Two Northland rescue helicopters were needed at a serious crash in Waipu last Wednesday. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Two Northland rescue helicopters were needed at a serious crash in Waipu last Wednesday. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The Government has brushed off Northland Regional Council’s claim it should fill the funding gap for emergency services by pointing to the money it already provides.
Northland Rescue Helicopter, Surf Life Saving Northern Region, Hato Hone St John, Coastguard Northern Region, Northland and Far North Search and Rescue, and Far North Radio and Sea Rescue are set to lose a shared pot of $1.11 million annually if the change goes ahead.
The challenge from the council was put to Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell, who said prioritising budgets was an operational matter for local councils to determine.
Mitchell pointed to the fact that the Government, via Health New Zealand and ACC, was this year’s primary funder of emergency ambulance helicopters as it contributed 86 per cent of the money nationally. Government contributions to rescue choppers would total $128m for the 2023/24 financial year.
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But Shortland questioned why council rates were being used to top up critical health services, especially at a time when councils were being asked to deliver more and ratepayers were hitting their limits.
While Northland’s rescue helicopters are used by the Crown as part of core health infrastructure for the hospital, Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman Paul Ahlers said they are a Northland-owned asset still primarily available for rescues.
Thirty-five years ago central government refused to put a helicopter into the region, so the community did.
“The community bought it, they’ve continue to operate it and support it for all those years,” Ahlers said.
It’s uncertain whether the Crown would ensure the choppers’ futures, as he said it didn’t want to put a helicopter in Northland in the first place.
Ahlers said while central government pays most of the funding, the contribution from Northlanders gives the region community licence. That allows the trust to sit down with Crown agencies and speak on behalf of Northlanders’ needs and wants.
“We use that voice to talk about all sorts of things in terms of how we run the service, where the service is based, how often we will fly and to some extent where we will fly to.”
Giving that voice away to Wellington would mean accepting whatever the Government thought was best for Northland, Ahlers said.
“I can tell you in my experience that doesn’t always turn out to be the best result for us up in the North.”
Emergency department doctor Gary Payinda’s concern about the impact the rates removal will have on the rescue choppers as well as the other services prompted him to start a petition.
Dr Gary Payinda has started a petition to help save the emergency service rate. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Dr Payinda said the helicopters had an irreplaceable role in quickly transporting patients to Whangārei Hospital, who otherwise would have to endure long journeys or waits for ground transport due to distance or ambulance shortages.
Northland’s helicopters can reach almost anywhere in the region in roughly 45 minutes - weather dependent, he said.
Payinda estimated the choppers carried out about three to six jobs involving the hospital daily and while not all were life-saving, many were.
He said the service was part of remedying issues around distance, equity, poverty and unmet health needs in Northland.
“It allows people in outlying areas - people who live rural, farmers, what have you - to get help quickly when they need to access help.”
Payinda said axing the $12 per household per year emergency services rate to save that small amount of money didn’t seem sensible.
The council has said that by removing that cost to ratepayers, there would be an 11.05 per cent total rates rise in the first year as opposed to 13.4 per cent if it were to stay included.
Federated Farmers Northland provincial president Colin Hannah challenged the council’s hard line that topping up emergency services is not one of its core responsibilities by citing its civil defence connection.
He said civil defence relies on first responders in times of crisis.
“It would be hard to call on these life-saving services if they no longer have the funds to operate 24/7 when we need them most.”
But Shortland said many partner agencies make up a civil defence response - such as police and Fire and Emergency NZ - yet that did not mean councils should fund them.
Northland Regional Council deputy chairwoman Tui Shortland. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland Civil Defence said it works with various emergency services partners before, during, and after emergencies - including those currently receiving the emergency services rate - with varying levels of involvement based on the situation.
Police and Fenz are part of the emergency management group that oversees civil defence activities alongside Northland’s four councils. They, with Hato Hone St John, play a role in the Northland Civil Defence’s co-ordinating executive group.
