Mayor concedes face-to-face plus-side to Japanese trip
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark opposed the city council spending money on sister city trips, preferring online catchups. Although he now concedes face-to-face meetings had significant benefits.
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark says he has returned from Japan with plenty of ideas which he says wouldn’t have happened through his initial suggestion of an online catchup.
In August last year, as a councillor, Clark raised opposition to the Invercargill City Council spending money on sister-city visits.
He stated that we were now living in a digital world and city leaders could connect online.
Clark has now just returned from a stint visiting Kumagaya, Japan which has had a sister-city partnership with Invercargill for 30 years.
He was joined by deputy mayor Tom Campbell, and councillors Trish Boyle, Alex Crackett, Darren Ludlow and Barry Stewart.
The budget for the trip was $35,000, although Campbell paid his own way.
Clark was aware many labelled it a “junket” but said it was far from the case with a busy schedule which he said included plenty of speeches and meetings.
He said he took particular interest in how Kumagaya handled its waste management.
“I wouldn’t have got that online. It was only that we were there…. While I was there taking photographs I asked; ‘what’s that big plant over there?’ and the Japanese person said it was to burn rubbish.
“So, when I got back to see the Mayor a few hours later I asked what it’s all about.”
“They burn most of their stuff in very big incinerators. They take the plastics and cans out, and basically everything else gets burnt in a way that doesn’t add to pollution.
“I need to do some more work with them to find what environmental levels they comply with and what the costs of these plants are.”
Clark said the Kumagaya leaders were shocked when he told them Invercargill sends a lot of its waste to landfill.
Another discussion was a possible rugby partnership between Invercargill and Kumagaya.
Clark said Kumagaya regards itself as “a rugby town” with topflight club Panasonic based in the city.
Panasonic was keen to investigate the prospect of “player swaps” which Clark said might include some of the best teenage talent joining the likes of Southland Boys’ High School to aid with their rugby development while attending school in Invercargill.
Clark said he would meet with Rugby Southland chief executive Steve Mitchell and board chairman Murray Brown to see whether it might lead to something.
Another top domestic Japanese club - Toyota Verblitz - has already sent players to Invercargill this year with four joining the Pirates-Old Boys club.
Three of them have remained in Invercargill and are now training alongside the Southland Stags NPC squad.
Another idea that has been floated is the potential for a council staff exchange where Invercargill staff may head to Kumagaya for a certain period to impart their knowledge, and vice-versa.