14 April 2007 Media Statement

Claims of lack of help complete nonsense

Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton today countered claims by Farmers of New Zealand Director Bill Guest that a lot of people badly affected by the recent floods in the far north of the country have been “left to their own devices”.

“The floods occurred on 30 March. Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker went north to see for himself what conditions were like. As with any similar situation, Transit New Zealand will pay the full cost of restoring its roads and where council-owned roads have been damaged Transit will pay more than 50 percent of the total cost. Overall, so far we have committed to covering 56% of roading costs in the Far North and 52% in Whangarei,” Jim Anderton said.

Bill Guest has criticised the Far North and Whangerei District Councils for not declaring a civil emergency at the time of the floods and said that it had ‘compromised their chance of getting financial help’. “That statement is incorrect. Whether a civil emergency was called or not will make no difference to the quality and quantity of Government assistance,” Jim Anderton said.

“On 3 April Environment Minister David Benson-Pope announced an Enhanced Task Force Green package worth half a million dollars to help with the clean-up. The ‘enhanced’ component means that the full cost of workers’ wages will be met by the Government and the local councils will be reimbursed for any welfare and public safety costs.

“Within days of the floods the Ministry of Agriculture had appointed Helen Moodie from the New Zealand Land Care Trust to be the Task Force Green co-ordinator and the first team of workers was in the field a week later. By the middle of this coming week four teams will be working in the area. Any more would depend on demand. Mr Guest’s assertions that people in the region have not got, or at least been offered, help is clearly nonsense,” Jim Anderton said.

There have been 55 to 60 individual enquiries for assistance to date. Any assistance beyond that given by the Enhanced Task Force Green teams would be subject to further approvals from Ministers. “It is still early days and the need for any further assistance is not yet clear. I understand that individual farmers are getting on with clean up and repair activities and Federated Farmers, Dexcel and Fonterra are continuing to work with affected farmers to look after stock,” Jim Anderton said.

ENDS

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