Video: Shock at how little changed in a week and plan for cyclone recovery
The first time Act leader David Seymour visited Hawke’s Bay soon after Cyclone Gabrielle hit, he was struck by how real it was, his visit last week brought home to him that its “going to be here for the long haul”.
Addressing media last Friday, Seymour was asked what had shocked him.
I think, how little has changed. There's still vast areas of flooding in the fields. There's still a whole lot of debris lying around. I was here 10 days ago or two weeks ago, and it was largely the same then as it is now, from what I've seen so far.”
“I think that the lack of additional certainty that people have, I don't think people are any more certain about how the recovery will go than they were two weeks ago. So what it's shown me today, last time I saw it was real. This time, I see that it's going to be here for the long haul.”
He said that his party thought hard about the role of an opposition political party during times like these.
“Yes, it's to support people. Yes, it's to support sensible measures from the government and take the politics out of the recovery, but it's also to propose, discuss, and debate better ideas.”
“And what we are doing with this paper here, Cyclone Gabrielle: 15 Urgent Ideas for Recovery, is ACT's first 15 ideas for a cyclone recovery that minimises inflationary pressure on people in Hawke's Bay, Tairāwhiti, Coromandel, and the rest of New Zealand.”
Seymour says the ACT plan is based on three principles.
“Number one, the government needs to reduce its expenditure elsewhere because we can't cause more inflation. With this cyclone response, the government borrowed and spent after COVID, it's going to have to keep a tighter set of books after Gabrielle. Otherwise, households will see the cost of living going up in every aspect of their lives.”
“The second principle is that the government needs to get out of the way. We propose a special economic zone that removes normal red tape in resource consenting, immigration investment, borrowing finance, employment laws. We clear out the red tape so the people in Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti entirety can build quickly, affordably, and without contributing inflation to the rest of the country without any delay.”
The final part of the plan was for the government to ensure that the response is driven by local people.
“We say that if local people tell the government they feel unsafe, they need the New Zealand Defence Force on the ground. Now the government should respond to the concerns of local people. We've seen the government embarrassingly back down and accept, yes, there was crime, there were road workers held at gunpoint. People did feel unsafe. The army did need to be deployed. The government didn't listen, and they've been whacked for that, but the government must now listen when it comes to future decisions about their recovery.”
ACT’s ideas include:
- Dealing with lawlessness by deploying the NZDF to help the police.
- The government needs to cut wasteful spending.
- Financial access should be more readily available.
- Remove the bureaucracy around visas. There should be a recovery visa with an IRD number in 48 hours on the ground.
- Avoid a shortage of building materials by publishing a Materials Equivalence Register that says councils must allow alternate brands to be used if they're deemed equivalent.
- Fair Pay Agreements should be put on hold in this area.
- Streamline foreign direct investmenent.
- Replace council consent processes for new builds with private insurance.
- The government should share half the GST on construction collected in the disaster area with the local council so they have the money to help rebuild.
- The local government should be focused on core services.
- Deal with the purpose of the Earthquakes Commission (EQC).
