Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced $300 million of cyclone relief funds on Monday, the majority directed at helping Waka Kotahi - NZ Transport Agency carry out emergency works on repairing assets like highways.
The announcement came as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins played down fears of a crime wave following the cyclone after reports of looting, locals manning roadblocks in rural areas to protect their communities, and a pistol and shotgun being aimed at recovery workers.
“I want to be careful on the issues of law and order so we’re not responding to unsubstantiated rumours,” Hipkins said, adding that “any suggestion things are out of control is just wrong”.
Police have arrested at least 59 people for looting and dishonesty offending in the Eastern District.
Hipkins’ dismissal came after National’s justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith and police spokesman Mark Mitchell proposed doubling the sentences of those convicted of theft or burglary in an area that is under a state of emergency.
Act and NZ First have also called for the military to be used to help police maintain law and order.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise has also called for a greater military presence to provide security for scared communities. Wise also said crime was potentially being underreported due to widespread communications issues.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Newstalk ZB: “There have been examples of very bad behaviour here and we will hold those offenders to account.”
He said an additional 145 police staff have been deployed to the Eastern District, which has about 500 police staff.
“I acknowledge that there are a lot of concerned people in the community and there are no words to describe people who will do this [looting] to those vulnerable people, but we do have this situation under control.
“I completely acknowledge it’s harder to report [crimes] than usual, but when we have investigated pieces of information provided to us many of them have not stacked up - it comes second and third hand and when you track it down, finding the original the source can be very very difficult.”
Coster, however, said: “I don’t deny there are issues but we are well on top of them,”
He said the threshold had not yet been met for a request for assistance from the defence force.
On Monday, Robertson was also announced as the country’s new Cyclone Recovery Minister, who would lead a group of ministers that will look after cyclone recovery. Barbara Edmonds will become associate Cyclone Recovery Minister.
One minister would be allocated to each affected region to co-ordinate the response. These would meet in a new Cabinet committee, chaired by Robertson. Sir Brian Roche, who was part of the continuous review of the Government’s Covid response, will be brought on to lead a “cyclone recovery taskforce”.
Robertson said Monday’s announcement was part of a “rolling maul” of responses to the cyclone - using a phrase borrowed from the Key-English government and used by the Ardern government during the Covid-19 response.
He also announced IRD would be supporting the recovery with interest write-offs, tax concessions for donated trading stock and an extension of R&D Tax Incentive filing deadlines.
National criticised the announcement for a lack of detail. Deputy leader and finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis noted that it was nearly a week since the cyclone hit - comparing that unfavourably with the Key-English government that announced a wage subsidy four days after the Kaikōura earthquake.
“These things are difficult to design but New Zealand has a history of designing them quickly. There were four days between the Kaikoura earthquake and a job support package being announced,” Willis said.
She said businesses and workers in the region were still waiting for certainty.
The $300m will be broken down into a $250m fund to help Waka Kotahi and local council with “emergency works” on wiped-out transport networks.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said that “[i]mmediate short-term funding is required to help Waka Kotahi and financially constrained local authorities get New Zealand’s essential transport network operating again,”
“Our primary focus is on getting lifeline roads open and reconnecting isolated communities.
“Over the last week contractors have worked tirelessly in very challenging conditions to clear slips, remove debris and carry out vital geotechnical safety inspections at dozens of affected sites,” he said.
Waka Kotahi’s emergency funding allocation sat at $300 million for the period between 2021 and 2024, but Waka Kotahi said that even before the Auckland storms this figure was likely to be exceeded, thanks to the large number of expensive storms and the increasing cost of repairs.
A Waka Kotahi spokesperson previously told the Herald that the emergency relief fund was being hit hard by increased storms.
“Between 2018 and 2021, Waka Kotahi recorded seven events that resulted in costs between $15 million and $50 million, compared with two events of similar scale between 2013 and 2017,” the spokesperson said.
“Over the last week contractors have worked tirelessly in very challenging conditions to clear slips, remove debris and carry out vital geotechnical safety inspections at dozens of affected sites. To these contractors we say thank you.
Wood said that there was “a large job ahead” deciding which roads could and could not be rebuilt.
“This medium and long-term work will take time and require additional funding over and above that announced today,” Wood said.
The remaining $50m in funding would be for “immediate support to businesses and the primary sector affected by the weather events,” Robertson said.
He said that ministers would “finalise the distribution of this funding in the coming week, but this will include support to businesses to meet immediate costs and further assist with clean-up”.
“We will co-ordinate the allocation of this funding with local business groups, iwi and local government in the affected regions,” he said.
Robertson said the $250m would be made as a pre-commitment against Budget 2023, which he had already signalled might be increased. The forthcoming Budget has a $4.5b operating allowance and a $12b multi-year capital allowance, although this seems certain to increase.
The remaining $50m was from a between-budget contingency.
One challenge is that New Zealand is already struggling to find enough workers even before the floods - there are fears there will not be enough labour to work on the rebuild.
Hipkins said work was being done to address this.
The Minister of Immigration will be looking at ways to ensure skilled workers are able to come from overseas and work in affected regions.
The Resources Minister came to the select committee sporting a Make NZ Great Again hat.