educational achieve anything with 

pathway plans, makes sure migrants the right support and 

know how to handle New Zealand’s HR mentorship.” 

requirements, and provides information With Karen’s tough and 

and guidance for families to adapt to structured work ethic established 

the New Zealand way of life. It also early, she went on to work across 

supports the most sensitive areas of a a range of industries. She found 

migrant’s new life, liaising and advising herself particularly drawn to the 

across the NZ Police, Oranga Tamariki, challenges found in the mental health 

schools, health, social support services and disability sectors where she worked 

and more. 

for years, assisting people into work 

“I am always aware that for migrants preparation and work brokerage, and 

to do well in their jobs, they need to feel where she increasingly realised that any 

settled here,” she says, “and to do that, able-bodied person could achieve and 

they need to grow roots in this country progress. 

by earning it and ensuring that they fully She then worked with local 

integrate and contribute to our society. youth, handling various regional 

“We do a lot of extra things to 

apprenticeships, has run large teams, 

make that happen, things many other coached, mentored and advocated for 

recruitment companies don’t. Pastoral those in need. 

care and settlement is a large part of 

Karen says a huge part of her belongs 

our end-to-end service delivery. We go 

to Waikato locals, the people she will 

above and beyond for our new and older 

continue to serve well. As it looks 

migrants by assisting them through to 

their residency pathway, guiding and 

mentoring their partners, wives and 

children to settle with them. We treat 

each other like family. We stay together.” 

SUBARU 

Karen’s passion is ensuring the 

A team of remarkable women 

Karen Tan is one of those 

rare people – a successful 

entrepreneur with heart. 

ahead, Need4Skills 

will increasingly 

incorporate their 

market knowledge 

and expertise into 

giving back to the 

local community and 

the wider region 

through work-ready 

preparations 

and local 

recruitment, focusing again on youth 

unemployment. Karen is determined 

to set and maintain balance in the 

workforce, particularly where there 

is an abundance of skills around New 

Zealand. 

During the seven or so years she 

worked in the NGO environment, 

she formed solid relationships with 

various stakeholders in the community, 

liaising and networking with reputable 

community organisations that 

shared the same goal – to lift Waikato 

unemployment rates and help people 

get the right assistance and mentorship. 

For more information, 

visit www.needforskills.co.nz 

ADVERTORIAL 

ALL SUMMER 

, 

t 

d 

l 

e 

In one of the last bastions of a – 

usually – male-dominated world, 

Winger Motors in Hamilton stands 

out. 

Women these days make their own 

decisions when it comes to buying their 

own cars and sorting out their own 

maintenance issues when necessary. 

So it stands to reason more women 

are choosing careers in the automotive 

industry and for Winger Motors 

Hamilton, the current roll of their 

remarkable women is 13. 

“It’s something that simply has 

evolved for us, as it is for much of the 

industry,” Courtney Hurley, Marketing 

and Events Manager says. 

“Being surrounded by driven 

individuals who strive to encourage and 

uplift those around them is great.” 

Chantee Campbell – Workshop 

Controller, agrees. 

“I love the ability to help and meet 

interesting customers and resolve their 

issues with the help of my supportive 

colleagues.” 

Tracy Bilderbeck – Workshop 

Controller, says she left school to start 

her pre trade. 

“Back then, women were not really 

considered, and I was the only one. I 

[worked] different positions; service 

adviser, business manager and director 

sales and now workshop controller - as 

women, we have no limits,” she says. 

“The feeling you get knowing your 

product and being able to explain that 

to a customer – [even if it] leaves them 

NO REPAYMENTS UNTIL AUTUMN * 

speechless at times. You’re the only 

person holding yourself back in life, so 

jump in, show you can become the best 

woman in an industry that is forever 

changing.” 

Coralie Foote – Qualified technician, 

says no one works harder than a female 

in an industry they feel they do not 

belong in. 

“Having that support in this company 

has helped me achieve my goals and 

prove that we are more than capable of 

doing this.” 

It’s a philosophy Tamilla Latimer- 

Lovich, Groomer, also applies. 

“Working at Winger is a good mix of 

professional but with so much fun and 

banter.” 

Others in the senior management 

team, Vicky Richardson – Group 

Stock Controller and Abby Dean – 

Administration Manager, say that 

as long-term employees of Winger 

Motors, they have found the working 

environment to be enjoyable and 

the opportunities to be extremely 

rewarding. 

For Belinda Clark – Business 

Manager, working at Winger Motors 

is a great team environment, where 

everyone works together to achieve 

their goals. 

“Working in car sales is traditionally 

a male-dominated industry but Winger 

breaks that mould and everyone is 

treated as equal.” 

Karen Tucker – Senior Parts 

Specialist, another long-term employee 

of Winger Motors, says there has been 

FORESTER CROSSTREK OUTBACK 

an immense amount of support and 

encouragement displayed to her across 

the years. 

Shai McDaid – Senior Service Advisor 

says: “I love being a woman working at 

Winger because I’ve gained valuable 

knowledge about the automotive 

industry. 

Ashlee McBeth – Service Advisor 

says she enjoys working at Winger 

Motors because it gives her the chance 

to expand her automotive knowledge, 

something she is “hugely passionate 

about”. 

Savanah Evans – Parts Advisor says: 

“Winger Motors is very supportive of 

their female staff and loves to see us 

succeed in our given role. I have worked 

in many different places but this is 

PAY A DEPOSIT – THEN NOTHING 

FOR SIX MONTHS. * 

Summer won’t wait for economic conditions to be perfect. 

And neither should you. As the days grow longer and our 

minds and calendars fill with adventures - it’s the perfect 

time to put a deposit * down on a new Subaru Crosstrek, 

Forester or Outback. Then you can have it All-Wheel Drive, 

all summer long, with a 6-month holiday on repayments. * 

where I have been nurtured and allowed 

to flourish.” 

A quarter of the Winger Motors 

Hamilton team is made up of women, 

including half the management team. 

It is a leader in the automotive industry 

with the representation of six leading 

vehicle brands. Established in 1931, it 

now has six dealerships throughout the 

North Island. 

Book a test drive at Winger Hamilton 

1 The Boulevard, Te Rapa Hamilton 

07 838 1249 I www.winger.co.nz

28 REMARKABLE WOMEN 


ADVERTORIAL 

Taking a remarkable road 

Hamilton-based accountant 

and mum to two young 

children, Justine Harris is truly 

an example of a remarkable 

woman who took the hard road into 

becoming a Chartered Accountant and 

did so because she had her sights set 

on helping businesses succeed. 

After starting as an intern in a small 

accounting firm, Justine has always 

known that accounting was “her thing.” 

She studied part time while working 

full time, then continued to complete 

her Chartered Accountant qualification. 

Then like many Kiwis, she went off 

to the UK for two years to do some 

travelling and get some experience “on 

the other side” of accounting. 

Upon returning to New Zealand, 

Justine gained her certificate of public 

practice, had two children (now aged 

four and two years) and is a Director of 

the successful Chartered Accountants 

firm, Top Line Accountants. 

Based in Te Rapa, Top Line 

Accountants has been going strong 

for the past 15 years with Jenny Barkle 

at the helm. It’s mission is ‘making 

life easier for business owners by 

supporting them on their journey to 

success’. 

Bringing Justine on board in 2022 

brought about a fresh burst of energy 

when it comes to the direction the firm 

is heading. It wasn’t long before she 

proved that she had the experience, 

skills and determination to become 

Jenny’s business partner. 

Top Line Accountants prides itself 

on having a strong team and coming up 

with innovative ideas when needed. 

“Jenny and I are committed to 

finding solutions that help our clients. 

We believe in assisting them with 

strong planning and strategising skills 

to help their businesses grow,” Justine 

says. 

“Being a small firm, the clients get 

more personalised advise, something 

we strive to uphold as the firm grows. 

Watching these clients grow from 

being an idea in their mind to growing 

into a successful business gives us a 

sense of fulfilment and pride.” 

“We have a reputation for delivering 

great quality service.” 

Justine Harris 

Director 

As a woman that has reached 

Directorship and has a young family, 

Justine wants to lead the younger 

generation into the future of this 

profession where they too can do the 

same. 

“It is not very often you see women 

with young children being at the top of 

their field.” 

“I was lucky enough to carry out my 

CA training with some great mentors, 

many of them teaching me some of the 

most valuable lessons of my career, and 

helping shape me into the accountant 

I am today. I believe in practicing 

personal responsibility and taking 

accountability of your actions creates 

good habits.” 

Being a working Mum is hard work, 

especially when both parents are in 

business, but with the help of family 

and a flexible work environment, 

Justine has managed to take those 

final steps to achieve her goal of 

Directorship. 

“My passion and drive has helped 

me get to where I am today. I have 

always had a goal that I wanted to 

achieve and am grateful to everyone 

(especially my family) who helped me 

achieve it”. 

The firm promotes family first 

and work-life balance that helps the 

team know they have the support of 

work behind them, no matter what is 

happening in their personal life. 

“I feel honoured to have found a 

firm that is so flexible with young kids 

and the juggle that comes along with 

them”. 

There’s No Place 

Like Home 

From Fast Cars to 

Recruiting Excellence 

They say time flies when 

you’re having fun, and Asset 

Recruitment’s new Permanent 

Recruitment Specialist 

knows only too well how true that is. 

Returning to Waikato after 20 years 

away, the Hamiltonian has swapped 

fast cars (literally) for the world of 

recruitment. 

Introducing Amy Sutton 

Meet Amy, a Hamilton girl, mum of 

one, lover of travel, and client manager 

extraordinaire with a story that starts 

two decades earlier. 

With a Diploma in Travel and 

Tourism from Wintec to her name, 

Amy followed in the footsteps of many 

Kiwis before her and set off on her OE. 

Time spent working for multinational 

hospitality company Accor, gave her an 

appetite for the hotel industry, which 

brought her back to Aotearoa shores, 

specifically Rotorua’s Novotel Lakeside. 

But, when the opportunity to live 

and work in the United Arab Emirates 

(UAE) presented itself, the world of 

fast cars, sports tournaments, and 

international expos, was too good to 

refuse. 

“During my time working in hotels, 

I focused on the sales and events side 

of things, so it was a natural transition 

moving into the Emirates Group events 

team,” says Amy. 

Such was Amy’s natural flair for 

client management, operational 

excellence, events organisation, and 

recruitment, she soon found herself 

Head of Operations with a team of 300 

Amy Sutton 

ADVERTORIAL 

employees, delivering events such as 

the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Dubai 

Rugby Sevens, and Expo2020. 

A yearning for a home 

After 12 years living in the Middle East, 

New Zealand was calling and Amy 

found herself back in the country. 

Based at the Waikato Stadium, 

Amy managed the catering for FIFA 

Women’s World Cup, ensuring the 

teams, staff, volunteers and match 

officials were well fed and looked 

after during the tournament. She also 

oversaw the 30+ training sites around 

NZ, coordinating supplies for the 

volunteers and staff. 

Now, she’s applying her years of 

experience to Waikato’s recruitment 

sector. 

“It’s a learning curve for me but 

during my time at Emirates Group I 

worked with so many different teams, 

from finance to legal to business 

development, I gained insight into what 

recruitment needs each area had.” 

Now she’s applying that in her role 

as Permanent Recruitment Specialist 

for Asset Recruitment, working with 

clients to position excellence and 

achieve the very best outcomes 

possible. 

Get in touch and let’s set you up for 

success! Give Amy a call today. 

We are proud to have serviced 

our clients for 15 years in the 

Waikato. Our clients include 

trades, professionals, medical 

professionals, manufacturing, 

and investments. 

Get personalised professional 

service you can trust. 

We can help with: 

- Business coaching. 

- Xero/MYOB set up and on-going 

support. 

- Business Startup. 

- Business growth support. 

- Tax and GST advice. 

Justine Harris & Jenny Barkle 

Directors 

07 850 1570 

98 Vickery Street, Te Rapa, Hamilton 

Contact us for 

a free one-hour 

consultation. 

info@toplineaccountants.co.nz 

www.toplineaccountants.co.nz


REMARKABLE WOMEN 

29 

ADVERTORIAL 

Embracing Equality: Tompkins Wake Leads the Way in 

Gender Inclusivity 

While women may face 

challenges gaining top 

positions in many of 

New Zealand’s largest 

companies, at Tompkins Wake, nearly 

half of the firm’s leadership positions 

are held by women. 

A recent study by the University 

of Auckland showed women made 

up 41 percent of senior management 

roles in private institutions across New 

Zealand, down 6 percent from last 

year, with motherhood still seen as the 

most significant barrier for women in 

leadership. 

Tompkins Wake Partner Kate 

Cornegé says that while gender 

equality is a continuous journey for 

many businesses, the firm takes pride 

in the sheer number of incredibly 

talented and dedicated women they 

have, working at every level of the firm. 

With over 210 staff nationally, 

women make up 79% of Tompkins 

Wake’s workforce, with over 40% of 

their leadership team female. The 

majority of these female leaders are 

also juggling their profession and 

parenthood. 

“Empowering women and prioritising 

their development is just how we 

naturally operate now,” Kate says. 

“We recognise the invaluable 

perspectives and talents that women 

bring to the table, and we’re commited 

to providing them with the resources 

and mentorship needed to reach their 

full potential.” 

The firm’s commitments to equal 

opportunities aren’t just about 

supporting women during their early 

career and parenting years. 

In addition to ensuring all staff 

receive equal career development 

opportunities, the firm also supports 

women experiencing symptoms of a 

‘change in life’, with the introduction of 

menopause guidelines. 

Tompkins Wake People and Performance manager Lindsay Butler and Partner Kate Cornegé. 

People and Performance manager 

Lindsay Butler says the guidelines were 

launched as part of a wider wellness 

plan for staff and have been extremely 

well received. 

“Everyone has a mother, wife, 

sister, or daughter. Menopause is part 

of everyone’s lives. For some women 

menopause can have a massive impact 

on their quality of life and their ability to 

function day-to-day,” Lindsay says. 

The guidelines provide flexibility in 

working hours with the ability to start 

late or work from home. 

To help alleviate menopause 

symptoms, such as hot flushes, 

Tompkins Wake has also invested in 

extra fans and ice packs for each of 

its four offices, alongside a library of 

resources for employees seeking more 

information. 

“Menopause is something every 

woman will go through and will 

experience symptoms to varying 

degrees. It can also affect those closest 

to them,” she says. 

“I would encourage other employers 

to think about how they can support 

their employees through it as part 

of a broader health and wellness 

programme.” 

Happy 

International 

Women’s Day. 

From our female partners. 

www.tompkinswake.com 

Phone: 07 839 4771 Email: tomwake@tompkinswake.co.nz


Out and about… 

More Out and about photos wbn.co.nz 

Send us your contributions to Out and about – editor@goodlocal.nz 

Former National Party politician Lindsay Tisch and his wife, Matamata Rotary Club member Leonie Tisch, 

with fellow Rotarians Peter and Ineke Thissen, were among guests at a recent Chamber of Commerce talk 

with Simon Bridges as guest speaker. 

Photo: Viv Posselt 

A grateful Gabby Byrne, general manager of Cambridge Community House embraces 

Leisurecom Cambridge director Robb Marston in appreciation of the hefty support the 

company gave towards building the new Whānau Support Whare which opened late last 

month. 

Photo: Michael Jeans. 

Gusty winds greeted these ladies at the Mystery Creek international polo day but they were there to 

have fun, from left Lesley MacDonald (Hamilton), Vicky Sutton, Meredith Riddle and Belinda Gelston 

(all Cambridge). 


Coffee time: Grabbing a coffee at the opening day of the polo at Mystery Creek last month were, 

from left timekeeper MJ Fox (Rangiriri) and Jacques Duncan (Hunterville), whose daughter Georgina 

was in the New Zealand team playing Australia in the women’s international. At rear from left is the 

Latte Lady of Cambridge Jacqui Misson and photographer Yvette Bodiam. Photo: Mary Anne Gill. 

New Zealand Polo president Cam McKelvie (Manawatu), right, hosts from left wife Rachel, Audrey Pitts 

(Matira) with her husband Ken, who is the Northern Polo Association president, inside the VIP tent at 

Mystery Creek last month. 


Open for business, the new $2 million Te Awamutu College multi sports turf with 11m high 

canopy roof is celebrated by staff, contractors and board members. From left Wayne Carter, 

Joanne Kelly, Craig Yarndley, Bob Hollinshead, Dave Hall, Chris Wynne, Tony Membery, Liz 

Parsons, Nick Suckling, David Peehikuru, Daniel Powell, Rebecca Legg, Jock Ellis, Con Emery, 

Maria Rauhihi, Neil Bauerfeind, Wade Bell and Jo Sheridan. 

Photo: Mary Anne Gill.


Out and about… 

More Out and about photos wbn.co.nz 

Send us your contributions to Out and about – editor@goodlocal.nz 

31 

At the opening of the Cambridge Distillery Company’s tasting room were, from left co founder Will Rendell, Hamilton businessman 

Simon Perry and former Olympic cyclist Brendon Cameron. 


Celebrating at the opening of Maersk’s new $150 million state-of-the art integrated cold chain facility at the Ruakura Superhub are, from 

left: Sonya Haggie, Elaine Preston, Ramari Maipi, Tukoroirangi Morgan, Carolyn Morgan, Shona Wright (Maersk). Photo: Mary Anne Gill. 

Visiting High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu met Jason Boyle, 

operations manager for Australian-owned Visy, at Hamilton 

Airport during a Waikato visit last month. Photo: Supplied. 

New Hamilton city councillor Tim Macindoe spent the night before election day last month at the Houston Technology Chinese New 

Year of the Dragon 2024 Yee Sang dinner at Canton HK Restaurant in Hamilton. Pictured here with Waikato Chamber of Commerce 

chair Senga Allen, of Everest Group, and Central Kids chief executive Christine Hall. 


Waikato Regional Council chair Pamela Storey and husband Ian with The Breeze breakfast announcers Stu Smith and Camille 

Guzzwell at the Houston Technology Chinese New Year of the Dragon 2024 Yee Sang dinner at Canton HK Restaurant in Hamilton last 

month. 


Greg Wills of NAI Harcourts chats at the opening of Building E in 

the Union Square precinct in Hamilton last month. 

 

Photo: Supplied.


In my experience, 

working with Fosters on 

a property development 

project is very easy and 

beneficial for all parties. 

Steve Weidmann, Director 

Hamilton Retail Hardware Limited 

Mitre10 Distribution Centre on Earthmover Crescent was a joint 

venture (JV) between Foster Develop and Hamilton Retail Hardware 

Limited - owners of Mitre 10 Mega at The Base and Ruakura. 

With the objective of designing and building a 5000sqm warehouse, 

on time and on budget, the project also addressed the need for storage 

space with good proximity to the major retail and trade premises. 

Following on from the successful delivery of Mitre 10 Ruakura in 2016, 

Fosters was an easy choice. 

“It made good sense to continue the relationship with Fosters” says 

Director Steve Weidmann. “They had a good understanding of what 

was required, and we were confident they’d know the best way to 

structure, design, secure funding and build.” 

As it turned out, Fosters delivered on Steve’s expectations, which he 

notes were high. 

“The building was designed around our specifications. The Develop 

team provided good value in the construction options put forward, 

and gave sound advice around design changes to improve outcomes.” 

“In my experience, working with Fosters on a property development project 

is very easy and beneficial for all parties” he said. 

“Fosters approach is to work with the client and accommodate whatever 

it takes to ensure a successful outcome for all. 

“With Develop and Construction working together, we had guarantees on 

pricing, the budget was met, and changes were never a problem. 

“We enjoyed one point of contact with exceptional communication and 

project management. There was full disclosure from start to finish.” 

And, with JV terms set to benefit all parties, Steve’s opinion is that he 

got the best value for the build. 

“I believe Fosters are committed to delivering the best outcomes for 

everyone involved. They stand by their workmanship and their ethics. 

“I’ve done a lot of contracting in my time as an engineer. This was the 

best client-project management experience I’ve had.” 

With construction also managed by Fosters, the project was delivered 

seamlessly, adds Steve. 

Looking for a property development partner?

Waikato Business News | March 1, 2024

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