The Government has created a Cabinet-level Committee Extreme Weather Recovery Committee, with regional Ministerial leads, to help coordinate the Central Government response and recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.
The Committee will be chaired by Grant Robertson (to be formally appointed as Minister for Cyclone Recovery), with Barbara Edmonds as deputy. The Prime Minister and Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty will also be members.
The Ministerial lead for Hawke’s Bay is Stuart Nash.
Our local Meka Whaitiri, MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Associate Agriculture Minister will also serve on the committee, with responsibility overseeing the recovery in that area.
Also announced is an initial $50 million support package for businesses, farmers and growers, as well as injecting an extra $250 million to help Councils fix roads, get transport links back up and access into communities.
Here in Hawke’s Bay, the region’s mayors issued their customary media release pledging to work together, including with iwi leaders and the new Regional Economic development Agency (REDA). And having a unified regional voice in working with central government.
CHB’s Mayor Alex Walker will have a key role as co-chair of the Hawke’s Bay Matariki Governance Group (the mayors, HBRC chair and Iwi leaders). She comments: “We know that to be successful, Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay’s recovery needs to be regionally led and locally responsive. It also needs a strong and simple architecture and regional leadership to enable the brave decision-making that will be required, at pace to give our communities the confidence they need that support is on the way.”
Talking with BayBuzz, Mayor Walker spoke of the need in the recovery process to “accelerate big picture, inter-generational thinking” about the future direction of Hawke’s Bay, including where we locate our homes and businesses and addressing the risks we are prepared to accept. That will certainly be on the agenda she reassures, and we need a way to discuss these issues as a region, but first we need to get back on our feet and functioning.
I totally concur with Mayor Alex Walker’s comment about the need to accelerate big picture, inter-generational thinking as part of the recovery. And how we have those discussions is just as important as what’s on the agenda. Let’s seize this opportunity to develop inclusive, participatory decision-making processes that fully engage the community, and build on the generosity of spirit we have witnessed so overwhelmingly in the last week.
Agreed, it is time to work together in unity and one accord and as Sandra Hazelhurst shared, it is about leading from the ground up, from the incredible depth of wisdom and insight here on the ground in HB out to government, so the Region can rebuild on solid ground and thrive for many years to come. Great collaborative work. Long may this last.