This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability
Aaron:
You’re the first of the interviews we’re doing for the community board. Some of the people have been on the board before, and I know them, but I don’t know anything about you except that you’re a retired teacher – so I thought we’d get to know you a bit before we talk about Council stuff – maybe family and career things that will help fill people in on you?
Peter Hampton:
Sure. I’m semi-retired. My career has been in education – 45 years in the high school sector, the last few years in governance and management roles. Married to Marie, with a blended family – six grown-up children with partners, and 11 grandchildren, all of whom come out to stay with us in Raglan.
Aaron:
What, how many? Out in Raglan?
Peter Hampton:
At different stages, they’ve all come out and stayed with us – not living with us, but staying. They love Raglan as a destination. And so I guess we moved here in 2016 to live permanently.
We had a bach out here before that. I’m Waikato born and bred. I love the Raglan community, I love living here. My family really enjoys living here. These days I run an Airbnb in Raglan, so I’m part of the economic side of the community. I’m a member of the Raglan Club, volunteer at the iHub, and a member of the darts club and the 500 club. I love sports. I love music.
Aaron:
I see you’re wearing a Chiefs shirt at the moment.
Peter Hampton:
Absolutely. [laughs]
Aaron:
So your career – did you teach at a number of different high schools?
Peter Hampton:
Yes. Mainly in the Waikato. Started at Morrinsville College, then Te Aroha College, Thames High School, Te Awamutu College, Fraser High, Melville High, and finished at St Paul’s Collegiate as Deputy Headmaster.
Aaron:
What was the subject that you taught?
Peter Hampton:
I qualified with a Bachelor of Science and then a Master’s in Education. I taught sciences. In later years, I was lucky enough to be part of a team that developed a new subject for New Zealand schools called Agribusiness. In 2018 my team won the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Education, and we delivered that new curriculum to all schools across New Zealand. There are now about 2,000 students in 140 schools studying it.
Aaron:
So what does it take to do something like that? Lots of writing, you’d think?
Peter Hampton:
A lot of persistence with working with NZQA, the authority, and a lot of time and effort. We went to the agribusiness community to fund it, and we funded it privately, rather than through the education system.
Aaron:
So when you say you funded it, was that all the classes, or just the development?
Peter Hampton:
We funded the development of it, and the teacher training as well.
Aaron:
And now that’s embedded in the curriculum?
Peter Hampton:
Yes, it’s embedded in the curriculum. It reflects what happens on the farm gate in New Zealand schools, and it supports the whole economic driver for New Zealand, which is agribusiness.
Aaron:
That’s interesting. If I’d had to guess, I would have said that was a tertiary-level thing.
Peter Hampton:
We do it at Year 12 and 13, the last two years only. It leads into all the tertiary qualifications – a combination of business and science.
Aaron:
So did you enjoy that – you were out of the classroom but doing something else – did you enjoy that?
Peter Hampton:
I enjoyed it. I was still teaching. I actually taught the first Agribusiness classes in New Zealand because I had given input into the curriculum, so I had to put my money where my mouth was.
Aaron:
You’ve had some experience dealing with bureaucracy then?
Peter Hampton:
Yes indeed.
Aaron:
Which I feel is kind of helpful. What else about your career do you think would be relevant to being on the Community Board?
Peter Hampton:
I spent five years as an educational consultant working privately – working with school boards and staff. So I’ve had a lot of skills with people management, and I believe I’ve got particular strengths that I could bring into that governance and management role on the Community Board.
Aaron:
Have you done anything like this before?
Peter Hampton:
I haven’t been in local body politics before. No.
Aaron:
But what about various committees in the community and that sort of thing?
Peter Hampton:
Yes, definitely. Many sporting organisations – I’ve headed up and worked on committees.
Aaron:
Did you coach kids’ sport?
Peter Hampton:
Yes – rugby, cricket, basketball. [laughs]
Aaron:
I guess as a teacher, sometimes you don’t have a choice about it.
Peter Hampton:
I loved it. A teacher needs to get to know their students outside the classroom, and taking sports and cultural activities are the best way to do that.
Aaron:
When did you decide, and why did you decide, to run for the Community Board?
Peter Hampton:
I’ve got a neighbour, up the road, Gabrielle Parsons, who is well known. Talking with her, she told me about her experiences. Then Marie said to me, “You should put your name forward.” I’ve got time and energy to give to the community. I wouldn’t say I was at a loose end, but I thought, why not give it a go? So here I am.
Aaron:
How much are you aware of the Community Board’s role? What they get up to – not in a sinister way, but just what goes on?
Peter Hampton:
Yes. I know Lisa Thomson quite well, and Gabrielle. Those are the ones I see working in that sector. I keep up with what’s happening in the community. My work at the iHub also puts me in contact with lots of people.
Aaron:
A question I always ask people these days – are you aware the Community Board is an advisory body, not one with powers where you can make things happen?
Peter Hampton:
Absolutely aware.
Aaron:
Because I’ve seen people get quite frustrated after a year or two,
Peter Hampton:
Coming in and lower rates immediately – that kind of stuff?
Aaron:
Yeah. First of all you have to get the whole Community Board to agree, then make a recommendation to Council, and then they do their thing. Are you used to that kind of environment?
Peter Hampton:
Very much yes – in consensus environments.
Aaron: What sort of stuff? As a teacher in a classroom you’re in charge, but you’re getting stuff out of it.
Peter Hampton: When you’re working in management and schools, you’re balancing the needs of parents. You’re balancing the needs of the government, education ministry, regulations, guidelines, the teachers needs, the student needs. There’s a lot of consensus politics that goes into a lot of those decisions.
Aaron:
Do you have some aims, or specific things you’d like to achieve? I know as a local body politician you listen to the community and try to do what they want. But we all have our own things too, where we look at the community and think, “That really needs something to happen.” Do you have things you’d like to achieve?
Peter Hampton:
I look at it through a sustainability framework, in the sense of looking at four areas – economic, environmental, social, and cultural. What I’d like to achieve is shaped by the challenges communities like ours are facing. With dwindling financial input from the central government – and all communities are facing it. I’d like to see us strike a real balance in our infrastructure.
Raglan is a fantastic place to live. We need people coming into the community to support shopkeepers, accommodation providers, and tourism, but at what cost? It’s always about balancing visitor numbers with having enough finance to ensure local needs are also met.
Economically, if we’re talking rates, I’d like to see work towards capping them would be my thought on that. Overall, I want to leave Whaingaroa in a beautiful environment for future generations.
Environmentally, with a science degree and a background in biology, I’m very keen on maintaining and improving environmental aspects. We’re talking about pollution, erosion, our wildlife in our area – and right now we’ve got tremendous problems on our waterfront with erosion at the moment. Looking after the area for future generations is a challenge I’d like to contribute to with hopefully some solutions.
Socially, Raglan has some issues with young people. I was just reading this morning about what happened at Manu Bay.
Aaron: A few people on Facebook were talking about someone ripping it up out there in their cars
Peter Hampton: Yeah so trying to meet the needs of both young and old across Whaingaroa is important. For me, I’m a listener first. Coming into a new environment, I’m not going to know everything, and I’m aware of that. So I’ll come in to listen, learn, and then be ready to contribute.
Aaron:
So I know I’m going to end up talking about rates a lot with people.
Peter Hampton (laughs)
Aaron:
Some of the pressure on rates has come from central government. They decided that councils would fund all the upgrades to the Three Waters infrastructure in the country. Our current rate for the targeted rate for wastewater is about $1,800, and over the next 10 years that will double.
So is capping rates going to work if government has given more work for councils to do?
Peter Hampton:
Well, the only experiences I’ve read about really are in Australia, where a lot of the councils have capped rates, but they did that some time ago. I think there’s always going to be a period of time, if you do cap rates, where it’s going to be a major struggle – probably even more than it might be now.
But I can’t really see any other way forward. We can only have a finite amount of money, and we can try to be as efficient as we can in the use of that money, and try to be creative in how we use it. But at the end of the day, that’s pretty much our income, isn’t it? So as a council and as a community board, you’re looking to utilise that money to the best of your advantage.
I’ve also had property in Hamilton, and the rates there have gone up 15%. For a lot of people that is just far too much. So capping rates, for me, is an area we definitely need to explore further.
Aaron:
So in Australia, as an example, did they do the rates set at a fixed figure, or did they go up within inflation?
Peter Hampton:
They matched inflation,
Aaron: Has this happened in New Zealand at all?
Peter Hampton:
Not that I’m aware of.
Aaron:
There are other things I want to bring into that discussion too: We’ve had people running for several decades in councils, saying that they’re going to keep rates downm then we ended up not spending enough money on our Three Waters infrastructure.
We had, I think it was 2015 or 2016 here, raw sewage going into the harbour. The Council presented some options, and the community decided to spend the money to try and stop it happening any more.
Auckland’s got issues like that, and down in Havelock North people died and thousands got sick.
I know it’s unfair to ask you this because you’re not inside the Council yet – and I agree that the rates are getting to a point where people can’t handle it but what is our solution there? Can you talk around that issue – or do you have thoughts around that?
Peter Hampton:
It’s hard, in a sense, to keep government politics out of it, because the government has said that councils around New Zealand must only concentrate on their core facilities – not on social, cultural, or environmental areas. They’re basically saying, “Just work on the economic.” For me, that’s wrong, but we’re in that field that they’ve created. I think there has to be pressure on government to say this isn’t right. This is not how small communities can survive, if you’re going to limit our funding to the extent we only use it on core services. So I think there’s a battle to be fought in that arena.
Aaron:
Yeah, who fights that battle?
Peter Hampton:
Well, I think it has to start at the Community Board. We have to be receptive to the needs of our community, and then through our councillor to Waikato District Council and so on. As you said, we’re at the bottom of the pecking order. I’m totally aware of that.
Aaron:
I sort of feel like the mayors around the country need to step up together. I’ve noticed in the past that local body people are often – not fearful exactly, it’s not like they’re quaking in their boots – but they don’t like to challenge central government. They’re afraid to do that. But I guess you’re saying we need to?
Peter Hampton:
We need to, definitely.
Aaron:
Yeah. And the other thing too is that previously we had these community wellbeing initiatives. They’ve been scrapped, then brought back, then scrapped again, depending on the government of the day. What do we make of that?
Peter Hampton:
It seems the emphasis from the current government is that the community has to sort that stuff out, and it’s not the government’s problem. But we’re all part of New Zealand, all part of the community, government included. I don’t see that you can separate it out the way they’ve done and still have effective input at local level so you can actually give your community what they need.
Aaron:
And doesn’t the Council work for the community anyway?
Peter Hampton:
It absolutely does. Yes. So apparently should the government, shouldn’t it?
Aaron:
Yes. Otherwise why else are they there?
Peter Hampton: Correct.
Aaron: But things don’t always work out that way.
Peter Hampton:
No.
Aaron:
Do you have any – I don’t want to say outright criticism of the current Community Board – but do you have things you’d like them to do differently?
Peter Hampton:
Probably the one thing I look at is the avenues in which they communicate what they’re doing. I think they could be better. It isn’t always easy to find out what’s happening. Because I’m involved in the iHub and other areas I do have my ear to the ground, but I’d like to see better communication with the local community from the Community Board. But again, I’m not on there, so I may not be totally aware of everything they do. That may be an unfair criticism.
Aaron:
Our Councillor and Community Board chairperson do come in here for regular interviews, and we usually write those up. We try to get information out there.
Peter Hampton:
I know how hard it is to get people involved. You want to have meetings where people come and express their views, but getting community input is a challenge. I don’t think we’re any different to other communities in that regard. That’s something I’d like to work on – trying to get more community input for the board.
Aaron:
I guess part of that input comes just from people’s personal networks. So if you get a diverse range of people on the board, then their personal networks can be part of that. What are your networks like in the community?
Peter Hampton:
Pretty good. Through the different avenues I’m already associated with. I’ve lived here on and off now for 13 years. Although our paths haven’t crossed, I have listened to the radio, I read regularly, I communicate through the iHub, I run the database for the iHub – the 3D database.
I’m very aware of the clubs and organisations here in Raglan and what they do. Through my sporting contacts, through my contacts with the Airbnb. We have a lot of people wanting to know about Raglan and what’s here, so I’m pretty familiar with what Raglan has to offer, and I’m very keen on promoting what Raglan has to offer.
Aaron:
So with Airbnbs, you’d obviously be aware of the tourist season and the peaks and troughs through winter. How has that been lately?
Peter Hampton:
The last two or three months have probably been the hardest months we’ve had in about six years of running the Airbnb. Probably the hardest. And that’s across New Zealand, not just here. Things are tough.
Aaron:
You guys are retired, so maybe that’s…
Peter Hampton:
Marie is still teaching.
Aaron:
Marie’s still teaching. Okay, so maybe you’re not wholly reliant on that industry for your income and wellbeing.
Peter Hampton:
I also have another part-time job which keeps me in contact. I’m the lay person on the Waikato Hospital junior doctor advisory board. I work with junior doctors to help them become doctors, as the educationalist on the panel. Not the medical expert.
Aaron:
That’s interesting. So they’re still learning – is this when they’re interns?
Peter Hampton:
Correct.
Aaron:
Okay, that’s an interesting job to have.
So, a question I always like to ask people – and it’s a bit of a handy-wavy hazy one but what is Raglan about? What’s the core stuff, or the unique stuff about Raglan that you see? It’d be interesting to hear from you, because you’ve spent a career in another part of our region and that gives a perspective some of us don’t have, having just been based here a long time.
Peter Hampton:
It’s a lovely kind of microcosm of what life could be, and should be in New Zealand. I think we’ve got a real cultural identity here. Again, I’d argue some moves from central government are blurring that cultural identity a bit – with what’s happening in the Māori space, but I think Raglan is very strong in that area. I love that about Raglan.
I think we’ve got one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand that we live in. When I tell people where we live, they’re always excited – “I must come out.” It’s that kind of a feel. The surfing, the Game Fishing Club, friends who are surfers and their kids are surfers. A wide cross-section of New Zealand life is here in Raglan, and it’s a beautiful place to hopefully maintain for future generations.
Aaron:
Okay, and what about the future? In light of that, what are the things you think we need to focus on to maintain that for the future? Because everyone who’s been here a while is saying, “It’s changing. It’s different than it was 10 years ago.”
Peter Hampton:
That’s the reality of life isn’t it? That things do change. It’s a matter of making that change so it’s not damaging to the Raglan community. That we go along with the changes, that we’re actually part of the changes, rather than have them happen to us. I think that’s the role of the Community Board – to be part of that change and not just let it happen.
I don’t see Raglan as hugely different. It’s just that a larger number of people are visiting. That can influence your opinion. The Rangitahi subdivision has brought in a whole new aspect into Raglan. Some people aren’t happy about that, but it’s the reality of life. A lot of people want to live in Raglan.
Aaron:
There have been several attempts to predict what the growth will be like and I suspect that we could grow as much or as little as we want. There’s a housing crisis out there – if we open up subdivisions, they’ll be bought. If we wanted to go to 20,000 people, for some strange reason – we could do that. Not that anyone here wants that, but we could.
I’m trying to think what’s coming up on the community board. The Community Board is about to do a 30-year plan for Wainui Reserve. That’s the sort of thing they get involved in, as well as potholes. What part of it do you look forward to if you’re on the board?
Peter Hampton:
I’ve always been a man who does his research on matters. It’s hard to answer without first looking at the current agenda, but obviously a 30-year plan and that development sounds fantastic. I want to contribute ideas. I’ve got a science and education background. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I enjoy about living in Raglan and what a lot of our friends and associates enjoy. I want to see that continue – I just want to be in there and be part of it.
Aaron:
It’s known that we have a housing crisis here, and certainly for people on low incomes it’s a real struggle to find places. I know there are people living in places wherever they can, on land without proper facilities. Do you think the community board’s in a place to actually resolve those kinds of issues or not, and do you want to try as well?
Peter Hampton:
I think that’s probably outside our realm, really. I think there’s a lot the Community Board can do, but on the housing front I’m not sure. I know we’re involved in consent processes and in areas like fresh water and sewage. There are lots of ideas about how to do the consent process for housing and make it easier for people, but I’m not exactly sure how much involvement the Community Board has in that.
Aaron:
Probably very little I would say for resource consents and building consents, yeah. Okay, look, it’s time for us to wrap up. Do you have your pitch? Why should people vote for you? Now’s the perfect time to say it.
Peter Hampton:
Essentially, I believe I’ve got the time and energy to serve our community. I want to give something back to the community that has given so much to my family and myself. I believe I’ve got the skills and knowledge to offer the community. I’m very passionate about living here in Whaingaroa. And really, the main thing I want to do is when I leave Raglan – when I eventually depart this earth – I want to leave Raglan so there’s a healthy, thriving community that looks after the needs of all and looks after the needs of future generations.