A few weeks ago, when I heard that the only way out of Gisborne was going to be a convoy at 9am the next
day through the Waioeka Gorge, I thought, “It’s all too hard”.
I’m sure that I’m not the only one feeling that way at the moment. I will never forget all of us huddled outside the Gisborne District Council offices or the airport, desperately trying to get Wifi to make sure friends and family were OK, or to get some work done so our businesses wouldn’t suffer.
Moving forward from Cyclone Gabrielle, we acknowledge that there is a massive clean-up phase still ahead of us. Tairāwhiti has been here before with Cyclone Bola in the 1980s, as the rest of the country watched on. Now there are many regions around Aotearoa faced with the same challenges.
One question we need to ask is how we can do better this time around with our recovery. The decisions we make won’t just affect the next few months and couple of years, but will lay down a framework that could help or hinder our region for a long time to come. Extreme weather events are occurring more regularly, and the world’s slow attempts to address the climate crisis suggest that more (and worse) is coming our way.
The issue is resilience, and the events of Cyclone Gabrielle have shown us that we don’t have key systems that are fit for purpose.
Major infrastructure transformation requires significant investment. Where is that going to come from?
And what about the labour resources that are also needed to build resilience, given the tight labour market and the constraints that result from the Government’s immigration settings?
Talking with Gisborne Chamber members over the past couple of weeks, a number of themes have emerged. This is what business owners in the region are worried about.
Not surprisingly, roads are at the top of the list. We have to do better with the roading infrastructure, in particular the main arterial roads in and out of the region. Arterial roads are our direct link to the rest of New Zealand, and without them our economy suffers.
The fruit harvest is about to hit full speed and farmers need to send stock for processing ahead of winter — the single road out of town is a huge risk for horticultural and agricultural businesses. Locals have complained about the Gorge and Devil’s Elbow for years, and no one has listened. All RUCs (Road User Charges) paid to the government by local trucking businesses need to be invested back in the region.
A lot of people are wondering, are coastal shipping and rail suddenly options once again, now that the region’s roads are proving to be expensive and not fit-for-purpose? On that note, it is exciting to see that the Government has committed significant funds to underwrite a shipping service between Gisborne and Napier for the next three months.
Should we rebuild roads near the ocean? What about infrastructure near rivers? Even with immediate changes to forestry practices, slash is not going away any time soon. Are bridges with multiple piles that act as choke points on the rivers fit for purpose, or should bridges be upgraded to have clear spans across the rivers?
Water is another hot topic. Think back to the lack of “shovel-ready” projects when the Government was allocating funds to support the economy through Covid. Our water supply has been vulnerable for a considerable amount of time yet there has been no real plan to improve it — apart from native reversion of the land the pipeline runs through. The Waipaoa treatment plant has proved to be an inadequate back-up, and is only made operational with access to the irrigation water-take chambers in the river that are owned by private businesses. Gisborne District Council needs to take responsibility for being entirely unprepared.
All of the Three Waters (drinking water, stormwater and wastewater) that are critical and basic needs for Gisborne’s residents have been hugely compromised to varying degrees, and it is obvious the council can’t afford to maintain water infrastructure. Maybe it’s time for those who show such vehement opposition to the Three Waters reform to offer a convincing plan as to how the system will be fixed and future-proofed? Leaving things as they are now is a cop-out that the region simply can’t afford.
Council-maintained drains and rivers have been neglected creating choke points that contributed to the recent damage — even though this issue has been previously highlighted to the council. Several landowners on Papatu Road offered the council a $100,000 interest-free loan last year to help clear the Te Arai River of overgrown willows in the area where it overflowed and caused all the damage to properties, orchards and crops around Manutuke and even over to parts of Patutahi. The offer was declined, but nothing was done, and the result is millions of dollars of damage that could have been prevented.
A major handbrake on horticultural development in the region is the lack of access to irrigation water. Maybe we need to consider building large reservoirs in the major catchment areas that serve multiple purposes, like containing and controlling the release of water following heavy rain and minimising the amount of sediment and slash being discharged by our rivers, while also allowing high-value horticultural development in the region which will provide new jobs and increase prosperity.
What about some out-of-the-box thinking? Why not view the region’s workforce as a hugely valuable resource in times of natural disaster? We could temporarily redeploy those unable to work due to the impact of a future event so their skills and energy can help those who have been affected. Right now a huge number of temporary homes are needed to accommodate those affected by the flooding and slips. Can we get workers who can’t currently do their jobs to assist with the construction and delivery of these temporary homes?
In the current crisis situation, one of the huge challenges that we are faced with is how key stakeholders and decision-makers will effectively navigate the bureaucratic nightmare ahead without hitting unnecessary roadblocks. We need bold leadership that isn’t afraid to raise merry hell and demand that we get fit-for-purpose infrastructure. In the end, so many of our conversations with businesspeople come back to the lack of effective and brave leadership. There is no one who can paint a compelling vision for the future. We deserve — and need — people who can provide that.
■ Belinda Mackay is president of the Gisborne Tairāwhiti Chamber of Commerce.
