“I note your particular experience of this with the 2014 Eketāhuna earthquake and I also acknowledge your 24-year term and contributions as a member and chair of the Eketāhuna Community Board.”
“Your dedication, sacrifice and commitment in numerous emergency events during your decades of service have stood your community in good stead and is appreciated by the New Zealand Government.”
“I also acknowledge and thank wife Rena and your family, who I know supported you along your journey and made sacrifices of their own.”
In presenting Charlie with his plaque, Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis said in an emergency often people didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes.
She said Tararua is a large geographical area with often vastly different needs from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, and that was why local fire and emergency services (Civil Defence) had to be well organised.
She said Charlie with his role in Eketāhuna Civil Defence triggered its system “setting the bar for other neighbourhoods to follow”, and she identified the 2014 Eketāhuna earthquake as proof. She said everything ran smoothly and Charlie admitted finding the organisation working perfectly when he got back to town “made him very proud”.
Charlie said his roles in local government “have been an awesome journey the highlight being the joy of experiencing people working together”.
Mayor Tracey said the increasing frequency of extreme events and its effects on people and infrastructure had motivated the council to incorporate climate change and emergency management into the infrastructure portfolio.
Kieran McAnulty has taken a real interest in emergency management. He has met 54 rural and provincial councils in his new role as Minister of Emergency Management, Associate Minister of Local Government, and Associate Minister of Transport. He says: ”It was really important to me that I got out within the first few months of becoming a minister to meet all rural and provincial councils in person to introduce myself and hear what each council had to say.”
“I’ve gained a lot of insight through these visits, both on my portfolios and wider government work. I’ve taken all the feedback I’ve received on board, and passed it on Minister of Local Government Honourable Nanaia Mahuta and the Prime Minister.”
“The conversations with councils have also informed the pending Emergency Management bill, as local government’s connection to their communities gives a lot of strength to our emergency management system.”
“This is the first time we’ve had a minister with responsibility across local government, transport, and emergency management. These are portfolios with a massive impact on rural and regional areas so I wanted to be sure that I was connecting with local councils while getting my head around the portfolios.”
