Opinion: How to rebuild after tragedy on the farm

Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay provincial president Jim Galloway

Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay provincial president Jim Galloway wants the rural community to learn from tragedy.

Everyone has been rocked by the tractor tragedy deaths in North Otago.

The emotional responses I have had include an outpouring of empathy for the family and
community directly affected, while also experiencing a sense of helplessness.

But I want to turn those responses into action – I want to be able to help the rural
community learn from the tragedy, and other farm related injuries and deaths, so we can
create building blocks for our farmers and communities to use to protect themselves and
each other.

WorkSafe will investigate the deaths as well as the police and a coroner will be involved, but will we as a group have the findings in time to make changes to avoid future senseless losses or serious injuries?

I feel we never do and this is not, unfortunately, the first time there has been a loss of life on a farm. I would welcome coroners being given more power and ability to produce their
reports at a faster rate and, depending on the circumstances, some element of law binding the recommendations are made public quickly.

I understand my wish costs money and there is nothing else governments like doing less
than spending money, but if the pockets of taxpayers can be used to fund egocentric
projects like a flag referendum and hiring an advertising agency for a visit to New York then I am sure money can be found to boost our number of coroners, and boost the administration staff in their offices.

The same is applicable to WorkSafe investigations, we can only reduce risk factors if we find out what they are and preferably not through an accident of our own.

The point is changes can be made if the information around an event is made available.

Those changes can happen quicker if the information is released faster.