Revolving door of recovery ministers

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Government and the regions hit worst by Cyclone Gabrielle have not had a good run with ministerial appointments for cyclone recovery, with every one of this year’s roll call of misbehaving ministers to exit Cabinet having had an area of responsibility.

Hawke’s Bay is on to its third ministerial lead for cyclone recovery now, MP for Wairarapa Kieran McAnulty, after Napier MP Stuart Nash was sacked in March and his replacement, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Meka Whaitiri, defected to Te Pāti Māori barely a month later.

Michael Wood was responsible for cyclone recovery for the Coromandel and Auckland, until he resigned last month over his inept handling of shareholding conflicts of interest; deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni picked up that role.

Now it is the turn of Tairāwhiti (and Bay of Plenty), with the resignation of East Coast MP Kiri Allan on Monday from all her ministerial portfolios.

Finance Minister and Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson has taken over the lead coordination role for Tairāwhiti — which seems a logical choice given there are no other ministers with a connection to this region. However, clearly Robertson will be too busy in his other roles and with an election looming to be able to dedicate much time to this, or be easily accessible.

Representing her electorate and doing her best to help make things happen has been an area Kiri Allan has excelled in throughout her parliamentary career, and she will be missed at this time when the region needs help more than ever — unless she can play a de facto role in this regard over the next few months, once her health allows.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little told RNZ yesterday that Allan’s resignation left a big hole in the cyclone response, saying she always made herself available to help Wairoa despite the fact his district was actually the responsibility of the Hawke’s Bay ministerial lead for cyclone recovery.

“Kiritapu Allan was very capable and could think on her feet, and she was very helpful,” he said.

Allan yesterday confirmed she will not contest the East Coast seat at this year’s election, so Labour will quickly need to find a replacement candidate.

Earlier in the day Chris Hipkins ruled out any possibility of her being a minister again under his leadership.

In an online post, Allan apologised to her electorate and said she would continue to serve the East Coast through until the election: “I am so proud to have been your representative in Parliament, and I am so sorry to have let you down in a time when our region is hurting so much. I will continue to serve you as a MP until October and my offices are open with our arms wide open.”