6. JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) Link to this
to the Minister of Civil Defence
What did he mean when he reportedly admitted today that New Zealand is not as prepared for an emergency as previously thought?
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Civil Defence) Link to this
A recent survey done for the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management shows that 35 percent of all New Zealanders—that is, more than a third of us—say that they are not well prepared, and 13 percent say that they are not prepared at all. In the recent events down south, civil defence and emergency management, power companies, and telecommunication companies worked incredibly hard in trying conditions, and they should be applauded for their efforts. What I want is for people to have a look in hindsight to see what we can learn in order for utility companies, local government, civil defence, and individuals to be better prepared for the future. That is a positive thing to do.
What did he mean when he contradicted the Prime Minister’s statement on Breakfast TV, when she said that she was satisfied with the response to the emergency disaster in South Canterbury and, as a junior Minister, he stated that he thought: “We could have done better. I accept that.”; who is right: the Prime Minister or him?
When it comes to an issue between the Prime Minister and me, the Prime Minister is always right, of course. I do add the point that the civil defence people in South Canterbury did a great job, and there is no question about that. But there are some weaknesses in our infrastructure that I want to see identified, so that we are better prepared for the future. That is what we want to do. We want to be the best prepared that we can possibly be.
H V Ross Robertson Link to this
Can the Minister tell the House what he is doing in order to help prepare New Zealanders to get through a disaster?
Madam SPEAKEROn June 6 this year I had the pleasure of launching the second phase of a public education programme Get Ready Get Thru, which followed on from the schools-based programme called What’s the Plan Stan?. This is a $6 million programme that aims to help New Zealanders and organisations to be better prepared for disasters like the one we had last week. Reports of this programme have been largely positive, except for that of one person, who called the effort to be better prepared a “farce” and a “disgrace”. That person was National’s John Carter.
Peter BrownNoting that answer to the principal question, what advice has the Minister for local residents of Matatā, who have concerns in regard to the manner in which parts of their town are being rebuilt, believing it is possible to construct far more effective safeguards at less cost but being unable to get the local council operators even to listen to them?
The member has the answer exactly right; it is a matter for the local council. If the local council supports those decisions, then of course the ministry will support that, but we have to be convinced that the engineering solution is adequate for the risk.
Jo GoodhewWhat instructions, if any, has the Minister given to officials and the local community of South Canterbury about what Government assistance is now available to them, given that the ramifications of this weather event are likely to be felt in the weeks and months to come?
The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management has a substantial amount of resources available for local councils. We have informed local councils of that, and I want to make sure that local councils are well advised of that. There is no question but that the Government will assist as much as possible in any adverse event, and we have put in every possible resource that was asked for, in a very timely manner, too.
When the Minister said yesterday that “I think we learnt a few lessons” from the situation in South Canterbury, just what are those lessons; are they the same as, or different from, the lessons he said he had learnt from the tsunami fiasco more than a month ago?
It is true to say that those who do not learn lessons from history are bound—duty bound—to repeat them. [ Interruption] The lesson we learnt from South Canterbury was that the infrastructure in certain areas could have been better prepared for a civil defence emergency such as this. For example, water pumps that were mains-dependent did not have alternative jacks for an auxiliary supply. Such a jack is a simple thing to supply when pumps are being set up, and if that had been done at the point of set-up, then the water would have continued to flow when the mains supply was turned off. Those are good things to learn. We need to learn them and make sure we are better prepared in the future.
Why did the Minister wait so long, doing nothing, until the Prime Minister prodded him into action, as she stated on Breakfast TV on Monday morning; and was that the reason he waited 5 days—or was he too busy waiting for a BBC report on the situation in South Canterbury?
I had already planned to go to Canterbury on Thursday and Saturday, and when the Prime Minister’s office asked me to it was a meeting of the minds. But I want to say that that is a bit rich, coming from that member, who, despite having access to taxpayer-paid airfares has never been to the area, and despite having a taxpayer-paid phone on his desk has never picked up the phone to go and ring anybody. That member has zero credibility.
So, it’s my fault [ Interruption] it’s my fault—yes! Has the Minister had any response from the snow-bound South Canterbury families and farmers involved in the emergency disaster, in response to the Prime Minister’s TV comment last Monday, on the first morning of the disaster: “I am very pleased to see the snow. I love skiing, so it’s good to see they are getting off to a great start with the ski season.”?
I think we can have too much of a good thing, and certainly in Canterbury there was far too much of a good thing. I have never seen so much snow in the Canterbury area before, and one local told me that this has been the heaviest snowfall they have had since 1943. It has done an enormous amount of damage, and I want to say to the people who have done a great deal of work in restoring the power and phones that they have done a fantastic job.
I seek leave to table a paper reporting that Rick Barker has admitted that New Zealand is not as prepared for an emergency as previously thought.
I seek leave to table a report stating, as a consequence of a comment from the Prime Minister, that Rick Barker is not in touch.
I seek leave to table a report in which Rick Barker admitted: “We could have done better. I accept that.”
I seek leave to table an editorial from the Timaru newspaper, stating that it thought that at least the nation’s leaders would have shown they cared.