Cyclone Gabrielle: Councillor raises independence ‘concern’ as Civil Defence review consultants hired

Hawke's Bay Regional Council member Neil Kirton has misgivings about Hawke's Bay's Civil Defence review. Photo / NZME

It took Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown three days to commission a review into flooding that killed four people in that city, on January 27.

In Hawke’s Bay, it’s more than two months since Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the region. Eight people lost their lives in the flooding, while thousands more are still trying to put theirs back together.

A review of the emergency response in Hawke’s Bay has been mooted, but it’s weeks away from terms of reference being released let alone an outcome.

That’s far too long, says Hawke’s Bay Regional Council member Neil Kirton. Particularly given the findings of Auckland’s review, conducted by former New Zealand Commissioner of Police Mike Bush, are already public.

“In my view, we should copy their terms of reference and in reality we could almost photocopy their report and apply it to Hawke’s Bay, because the circumstances are very similar,” Kirton told Hawke’s Bay Today.

Brown might be an awkward, even belligerent, character at times. But, as far as Kirton is concerned, the Auckland Mayor has led and shown accountability.

“Give him his due, even before the review he apologised and said it’s on him, that we need to know what went wrong and we need to do a lot better,” said Kirton of Brown.

He’s less convinced about the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (HBCDEM) Group Joint Committee - made up of the province’s mayors and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby - and their ability to identify where things went so badly wrong on February 14.

Ormsby announced this week that planning had begun to conduct an independent review into the Hawke’s Bay disaster review, but Kirton has doubts about how objective that will actually be.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby with some of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council Rapid Rebuild team.

Kirton says the terms of reference for the planned review are being written by someone who’s reviewed HBCDEM before.

Malinda Meads, of consultancy firm Simplexity, compiled that report in 2019, before being appointed to a senior position with the National Emergency Management Agency, or HBCDEM’s parent body in other words.

“It’s a big concern of mine because one of the reviewers … has been responsible for the previous and ongoing review processes.

“My concern is they are somewhat conflicted in that they’ll be conscious of the need to continue the close relationship they already have with Hawke’s Bay CDEM.

“I’d much prefer it was done on a similar basis to that in Auckland and having the former police commissioner coming and doing it for us as well,” Kirton said.

A spokesperson for the HBCDEM Group acknowledged Meads’ prior relationship with the organisation, but said that would be an advantage in this instance.

“Ms Meads’ involvement in the M&E [Monitoring and Evaluation] process means she is already equipped with awareness of HBCDEM performance and brings this context to the table during the initial scoping phase of the review into the regional Cyclone Gabrielle response,’’ the HBCDEM Group said, in a statement.

“For additional context, the emergency management sector in New Zealand is small and it was a challenge to find a suitably experienced independent consultant who has not worked in the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group office before and was not involved in the Hawke’s Bay Cyclone Gabrielle response.

“Simplexity are highly regarded and experienced emergency management consultants who met these criteria.

“It’s also important to note that in 2019, when Malinda Meads conducted the Monitoring and Evaluation process, she was an independent consultant and that status applies again now.”

Simplexity director Jane Rollin said once the HBCDEM Group Joint Committee had approved the terms of reference, another set of consultants would be hired to conduct the actual review.

“Simplexity will be represented in this work by me and Malinda Meads as two independent consultants with significant strategic and operational experience within the emergency management sector in New Zealand.

“I am personally delighted to have Malinda on board with Simplexity, as she brings a prior contextual understanding of the performance of emergency management within Hawke’s Bay,” Rollin said.

The HBCDEM Group estimate the terms of reference will be will be agreed upon “in the coming weeks.’'