OPINION
A certain wave of deja vu may have descended when Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he was holding a cyclone appeal fundraiser: it was a move straight out of the John Key playbook.
So far the Government’s cyclone response has been fairly rapid - although it might not feel like it to some - and criticism has been sparing.
One of the reasons for both of those things is that many of the elements of it are courtesy of the former National Government’s response to the Christchurch earthquakes.
Yesterday the Prime Minister announced an international fundraising project, including a special Lotto draw, to help those devastated by the cyclone.
Hipkins said the cost of rebuilding flood-hit regions would run into the billions of dollars and this was a way for Kiwis to assist the worst affected.
Eleven people are confirmed dead, five others are uncontactable and another person is missing two weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle struck.
Up to 9000 homes need to be assessed and more than 10,000 people are thought to have been displaced by the recent storms.
The latest example of this Government’s response mirroring that of the Key regime was the announcement of a global Cyclone Appeal.
It is an exact replica of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal then PM John Key announced just five days after the February 2011 quake - right down to the launch of the appeal with a special Lotto draw.
In a bittersweet symmetry, the cyclone appeal launched just as the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust is about to end - its latest annual report noted it had less than $100,000 still to pay out and expected to wind itself up this year.
Hipkins’ move was not met with universal applause and warm, fuzzy generosity. The Green Party said that instead of a fundraiser with a bank helping collect the money and the wealthy asked to donate, the banks should simply hand over their profits and the Government raise money from the wealthy by slapping on a wealth tax.
Like rust, political ideology never sleeps.
Some may argue a fundraising appeal is not the most pressing thing when people are still cleaning up the silt, waiting to hear if they can live in their homes, and workers waiting to find out if they will still have a job, or get paid. There are already many other fundraisers under way.
But as Hipkins pointed out, the best time to get the moolah in is in the immediate aftermath of a disaster - when the need is starkly visible.
The benefit of a national appeal is that those people and companies who want to be seen to be donating generously can get the credit for it. And that also prompts others to follow suit.
The Christchurch appeal raised about $100 million. Even if the cyclone appeal gets a similar result, it is a drop in the ocean of the multi-billion dollar bill the cyclone left.
However, the cyclone fundraiser will help cover things that are important in a community, but not necessarily critical - and might otherwise have been forgotten or left until last, or left for those communities to run fundraisers for later on.
It is likely to be used the same way the Christchurch Quake was: to help restore community facilities such as sports clubs, churches, marae - the places people go.
Hipkins cannot afford to bungle his first big test, especially in an election year.
He is seemingly determined those hit by the cyclone will not think the Government is out of touch.
So he has been and will be a frequent visitor himself. Other ministers are also fanning out around the affected areas on a daily basis. They have hurled money out the door quickly and promised more will come.
In a crisis, people tend to expect a government to do everything all at once and to do it now. Most of all, they want answers.
In trying to do that, the 2011 response by National has made life a lot easier for him now.
Hipkins is still waiting for the answers: an assessment of damage, where and when houses can be rebuilt, what roads and infrastructure can be repaired easily and what will have to move.
However, a form of special legislation - as used after the quakes - was certain to follow, to allow things to get up and running without getting bogged down in the usual paperwork. The special visas to bring in workers needed for the reconstruction echo those used to get builders in for Christchurch.
The Temporary Accommodation Service for those displaced because of the weather was also a creation of that quake response. It is now triggered whenever a natural disaster takes out people’s homes.
There are the things the Government has not done yet, such as wage subsidies. The aim of them in Christchurch was partly to try to stem a flood of people leaving the region to find jobs elsewhere, and not returning. The model came in handy in subsequent disasters - and during Covid-19.
Asked why they had not yet been offered here, Hipkins said the cyclone response could not be a carbon copy of the quake response, partly because it was spread across so many regions and different pockets of those regions were hit to different extents.
For the same reason, an equivalent to the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority is unlikely - but Hipkins will announce more details on the taskforce he has set up soon.
More Government support for business will come - but it could take a more targeted form than a wage subsidy.
All of this leaves National with little ammunition to fire. It had to suffer Labour’s barbs that it was not doing enough or moving fast enough throughout the quake response.
Labour is now benefiting from what National did - and National can hardly claim it isn’t enough.
Bayly apologised for his behaviour last month.