The Cabinet is meeting Monday afternoon for a last-minute re-write of Budget 2023 that could see billions of dollars of operational and capital spending diverted from other areas or borrowed freshly to repair and rebuild infrastructure wrecked in Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, Northland and Auckland in both Cyclone Hale and Cyclone Gabrielle over the last month.
PM Chris Hipkins is expected to announce initial support for small businesses in a post-cabinet news conference early this evening, including the potential for some sort of targeted version of the wage subsidy scheme pioneered during the Kaikoura earthquakes and used in a widespread way during Covid lockdowns.
The scale of the new or diverted Government spending is not clear, but Finance Minister Grant Robertson indicated Gabrielle's damage could match the $13 billion cost that the Government bore from the Christchurch Earthquake in 2011. Overall, the costs of the 2011 quake rose to $40 billion including costs paid for from insurance payouts and council spending.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Sunday evening Robertson was working with Treasury on a re-write of the Budget.
The big question will be how willing or able the Government feels about borrowing to fund the rebuild, as the National-led Government initially did in 2011 after the Christchurch earthquakes.
Hipkins said Cabinet would have to make some “tough calls” about reprioritising. Robertson spoke less about reprioritising in comments on Friday and early on Sunday, but also said that the Government had no plans to lift or change its self-imposed ‘30-30’ limits, which aim to keep the tax to GDP ratio below 30% and keep net debt to GDP below 30% of GDP, with a preference to always have it trending significantly lower over the long run.
Cabinet will meet this afternoon to consider how the Government will fund the multi-billion price tag to repair the damage of Cyclone Gabrielle, including the key question of whether to do it with with cuts in capital and operational spending elsewhere, which Hipkins suggested Sunday night, or to use borrowing, as Robertson suggested on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Hipkins told a news briefing Sunday night he wanted to ‘build back better’, but that ‘tough calls’ would be needed to do that.
“Tomorrow cabinet will consider some further early measures to support the response and recovery this is going to be an ongoing process we will get through this as a government," Hipkins said.
"We will do what it takes to recover and to rebuild. The usual systems and processes of government are going to need to change and adapt to the extraordinary circumstances that we find ourselves in. If we're going to build back better and if we're going to build it quickly, some tough calls will need to be made and I'm absolutely committed to doing that," he said.
Hipkins was asked if the response could include Kaikoura and Covid-style wage subsidies. He said it was too early to say, but suggested targeted support was more likely.
“It's going to take us a wee while to to identify exactly what the need is and we are going to be wanting to make sure we're targeting the right areas. Even businesses in the same area doing the same thing have been significantly disproportionately affected," he said.
"The Minister of Finance today visited two orchards, one that had lost almost all of their apples and other that it only lost about 20 of them, and they were roughly in a very similar area. So we're going to have to think about how we best support businesses to make sure that we're being responsible, and the financial support that we're providing but that also we're recognizing that there are some people in some pretty perilous situations.”
Some big late-Budget reprioritisation calls
He also talked a lot about reprioritisation, which suggests more use of cuts elsewhere than using the balance sheet to borrow.
“I think people will expect given the size and scale of what we're dealing with that we are going to need to make some reprioritisation decisions. Some of the things that we might have been aiming to achieve we won't now be able to achieve or we might have to achieve on a longer timetable," Hipkins said.
He said there was still time to rejig the Budget.
“We're going to have to be making some reasonably significant late Budget process decisions and to make sure that we're getting them the resources allocated where they're needed.”
42 Comments
I can't wait to find out how the government will find ways to tax us more for this rebuild and climate change resilience but continue to operate an airline emitting megatonnes of carbon a year and prop up a tourism industry that requires people to travel halfway across the globe to visit.
Health. Perfect storm. Ageing unhealthy and growing popn coupled with more and more expensive remedies.
Contrast this with yesteryear.
Younger fitter popn, wore themselves out and then died. Basic options at the hospital, so doable to provide a decent service.
Morgan has written about it. Another can kicking can't make a decision in case we loose a vote issue. Load the debt on the young.
Hemi,
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS?locations=NZ
You are wrong. Look at the data.
"The big question will be how willing or able the Government feels about borrowing to fund the rebuild, as the National-led Government initially did in 2011 after the Christchurch earthquakes."
Money is NOT a magic wand. Printing cash and throwing it at flood ravaged areas is NOT going to sprout homes, roads or bridges.
I fear we have Jack and the Beanstalk, magical thinkers for politicians. Many expect central government to come in and save the day, well it's probably not going to happen!
Less paper pushing, more manufacturing! Many communities are gone and many wont recover. Labour aren't fit to handle this disaster.
Its an election year so all parties are just looking for short term votes. People affected arent thinking about the future so they want the givt to borrow and throw cash at rebuilding stuff as it was and keep the peasants happy.... at least til the election. Anything promised that has relevance beyond the election at this stage is just words.
We can blame our western culture of 4 year election cycles... it would be much better to incentivise central government to look at the longer term picture... its why we are burning more and more fossil fuels at the same time we have 10 year+ targets to stop doing so.
Its going to be a cluster, and yes hopefully fraud does not run rife up there, already a large amount of lawlessness going on. There is a blueprint for rebuilding, used in CHC and refined for the Kaikoura quakes, but they will probably try and re write the script which will drag it all out. Think the biggest issue they will have is getting labour resource, these will be specialised jobs with a lot of H&S attached, you cant' just import some migrants who have never worked in this field and expect results.
Lets be reminded of how Robertson and Ardern operated during covid and how the economy was put into this situation, lets not forget how they work economically and why you cannot trust Robertson with money.
Lets remind ourselves of the debt we have incurred for a net "negative "result,
Let's remember the Billions wasted on the following...which put us in the fiscal hole we are in...
From Bob Jones...
When I suggested recently that the media ask Chris Hipkins, why given our current record covid infection numbers and deaths, if it was a good idea to throw the country into a ludicrously punitive lockdown in 2020, 2021 and 2022, it’s not now?
Some readers wrote saying now everyone who wants to be is vaccinated. But that was also the case in 2021 and 2022 (Auckland remember, was closed down until late last year).
Here’s the latest Health Department statistics. 2.2 million New Zealanders have now had COVID-19
Last week that number rose by 8,400. A total of 2513 people have died. These statistics make a mockery of the situation in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and the much vaunted elimination claim.
The lockdown oppression years were the most disgraceful event in New Zealand’s history. They had Orwellian Big Brother overtones, were a massive abuse of political power and frequently downright sadistically cruel.
Flogging an infantile advertising message in the media and on our highways to “Be Kind”, the government authors of this hypocritically didn’t apply it to their own actions, for example, denying the right for people to visit their dying partners a mile away in hospital. I could go on but the salient point is instead of trying to puff up Hipkins, such as with the “Chippy” nonsense while constantly rubbishing the National leader, how about the lap-dog media asking Hipkins why, if it was right to impose a draconian lockdown on the nation over the past two years, is it not right to do so now?
Lets be reminded of how Robertson and Ardern operated during covid and how the economy was put into this situation
Just a quick one on this, it'd appear that NZs approach to covid mitigation over 2020 and 2021 has led to better economic outcomes than the countries that adopted a "let her rip" approach. The latter have had no to negative GDP growth in subsequent years, and NZs has been towards the top.
PUBLIC POLICY / NEWS
Finance Minister says 1-in-100-year climate events now more regular; He wants a long-term infrastructure plan for adaptation; He sees tough conversations about whether, where, how and who pays to rebuild
17th Feb 23, 4:54pmby Bernard Hickey
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has called for some "challenging conversations" about where and how to rebuild billions of dollars worth of infrastructure destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle, along with who should pay for it and what form it should take in a warming climate where storms and droughts are more frequent and intense.
Robertson described climate change as any finance minister's "defining dynamic" now that 1-in-100-year climate events were more regular.
Speaking at length for the first time since Cyclone Gabrielle killed at least five people, destroyed roads and bridges, made 10,000 homeless and cut off power to nearly quarter of million homes, he said the Government would use its balance sheet to borrow to help pay for the billions of dollars of repairing and rebuilding in the devastated areas of Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, the Coromandel and Northland.
But he said the increasing frequency and intensity of storms and droughts because of climate change was changing the landscape for the Crown, councils, businesses, insurers and bankers alike.
Robertson told an Auckland Chamber of Commerce lunch that climate change was now the “defining dynamic” and “vital” for him, and it would be for future Ministers of Finance.
“Whether they like it or not, it will be the defining dynamic for every Minister of Finance who delivers this speech in the coming decades," Robertson said.
"Climate change is here. It is affecting the economic security of our country, our communities and our families, and it's not going away anytime soon," he said.
"There is no point in talking about one in one hundred year events any more. We will be dealing with them regularly."
Managed retreat and not just building back in the same way and place
Robertson said there would have to be challenging conversations "about where we live, what infrastructure we build, how do we mitigate and put in place resilience measures. And who pays when it goes wrong. And two words that you will hear a lot more over the coming months and years. Managed retreat."
"These conversations are extremely challenging. They're about our way of life. The worst thing we could do, in response to the devastation we've seen over the last couple of weeks, is simply rebuild straightaway without thought about whether or not that is the right thing to do. That's enormously challenging and difficult."
Help for the uninsured
Robertson said he expected the Government would have to help those who had not insured their homes or the contents of their homes.
He said it was now time to take stock of the infrastructure deficit and dealing with climate change.
"I think we've got to look at that broader and bolder. And for me, that is about a long term infrastructure pipeline that is agreed across our society, and that we fund it by making use of the government's balance sheet. And by working with the private sector, with iwi, with local government, to actually have the level of investment New Zealand needs."
GOVERNMENT CLIMATE CHANGE CYCLONE GABRIELLE AUCKLAND FLOODING INSURANCE MANAGED RETREAT GRANT ROBERTSON
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68 Comments
Add new comment
by ACB | 17th Feb 23, 5:03pm
"Robertson said he expected the Government would have to help those who had not insured their homes or the contents of their homes."
It's a tricky one, where's the incentive to purchase insurance if the taxpayer is there backstopping everything? Would it be better for the hard up to have some of their benefits paid directly towards contents/house insurance.
17
by Zack Brando | 17th Feb 23, 5:17pm
It's alright for the government to be a bit magnanimous considering the circumstances.
Though, rightly or wrongly there is the perception that Labour rewards poor decision making. Don't let such a perception sour you - we've ALL made bad decisions at some stage.
4
by greatwhiteshark | 17th Feb 23, 5:38pm
Yea! we have all made bad decisions fair enough, but bad decisions can cost money, most of us just soak it up and move on. I don’t feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have insurance. Bad luck move on.
6
by Zack Brando | 17th Feb 23, 6:01pm
A perfectly reasonable stance to take there greatwhiteshark, hence why I called it a "magnanimous" move.
As a renter the government bailing out the uninsured would disadvantages me, should I want to enter the property market.
Saying that this is a national disaster. I live in Christchurch and without help from central government our city would still be rooted [granted ChCh had insurance lol].
As such I'm not going to argue against giving aid and comfort to my fellow countrymen, even if they are North Islanders :).
Also, there could be liable cases against councils and forestry businesses - people not having insurance doesn't ... Read more
5
by house hunter | 17th Feb 23, 5:45pm
I would assume that the financial help these people get will be less that what people with appropriate insurance get.
After all the government also helps unemployed people, but they don't give them 100K salaries.
9
by Hamish | 17th Feb 23, 6:52pm
It's a tricky one alright.
Do local and regional councils get to rely on private insurance to bail them out of any liability when as rate payers we rely on them to identify and complete necessary works programs that would mitigate a lot of the damage done? Or enforce the necessary legislation and force businesses to not add risk of greater impact in certain areas?
0
by lowercase capitalist | 18th Feb 23, 7:19am
If you have a mortgage don't the bank require you to carry insurance?
0
by J.C. | 17th Feb 23, 5:08pm
Robertson described climate change as any finance minister's "defining dynamic" now that 1-in-100-year climate events were more regular.
I'm sorry but 1-in-100-year climate events cannot become "more regular." It's mathematically impossible.
This is your Finance Minister who has a terrible mastery of the English language or is simply inept.
"There is no point in talking about one in one hundred year events any more. We will be dealing with them regularly."
And now cosplaying as Nostradamus.
16
by Neutral_Observer | 17th Feb 23, 5:39pm
Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/explore/postgraduate-programmes/master-of-climat…
Master of Climate Change Science and Policy – MCCSP
The global threat of climate change is real and urgent. Gain insight into climate change challenges in science and policy-making with this multi-disciplinary degree.
2
by Foxglove | 17th Feb 23, 6:33pm
Sure but is New Zealand then best to continue to spend its money and restrict itself economically, to reduce the ripples it is generating or spend said money instead, protecting itself from the incoming tidal waves the huge industrial nations are generating? Just asking!.
10
by Speedmax | 19th Feb 23, 10:51pm
Need to do both urgently. Cannot simply leave decarbonisation investment to “someone else” because if everyone does that we’ll all burn or drown. Isn’t that obvious now?
1
by J.C. | 17th Feb 23, 6:56pm
Master of Climate Change Science and Policy – MCCSP
Course prereqs don't even requre a background in the relevant sciences. A meal ticket qualification to work in the public sector.
11
by Millennial_Woman | 17th Feb 23, 5:41pm
yeah, they become 1 in 50, 1 in 25 year events...
2
by J.C. | 17th Feb 23, 5:52pm
Which are not 1-in -100-year events. And what is Robbo's basis for the emergence of the 25-/50-year events? How do you actually validate this?
1
by powerdownkiwi | 17th Feb 23, 6:11pm
He's actually quite correct. Except that we will get more than one a year (just have) and so '1' is an inappropriate number on that side of the equation. '3 in' might be a more accurate prefix
6
by J.C. | 17th Feb 23, 6:23pm
He's actually quite correct. Except that we will get more than one a year (just have) and so '1' is an inappropriate number on that side of the equation. '3 in' might be a more accurate prefix
Quite astounded to see this comng from you Power. Thought you were far better than this.
1
by nigelh | 17th Feb 23, 6:19pm
rain fall. If you have 25 years worth of records then the 1:25 is the maximum of that set. 1:50, 1:100 ..... are extrapolations based on a regression analysis.
Flood level will be tied to rainfall but there'll be some other variables as well. There is an analysis based on maximum possible rainfall via some theoretical analysis of clouds, terrrain and other variables. This is the gist of it. Someone else more knowledge can elaborate.
5
by Pragmatist | 18th Feb 23, 9:09pm
Ror the first auckland storms, they were compared the rainfall to records from 1869
0
by keithwoodford | 19th Feb 23, 7:25pm
nigelh
Estimates of the 100 year risk do not require 100 years of records.
That is not how they re calculated.
However, the calculation models are assumption-based and there are good reasons to believe that many 100-year estimates are under-estimates because of specific statistical assumptions.
KeithW
2
by SimonP | 18th Feb 23, 7:44am
Grant Robertson probably has read the IPCC Summary for Policymakers.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf
Small changes in mean and standard deviation dramatically change the probability of extreme events.
0
by solardb | 18th Feb 23, 7:33am
Yes they can . 1 in a 100 year floods does not mean they only happen once every 100 years.
It's a misleading term, time for it to be replaced.
2
by Rob Reid | 18th Feb 23, 8:15am
Yeah, we need a Richter scale for climate events.
0
by PocketAces | 18th Feb 23, 4:51pm
Geez, you gotta dig deep now for your criticism, don't you?
0
by KH | 17th Feb 23, 5:16pm
Same old Kiwi process. It's expensive - so lets look around to see who else can pay for it.
The go to answer is borrow and put it on the grandchildren.
We need to be real as a country. Things cost and we need to pay for them. So be more productive and produce some earnings to pay for things. Not been a priority in recent decades.
Or go without many of the things we take for granted now, like quality health services and infrastructure. Welfare. Acknowledge we are a poor country
I guess we will just continue to say central government will have ... Read more
20
by Pa1nter | 17th Feb 23, 7:20pm
You should make that into a business plan. "Just make more money". Amazing.
3
by KH | 18th Feb 23, 8:42am
The saying goes. "It's not hard to be rich, but you have to be really interested in doing so. Most actually aren't"
1
by house hunter | 17th Feb 23, 5:52pm
Given the number of bridges that were washed away I'd say the way we build bridges in particular needs to be looked at. Obviously building them higher and/or stronger will cost more, but probably worth it.
1
by redheadonist | 17th Feb 23, 10:21pm
By default, any new bridge will be built better, as standards have improved over time.
Better to change the nature of commercial forestry and stop clear-felling.
4
by nigelh | 18th Feb 23, 5:38pm
Better not leave that to Simon Bridges.
0
by IT GUY | 17th Feb 23, 6:00pm
If the weather pattern in coming years allows tropical cyclones to directly hit NZ this is going to become semi annual...... multiple cyclones are formed every year, in the past they have tracked towards Aussie, now they seem to be tracking towards us more.... last year a few slid past east cape offshore. could be a 1 in 10 year or 2 in a year scenario, who can predict the weather.
6
by J.C. | 17th Feb 23, 6:19pm
If the weather pattern in coming years allows tropical cyclones to directly hit NZ this is going to become semi annual...... multiple cyclones are formed every year, in the past they have tracked towards Aussie, now they seem to be tracking towards us more.... last year a few slid past east cape offshore. could be a 1 in 10 year or 2 in a year scenario, who can predict the weather.
To do this, you need to start from a base case as to why and how this pattern will emerge. Like any prediction of future events, it must ... Read more
1
by powerdownkiwi | 17th Feb 23, 6:07pm
There's more than Climate, though, isn't there Bernard?
Brave journalism time, you.
Overdue.
Tell them about the graph I showed. Tell them about entropy. Tell them this is a multi-faceted issue.
7
by IT GUY | 17th Feb 23, 6:44pm
The problem is, not many areas of NZ could have coped with the rainfall that hit inland Hawkes Bay / Gisborne etc.... It would have looked just as bad if it hit most major NZ cities. We have now had Nelson, Westport, Napier , Hastings, Gisborne, Auckland, Northland all in the last 12 months.
Rural on rolling hills is now probably safer than city or town. So Powerdownkiwi, what should we do? Re entropy, are you assuming these chaotic storms produce way more energy then what we are used too? and this additional energy is a DIRECT result of increased ... Read more
3
by powerdownkiwi | 20th Feb 23, 8:26am
Good question(s)
I'm also watching the increasing precariousness of energy-supply - not Marsden Point is gone, and the roading network was ALREADY decaing markedly, before this.
We need to focus on local resilience - the capacity to go it alone. Water-tanks should be retro-mandatory; food-systems have to be re-thunk.... generators are only good with fuel, so it goes. This is a compound problem.
0
by Rumpole | 17th Feb 23, 9:11pm
Might also checkout The Milankovitch Cycle- Nasa have an excellent site that's simple enough for even Grunter to understand with help from Niwa. however like most of Grunters history he's good at identifying problems but useless at implementing solutions that work.
0
by Final Account | 17th Feb 23, 9:31pm
We all know all stars will turn into Iron in 1000 trillion years, but I need to boil my kettle now.
0
by PocketAces | 18th Feb 23, 4:53pm
Well, you do have time for a cuppa. And maybe seconds
0
by Audaxes | 17th Feb 23, 6:21pm
While the government wishes to dabble with the fallout from moral hazard when it comes to property insurance, I wish it would put a brake on the cost increases accruing to my council rates bill for the "nice-to-have" frivolities.
Financial headache getting worse for Hutt City Council
The financial pressure is mounting on the Hutt City Council as the cost of major infrastructure projects goes through the roof.
A 24% increase in the cost of bulk water and a $50 million increase for the 4.4km shared pathway in the Eastern Bays are just two of the items ... Read more
8
by Rumpole | 17th Feb 23, 9:12pm
Bureacrats & Politicians know nothing & understand less which explains the vast majority of NZ problems.
3
by nktokyo | 17th Feb 23, 6:38pm
I am going to be paying again for others who didn't have any, or enough, insurance huh?
Why can't home insurers be forced to calculate the rebuild cost each year and take it out of people's hands?
0
by Audaxes | 17th Feb 23, 6:46pm
Why can't government instruct central bankers to instruct bankers to throttle loan volumes extended to residential property speculators?
On our planet earth – as opposed to the very different planet that economists seem to be on – all markets are rationed. In rationed markets a simple rule applies: the short side principle. It says that whichever quantity of demand or supply is smaller (the ‘short side’) will be transacted (it is the only quantity that can be transacted). Meanwhile, the rest will remain unserved, and thus the short side wields power: the power to pick and choose with whom to do business. Examples abound. For instance, when ... Read more
7
by Rumpole | 17th Feb 23, 9:13pm
They can but choose not too,
0
by nigelh | 18th Feb 23, 5:45pm
They can and its called a remit but if you don't have the guts to do it because you've been scared by the gov of the reserve bank as to its consequences and also don't want to blot your political copy book, it doesn't get done.
0
by geografree | 17th Feb 23, 8:44pm
Interesting coming from the fella that launched the low value Ōtaki to north of Levin project a couple years ago.
2
by jeremyr | 17th Feb 23, 9:30pm
It’s reassuring that we have a moron dealing with this that does not understand the cause and effect part of this.
first action should be reverse the greens rule about burning slash. Slash took out all the Bridges.
make sure all the infrastructure in insured correctly. If not, fire everyone involved.
admit that infrastructure we not maintained and not up to it.
stop the two year study into whether the Tongan volcano caused this. NASA already told us this is true, and the Australians. No use spending two years studying it using a bunch of loons that will only eventually just agree with NASA ... Read more
18
by Final Account | 17th Feb 23, 9:34pm
Now is not the time to be rational. We need to let emotion and short term thinking rule
8
by Zachary Smith | 18th Feb 23, 4:55am
Very few people seem know about the significant effect the Tongan volcano had.
6
by fat pat | 18th Feb 23, 9:37am
Reposting some links for anyone who's interested.
https://freewestmedia.com/2023/01/05/volcanic-eruption-in-tonga-will-co…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-11/sydney-in-longest-spell-below-30…
0
by solardb | 18th Feb 23, 7:43am
Yup, we need out of control forest fires to add to the problems. The terrain is not conducive to collecting slash into tidy little piles to be burnt.
2
by SimonP | 18th Feb 23, 7:48am
The volcanic eruption did not cause the marine heatwave that added energy to the system. That was La Niña + anthropogenic global warming.
5
by Let me be Frank | 17th Feb 23, 9:49pm
Catabolic collapse
" The basis of that theory is the uncontroversial fact that human societies routinely build more infrastructure than they can afford to maintain. During periods of prosperity, societies invest available resources in major projects—temples, fortifications, canal or road systems, space programs, or whatever else happens to appeal to the collective imagination of the age. As infrastructure increases in scale and complexity, the costs of maintenance rise to equal and exceed the available economic surplus; the period of prosperity ends in political and economic failure, and infrastructure falls into ruin as its maintenance costs are no longer paid."
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Catabolic_Collapse
11
by OldSkoolEconomics | 19th Feb 23, 6:43am
Isnt that why the US just prints and borrows more money to fund its deficit and thus keep spending more. As long as they retain military and commercial superiority it can continue ad infinitum.
0
by Let me be Frank | 19th Feb 23, 7:36am
Couple of points....money is not output, and banks create 'money' (credit).
But even if the US printed infinite 'dollars' they (or anyone else) still cannot maintain existing infrastructure if the resources dont exist (in the quantity required)...resources being materials, labour, capability....and all that is underpinned by energy (and time)
0
by redheadonist | 17th Feb 23, 10:23pm
Ministry of Works when?
3
by Small Kev | 18th Feb 23, 7:26am
Insurance companies fail and taxpayer money kicks in.
1
by Hemi Ti Wire | 18th Feb 23, 8:14am
What utter bullshit!...
everybody is calling this Esk valley flooding . ..
"The worst ever!"
" A one in 100 year event"..
In April 1938. The flooding was 3x worse with 3 metres of silt and 10 meters of water!!!!
Read it here
https://hwe.niwa.co.nz/event/April_1938_Gisborne_and_Hawkes_Bay_Flooding
https://collection.mtghawkesbay.com/objects/95629/esk-valley-flood
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/inundated/
the press in this country are just over zealous morons who do no research before blabbing off!
Up
5
by Zachary Smith | 18th Feb 23, 8:33am
That's pretty sad. People should take note of the history of the area they choose to live in. The girls boarding school and holiday park near the Esk Valley did evacuate everyone.
1
by redcows | 18th Feb 23, 9:59am
That was an awesome link. Thanks.
1
by 26@Main | 18th Feb 23, 11:22am
Stuff do mention the 1938 flood and 2018 flood in an article today ... https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300810300/cyclone-gabrielle-was-the-ca…
0
by solardb | 18th Feb 23, 4:10pm
The term 1 in a 100 year dlood actually means they have calculated there is a 1 % chance of that size flood happening every year . Doesn't mean it could not happen next year , or even again this year.
3
by Hemi Ti Wire | 18th Feb 23, 10:48am
wtf!!!... Climate change minister is James Offshore!!!
oh! That's right he is spending our money on saving the planet @ 0.02% at a time.
nice one Labour.
3
by easymoney | 18th Feb 23, 12:35pm
I'm from the government.. And I'm here to help..
1
by OldSkoolEconomics | 18th Feb 23, 1:31pm
Cool that you are here.. i live in an area prone to 100 year floods. I didnt take out any insurance for any of my cars , house or business. Didnt bother to check risks or pay as labour has my back..
Anyway - this weeks 100 year weather event has done everything in. Would you mind to ask grant to deposit a couple of $mill into my account... the same one he used to pay me all the pandemic cash and cost of living payment and where he puts my my benefit moneys.
ps. Please let him know please that I ... Read more
3
by easymoney | 18th Feb 23, 5:50pm
Consider it done.
0
by Peter M | 18th Feb 23, 10:48pm
He said it was now time to take stock of the infrastructure deficit and dealing with climate change.
More borrowing >>> Higher account deficit >>> Higher wholesale interest rates for longer. Gabrielle was the first part of a perfect storm for New Zealand.
1
by GV 27 | 20th Feb 23, 7:36am
Are you sure it wasn't running off $56b of printed cash during the Covid response, very little of which made its way into productive investment or business lending?
0
by mikekirk29 | 20th Feb 23, 1:08am
Huge borrowing differential cf ORCD average and pathetic subservience to asset holders re no or low tax on gains means v big deficit re infrastructure means tax has to go up children. Things are not free and government is necessary as private sector will not fund it. Time to cough up grown ups and National don’t believe in government and hence are useless
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by Hemi Ti Wire | 20th Feb 23, 12:04pm
Lets be reminded of how Robertson and Ardern operated during covid and how the economy was put into this situation, lets not forget how they work economically and why you cannot trust Robertson with money.
Lets remind ourselves of the debt we have incurred for a net "negative "result,
From Bob Jones...
When I suggested recently that the media ask Chris Hipkins, why given our current record covid infection numbers and deaths, if it was a good idea to throw the country into a ludicrously punitive lockdown in 2020, 2021 and 2022, it’s not now?
Some readers wrote saying now everyone who wants to be is vaccinated. But that was also the case in 2021 and 2022 (Auckland remember, was closed down until late last year).
Here’s the latest Health Department statistics. 2.2 million New Zealanders have now had COVID-19
Last week that number rose by 8,400. A total of 2513 people have died. These statistics make a mockery of the situation in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and the much vaunted elimination claim.
The lockdown oppression years were the most disgraceful event in New Zealand’s history. They had Orwellian Big Brother overtones, were a massive abuse of political power and frequently downright sadistically cruel.
Flogging an infantile advertising message in the media and on our highways to “Be Kind”, the government authors of this hypocritically didn’t apply it to their own actions, for example, denying the right for people to visit their dying partners a mile away in hospital. I could go on but the salient point is instead of trying to puff up Hipkins, such as with the “Chippy” nonsense while constantly rubbishing the National leader, how about the lap-dog media asking Hipkins why, if it was right to impose a draconian lockdown on the nation over the past two years, is it not right to do so now?
Cheetahlegs:" Mr Robertson, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but do you think demonstrating more restraint with our recent QE and wage subsidies during COVID-19 would have placed us in a stronger position to address the damages associated with Gabrielle?"
(Personal abuse removed, Ed).
The RBNZ estimated the CHCH Rebuild cost to be $40b back in 2015, at that point $26b had been paid out by insurers.
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/-/media/project/sites/rbnz/files/publicati…
Prior to these disasters we had such a large infrastructural deficit that the Grant Robertson did not think that we could afford to fund it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/finance-minister-grant-robertson…
Add to that our enormous shortage of houses and people living in shocking conditions. (All this fueled by out of control immigration)
Now we have the consequences of these disasters destroying large amounts of housing and infrastructure.
If we could not afford these deficits before, then how the hell can we get out of the post disaster situation?
Add to that the government is now pouring in 10's of thousands of $29 per hour immigrants. These people will never contribute sufficient to pay for the demands that they will place on our housing and infrastructure.
Words fail me. This government is certifiably nuts. A National government would be far worse.
God help us. There is no hope in remaining in New Zealand.
What is required is a near total ban on immigration to reduce pressure from that sector while we settle down and re-organize our economy to address the mess that we face. That will never happen. We are doomed, there is no hope.
We're already facing significant non tradeable inflation from low amounts of labour, and there isn't the capacity to undertake the presumably huge amount of infrastructure and house building work that'll be undertaken in the coming decade.
If we could somehow monetise despair and angst we'd all be billionaires.
Two things Robertson could do
1. Make sure insurance companies pay cash instead of funding rebuilds if people want to move - lots of policies dont provide for that
2. Scrap the mitigation policies that both cost money and distract resources and focus on adaptation - Shaw and his rubbish green polices have a lot to answer for right now
Gonna go out on a limb and guess that the emergency housing budget ain't going to get touched. Loyal voters are sacrosanct.
We need a few hundred extra roading crews, material, equipment. It's not as if the roading network of NZ can be ignored while they all head up the east coast for a spell. Those pining for immigration getting tighter are going to be disappointed.
Same applies for pretty much anything else. Especially water infrastructure. Anyone hoping for a 3 waters retreat is going to be disappointed.
I have no idea how to net out the impact on economic activity. Rebuild is expensive, but the loss of this much economic activity in such a huge region has got to be of similar magnitude.
I'm surprised they came up with $13bil so quickly. A huge stab in the dark or NZTA and Akl dusting off long forgotten reports that may have covered some of the issues.
To whom they distribute the $13bill is going to be a very tricky. No doubt some Labourite will be pouring over constituencies favouring those who voted Labour or am I being too cynical on this.
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