‘Just the beginning’: post-cyclone complaints expected in coming months

Happy to be “home”: Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier yesterday returned to the city in which he grew up as part of a week-long tour of areas severely hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. He is wearing the tie of his alma mater, Gisborne Boys’ High School. Picture by Paul Rickard

The Chief Ombudsman says he expects a rise in complaints on the back of extreme weather events but it could take some time for frustration to boil over into a noticeable spike.

Peter Boshier was in Gisborne yesterday for the first day of a week-long tour looking at damage sustained by cyclone-affected regions.

Over four days, he is meeting with iwi, council leaders and community groups in Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier and Hastings to better understand the issues affecting those doing it tough.

The Ombudsman is tasked with handling complaints about public sector agencies, as well as investigating their administrative conduct.

While he understood some cyclone-related complaints had already been received, Mr Boshier said his office was “just at the beginning of it”. He gave  the example of Covid-19, where complaints began slowly before reaching an increase of 37 percent on normal numbers.

It could be a similar situation following the cyclones, he said

“Our experience is that it’s normally at least three months after the event that people start to get frustrated with an agency,” Mr Boshier told Local Democracy Reporting.

“Initially after a crisis, there’s a cohesion that ‘we’re all in this together’, and then inevitably I think people become a bit fragmented, a little bit testy not seeing help coming in the way they expected, and complaints start coming to us.

“I think inevitably there will be a wish for people to want things to be done quicker than the machinery can deliver on.”

Mr Boshier believed his trip was the first of its kind for an ombudsman, and was proud to return to the place in which he had grown up.

‘Ground-breaking’ visit

He was wearing a Gisborne Boys’ High School tie in homage to his old school.

“Normally the ombudsman is just working in Wellington and things come to us, but we decided it was the right thing to do for us to reverse it and go out.

“I thought being able to see things first hand will give me a really good basis for the future, so it’s quite groundbreaking.”

Mr Boshier said he’d picked up on a sentiment of grief in the community during his short time in Gisborne, particularly from people further up the East Coast where communities had been “ripped apart”.

But he wanted to highlight the resilience of Māori in dealing with the devastation.

On Tuesday, he heard from Ngāti Porou about their use of Starlink (wireless internet) during the cyclone, something he wasn’t aware of prior to the meeting.

“I want to compliment the resilience of iwi. The way in which Māori generally are able to mobilise using networks, using their own infrastructure, is pretty incredible.

“I think they walk the walk as well as talk the talk.”

Asked if he sometimes felt unwelcome in some of the spaces he visited — such as district councils — he said he was in a “really good position”.

“We (the ombudsman) are not the Government, and we’re not a government department.  We’re not aligned to anything. We’re pretty much seen by everyone as neutral.”

Mr Boshier will visit Wairoa today before making his way to Napier tomorrow and Hastings on Friday.

He expressed disappointment he hadn’t been able to get further north to places such as Tokomaru Bay, Tikitiki and Ruatoria on this trip.

Visits to Auckland, Coromandel and Northland are also on the cards in the coming months.