Waikato Business News | December 1, 2023

12 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS
DECEMBER 2023
Scientific work acknowledged
The achievements of 17 scientists and
their teams were acknowledged
at the Kudos Science Excellence
Awards at the end of November in
Hamilton.
The Emerging Scientist category,
sponsored by the Hamilton City Council,
recognised a major recent contribution
toward advancing an emerging career in
science across the greater Waikato and
Toi Moana, Bay of Plenty.
The award was won by climate
scientist Dr Luke Harrington, who was
also named a finalist in the Waikato
Regional Council Environmental award.
“The calibre of science achievement
from our young scientists is incredibly
inspiring.” Hamilton mayor Paula
Southgate said when presenting the
award.
NIWA’s Te Kūwaha o Taihoro
Nukurangi team celebrated two major
award wins including the Waikato
Regional Council Environmental Science
and University of Waikato Vision
Maatauranga awards.
The team works to help Māori
communities access the latest scientific
research and tools to manage natural
resources while respecting their unique
knowledge systems.
Cardiovascular surgeon Dr Manar
Khashram won the Te Whatu ora
- Waikato Medical Science award
in recognition of his dedication to
vascular surgery and research which is
enhancing the management of aortic
and vascular disease. Finalists in this
category included Associate Professor
Lynn Chepulis from the University of
Waikato and Dr Matthew Phillips of
Waikato Hospital.
The Science Teacher/Educator/
Communicator award was won by
horticultural science teacher Hilary
Johnson from Katikati College,
highlighting her contribution to results
that kept her students at higher than the
national average for four years.
Other significant awards included the
Agresearch Cattle Urine Sensor team as
winner of the Science and Technology
award, and The LIC Variant Discovery
team taking home the Hill Labs Primary
Industry award.
A supreme Kudos Lifetime
Achievement award was presented to
Steve Davis of LIC. His distinguished
research career has spanned 48 years
and contributed greatly to the quality
of New Zealand’s dairy herd and its
production.
Dr Davis has published over 120
scientific papers, 145 conference
proceedings, five book chapters and over
10 patents.
“It’s always awe-inspiring to see so
many potentially ground-breaking
projects underway. What I find most
impressive is the passion, blood,
sweat and tears that goes into each of
them,” Kudos Science Trust chair Chris
Williams said.
Students were also recognised for their
achievements in science. The $1000
Braemar Charitable Trust/Science
Spinners Scholarship was awarded to
Mya Komene, Aiga Tasi/Fraser High
school to support her academic pathway
in medical/health sciences.
The master of ceremonies was Forest
and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki.
“The fact that the Waikato region is
the only region to hold such significant
awards and has done so year after year
for 16 years, is a positive reflection
of the high calibre of the Waikato
Steve Davis, of LIC, was presented with a life time achievement
award by trust chair Chris Williams.
scientific community,” she
said.
“Even better, is the degree
of collaboration and courage
demonstrated by this
innovative group of scientists
to tackle some of our most
challenging issues”.
Miriama’s rose translates into books
By Mary Anne Gill
Mike Dreaver was quite
specific when four years ago
he asked Hamilton’s Amoré
Roses to create a rose for
his wife, television presenter
Miriama Kamo.
It had to be brown and
a climber, he told owner
Jan Barnett. Last month
Kamo was at the company’s
Newstead premises for the
annual open day where the
rose was launched.
Proceeds from sales of
the Miriama Kamo rose
go to the couple’s Kotahi
Rau Pukapuka Trust which
translates books written in
English to Māori.
Catholic bishop Steve
Lowe, a family friend of
Kamo’s from Christchurch,
blessed the rose and gave a
reading from St Matthew.
For Jan it was yet more
proof that she and husband
Paul made the right decision
when they pursued the
opportunity to become rose
importers.
The Barnetts were in
Osaka, Japan in 2006 – she
had written the successful
citation to the World Rose
Federation to have Hamilton
Gardens’ rose garden given
a garden of excellence award
and he was at a property
conference.
Jan has been fascinated
by roses since she was a girl
and went on to become a
national rose judge. Paul
is less knowledgeable so
when he met acclaimed
American rose breeder
Frank Bernadella at the bar
one night, he had no idea of
what a legend he was with.
Bernadella, who has since
died, was complaining that
he could not get his awardwinning
miniature roses
into New Zealand.
Paul said he would see
what he could do.
On their return, Jan and
Paul set up a business to
import and quarantine the
The Amoré ladies: Briony Nash, Janette and Melanie Barnett.
Photo: Supplied
plants. Originally it was to
be established rose growing
firms which would get the
roses to market but delays in
getting quarantine units set
up left Jan on her own.
They sold their retirement
beach home, bought several
hectares in Vaile Road,
Newstead and set about
getting the new roses into
circulation.
Seven years later there
are now some unique and
beautiful varieties of Amoré
Roses released in New
Zealand about the same
time as Europe.
Jan has breeders from
Belgium, Australia,
Germany, France,
Netherlands, Canada,
Ireland and America.
“We all think she is
awesome and will do really
well. She talks about being a
boutique business but if the
New Zealand public want to
see beautiful roses in their
garden no matter how small
the garden, then Jan could
be very busy,” said Paul, a
successful project manager
and property developer for
nearly 40 years.
Jan recently picked up
three awards for her roses –
children’s choice, hybrid tea
and most fragrant - at the
Pacific Rose Bowl Festival in
the Rogers Rose Garden at
Hamilton Gardens beating
out roses from around the
world.
Some of Jan’s roses are
perfumed, some are small
bushes but with big flowers,
some are almost thornless,
some striped, some speckled
but all are disease tolerant.
“The beauty of these roses
is that they bring colour
into the garden and can
also fit into small apartment
gardens,” said Paul.
Their daughters Briony
and Melanie are now
co-directors and help in the
business.
Miriama Kamo, who now has her own rose, at Amoré Rose’s open day.
Electric bus debuts in Taupō
Waikato’s first electric bus is doing the
rounds in Taupō.
Waikato Regional and Taupō District
councils launched the bus at an event last
week. It carries up to 56 passengers at a
time and can tilt towards the curb and
extend a ramp to provide easier access for
passengers.
The new cleaner, quieter and emission free
Taupō Connector replaces a diesel vehicle
which has been a mainstay of the Waikato
public bus system for years.
Tranzit Coachlines operates the buses. A
120kW charger at Tranzit’s Taupō depot
takes two hours to charge the battery and
uses a smart charging system that takes
advantage of off-peak power prices.
The 281kWh on-board battery powers the
engine and in-built regeneration technology
recharges it when the bus brakes, enabling
the bus to travel for about 300km on a single
charge.
Waka Kotahi says electric bus trials in
Auckland reduced operating costs by 70 to 85
per cent compared to diesel vehicles running
the same route.
The Taupō Connector travels for about
270km each weekday, making seven
return loops (six on the weekend) between
Wharewaka in the northwest of town and
Nukuhau in the south.
Mich’eal Downard, Waikato Regional
Photo: Supplied.
Councillor for Taupō-Rotorua and chair of
the Regional Transport Committee, said zeroemission
buses were critical for achieving
Waikato’s public transport objective to make
services net carbon neutral from 2025 to
2050: “EVs are a game changer for reducing
emissions across our network, so this is a big
deal and I’m very happy that it happens to be
in Taupō.”
In Cambridge at the start of 2023 medical
professional Luk Chin suggested a small
electric bus service for the community.
Waikato’s public transport network covers
approximately 730km of roads outside of
Hamilton City and daily passenger numbers
this year are up 28.4 per cent on 2022.
The network carried an average of 7948
passengers a day last year but was carrying
10,208 at the end of October 2023.
The regional council’s public transport
manager, Trudi Knight, says continual
improvements to services and options are
making a difference: “The great thing about
the increasing passenger numbers is we’ve
done it without increasing the average
number of bus trips each day. We had 760
last year and 758 this year.
“On an average day, we’re taking the
equivalent of 8876 car trips off the road.
Obviously, this is great for reducing emissions
but every EV bus we can add to our network
makes it even cleaner and more efficient.”