{"id":641343,"date":"2026-10-26T00:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T00:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641343\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T00:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T00:44:11","slug":"kawerau-looks-to-rebuild-its-future-beyond-the-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641343\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawerau looks to rebuild its future beyond the mill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tReading Time: 3 minutes
\n\"Follow<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahead of November\u2019s General Election, Farmers Weekly reporters hit the road to take the pulse of rural New Zealand. Follow their journey as they hear what matters most to rural communities on the Road to Election 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kawerau
Location \u2013 eastern Bay of Plenty
Population \u2013 7680Industry \u2013 farming, forestry, engineering, geothermal energy
Council land area \u2013 24sq km, the smallest council area in NZ <\/p>\n

At just over 70 years old, Kawerau can claim to be New Zealand\u2019s youngest town district, created on the back of the mighty Tasman pulp and paper mill.<\/p>\n

Today the mill has closed, and times have been tough, but community leaders and businesses see a town re-inventing itself on its own terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It has them weaving a path between government-funding austerity\u00a0 and the natural assets of location, energy, and forestry that prompted the mill town\u2019s genesis back in the 1950s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keen to work to set their district\u2019s future on their terms, they are looking to central government this election to provide foundations of housing, education and health to underpin Kawerau\u2019s renaissance.<\/p>\n

Kawerau District Council mayor Faylene Tunui freely acknowledges work remains to be done to restore its economy to its healthy heydays.<\/p>\n

\u201cTasman Mill was very much the main event back then, but there was little thought about when the mill\u2019s gone, what is left?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Act of Parliament that created Tasman Mill bought a prosperous mill town to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, it also left a legacy of land and water waste that turned the Tarawera River into the infamous \u201cblack drain\u201d, often smelled before it was seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meantime the bustling population of 9000 in the 1980s dwindled to a trough of 6000 in 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, however, it has enjoyed a healthy recovery, with a large young M\u0101ori family population alongside a growing population of older retirees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been trying to create a plan for the district on the run really, while dealing with the legacy left behind,\u201d Tunui said.<\/p>\n

This has meant trying to encourage more sustainable and steady businesses in the town.<\/p>\n

She points to the commissioning this year of the Eastland Generation and Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa geothermal power station project, generating 49mW, sufficient to supply 50,000 homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s largest remaining paper mill, employing over 200 people, is owned by Swedish company Essity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SmilingAfter having its creation dictated by a top-down Act of Parliament, Kawerau\u2019s mayor Faylene Tunui says central government\u2019s role should focus on the basics of housing and affordable food, leaving communities like Kawerau to set their growth pathway. Photo: Richard Rennie<\/p>\n

Last year Essity invested $20 million into its tissue plant to run it on geothermal energy\u00a0 and today is\u00a0 proudly claimed to be the world\u2019s first tissue processor run wholly on geothermal steam production.<\/p>\n

In looking to reinvent itself, Tunui admits Kawerau has made a mistake common to others facing decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership was trying to replace the mill with new business options. But those businesses already here felt ignored. We then opted to play a retention game with those already here, and doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes a raft of heavy engineering firms that evolved in the mill\u2019s shadow and have since diversified across multiple processing sectors.<\/p>\n

With its good rail head, easy road access, geothermal energy and this base of engineering heritage, the town\u2019s appeal to new entrants is well founded.<\/p>\n

Forestry biofuel company Foresta is a new arrival. Foresta\u2019s business development manager, Dean Ormrod, speaks highly of a council keen to help the company establish in the new P\u016btauaki Trust industrial zone.<\/p>\n

After years of central government pushing local councils on plans and legislation, Tunui said Kawerau has developed its own plan for its future, highlighting the parts most attractive to the government of the day.<\/p>\n

Looking to the next general election, Tunui said there is underlying resentment at her tiny council being forced to be absorbed into a wider Eastern Bay of Plenty unitary authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have already said publicly that we are like a reluctant bridesmaid.\u201d
Also, over the next three years she would also like to see \u201creal basic stuff\u201d taken care of, including more housing and job training linked to specific industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day you\u2019d be awarded a home here through a ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday people are waking up, wondering how they will pay the $700 a week rent, let alone feed their kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old Tasman workers would not be able to believe its such a tough flex in 2026 to have a home you can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading Time: 3 minutes Ahead of November\u2019s General Election, Farmers Weekly reporters hit the road to take the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-641343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}