Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up: Willie Apiata gives back to the East Coast that ‘looked after me as a young boy’

Willie Apiata has raised more than $200,000 for cyclone-impacted whānau on the East Coast that brought him up, a 1 News report says.

The Victoria Cross recipient’s $220,000 fundraising effort has included auctioning off items such as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral programme and artwork featuring his horses.

Apiata, who is Ngāpuhi on his father’s side and closely affiliated with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, told 1 News that raising the money was his way of giving back to the community that raised him since he was 7.

“This is for a really good cause and that’s what it’s about - our people,” Apiata said.

“They looked after me as a young boy and my family but they are the iwi. They have built and forged relationships with every single person on the East Coast.”

Willie Apiata has raised more than $200,000 for family on the East Coast. Photo / File

Apiata said Aotearoa must continue to remember the plight of whānau on the coast until they are back on their feet, “find some sort of peace” and their livelihoods are “back to thriving”.

Cyclone Gabrielle devastated much of the Hawke’s Bay and East Coast communities in February, killing 11 people.

Speaking in Auckland, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods earlier this year was now estimated to be between $9 billion and $14.5 billion.

Hipkins said the Government would not be using a cyclone levy of another kind of tax to pay for this cost.

Instead, the money would be met from reprioritising existing spending, existing funding, and debt.

Hipkins said this approach would help avoid exacerbating inflation pressure, which might be the case were the Government to simply add the rebuild to its current programme.

“The Government has taken the decision to fund the recovery from here on through a combination of the annual operating and capital allowances we set each year for the Budget, savings and reprioritisations, and some debt as we invest in infrastructure repairs and build back stronger.

- Additional reporting, NZ Herald