Our View: Key right to cancel trip

Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina smashed its way into the southern United States and the levees protecting New Orleans failed. More than 1600 people died and, in the immediate aftermath, President George W Bush found himself in the firing line for his lethargic response. He and his aides failed to anticipate just how bad it would be and failed to show leadership. The rest is history.
Fast forward five years and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key found himself in the middle of his own natural disaster crisis after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Canterbury - damaging more than 100,000 homes, plus other buildings, roads, railways and farms. It is a miracle no one died.
Early, decisive leadership is needed in such disasters and Mr Key showed he does have true leadership skills.
He went straight to Christchurch, spending time with emergency service officials, talking to locals and seeing for himself the devastation. He was reassuring as he talked about the government response.
This response so far deserves praise. Cabinet has announced resources will be pumped into rebuilding Canterbury and Mr Key has continued to show leadership.
Later, he cancelled his scheduled visit to Europe because of the earthquake.
At his weekly post-Cabinet press conference, Mr Key had said the trip would go on despite the quake but said he would only leave if he could be confident Christchurch's recovery was on track.
Mr Key was due to travel to London to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and to Paris, where he would meet President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon. He, and wife Bronagh, were also to spend the weekend with the Queen at Balmoral in Scotland and Mr Key would have attended the unveiling of a memorial for New Zealand World War II hero Sir Keith Park, visited Longueval on the Somme and held discussions at the OECD.
While such trips are important to New Zealand's ongoing relationships with the rest of the world, given Mr Key is dealing with one of the biggest disasters to strike this country, the importance of the trip at this time is greatly diminished.
With violent aftershocks continuing to rock the quake-hit region, striking more fear into thousands of already worried people, Mr Key should remain in New Zealand.
It is more important he stay here at the helm - not just for operational purposes, but because it is the right thing for a leader to do. The needs of the people of Canterbury at this difficult time vastly outweigh meeting or catching up with overseas dignitaries.