Ryan Bridge: A little too much economic nimbyism going on

There’s a form of economic nimbyism that’s going on in this country.

And if we want to get ahead, everyone knows there must be trade-offs. No economic miracle, new business, or growth opportunity comes without a cost.

Whether its intensive agriculture on the environment or water to run the data centres that power your smart phones, every success costs you something.

The trick is to be reasonable and take risks then mitigate them, or just be willing to wear the costs.

The problem we have here is not a lack of opportunities, not even, in many cases, investment. 

I was in Otago just recently - beautiful place, stunning. 

There’s a gold mine permit been issued. Sam Neil’s dead against the project, as are many others. 

There's opposition and legal challenges, etc, etc. Fair enough. He has a house around there and is worried about trucks on the road, etc.

But it’s also an area that would be serviced by this brand-new hospital Dunedin’s getting. 

Half the towns and buildings in Otago wouldn’t be there to be begin were it not for gold mining. The permit’s been issued and the rest is set for the fast track. 

Wānaka said no to a McDonald’s, in part due to concerns about healthy eating.

Residents objected to a solar farm in part because of something called lunar reflection, that the moonlight might reflect off a solar panel like it would, oh I don’t know, a lake or the ocean.

Which is all well and good but if we want stuff like new hospitals, highways, and potholes fixed, it must somehow be paid for.

There’s a little too much economic nimbyism going on for anyone to be seriously complaining about the state of things.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a form of economic nimbiism that's going on in
this country. You've probably noticed it too. If we want
to get ahead, surely we are all aware that there
must be trade offs. There's no business, no growth, no
economic miracle that comes about without a cost to someone somewhere.
Whether it's intensive agriculture that can have an effect on

(00:20):
the environment, whether it's water to run the data centers
that power your smartphones. Every success costs you something. Generally,
the trick is to be reasonable, take risks, mitigate them,
or just be willing to wear the costs. The problem
we have, I don't think is necessarily a lack of
opportunities of wherewithal or enthusiasm, not even in many cases investment.

(00:45):
I was just an Otargo, just recently beautiful place, stunning
central Otago. There's a gold mine permit that's been issued there.
You might have seen that in the news. Sam Neil
was dead against the project when I was down there,
as are many others. There's opposition, there's legal challenges, fair enough,
you know they've got houses in the area, worried about
trucks on the road then what it looks like. But

(01:06):
it's also an area that would be serviced by this
brand new hospital that Dunedin is getting. Half the town's
buildings by the way, and Otaga wouldn't be there to
begin with if its not for gold mining. So the
permits issued. The rest is with fast track whatever. But
how are you going to pay for that hospital? How
are you going to pay for that hospital? Wanaka said

(01:27):
no to a McDonald's in part due to concerns about
healthy eating. Residents objected to a solar farm in part
because of something called lunar reflection, that the moonlight might
reflect off a solar panel like it would I don't
know a lake or an ocean. I mean, come on,
are we clutching its straws here or what. It's all

(01:47):
well and good, but if we want stuff like new hospitals,
highways and potholes fixed, you have to pay for them somehow.
And there's a little too much economic nimbiaism going on
at the moment I think for anyone to be serious
complaining about the state of things. For more from Early
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