Waikato River Authority

1. Waikato River Authority Annual General Meeting for the period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 Address by Bob Penter, Chief Executive 8 November 2012, Novotel Hotel, Hamilton

2. Vision for the Waikato River Tookuawakoiora me oonapikonga he kuratangihia o temaataamuri ―The river of life, each curve more beautiful than the last Our vision is for a future where a healthy Waikato River sustains abundant life and prosperous communities who, in turn, are all responsible for restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River, and all it embraces, for generations to come.

3. Waikato River • New Zealand’s longest river (425km), quarter the length of the country • Mean discharge of 340m3/s • 9 hydro-power stations, and provides cooling water for Huntly power station (coal): 13% of NZ’s electricity generation • Significantly degraded particularly in middle and lower reaches of the catchment due to multiple factors

4. Huka Falls

5. Lake Karapiro

6. Hamilton City

7. Waipa River (Ngaruawahia) Largest tributary to the Waikato River 116km long Major source of microbes and sediment in lower Waikato River catchment

8. TePuuaha o Waikato

9. Highlights 2011/12 Funding announced for 26 projects in under $50k category in February 2012. A total of $800,000 allocated Over $50k projects announced in April 2012. A total of 20 projects in this category with a total of $4.8m A funding ratio of 0.73 was achieved, for every dollar allocated by the WRA, 73cents was contributed by project partners

10. Funded projects 2011/12 • Waikato River Trails Trust – Riparian planting projects ($143k)

11. Funded projects 2011/12 .. cont’d • DairyNZ – Reduce nutrient loads, sedimentation and faecal microbes in the Upper Karapiro catchment by implementing auditable Environmental Management Plans ($1.5m DairyNZ and catchment farmers, $685k Trust)

12. Funded projects 2011/12 .. cont’d • SMP Muir Family Trust restoration of whitebait habitat ($11k)

13. Funded projects 2011/12 .. cont’d • National Wetland Trust of NZ – Promote Rotopiko/Lake Serpentine as a showcase site for visitors, education, training and research ($600k)

14. Funded projects 2011/12 .. cont’d Te Awa River Ride – a major cycle way 3-year project providing riparian planting, access and education on river ($150k)

15. Highlights 2011/12 .. cont’d GST Registration • GST status of both entities were reviewed during statutory audit and non-binding rulings obtained from Inland Revenue • Waikato River Authority non-binding ruling obtained from Inland Revenue to confirm GST status of entity is not required to be registered – Not registered • Waikato River Clean Up Trust non binding ruling obtained from Inland Revenue to confirm GST status of entity is entitled to be registered – Registered for GST • For the Trust in particular this was a key milestone

16. Highlights 2011/12 ..cont’d Inclusion of the Vision & Strategy in a number of planning documents throughout our region. Notably the Proposed Regional Policy Statement for the Waikato Region encompasses the Vision & Strategy A refresh of the Funding Strategy undertaken with up to $6m again allocated in this current round NgaWai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) legislation passed in April 2012 expanding the WRA area to include all of the Waipa River catchment

17. Highlights 2011/12 cont’d .. “I commend the Authority in prudently exercising its fiscal responsibilities .. to appropriately address its reasonable costs over and above the level of Crown funding.” Dr Paul ReynoldsSecretary for the Environment • Recognition from the Crown of the Authority’s actual and reasonable costs. And a commitment from the Ministry to review the level of funding in two years, to meet those costs.

18. Financials –Waikato River Authority

19. Financials – Waikato River Clean-up Trust

20. Financials – Waikato River Clean-up Trust

21. Audit NZ Management Report Key Messages • Good practice is being applied to the evaluation process used to assess grant applications • Pleased to note monitoring procedures are being put in place to monitor the work of grant recipients • The financial statements fairly reflected the entities’ activity for the year and their financial position at the end of the year. • Key Issues arising during the audit this year included: • Treatment of settlement funds receivable under Waipa River legislation; • GST status of both entities • The above issues have been resolved during the audit.

22. Current Status Completion of our 2nd Annual Report Appointment of key WRA contractors including the position of Fund Manager (Sean Newland) Our 2nd funding round opened in September 2012 with applications closing on 2nd November. We have received 61 applications seeking total funds of $10.4m

23. Immediate Tasks Ahead Completion of the 2nd funding round Establish GIS web enabled mapping tool Auditing funded projects Further and continuing improvements to WRA website Creation of key stakeholder database for improved communication

24. Challenges Ahead • How do we know if we are if we are being effective? • One funder among a number of others • Actual river health difficult to monitor in the short to medium term (changes occur over decades) • Developing an integrated, cohesive and logical multi-year funding programme rather than potentially fragmented yearly funding • Are there enough capable organisations to annually take on new projects? • Balancing prosperous communities with a restored and protected river and catchment

25. Ends