A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
One marker of just how much has changed this year is the fact we started it with Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister. It wasn’t until after the summer holiday, on January 19, that Ardern revealed she was stepping down from politics as she no longer had “enough in the tank”to do the job justice. She announced an October 14 election date at the same time.
Six days later Chris Hipkins was sworn in as Prime Minister, just in time to lead the country through two flooding events that were unprecedented in their intensity — the 260mm deluge on January 27 that caused severe flash flooding across Auckland, and Cyclone Gabrielle two weeks later that dumped half a metre of rain on Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay over 48 hours.
Cyclone Gabrielle is the costliest non-earthquake natural disaster in New Zealand’s history, with a total bill estimated at about $14 billion. The Auckland Anniversary flooding ranks not far behind it, costing about $4bn.
Both events were exacerbated by climate change, highlighting the increased risk to this country from severe weather events. A statistical analysis of weather records suggested the heating planet was responsible for 20-30 percent of the rain during Gabrielle, and made it three to four times more likely to occur.
Hypothetical discussions about the future need for “managed retreat” in some areas became real in 2023 — excruciatingly so for those worst affected by this year’s severe weather.
Post-Gabrielle the Government created a risk categorisation framework called Future of Severely Affected Land, then negotiated with councils to share the costs of voluntary buyout programmes and protection works. More than 1000 residential properties in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti (about 50 here) have been assessed as Category 3, involving buyout offers as “future severe weather event risk cannot be sufficiently mitigated”.
Voters delivered the other major change for the country this year, sending Labour and its new leader into Opposition in favour of one of our most right-wing governments, a first ever three-way coalition of National, Act and NZ First under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
The progressive agenda espoused by Ardern lies in tatters. What didn’t survive the policy bonfire after Hipkins took over is being shredded by legislation to repeal laws and wind back changes introduced by Labour. A fast-track towards co-governance arrangements with iwi has been slammed into reverse, with the new Government looking to relegate the importance of Te Tiriti and te reo.
