I don’t care that Wayne Brown called media drongos, I care that there are hundreds if not thousands of unexpected consequences that are invisibly causing enormous harm and garnishing little attention while our City remains vulnerable to extreme weather!
As we struggle with the enormity of what the City has been hit by and the thousands of unpredicted things that are now manifesting that we haven’t thought about, we urgently need to start creating a question list as we try to work out what went wrong and how the hell we are going to work together to adapt because these extreme weather events are now here, climate change and global warming are now upon us.
QUESTIONS:
- Metservice receives over $20million each year from the Ministry of Transport for public safety forecasting services, but they also have a side hustle called ‘MetOcean Solutions’, where they provide detailed marine weather forecasting for their corporate clients. Is there a difference between the open source forecasting they provide the public and the far more detailed one they provide corporate clients, and if so does that need investigating?
- The Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2022 stipulates the Local Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups (CDEMG) bear responsibility for coordinating Auckland’s emergency response, but it is not clear who was appointed the ‘Group Controller’ of this event and the Civil Defence Staff who did front had only been appointed last year and was previously responsible for building children’s playgrounds.
- Between 6.14pm and 10.18pm when the Emergency Declaration was finally made public, there was no one leading Auckland during the worst weather disaster on record. If Wayne Brown had declared an emergency earlier, that Comms black out would not have occurred, the Mayor must justify his position beyond, ‘I was waiting for the Bureaucracy’.
- Does the National Emergency authorities need to have power to over ride local incompetent Civil Defence Bureaucrats in a moment of natural disaster?
- We have detailed floodplain maps from 2009. Why did Auckland Council allow rapacious Developers to build on these floodplains? Who should be held responsible for allowing that?
- How do we redesign our city to be a sponge so that we can soak these future events up?
- Should small businesses have to rely on user-pays insurance and couldn’t we universalise that to provide them with a lifeline during these events? Anecdotal evidence suggests many small businesses in Auckland didn’t have any insurance.
- The poorest hit hardest by this have no contents insurance, how are we going to deal with that?
- Don’t we require far more capacity in terms of Fire, Police and Ambulance alongside specialist response welfare units for the future?
- Isn’t it time to start a cow cull because their emissions are the worst in terms of generating the very pollution that is exacerbating climate change. One cow = 14 humans in terms of shit and piss, there are 10 million cows, that’s the equivalence of 140million humans pissing and shitting into our water ways.
Auckland has been blindsided by this unprecedented weather event and we have an obligation to never let the city be this defenceless again. There were vast mistakes made everywhere and we need to be honest about that.
This can never allow ourselves to be this vulnerable again.
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I’d also like to know, how different to Auckland is the Kerikeri Emergency response protocols? After All Wayne Brown was Mayor there, wasn’t he? And if they are, shouldn’t they ,(and all Of NZ’s), be uniform? If not why not?
There is so much detail to consider in all of this.
Auckland stormwater infrastructure is 1950s level old pipes, Climate Disaster unimagined back then, impervious surfaces have multiplied with infill housing and developments, privatised water services basically ban rain water collection–if every dwelling had a rain water tank–which could be used for gardens, car washing etc. if people are too freaked to drink it, that would take millions of litres out of the equation.
Major upgrades are required, and although it seems unrelated–major reductions in dairy cattle numbers.
“Sponge Cities” have to be a better option than flooded fuck up cities!
Questions that need answering!
-What WASN’T done that would have prevented the impact of this weather event in Auckland?
-If Efeso Collins was at the helm would the same media hysteria be happening?
-Who is the high-profile female radio personality who drinks and drives?
1. Heaps
2. Yes
3. Jay-Jay Feeny?
-after the soon to come whitewash inquiry, we’ll probably never know for sure.
-yes, if not even worse than how Brown is getting it.
-Kate Hawkesby?
1. Nothing.
2. Probably. They’re mainly drongos.
3. Paula Bennett ?
I agree with much of what you pose: there are some reasonable questions that warrant answers. But there’s another important one that you’ve missed, along with the entire body of press and all opposition mp’s.
You say: “If Wayne Brown had declared an emergency earlier, that Comms black out would not have occurred…” The minister (McAnulty) could have unilaterally declared a state of local emergency at any time prior to Brown declaring, it’s disingenuous of him to pretend it depended on Brown. The minister has the power under Sec 69 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002: “If at any time it appears to the Minister that an emergency has occurred or may occur in the area of any Civil Defence Emergency Management Group and a state of local emergency has not been declared under section 68, the Minister may declare a state of local emergency for that area.” It’s black and white, plain and simple.
So further questions are: why did McAnulty sit on his hands doing nothing? Why didn’t McAnulty declare an emergency? Why did McAnulty pretend everyone had to wait on Brown, when that’s not true? Was McAnulty ignorant of his own power to declare, or was he prepared to watch Auckland wash away if it also undermined a political opponent? How come Brown gets a Go-straight-to jail card for procrastination while McAnulty receives a Get-out-of-jail-free; they’re both guilty, if that’s the right word, of exactly the same thing?
Yes the most needy will be the hardest hit as usual,nothings changed in the last 5 years.
Bobble, stop it! A lot has changed…
1. We have a new PM
2. QEII died
3. We went through a pandemic and live to tell
4. We all got older
5. Russia started a war
6. UK got three new PMs
…
It’s nice though that some things remain constant though. We’ve still got our beloved TDB idiot, bless you 🙂
Sinic as my top fan thankyou for the attention you afford me.
I’m flattered that someone who has a degree devotes so much time to me.
Stupid comment
Sorry Sinic but your off topic.
Bob, how can sinic be off topic? You display an enormous capability to completely ignore, if not be utterly unwilling to understand what any given topic is. Has nursey fed you your meds yet?
lol
In the first instance. It was the elected councillors appointed by the GB to the Emergency Management Services Committee, Stewart & Leonie to work along side CD. Instead they buggered off for photo ops with the Caretaker Deputy PM and wasted hours before they finally decided to notify the mayor. That was their sole purpose! And they both failed!
They should be held accountable for manslaughter!!.
@ T Etc.
That’s interesting…Seriously.
There is more. The officials have been caught out!
They didn’t not notify Brownie at all about anything that was happening because Brownie and his office were not on the VIP list for comms on Friday last week!
Those wankers are all ducking for cover now!
‘Did not notify…’
Also, those wankas Phil Wilson and co have and are still supporters of ‘Gentrification’ which is now known as Panuku’s Regeneration scam! Its that Paul Majurey I suspect in the thick of this?? As he is the chair of panuku, the TMA, Tamaki Collective and 27 other related businesses and developers. Ockham for one!
The poorest hit hardest by this have no contents insurance, how are we going to deal with that?
The underclass are an essential part of unregulated capitalism.
Corporate entitled slavery.
Remember they are on their own ! personal responsibility is one of the pillars of neoliberalism and Chipkins bread and butter sadly is just not going to cut it even if your petrol is not going up when you no longer have anywhere to live and have lost everything.
Mosa. “The poorest hit hardest by this have no contents insurance. How are we going to deal with that ?” We deal with that by jettisoning the low wage economy and ensuring that every citizen has the means to afford the basic necessities of life; we scrutinise the insurance companies and enforce changes if necessary; we then build poorhouses for those who in spite of having the wherewithal, still crap out – and establish a decent department of social welfare to keep a caring eye on any kiddies involved. A Commissioner for Children would be ideal for monitoring the social welfare department.
In the interim, the Salvation Army, Vincent de Paul, and marae will assist per usual and would doubtless welcome donations from good everyday people.
The lunacy of ‘globalised’ trade policy already destroyed most of the economy. Attacking large agricultural production will kill off the last major export, ensuring the country forever remains a pathetic rural backwater with no money.
A progressive government must act to protect jobs. The government must build infrastructure schemes and fund the use of new techniques, to ensure pollution does not put farmers out of work (or workers in industry).
Correct Kristoff.
Too difficult for many to understand though.
Idiot
Auckland received about 20% of its annual rainfaill in 6 hours – there is no urban design that can be retrofitted to Auckland reasonably that would have soaked that up. Infrastructure is sized for AEPs – i.e. 100 year flood events. The best we can do is incrementally improve infrastructure, urban design and support.
It’s all Phil Goff and Len Browns fault. Wayne trying to clean up the mess.
how long have labour administrations failed to address the drains?
The NZ Government dropped the ball on this one…blaming the Auckland Council is BS.
– MetService NOT upgrading Orange alert to Red alert at anytime during Friday night
– NZ Transport Agency hires heaps of PR people, not a word from them on Friday night
– Not Government out reach of meaning, no income support/organised help for Aucklanders – except shelters
– No local MPs actually giving a helping hand, i.e. help drain the water, fill sandbags…
Excellent points you raised Martyn.
As a post quake Eastern suburbs flood zone dweller in Christchurch I feel Aucklanders pain, fear, depression, anger and uncertainty at this time.
My heart goes out to all affected up there.
With you in spirit folks…hang in there
It’s not Big Farmers fault people build cities made of concrete and asphalt on low lying flat ground.
But it is medieval human nature to start sacrificing animals to change the weather.