Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has seemingly backtracked on comments he made about guns being pulled out on road workers in flood-affected Hawke’s Bay.
Appearing on Newshub’s AM Show today, he was questioned about statements from workers having firearms pulled on them.
Hipkins replied: “I regret my intel at the time was incorrect.”
A few days after Cyclone Gabrielle hit just over two weeks ago, flood traffic workers manning road closures in the Hawke’s Bay region reported abuse from members of the public trying to get into flood-affected areas.
In one instance, a pistol and sawn-off shotgun were pointed at two people setting up temporary traffic management.
A spokesman for East Coast Traffic told Newsroom at the time how frightened the workers involved were, saying: “Honestly, for us - it was a very, very scary moment and that crew just had to up and leave.”
The incident was later reported to Police, according to local traffic management supervisor Liam Harvey, who told Newstalk ZB that officers arrived to take statements from those caught up in the situation.
Harvey also confirmed that those reports were first-hand accounts made to Police.
Early last week, however, Hipkins told a press conference that there had been no first-hand accounts of the incident.
“The reports of guns pulled at checkpoints - so far, there have only [been] third or fourth-hand accounts of it.”
Harvey said last week that the crew involved had been left feeling shaken, uneasy and nervous. One of the people involved had been too upset to continue to work and had asked to take stress leave.
Harvey went on to say hearing officials denying that the incident had happened was “a little bit frustrating, considering...it actually happened.”
Hipkins’ words this morning come after he announced yesterday that a new international fundraising project that would help those displaced by the killer storm get back into liveable homes.
But Wairoa Mayor Craig Little says his biggest concern is the Government “keeping their promises” when it comes to funding for flood-stricken communities.
“My biggest worry is that in two or three weeks we will be on our own again. The only way we can get through this is money.”
Hipkins said yesterday that a special Lotto draw will be held alongside an international fundraising appeal to help raise funds to rebuild cyclone-devastated regions.
This morning he said lessons from the big Canterbury earthquake had shown that once all the insurance spending and Government spending had finished, there were gaps in the medium to longer-term response.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, Hipkins said there were community facilities and buildings that would need “a bit more support” to get up and running again.
The fundraising initiatives announced yesterday would be for projects such as those, rather than funding the “core rebuild”, which would be funded by the Government.
The announcement came after the new Extreme Weather Response Committee met for the first time.
Asked about $14 billion left in the Covid fund - put aside for “a rainy day”, Hipkins said there had been further Covid-19 restrictions since that.
”Those further periods of lockdown triggered the wage subsidy, for example - that was by far the most expensive thing we did during that lockdown period and a significant proportion of that funding will have gone on to that.”
Hipkins said the Government was in a “very good position” to support New Zealand through the flood recovery.
The decisions have not been made about how they will pay for it, however, he said.
”We’re in a pretty good position to face this down,” Hipkins said.
”We have got options and we have got choices and we will work through those choices.”
Put to him that the Government’s choices were simply borrowing or taxing, Hipkins replied: “Well, we have to pay for it somehow.”
Government’s overall level of spending post-Covid was trending down - which then meant it was providing them with choices.
The amount of overall Government expenditure is decreasing and was already happening, Hipkins said.
Hipkins said the cyclone was estimated to have caused more destruction to businesses and infrastructure than Cyclone Bola in 1988, saying the affected regions accounted for about 30 per cent of New Zealand’s land area.
As the storm clean-up continues, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced the national state of emergency would continue for another seven days in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Tairāwhiti, Waikato, and Hawke’s Bay regions, and the Tararua District.
But a state of emergency in the Bay of Plenty expires at 8.43am today.
To help with the rebuilding and revitalisation of affected areas, the Government has established an international fundraising campaign to add to those fundraisers already under way.
It was based on the Christchurch earthquake appeal - which had raised about $100 million.
A dedicated trust would manage the fundraising campaign. It had been in the works for days with Westpac, Colenso and BBDO, and Facebook had volunteered to publicise it and assist with foreign donations.
Hipkins said he did not want to set a target for the appeal, but the immediate aftermath of a disaster was the best time to start fundraising. He was aware of some big donations that had already been signalled - but would not reveal who they were from.
The campaign also included a website, a text-to-donate function, an internet banking scheme, as well as physical cash donations at banks across the country.
It was announced alongside a special Lotto draw to be held on Saturday, March 18, with 50 cents in every dollar spent by players on Lotto, Powerball or Strike going to support those impacted by the devastating storm.
Similar special draws were held following the Christchurch Earthquake in 2011 and the Kaikōura/Hurunui earthquake in 2016.
“Lotto New Zealand is fundamentally driven to raise funds for our communities,” Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds said.
“With the help of generous New Zealanders, relief organisations and those affected will be supported to recover and rebuild.”
Lotto NZ chief executive Chris Lyman is “very proud” to be holding the fundraiser.
“Raising money for the community is Lotto NZ’s fundamental purpose, and so we welcome the opportunity to support recovery efforts by raising funds through this special draw,” Lyman said.
Problem Gambling NZ communications director Andree Froude worries about using a gambling operator for community fundraising as it normalises gambling, which causes harm in communities.
“When times are tough, they will often turn to gambling as a way of trying to win big as a solution to get out of whatever situation they might be in,” Froude said.
“I understand Facebook is going to be promoting it, that will serve to normalise it, particularly for young people.
“We really want to be disassociating gambling from community funding because it causes harm to communities.”
Green Party finance spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter shot back at the fundraising scheme, questioned why the Government couldn’t instead “tax the billions of dollars banks have made in unearned, excess profits and use the money to support people.
“While Westpac and other foreign-owned banks are generating record profits, thousands of families are being forced to make impossible choices about whether to pay the bills or put food on the table,” Genter said.
She added that lotteries and gambling disproportionately harmed lower-income communities.
“Launching the appeal fund, the Prime Minister said the Government was ‘giving wealthy people the opportunity to contribute’. There is a simpler opportunity: tax them fairly.”
But Wairoa welcomed the initiative, saying the Lotto draw was a “wonderful idea”.
“I think it is a great initiative to kick something off,” Little said.
Short term, the money raised from both the draw, the fundraising appeal and other community initiatives such as the mayoral relief fund and Givealittle pages will be used to get those displaced back into livable homes.
“The long-term goal is looking at how we can ensure it never happens again,” Little said, although he doesn’t know what that will look like at this stage.
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