In the 1989 local government reforms, the Otago Harbour Board went out of existence and since Port Otago has been wholly owned by the Otago Regional Council.
Now, with the government’s push for council amalgamations and its intention to get rid of regional councils, there is considerable interest in what might happen to the ownership of this asset.
It is understandable, given its value and its ability to return a dividend to shareholders.
As Dunedin mayor Sophie Barker pointed out last week, in 1989 it was worth $20 million, now it’s over $1 billion with profit last financial year of more than $60m, and an $18m dividend to the Otago Regional Council. That dividend was up $2m from the previous year.
There is a lingering concern among some, probably the most vocal among them Cr Lee Vandervis, that the city was shortchanged in the move to Port Otago, robbed of land developed by Dunedin’s ancestors for more than a century.
On the other side of the argument is that Port Otago is a regional asset rather than just a Dunedin one.
The 1989 change ensured that the whole of the region would benefit from it through the regional council.
We have previously described it as a vital cog in the national as well as the regional economy, something that will not change in the redrawing of local government boundaries.
In a 2024 report Port Otago sought from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research looking at the economic impact of no port activity for a year, that regional and national impact was clear.
The institute’s modelling suggested the gross domestic product (GDP) in Otago for a year would decrease by $154m, Southland’s by $38m and the countrywide impact would lower GDP by $118m.
The government has made it clear regional councils cannot submit proposals for amalgamations, but it would be disappointing if they are excluded from any input into amalgamation discussions.
Regional councils are still in place and, even if they have no decision-making role in local government reform, it makes no sense to bar them from outlining what they might consider best for their ratepayers in the whole of the region.
Ideally, the council as a whole should be able to add a regional perspective which might be missing from the parochialism of individual territorial local authorities.
Last week ORC chairwoman Hilary Calvert and Cr Michael Laws (who are both from different constituencies within the council) were adamant the port was a regional asset and not something which should be viewed as some sort of cash cow for Dunedin.
They were responding to the opinion piece in this newspaper from Dunedin city councillors Vandervis, Andrew Simms and Russell Lund, suggesting a coastal Dunedin local body combining Dunedin and Waitaki councils, with control of the port.
At the moment, only part of the Waitaki district’s area falls within the ORC purview, with the rest under Environment Canterbury.
The councillors’ vision was that the Central Otago and Queenstown district councils would team up while Clutha District Council would fit into a Southland-wide entity.
With all of the Otago councils still in discussion about what might happen next, the jury will be out on whether it is helpful to have a handful of Dunedin councillors sharing their ideas.
It does, however, highlight the folly of the way the government is tackling this issue and the likelihood of communities putting up proposals which might be more knee-jerk reactions than anything which has been well thought through and consulted upon.
It will be unfortunate if these talks descend into unseemly squabbles about who should get the family silver rather than concentrating on what is best, or perhaps least bad, for everyone in the region.
