The sacking of Stuart Nash and the defection of Meka Whaitiri means Hawke’s Bay now has its third cyclone recovery ministerial lead in as many months.
However, Cabinet minister Kieran McAnulty, who took on the role earlier this month, believes it hasn’t left a foul taste in the mouths of residents, who are more interested in whether their communities are deemed unliveable after the tremendous destruction wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Acknowledging a persistent “disconnect” between affected people and the financial support so far provided, McAnulty is cautioning against high expectations as community consultations begin on Wednesday next week. The discussions will inform decisions about the future of impacted areas, but McAnulty said questions about compensation might not yet be answerable.
Nash, the current Napier MP and former police minister, was sacked as a minister in March after repeated breaches of the Cabinet Manual and could no longer act as the ministerial lead for the region’s recovery.
The responsibility was passed to Whaitiri, the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP from Hastings. However, she shocked many by leaving Labour to join Te Pāti Māori.
The Herald and Hawke’s Bay Today, while reporting on the cyclone’s impact in Hawke’s Bay, have asked residents what they thought of Nash and Whaitiri’s exits, to which some expressed their frustration at “chaotic” changes when people were experiencing immense stress and struggle.
McAnulty, also the ministerial lead for Tararua and Wairarapa, said residents’ frustrations with those changes were understandable but that it hadn’t been raised with him.
“I accept that [frustration] must be there because I watch the news, but when I’m [in Hawke’s Bay] I think people just want to get down to talking about what needs to be done, what’s working well, what we can improve, what support they need,” he told the Herald last week.
“Hopefully, they’ve got some faith that I’m listening ... they’re not gonna worry about anything else.”
Nash is still involved in the process as a local MP and is co-ordinating with those leading the recovery, while Tukituki MP Anna Lorck engages with the most-affected communities. Both have been feeding information through to McAnulty.
The Wairarapa MP was largely pleased with how the recovery was tracking, but he accepted there were still people going without much-needed support.
“There does appear to be a disconnect between the support that’s available – financial and otherwise – and it getting to some people in the affected regions.
“That might be down to a number of factors, but one of them is these people, [it’s] quite clearly the most difficult thing to ever happen to them, they’ve lost their homes and there’s still some questions that simply can’t be answered yet.”
McAnulty suspected factors ranging from internet connectivity to people’s emotional capacity amid cyclone-influenced trauma could be limiting their ability to access support.
He was reluctant to give his assessment of local councils’ communication with affected communities.
“I wouldn’t want to point fingers and say some people aren’t pulling finger because everybody that I’ve met up there is doing their darndest to understand what the needs are and to get it out.
“I’m convinced that they are doing their utmost, but you’re never going to get it right straight away and you’re always going to improve.”
For weeks, the Government has been compiling data from insurance companies and local authorities to inform impending decisions on land use.
Areas would be placed in one of three categories, ranging from small adjustments required for properties to land being deemed too at-risk from severe weather events for people to live there or for homes to be insured.
Communities in the second category would likely require flood mitigation measures such as building up stopbanks or improving drainage.
Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson had signalled to the Herald that compensation was being considered for people in category two areas, if they felt unsafe living there.
However, McAnulty indicated that could be unlikely if properties in category two areas could be insured.
“If people wanted to stay, they can and if they don’t, they have the option of selling their property and [have] full confidence that the mitigating factors would have been taken care of and that property can still be insured.”
Since becoming cyclone recovery minister, Robertson has been adamant that decisions about future land use will not be made until communities have been consulted.
That consultation was set to begin in early April but has been repeatedly delayed.
McAnulty confirmed the plan to initiate consultation from May 31 was still in place, but that he was yet to be informed about what categories Hawke’s Bay areas had been assigned to.
“My expectation is that once Grant [Robertson] has a steer on that, we’ll sit down and have a yarn about it, but that’s not something that I’m being told about at this point.”
Robertson had signalled those in less-affected areas – category one – would be consulted first, before those in more complicated areas.
While McAnulty was unclear on how the consultation would be conducted, he was confident it would give some answers.
“We’re probably not going to be in a position to answer all the questions on that day, but people will know where they stand in terms of the categorisation.
“There will be still some questions that we won’t be able to answer around possibly compensation at that point ... but no one will be in any doubt as to what the category means and what options they’ve got.”