In the (roughly) two weeks since Gabrielle struck, this Government has done precious little of the nitty-gritty of the monumental task of repairing roads and bridges, houses and people’s livelihoods. It looks like the job is beyond them. So far all we have seen via the news is endless photos of Ministers and MPs wandering around surveying the damage. They look as forlorn and confused as those who have been affected.
The first thing the government did post-cyclone was add a further week to their Christmas break. Since then photo ops appear to be the order of the day. I would have thought a better idea would have been to call Parliament back to seek cross Parliamentary support on how the cost of the rebuild was to be managed financially. The choices are either tax or borrow. The latter seems the more sensible option.
National favours that approach, so if the government chose that path it would be a good start on cross-party support. What is more worrying is the government’s inability to deliver. This has been this government’s Achilles heel from day one. We’ve had numerous announcements laced with ambitious targets but no actual delivery. There have been announcements of delivery for items that weren’t even in the country. Vaccines are one example, and just the other day legislation was passed allowing police to use saliva drug testing kits from March 11, but that won’t be happening because the kits don’t exist.
If Labour is true to form there will be no end of ‘working groups’ full of highly paid consultants who they can blame for anything that goes wrong or has not gone according to plan. This will enable them to keep their commitment to never apologise. People who have been rendered homeless, people who have had crops ruined, and people who have lost their livelihoods will all be looking for urgent action. Unfortunately for them, this is not how this Labour Government operates.
Steven Joyce, in a recent article in the Weekend Herald, warns that winter is not far away. He says there is no place here for the Covid-era mistake that the government must run everything. His view is we don’t have time for long regulatory processes to agree on plans to protect the Esk Valley or Wairoa from more flooding or to replace the slumped parts of numerous highways. Joyce says we need to get started and design as we go. He says this will be a real test of a government whose instincts on planning reform are more likely to slow things down.
He goes on to say that just spending the money is not good enough. One agency needs to have the power to cut through the regulatory thicket of the RMA and all other restrictive legislation and get things done. Joyce mentions The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and the extraordinary powers of the Recovery Act. He says the same thing is needed here. How right he is.
The reality is we are dealing with a government that struggles to build a house. They are not up to the task in front of them. As time goes on and very little is delivered or seen to be happening, a fair proportion of the North Island voting electorate is going to become very disgruntled if not downright angry. The other thing to note is that when the Christchurch earthquake hit, the economy was in much better shape than it is now. He says the big ticket items such as health and education were performing much better for New Zealanders than they are today.
Michael Wood is a good example of what a liability this Labour Government is. Firstly he was telling us how he was going to proceed with his ridiculously expensive light rail project; then, more recently, banging on about considering lowering the voting age to 16. This rubbish is from a man who wears the Ministerial Hats of Auckland, Transport and Immigration. He needs a lesson in priorities. It is this sort of nonsense that leaves one wondering if those people in need and the roads and bridges will be in the same state they are now for the next decade.
Here’s a horrific thought. Perhaps Wood has a secret plan to replace damaged roads with cycleways. After all, it would be a lot cheaper. Auckland to the Coromandel via SH 25 takes only 9 hours and 43 minutes. What a joyride!
