“An average 11 per cent increase to rates across our district this year is a significant challenge as we look to shoulder our share of responsibilities for recovery. Every dollar of assistance from the Government will help.”
The $941m pre-Budget announcement includes $475m to rebuild road and rail links. Roughly $100m has been set aside to raise stopbanks and shore up lifelines that failed during record rainfalls.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the package was about repairing and rebuilding what has been damaged and “making smart investments” to ensure future events don’t cause the same devastation.
“Cyclone Recovery is a core focus of this year’s Budget, and this week’s package adds to the $890m already provided in a rolling maul of repair works and business support.”
Treasury has estimated the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods could range from $9 billion to $14.5b.
That would put it second behind only the Canterbury earthquakes in terms of damage from natural disasters New Zealand has faced.
Of this, $5b to $7.5b of damage is expected to relate to infrastructure owned by central and local governments.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said damage to the North Island transport network by Cyclone Gabrielle and the January floods was putting financial pressure on councils.
“So we’re stepping in to cover more of the costs of clearance and rebuild so councils can get on with the work without having to rely on increasing rates.”
The package includes $275m for Waka Kotahi NZTA and councils to repair roads. This is on top of $250m the Government announced immediately after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Hawke’s Bay recovery lead minister Kieran McAnulty said “The $100m protection fund announced this week will go towards practical flood protection infrastructure like stopbanks as well as other local measures that can protect communities from flooding.”
McAnulty said Government would invest $35.4m to support the safety and wellbeing of farmers, growers and stock in cyclone-damaged areas by scaling up on-farm technical, scientific and financial advice.
This money will support:
- access to expert advice where it is needed to inform and address urgent health and safety, animal welfare needs, and to ensure the safety of ongoing operations;
- urgent maintenance that is critical to the health and safety of stock and staff; and
- critical transport of essential supplies, people and stock related to animal health and welfare needs and health and safety.
Of this, $5.4m will be targeted to help operate rural community hubs, and ensure ongoing access to reliable telecommunications including satellite connectivity.
Businesses and workers in affected regions will also receive a boost to employment and social support to help them through the recovery.
“The labour markets in Hawke’s Bay and on the East Coast have changed. They usually have a regular and predictable seasonal jobs market, but the weather events have affected this and we are seeing the number of people on jobseeker begin to slowly rise,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said.
“The package will help people retrain and prepare for the jobs that will be required during the recovery and rebuild.
“As well as retraining, we will also focus on ‘retaining’.
“To achieve this we’re increasing investment in successful schemes to keep people in the workforce including the Transition to Work grant, the $5K to Work scheme, Mana in Mahi, and industry partnerships.
“There will be an additional $6 million for the Food Secure Communities programme to support community food providers, such as food banks and food rescue organisations, to meet the increased demand on their services,” Sepuloni said.
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said the Government was investing in mental health and wellbeing support, including extending the successful Mana Ake programme developed after the Christchurch quakes into every school in the Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.
“It’s not just the immediate response that’s important, there are longer-term impacts on mental health, which is why we’re allocating a total of $10m to provide additional support for community-led mental wellbeing initiatives.”
