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RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Closure of Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus will 'condemn another generation to poverty', mayor says
The Pūkenga Rau building where Toi Ohomai is currently in Tokoroa. Photo: South Waikato Investment Fund Trust / SUPPLIED The mayor of South Waikato says the district will be "condemned to another generation of poverty" if Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus closes. The polytechnic provider is to exit Te Pūkenga and re-enter regional governance from the beginning of next year, but said to meet the government's financial expectations the Tokoroa campus may have to go. Mayor Gary Petley said South Waikato already ranked among the five-most deprived communities in New Zealand. "We don't have the luxury of skipping a generation, what do we do with that?" he said. South Waikato's recent long term plan shows 23 percent of 15-24 year-olds were not currently employed or in the education or training system, one of the highest levels in the country. "There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education," Petley said. Mayor of South Waikato Gary Petley said Tokoroa was a community in need. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ Toi Ohomai executive director Kieran Hewitson said the organisation acknowledged the deep concern surrounding the proposed closure of its Tokoroa campus. "This decision has not been made lightly. The proposal reflects a need to ensure the organisation remains financially viable and sustainable, as expected by the Government. "Declining student numbers, rising operational costs, and reduced income have made it increasingly difficult to maintain multiple campuses, including Tokoroa." Petley said if a government-funded education provider could not afford to operate in an area such as South Waikato then it needed more money, not to retreat from a community in need. "This is a short-sighted and lazy decision driven by Te Pūkenga's (the national network for all the country's 25 polytechnics) need to find $9m in savings. "They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it's come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato." Te Hautū Kahurangi Tertiary Education Union branch co-leaders for Rotorua, Santana Ammunson and Ashton Ledger, said in a statement that not having a Tokoroa campus would be devastating for communities within the South Waikato district, undermining years of hard work to establish the South Waikato Trades Training Centre. "It would erect new barriers to learning where progress had been made under Te Pūkenga (e.g. transport, technology-enabled learning, internet connectivity), and significantly reduce locally accessible opportunities for public vocational education and training which provide strong pathways to secure employment." The news of the proposed closure came just weeks after the district lost 150 jobs when the Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill ceased paper production. The Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill. (File photo) Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod "We're just smashed again," Petley said. Ammunson and Ledger agreed the decision to close the campus would cause significant detriment to a community already reeling from the closure of the Kinleith Mill. Hewitson said Toi Ohomai recognised Tokoroa's unique challenges, including its high proportion of youth not in education, employment, or training. "However, the decision is not a reflection of the community's value or potential. Rather, it is a response to the urgent need to focus limited resources where they can have the greatest impact," she said. Hewitson said Toi Ohomai would continue to support learners in the region, but it might not be through a traditional campus setting. This was unwelcome news to the mayor who said it was only two years ago that the council, government, Trust Waikato, and the South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT) invested heavily in a building to house Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus. "You can understand how disappointed we were to find that out after contributing money into that space to help develop that facility that was purposely built for that, and it only just got past two years," said Petley. SWIFT owns the Pūkenga Rau building where Toi Ohomai is currently a tenant. Chief Executive Clive Somerville said the goal of the building was to be a community facility for equipping young people and older residents with valuable skills that support workforce development. "SWIFT's relationship, and our wider community's relationship, with Toi Ohomai is pivotal in delivering on our outcomes." He said as Pūkenga Rau owner and landlord, SWIFT's next steps were to work closely with the Crown, as leaseholder for Toi Ohomai, to understand its intentions for the South Waikato. Ammunson and Ledger from the Tertiary Education Union said the government had generated a lot of 'fuss' around the financial viability of institutions and pushed all of them into a rush to right-size. "The closure of regional campuses was not what we anticipated under a government that claims to be returning decision-making to the regions and shaping a regionally-responsive and sustainable vocational education and training system. It's all dollars and no sense." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Closurse of Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus will 'condemn another generation to poverty', mayor says
The Pūkenga Rau building where Toi Ohomai is currently in Tokoroa. Photo: South Waikato Investment Fund Trust / SUPPLIED The mayor of South Waikato says the district will be "condemned to another generation of poverty" if Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus closes. The polytechnic provider is to exit Te Pūkenga and re-enter regional governance from the beginning of next year, but said to meet the government's financial expectations the Tokoroa campus may have to go. Mayor Gary Petley said South Waikato already ranked among the five-most deprived communities in New Zealand. "We don't have the luxury of skipping a generation, what do we do with that?" he said. South Waikato's recent long term plan shows 23 percent of 15-24 year-olds were not currently employed or in the education or training system, one of the highest levels in the country. "There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education," Petley said. Mayor of South Waikato Gary Petley said Tokoroa was a community in need. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ Toi Ohomai executive director Kieran Hewitson said the organisation acknowledged the deep concern surrounding the proposed closure of its Tokoroa campus. "This decision has not been made lightly. The proposal reflects a need to ensure the organisation remains financially viable and sustainable, as expected by the Government. "Declining student numbers, rising operational costs, and reduced income have made it increasingly difficult to maintain multiple campuses, including Tokoroa." Petley said if a government-funded education provider could not afford to operate in an area such as South Waikato then it needed more money, not to retreat from a community in need. "This is a short-sighted and lazy decision driven by Te Pūkenga's (the national network for all the country's 25 polytechnics) need to find $9m in savings. "They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it's come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato." Te Hautū Kahurangi Tertiary Education Union branch co-leaders for Rotorua, Santana Ammunson and Ashton Ledger, said in a statement that not having a Tokoroa campus would be devastating for communities within the South Waikato district, undermining years of hard work to establish the South Waikato Trades Training Centre. "It would erect new barriers to learning where progress had been made under Te Pūkenga (e.g. transport, technology-enabled learning, internet connectivity), and significantly reduce locally accessible opportunities for public vocational education and training which provide strong pathways to secure employment." The news of the proposed closure came just weeks after the district lost 150 jobs when the Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill ceased paper production. The Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill. (File photo) Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod "We're just smashed again," Petley said. Ammunson and Ledger agreed the decision to close the campus would cause significant detriment to a community already reeling from the closure of the Kinleith Mill. Hewitson said Toi Ohomai recognised Tokoroa's unique challenges, including its high proportion of youth not in education, employment, or training. "However, the decision is not a reflection of the community's value or potential. Rather, it is a response to the urgent need to focus limited resources where they can have the greatest impact," she said. Hewitson said Toi Ohomai would continue to support learners in the region, but it might not be through a traditional campus setting. This was unwelcome news to the mayor who said it was only two years ago that the council, government, Trust Waikato, and the South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT) invested heavily in a building to house Toi Ohomai's Tokoroa campus. "You can understand how disappointed we were to find that out after contributing money into that space to help develop that facility that was purposely built for that, and it only just got past two years," said Petley. SWIFT owns the Pūkenga Rau building where Toi Ohomai is currently a tenant. Chief Executive Clive Somerville said the goal of the building was to be a community facility for equipping young people and older residents with valuable skills that support workforce development. "SWIFT's relationship, and our wider community's relationship, with Toi Ohomai is pivotal in delivering on our outcomes." He said as Pūkenga Rau owner and landlord, SWIFT's next steps were to work closely with the Crown, as leaseholder for Toi Ohomai, to understand its intentions for the South Waikato. Ammunson and Ledger from the Tertiary Education Union said the government had generated a lot of 'fuss' around the financial viability of institutions and pushed all of them into a rush to right-size. "The closure of regional campuses was not what we anticipated under a government that claims to be returning decision-making to the regions and shaping a regionally-responsive and sustainable vocational education and training system. It's all dollars and no sense." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
14-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
South Waikato Mayor Condemns Decision To Close Local Education Provider
South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley has expressed his 'extreme disappointment' at the planned closure of the District's Toi-Ohomai campus in Tokoroa, after just two years in operation, and vowed to seek ways in which his Council can step in to fill the void going forward. Petley said news of the trades training centre closing at the end of the year was a huge blow to a community that already ranks among the five-most deprived in New Zealand, and which has one of the highest Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) rates recorded nationally. 'This is a short-sighted and lazy decision driven by Te Pūkenga's (the national network for all the country's 25 polytechnics) need to find $9m in savings. They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it's come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato. "As it stands, our data from the recent Long Term Plan shows 23 percent of the 15-24 age bracket in our District fall under the category of not currently being employed or in the education or training system. 'There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education. 'My Council has made a strong commitment through its Long Term Plan 2024-2034 to have all our young people either working or in employment, and that remains a non-negotiable if we are to improve the lives of people in our community.' Without the presence of a local training provider, people in the District face the prospect of travelling an hour or more to a campus in Rotorua, Tauranga or Hamilton, with limited public transport options currently available to those regional centres. In addition to the concerns around a lack of education opportunities, Petley said the Toi-Ohomai closure would have an immediate restraining impact on a local economy already reeling from the recent loss of around 150 jobs at the Kinleith Paper Mill. The District had nearly double the New Zealand average unemployment rate from March 2022 to March 2023. 'This will impact existing businesses here and businesses looking to relocate to the District, which would create new jobs. It was a big selling point that we had a campus here for trades training,' Petley said. 'By removing this critical service, you are condemning South Waikato people to another generation of poverty.' Mayor Petley said he will be using his strong relationship with local MP Louise Upston, who is also the Minister for Social Development and Employment, to elevate his concerns, while work was already underway to see what Council can do to fill the void internally through existing initiatives like the WORKit Programme More information on the demographic profile of the South Waikato District, its challenging levels of deprivation and statistics relating to this can be found here.
RNZ News
29-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Kinleith pulp and paper mill falls silent
Kinleith pulp and paper mill was opened 71 years ago by Prime Minister Sidney Holland. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod The Kinleith pulp and paper mill in South Waikato was opened by Prime Minister Sidney Holland in 1954. On Monday, 71 years later, the last functional paper-making machine falls silent , with the loss of about 150 jobs. A RNZ documentary about the mill shortly after it opened captured the mood of a booming town, a valuable export industry and cutting-edge technology. Seven decades later, and after many cuts and retrenchments, South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley described the mood in town. "A fair amount of uncertainty, a little bit of angst, because of what has happened, and I think more of a realisation there's not a lot they can do about it," he said. Petley once worked at the mill and he still had two sons employed there. He described the mill in its heyday as a local industry that enabled intergenerational wealth and opportunity. "If your grandfather worked there or your father worked there, there was every probability that the sons or daughters would follow." It led to a vibrant community in Tokoroa. "One of the biggest things for me is the richness of the culture side of things, with all the different races of people, who came here to build Tokoroa and make Tokoroa what it is." You heard this even in the RNZ documentary from the 1950s - there were interviews with mill staff from Canada and Poland. Not that Tokoroa ever wanted to be known just as a mill town. Erica Rowe worked at the South Waikato News in the 1950s and told Rex Sayers that, although locals knew the mill was responsible for most of its growth, they did not want to feel that, without the mill, the town would be non-existent. Tokoroa Mayor Gary Petley once worked in at the mill and still has two sons working there. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ That sentiment was echoed today by the owner of local station Cruise Radio, Johnny Dryden. "You need to be mindful now that the mill's not the only large employer in Tokoroa or in the nearby vicinity of Tokoroa," he said. For his part, Dryden felt positive about the town's future. "It's a great area to bring a family up, where you can go and pick your kids up from school, and go and do things in the community." There was no doubt that the end of paper manufacturing would hit some hard. E Tu mill union delegate Ian Farall said everyone was disappointed paper production was finishing. "The fact is this is the last bastion for making paper in New Zealand," he said. "There is no other producer of what we do in New Zealand, so it's not like I can go down the road and get a job." He said working at the mill had enabled him to live a good life and he worried for younger workers who had lost their jobs, knowing several who had given up on New Zealand and moved to Australia. "[It's] not good for those people who have young families and have got no job, and have a mortgage locally and everything like that - that will be a tough time for people." South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT) chief executive Clive Somerville said the end of paper production at Kinleith marked the close of an era, one that shaped the South Waikato's identity for generations. Ian Farall: "It's not like I can go down the road and get a job." Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod "There's definitely a sense of loss and uncertainty around town, but also deep pride in who we are." However, he said the community was built on primary industry and hard work, and that heart was still strong. "Despite global and national headwinds, there's real momentum here - residential and commercial development is underway. "Project Phoenix is backing displaced workers, and agencies like MSD are stepping up alongside community groups and employers." OJI Fibre Solutions chief executive Jon Ryder said the mill continued with pulp-only production. "Our priority has always been to minimise job losses through redeployments, and to run a thorough and fair process," he said. "Through these efforts and a voluntary redundancy programme, we managed to redeploy more than 30 people within the business and keep the number of compulsory redundancies to less than half of the total." The mill was still in a transition phase for some operations staff and currently reviewing support role requirements, so the final number of job losses was not yet known. "However, we can confirm around 150 employees will depart OjiFS on 30 June." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
25-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
South Waikato District Confirms Participation In Waikato Water Done Well
The South Waikato District Council has today approved to become a founding shareholder of Waikato Water Done Well. Waikato Water Done Well will be a Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) jointly owned with six other local councils and will deliver drinking water and wastewater services in accordance with the Government's Local Water Done Well reform. Council will retain the management of stormwater activity and continue to deliver stormwater services. Following the full Council meeting on 25 June, South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley acknowledged the magnitude of the decision. 'This is one of the biggest decisions local councils across the motu have been asked to make for some time, and the amount of work that has gone into it reflects that,' Petley said. He also acknowledged there were a range of passionate viewpoints on the issue. Council was presented with the 54 submissions that were made as part of the consultation process. "Some of them raised valid concerns about the plan but could not directly address the criteria which our Water Services Delivery Plan must meet for approval,' Petley said. 'As a Council it's our job to make decisions in the best interests of the 25,000-plus who call the South Waikato home, and from the comprehensive work undertaken on this topic, it's clear that joining Waikato Water Done Well was the right option for us,' he said. All Councils participating in the establishment of Waikato Water Done Well will gain from the CCO. Some small Councils will gain the benefit of greater cashflow and the ability to attract and retain in-house expertise as well as savings from having a larger footprint in the market. Councils will also have greater borrowing capacity to fund new infrastructure. Participating councils will transfer their assets to the new entity and will have control of all the assets through the Shareholders' Agreement. Under the Government's Local Water Done Well reform, all Councils across New Zealand are required to submit an approved plan to the Department of Internal Affairs by 3 September 2025. Notes: The seven councils that signed the heads of agreement to set up Waikato Water Done Well in December 2024 are South Waikato District Council, Hauraki District Council, Matamata-Piako District Council, Ōtorohanga District Council, Taupō District Council, Waipā District Council and Waitomo District Council. Most shareholding Councils will have made a decision by the end of the week. Taupō District Council will be going with an in-house service delivery model and will revisit their decision to become part of the WWDW family for services in two years' time. Waikato Water Done Well was identified as the South Waikato District Council's preferred option on March 26 this year. Consultation with the community was conducted between 14 April to 12 May. There were 54 submissions in total – 53 online and one paper submission. Of these, seven were in favour of Council's preferred option and 46 opposed, with one submission unclear. Once all councils ratify the Shareholders Agreement, the CCO will be established and the transfer of assets will commence. The transfer of our assets is expected to be completed by 1 July 2026. This is also the date the CCO is expected to start providing services to the first three shareholder councils.
