What a pleasant occasion changeover was on Wednesday. We were honoured by having (briefly) District Governor Mitchell Brown with us, and also our local Assistant Governor John Mohi and his wife Elaine. They departed for the Wellington North changeover which was also on Wednesday night.
The highlight for me was the very gracious speech by outgoing President Mark Cassidy who recalled the many highlights and achievements on the past year. These included the obvious ones of the outstanding result from the auction, and the very successful goal setters’ awards breakfast with the Prime Minister, Bill English, in attendance to present the awards.
Mark also rightly drew attention to the many fine speakers that we had had during the year, particularly our own members (who there will forget Julian’s Life of Failure), but also the report backs from the young people we sent to RYLA, the Science Fair, to Outward Bound and on Youth Exchange.
Each of them told of how these encounters were life changing experiences. It is easy to forget how transforming these experiences can be. We are in the business of making the world a better place, one person, one event, one occasion at a time. And we have made it possible through our work to make change and development possible for the young people we have supported.
To pick up another theme Mark spoke about, we are entitled to feel proud of what we have done.
I feel that Mark’s year has set a new and higher standard for achievement within the club, but as I noted on Wednesday there is a strong and very experienced new board taking on the challenges of increasing membership, lifting our game at club meetings and in all our activities, and putting more focus on service to the community. We are up for it.
Most people live and die not far from where they are born. So globally immigration is a distinctly minority experience, even if it doesn’t feel that way in NZ. NZ was the last major land mass on earth that was settled, perhaps less than 1000 years ago. Those of us without Maori ancestry trace the arrival of our families to some time up to perhaps 200 years ago. The discussion of NZ as a nation of immigrants is however a distraction from serious consideration about the role of immigration policy in NZ today.
As an island country, a long way from anywhere, we don’t have much of a problem with immigration. Successive governments have promoted immigration as it assists the economic performance of NZ and lifts the living standard. The target for immigration is currently about 45,000 per annum - around 1% or our population. Most countries don’t want or get that many immigrants. But we are also unusual in how
many of our people have left – around 850,000 in the last 40 years. A hundred years ago the living standard in NZ was as high as anywhere in the world. These days, depending on how you measure these things we rank about 35th. When economic performance is analysed (what a country manages to produce with the inputs it uses) we have ranked since 1970 as the second slowest productivity growth rate of any of the member countries of the OECD.
Rapid population growth means a lot of investment spending has to take place on roads, schools, houses, offices and shops. Those demands put an upwards pressure on interest rates and the exchange rate. NZ is almost totally reliant, in its foreign trade, on what able people can do with a fixed quantity of natural resources. With population growth that has been so fast we have slowly been slipping down the league tables. For decades people have discussed developed industries that weren’t simply reliant on natural resources and have drafted strategies and even offered subsidies. However even today 85 per cent of our exports rely on natural resources.
The problem appears to be that as communication technology has developed personal networks and connections seem to matter more than ever. The so called “value chains” are a big part of modern manufacturing, with componentry manufactured in several different countries and the final product assembled in yet another. When you are the last bus stop before Antarctica your firms aren’t going to be part of many chains. People coming in as immigrants may be able to ease that pressure but they will quite reasonably expect decent housing, entertainment and travel etc. Michael has been arguing for some time that the residence approval target should be cut from around 45,000 to around 10,000-10,500 per annum. This will mean that the population will be growing much more slowly, general spending levels will drop and specifically fewer houses will be required and fewer workers will be required in that and related sectors. This will mean that more workers will be available in other sectors with the view to providing an economy that is more oriented to selling goods to and in competition with the rest of the world.
Last Sunday, the 30th of June, the Interact club of Port Nicholson volunteered at Zealandia. The group, about 15 of us, spent three hours in the beautiful park learning about the conservation work they do to support New Zealand native plants and birds. After a quick and slightly challenging walk up to our site the team excitedly got to work cutting down blackberry bushes. We used "Cut and Paste" a special paste developed to stop the blackberry regrowing and which will give the native plants that will be planted there soon more room to grow. It was great exercise and despite the cold and slightly drizzly weather the day was a roaring success.
Most of us do as with recent changes to our coins we seem to accumulate old coins which can no longer be used but we can't quite bring ourselves to throw out. These coins still have value and can be cashed in at the Reserve Bank in exchange for the current issue.
Through our Pigs, waterfront piano and auction collections Port Nich has accumulated an amount of old coins and we are going to cash these in.
Do you have some old coins lying around and happy to add to our collection ? If so bring them in and either deposit in the Pigs or give to Chris or Rick.
Go have a look. Who knows what you may find at the bottom of your cupboard, sock draw or where ever you toss your coins !.
WELLINGTON ON A PLATE LUNCH – SUNDAY 20TH AUGUST – 12 NOON – BOULCOTT STREET BISTRO
A special lunch for Rotary Club of Port Nicholson members, family and friends. Lunch - two courses and one beverage (using the more extensive dinner menu). $55 per person (includes $10 donation to Rotary Foundation).
Main Course
Cook Strait crayfish in a tomato, cream and Cognac sauce with Prana Greens and sautéed broccolini with almonds
OR
Angus beef fillet with chicken liver parfait, sautéed spinach, Parkvale mushrooms portobello crumb and Arobake crouton with a red wine sauce.
VEGETARIAN OPTION AVAILABLE
Desert
Whittaker’s white chocolate and kiwifruit parfait, berry jelly vanilla custard in a meringue bun.
Beverages
Six Barrel Soda Celery tonic or Escarpment Chardonnay 2014 or Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir 2015.
Every year, each Rotary International Director convenes a meeting of senior leaders in their Zone. This event, known as an Institute, provides an opportunity for past, present and incoming Rotary officers to share information, ideas and resources, build new connections and reacquaint with old friends, and exchange ideas about Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
A more recently added event, the Future Leaders Seminar, open to any Rotarian wanting to learn more about Rotary from a leadership perspective, also takes place in conjunction with Institute.
The combined New Zealand event in 2017 will be known as the Rotary Symposium and this year it’s doors will open to all Rotarians.”
There is a Leader’s Symposium as well.
Open to all to attend.
RI General Secretary John Hewko will be attending.
RI Director Noel Trevaskis as well.
Along with RI President Nominee (soon to be Elect) Sam Owori (who attended Deb Gimblett’s Conference in Foxton)
At our recent session John Bishop, our incoming President, encouraged us as member of Port Nicholson to be proud of our association with Rotary. We have a strong Club but can always improve by attracting new members and with that they comes new ideas and new commitment. ‘Rotary on the Move’ is circulated widely amongst Australian and New Zealand Rotarians. It is a monthly circular that has excellent articles.
One article states:
Clubs who are well organised attract members
Clubs who communicate well attract members
Clubs who develop strategic partnerships attract members
Clubs who understand that their 'clients' are their community attract members
Clubs who know their demographics attract members
Clubs who listen to their members and respond to their interests attract members
Clubs who have a great Public Relations /Marketing team attract members
Clubs who have effective programs attract members.
New ideas increase our desire to do more for our community through the time we give to serving others.
Please click HERE to view - download the ‘Rotary On The Move’ Newsletter for June 2017.
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