Toro Waaka has lived on his Tangoio property (pictured) for over a decade and believes it is safe to stay. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Toro Waaka’s home north of Napier didn’t flood during Cyclone Gabrielle, nor did a secondary dwelling at the rear of his property.
Floodwaters reached the piles under his Tangoio home but “didn’t even get up to the doorstep” during the February 2023 floods, with water only getting inside his sheds.
More than two years on, he is still fighting with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) to have a Category 3 land classification across most of his property downgraded to Category 1, as he believes there is no intolerable risk to life if he keeps living there.
He is not alone.
Calls are being made for a Cyclone Ombudsman to be established by the Government, to help landowners like Waaka with their land categorisation complaints and disputes.
The lack of one is a broken promise from National, which campaigned on a dedicated “Cyclone and Flood Recovery Ombudsman” in the lead-up to the 2023 election.
It proposed a budget of $7 million for two years, to help flood victims with issues such as land classifications but the mooted office has never been established.
The Government says it has instead given the existing Office of the Ombudsman “extra resource” to “focus on cyclone recovery-related matters”.
An advocate for cyclone survivors has criticised that move, as a dedicated Cyclone Ombudsman would be solely focused on cyclone matters.
The existing Ombudsman, in comparison, deals with a huge variety of complaints and can investigate 4000 public sector agencies.
Waaka, 75, agreed it would be a “great” avenue to have a dedicated Cyclone Ombudsman for his case.
Currently, HBRC is reviewing his property’s land categorisation, and the council recently had a fresh assessment completed to help that review.
If that review proves unsuccessful, his next step would likely be taking a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Waaka said, in his opinion, there was no intolerable risk to life if he continued living on his Tangoio property, off State Highway 2, which he has called home for well over a decade.
“I value life as much as anyone ... if I thought there was a risk to my life I would have left.”
He said he struggled to understand the rationale for being placed in Category 3 (effectively a red zone) when no water got into his home.
He has even taken steps to improve his property by raising parts of the land to divert water away from dwellings.
Waaka has lost income from growers no longer wanting to lease parts of his property – which is 30ha – due to it being Category 3, he said.
Fortunately, a small horticulture operation has leased a small portion of his property and the main dwelling.
Waaka continues to live in the secondary dwelling on the property – albeit without house insurance for either dwelling as a result of his Category 3 zoning.
Waaka was offered a buyout, like all Category 3 landowners with a dwelling, but turned it down.
“Why should I take money for dishonest purposes?
“Maybe people will accuse me later on, about taking money when my house never got water in it.”
During a visit to Eskdale a month before the 2023 election, National leader Christopher Luxon stated a new “Cyclone and Flood Recovery Ombudsman” would be established if National won the election.
That has not happened.
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell said the cost was too high and extra funding had instead been made available to the existing Ombudsman.
“Given the length of time and money it would take to set up a separate Ombudsman facility, we ensured that extra resource was enabled within the Office of the Ombudsman to focus on cyclone recovery-related matters,” he said.
“The extra resource provides an independent and impartial voice for affected residents to ensure decisions are fair and equitable.
“People can make a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding the categorisations of property, buyout policies and other concerns they have.”
A spokesman for the Ombudsman said in 2023 Parliament had agreed to extend temporary funding for complaint handling that the office received in 2021 for a further two years through to June 2026 because of extreme weather events.
This funding – $797,000 a year – was for temporary staff who had been recruited and trained to support the surge of work arising from the Government’s response to the pandemic.
“Their focus then gradually switched to extreme-weather-related issues as increasing volumes of complaints came in.”
The spokesman said they had so far received eight complaints about HBRC and Hastings District Council in relation to land categorisation and Category 3 buyout offers.
“The Ombudsman receives complaints and conducts investigations about extreme weather events as part of his overarching role of making sure the Government’s treatment of all New Zealanders is fair and equitable.
“Following the extreme weather events in early 2023, former Ombudsman Peter Boshier visited a number of regions in the North Island that had suffered the most serious damage to hear first-hand from the people most affected.
“The Ombudsman continues to respond to complaints and inquiries arising from those events and subsequent policies.”
Eskdale resident Louise Parsons is co-leading an advocacy group for a dozen local residents who plan to take a complaint to the Ombudsman about land categorisations.
She said a dedicated Cyclone Ombudsman would have been hugely beneficial, but it was clear “we are not getting an Ombudsman and that is an election promise that has been broken”.
She said it was important that – at the very least – more staff within the existing Office of the Ombudsman were dedicated solely to cyclone matters, including as a point of contact.
Apart from a visit from three Ombudsman representatives to Napier, she claimed that in her recent dealings with that office it felt like cyclone survivors were no different from “every other person who makes a complaint to the Ombudsman’s office”.
“We are talking about people that haven’t been able to move on with their lives, and we are talking about some serious faults that have happened with the buyout processes and the category processes,” she said, of the need for dedicated staff.
HBRC has been in charge of the land classification process following the cyclone, including determining which properties are placed in Category 3.
An HBRC spokeswoman said there continued to be an “open pathway” for review of categorisation decisions, if one of two circumstances were met.
That includes if a landowner has additional information, or if a landowner obtains an independent expert opinion that can then be provided to HBRC for consideration.
HBRC recently engaged an external expert to meet with five property owners who disputed their land categorisations (including Waaka) to undertake an assessment.
Waaka’s review and completed assessment is still being considered.
If reviews are exhausted with HBRC, dissatisfied landowners can lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
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