Campaign trail turns to mud

East Coast MP Janet Mackey (left) and Prime Minister Helen Clark inspect the wreckage of Matata. Picture / Alan Gibson

In the soggy Eastern Bay of Plenty yesterday Prime Minister Helen Clark announced more than $7 million extra to help recovery from widespread flooding in July last year.

"For whatever reason" claims from the 2004 floods were slow to be lodged but once they had been the Government had responded "very quickly", she said.

"I was concerned about it and this time we appointed a recovery co-ordinator. People need certainty and I am confident we have a very structured process."

Helen Clark then inspected the cleanup under way after the "rain bomb" which laid waste to Matata on May 18.

"There is a lot of work to do, all right," she said after looking at the wreckage still evident in the seaside village.

The Prime Minister promised that funding would be forthcoming much more quickly for Matata. The preliminary hazards and risks report would be presented at a public meeting next week, when future options would be discussed.

"There are big decisions to be made. I think it will be very difficult for some people to accept they may not be able to return to their homes," the Prime Minister said.

 

She questioned Whakatane District Council representatives and strode through the mud for a closer look.

At the second stop, Helen Clark changed her shoes for a pair of gumboots from the boot of her official car.

Had she come prepared? "No, they're my driver's," she said. "I'm lucky I have a driver whose gumboots fit me."

After looking at the devastated Matata Lagoon, the PM visited the local general store across the road while her entourage shivered outside, waiting to rejoin the convoy of cars for the return to Whakatane.

"I went to say hello to my mate," she said when she emerged, leaving shy store owner Tony Niiunata a little embarrassed.

"I think she feels sorry for us," he said.

The Prime Minister spent a good part of the day pressing the flesh and was obviously in campaign mode, even though she still declined to name an election date.

The Prime Minister opened Trident High School's new auditorium after an impressive powhiri from students - during which the official party huddled under umbrellas on seats outside.

At Whakatane Hospital she shared lunch with staff from the Maori Health Unit where another warm welcome awaited.

On to the Little Theatre and a packed Grey Power meeting. About 300 people crowded inside and others were turned away at the door.

They sat silent and serious, the only applause during the Prime Minister's speech coming when she said that New Zealand would let nuclear ships into its harbours "over my dead body". The 1980s anti-nuclear legislation "will not be over by lunch-time or any other time on my watch, I can promise you that".

The election was going to be about "who do you trust to lead this country".

* The latest funding announcement brings the total Government response to the July 2004 floods in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region to more than $29 million.