Plan needed for recovery when Government can no longer provide funding

Leading New Zealand economist Shamubeel Eaqub was in Gisborne yesterday.Picture supplied

Tairāwhiti must unite and plan to recover from future natural disasters without government funding, a top New Zealand economist has warned.

That was one of the key points raised in a speech by economist Shamubeel Eaqub at Wainui Surf Life Saving Club yesterday ahead of speaking to the steering group of the Tairāwhiti Economic Action Plan.

“Whenever there is a crisis in New Zealand we borrow money,” he said.

“The National government borrowed money for the Canterbury earthquakes.

“The Labour Government borrowed money for Covid.

“Every time there is a new crisis, there is less room for us to borrow money and get through.

“We might have only two or three more crises in our bag before we can’t do it again.”

With climate crises happening and maybe only two or three more government bailouts available, the next crisis after that the region would be on its own, he said.

“The reality is life is going to become more unpredictable.

“What we see from climate change and what we see from the demographics is we have less certainty, and those risks we face are bigger, stronger and more frequent.”

Mr Eaqub pointed to the need to not just ensure the region recovered from Cyclone Gabrielle, but to put in place processes to make sure any failings in the system in the recovery mode did not reoccur.

“We keep doing a good job in a crisis but we do nothing to prepare ourselves better for the next one.”

Speaking of the new Government’s $1.2 billion regional infrastructure fund, he said it was important for those putting together recovery plans and economic action plans here to ensure there was no in-fighting over who applied for government funds.

“We saw this with the Provincial Growth Fund, which was an extraordinary weakness.

“We saw people within the same region fighting against each other.

“Economic development is about knowing that our goals are clear, that we are united and that we are going to last the distance.”