The Independent Review into the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group’s response to Cyclone Gabrielle continues to make good progress and remains on track to be delivered to the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee on Monday, 25 March 2024.

This project update follows a period of constructive community and mana whenua engagement, including an online survey which closed in mid-January with more than 1,000 responses from across the region received. Our Independent Review Panel is now working through a process of drafting the Independent Review report.

On behalf of the Review Panel, I wish to acknowledge and thank all those that took the time to engage with us during the recent community engagement process. This formed an important part of our review process; the feedback was clear and will feed into our final report.

Once completed, the report will move through a standard governance review and approval process, with the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee expected to authorise the report for public release in the final week of March.

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