As part of the Morning Show’s coverage of the 2022 Local Elections, Aaron will be interviewing candidates standing for positions on the Raglan Community Board as well as the Waikato District and Regional Councils. Our first interview of the week is with Ross Wallis who is standing for a seat on the Raglan Community Board.
(Listen to the full interview below:) Aaron: This is the first year that the community board has been extended to include a large part of the rural area. Are you a rural guy?
Ross Wallis: I am a rural guy. We live up Okete Road and it’s the first time we’ve been included in the area so I thought we’ll give it a go.
Aaron: I’ve been hearing that some people in the rural area are quite keen – and others are maybe not – to be involved with the community board. What are you picking up?
Ross Wallis: I’ve always considered myself a Raglanite – we go way back and it’s been funny that we’ve never had an opportunity to participate in Raglan at a community level on the community board. It’s always been strange to me that we live so close yet we’re outside that boundary. But a boundary has got to be somewhere, right?
Aaron: Do you feel like you might be representing the rural part of the community?
Ross Wallis: I hope I’ll be able to represent the rural parts of the community. To be honest, the reason I stood was really to offer skills and experience that I’ve got in the area of representation and governance. That’s really the main reason why I’ve stood as opposed to representing any particular group. However, I am a dairy farmer and orchardist and I’ll definitely represent that part of the community but I think it’s our job to represent the whole community.
You can see the new Raglan Community Board boundary in the map below: Aaron: You talk about some experience. What is that experience? Ross Wallis: From a representative perspective, I was on the Fonterra Shareholders Council for eight years.
It is a representative body to represent farmers in a given geographic location – mine was kind of Raglan up to Manukau heads and out to Gordonton. It’s representing farmers’ views back to the Fonterra board and holding the board to account. I see the community board as having a very similar role. It’s representation as opposed to purely governance. It’s really holding the Waikato District Council to account for the decisions that are being made.
Aaron: What’s it like working with Fonterra in that way? I mean it’s a small part of the country and they’re a very large organisation. How does that all work?
Ross Wallis: Without getting into it too much, Fonterra isn’t a corporation, it’s a co-operative. So we, as farmers, own Fonterra and it’s really important that farmers have their say. We basically represent the farmers that vote us into that role. From there it’s really just about making decisions.
From a representative perspective, I used to always sit in those meetings and we’d get there and we have to make a decision. I would say, (with the information that I’ve received from all sides) if a constituent was sitting in my position – how do I think they would vote? And you just go with it and they’ll soon tell you if you’ve got it wrong.
Aaron: How does it work in that situation with the local rural community? Do you have some kind of forum or do they get on the phone and just tell you what they think?
Ross Wallis: People get on the phone, we did regular surveys and I used to hold discussion groups, so there were quite a few opportunities and avenues. The biggest thing is to have as many avenues as you can to get people’s feedback so that you can have a broad representation of what’s going on. You’re never going to please everyone because there are so many views out there.
One thing that I found in a representative role is you’ve got to be really aware of the squeaky wheel. The squeaky wheel is the noise that you’re hearing all the time. You’ve really got to dig deeper than that and actually find out “what does the broader community feel?” But sometimes that’s just how it goes and you’ve got to run with it.
Aaron: You’re obviously aware that the community board is an advisory board and doesn’t have powers except over the discretionary fund.
Ross Wallis: Representative roles can be extremely frustrating, but you’ve got to be able to work with people and that’s probably the biggest key. I think for the community board, the second key is, if a decision has to be made or you’ve got to collate some feedback from the community. Do that quickly and then pass it on to the council and hold the council to account. There’s got to be some accountability. And if there’s not, then that’s where I think the community board needs to dig in a little bit more and make it known that, “hey, this is what our community wants” and really run with it. Don’t be fickle.
Aaron: Can we just move into a different area and talk a little bit about your personal life and what your background is?
Ross Wallis: Yeah so our family’s been here since 1836. Aaron: There’s roads named after you guys. Ross Wallis: Yeah, there’s a couple. So that’s our history in Whāingaroa. Reverend James Wallis was a missionary and I think his son started farming up Okete and that’s still a family farm. My brother farms that land at the moment and I’m on a block next door. I hated farming and hated milking cows when I was a kid. It was the last thing I wanted to do.
Ross Wallis: When I was 20, I left and went overseas to Australia, which is where I met my wife Shayney. She’s an early childhood teacher and has worked in the community for 20 odd years. We met there and spent ten years overseas involved with the missions organisation and taking short term outreaches into SouthEast Asia, particularly Thailand, and different parts of SouthEast Asia. We started growing a family, we have four kids and had four under four.
We headed home in 2000, just to kind of help Dad out on one of the farms and that was 22 years ago. We’re still there and haven’t looked back.
Aaron: So you discovered after a break that farming wasn’t quite so bad as you thought?
Ross Wallis: Yeah, I realised pretty quickly I actually enjoyed the business of farming as opposed to milking cows, which is what I had to do when I was growing up. But there’s so much more to farming than just milking cows.
Aaron: I presume you kids have gone to Te Uku school? Ross Wallis: Yep. So we all went through Te Uku school. We all did, my brothers and that. Aaron: This is an interesting thing. The whole extended family, the generations, have gone through the same school.
Ross Wallis: I think my grandfather helped establish that school. I remember cutting the cake at the hundred year anniversary, so no actually, it wouldn’t have been him, it would’ve been a great grandfather.
Aaron: Do you have a vision for how Raglan should be, or how it is and what it could be in the future?
Ross Wallis: It’s pretty simple actually for me. And it might not be what you’re looking for, but I remember doing a Māori language course at the local marae here and we met with some of the local Māori wahine and they were talking about the history of Raglan. I was quite intrigued because our history goes back quite a ways too.
Raglan has always been a place of refuge. It’s always been a place where, like during the warring tribes and stuff, people could come and seek refuge and seek rest. I’ve always seen Raglan as a place of refuge and rest. Really my vision for Raglan is that it would continue to be that as it grows, that it’d be a place where people can come and take time out to rest, relax and enjoy the awesome surroundings that we have. So yeah, that’s a very simplistic view of that.
Aaron: Strangely I haven’t heard that before, but it really does resonate. I think it will for a lot of people as well. How do you then apply that to being on the community board?
Ross Wallis: Honestly Aaron, I’m not entirely sure. I’m hoping that there is an ability to see that come through. But one thing I’m very strong on is that, with a representative role, (like the community board has in Raglan) if there’s any group that needs to stand up and say, “This is what we want, this is how we want to be, or this is our vision and this is non-negotiable to us,” then we (as a board) really need to be standing up for that with council and making sure that those views are very strongly communicated and that there’s some accountability held.
I understand somewhat of politics and local politics and whether or not you have that sway. But I think if you don’t, then we need to start seeing some change and can I do that through voting the right people onto our council? I know there’s a review of community boards and local government, widely or broadly anyway, so who knows what this is going to look like in the future going forward, but for now.
Aaron: Coromandel District Council, maybe three elections ago, had a big change. They devolved a lot of power to community boards to the point where every community decision that could sensibly be made locally was made locally.
Would you like to see something like that? Ross Wallis: Real political answer here, a yes and a no. I think you’ve got to be really careful at how deeply into the weeds you get. One thing I can’t stand as a farmer is bureaucracy and just the layers and levels and layers of bureaucracy. I think that’s fine as long as it’s very clear as to what decisions or what responsibilities you have and you stay within your lanes. If they broaden those lanes, that’s fine, but that’s got to be backed up with the authority to actually do it and run with it.
And that’s where I struggle because I’ve heard this kind of stuff before. “We’ll let you make the decisions and everything else,” and then the rug is pulled out from under you because it’s just lip service.
Aaron: Do you talk to people who don’t vote and encourage them to vote? Ross Wallis: I will be. I talked to someone about this – about standing – some months ago, and it kind of went off my radar. Then I got a call the day before from someone saying, “Oh, look, there aren’t any candidates available.” So I made a decision on the day of closing and I haven’t had a whole lot of time to canvas. But it’s absolutely important for everyone if you’re part of the community to vote. If you don’t vote, then don’t expect to have a whinge or a cry later on when things aren’t going your way.
That’s my personal view and I just think that everyone should vote and let their voice be heard. I understand that some don’t because they may be disillusioned with how things have been or how things in the past have gone and that’s probably why a lot of people don’t. But throughout the country, we’re in a bit of a crisis and people just aren’t engaged in our local government spaces. I think we are one of the few – there aren’t massive amounts of community boards in every town – but we do have one and I think it’s an opportunity that we need to grab with both hands and really run with.
Aaron: Are there any issues that you feel like you’re bringing with you that you want to see worked on if you’re on the board?
Ross Wallis: No, not really – not in particular. I think it’s less about what my issues are and more about what the community’s issues are. It’s really about having an ear to listen to what the community finds important and then communicating that on. Obviously there are some high level things like the Manu Bay seawall, the wharf area and stuff like that. We want to work with the community to make sure that those things are done well. But for the most part, I think that keeping an ear to the ground and listening to people and representing their views.
Aaron: What issues do you think the community is facing at the moment? And there can be many obviously. What are the things that come to mind first up?
Ross Wallis: Speaking from being out of town, we’re kind of forgotten about. The rural areas that are now being brought in, you pay your rates and the money, and those rates go to Raglan (urban area). So, you know, the footpaths, the walkways, all that stuff which we take advantage of.
Things like stormwater and the three waters issues, those are big issues that need to be sorted. I think most people wake up in the morning and they go, “I want to be able to walk on my footpath. I want my rubbish to be collected. I want to be able to drive on the roads without going into potholes. And I want a place to come back to where I can enjoy life and get on with it,” and that’s it you know? Things like the walking tracks and stuff are kept up for us to use.
I mean, there’s a lot that needs to be done to keep a community going. But you do see areas where things are starting to fall back on. And I think some of the maintenance on some of these areas have been pretty poor.
Coming from a rural area, being a farmer and being a dairy farmer in particular, I remember starting on the farm I’m on about 22 years ago and effluent was a massive thing and you couldn’t just let effluent go into waterways. Yet we still have issues with overflows in our towns, like to me that’s just unacceptable. But, we’ll say to farmers; “You need to spend some money and get your infrastructure sorted out.” Well, it’s the same in towns and I think the council has gone too long just letting it go on you know. I don’t know if it’s just too big of a problem.
Aaron: They did a survey a few years ago. They did a smoke test and you could see smoke if you were in the right place at the right time. The idea was to see if smoke would come out of people’s gutters, because then you’d know that their stormwater was connected to the sewer system.
So they did that and then I’m not aware of too much happening to resolve the problem.
Ross Wallis: Well, it is. It is a huge problem. I know as a farmer, it’s been a huge problem for us too but we’ve had to do something about it. We’ve had to borrow money to do it and that’s just how it is. I don’t know – it’s probably one of the things that is a bit of a bugbear to me and particularly in our towns. I hate going out to Ocean Beach and having signs up saying you can’t collect seafood and stuff.
Aaron: Now that the community board area extends into the large part of the rural area, what should the community board be looking to do specifically in those rural areas? Are there things that the rural community might want to see, that might become possible now?
Ross Wallis: I think highlighting rubbish collection and recycling – that’s probably a big one. I have a blue bag collection on the boundary of our property on Okete Road and it’s always spewing and overflowing. There’s rubbish that spills out onto my farm and it attracts rats and that gets picked up once a week. That’s fine but there’s a recycling truck that I’ve just seen in town today that actually drives down Okete Road but doesn’t collect anything but it’s just come from Te Uku. A lot of these collection areas are just nasty you know? They’re just overflowing.
Aaron: They cancelled one recently because people from out of town had discovered they could dump for free.
Ross Wallis: Yeah, exactly. That kind of stuff bugs me. We get rubbish dumped down by the river, by our place but that’s not a town thing. I think in some of the rural areas, you feel a little bit left out sometimes. You’re paying rates and yet we live on a bit of road that’s still gravel and it potholes up. The grader goes through and it’s good for a day but then it’s back to normal.
Aaron: You’re not the only rural area that talks about this. I know Ruāpuke are going to get theirs done up nicely after the rally but that’s not actually a solution.
Ross Wallis: Okete had a quarry there for four decades. I remember as a kid they were saying, “When it closes down, we’ll seal the road.” We won’t do it now because the trucks are all driving on it and it’ll just wreck the road. That’s fine but it’s been closed now for who knows, 30 odd years or more.
We’re out of time now but can you just tell us, do you have a pitch around why people should vote for Ross?
Ross Wallis: Not not really. My only pitch is that I do have representation experience and I have governance experience as well and I’ll bring a clear head around the community board table. We want to listen to all people’s views but are committed to making decisions when they need to be made and following them up with accountability. That’s probably it for me. I look forward to working with whoever is on there, should I be elected, and will work as best we can together to ensure the best outcomes for Raglan. https://raglanradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/RCR_Ross_wallis.jpg