Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.
The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.
The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.
“I strongly urge the Prime Minister to recall Parliament for us leaders to come together as one and discuss the possibility of passing an Emergency Act as allowed for by the Constitution to address this serious issue,” he said.
“These gruesome images of human beings been murdered, stripped naked and lined up next to the highway by their enemies or criminal elements, especially in the upper Highlands provinces of Enga, Hela and Southern Highlands, is becoming a regular activity and the government and elected leaders must not take this lightly, its human lives we are talking about.
“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.
He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.
‘Killings too frequent’
“We as elected leaders shouldn’t be taking long breaks — these killings are becoming too frequent and we should be addressing them head on during Parliament sessions.
“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.
Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.
“The spillover effects of what is happening up in the upper Highlands region will be felt everywhere — in Mamose, New Guinea Islands and the Southern Region. So as mandated leaders we must do something.”
Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Finance Minister Grant Robertson have announced a $50 million support package to provide immediate relief for businesses hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, as well as the extension of the national state of emergency, a new cyclone recovery taskforce and related ministerial role.
The full extent of the cyclone damage is becoming clearer as transport, power and telecommunications connections are re-established.
“Ministers will finalise the distribution of this funding in the coming week, but this will include support to businesses to meet immediate costs and further assist with clean-up,” Robertson said today.
“We will coordinate the allocation of this funding with local business groups, iwi and local government in the affected regions.
“The government recognises the weather events are having an impact on people and businesses meeting their tax obligations, so we are taking a range of tax relief measures as well.”
Tens of millions of dollars have already been put into cyclone recovery and support, including into Mayoral Relief Funds, Civil Defence payments, and a package for NGOs and community support groups, he said.
“I want to be very clear, this is an interim package and more support will follow as we get a better picture of the scale, cost and needs in the wake of this disaster,” Hipkins said.
Rolling maul approach
“I would note that in responding to previous major disasters a rolling maul approach has had to be taken and this situation is no different.”
Post-cabinet media briefing today. Video: RNZ News
Robertson said businesses would have different needs, the initial funding was aimed at providing cashflow they could access quickly. He said the possible need for a a long-term wage subsidy scheme would need to be assessed after this initial response.
An additional $250 million has been ringfenced to top up the National Land Transport Fund’s emergency budget to repair crucial road networks.
The $250 million is a pre-commitment against Budget 2023, the $50 million is as part of a between-budget contingency in funding the government already has.
Robertson said he expected it would ultimately cost in the billions of dollars.
‘Significant damage’
“In terms of transport, the damage to highways and local roads in these two recent weather events has been massive. About 400km of our state highways are being worked on urgently through Tai Rāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay and the central North Island to reopen safely,” Hipkins said.
An exemption from the CCCFA requirements has also been extended to Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Tararua — allowing banks and other lenders to quickly provide credit up to $10,000.
“While the full impacts of the cyclone continue to be assessed, it’s clear that the damage is significant and on a scale not seen in New Zealand for at least a generation,” Hipkins said.
“The required investment to reconnect our communities and future-proof our nation’s infrastructure is going to be significant and it will require hard decisions and an all-of-government approach,” he said.
“We won’t shy away from those hard decisions and are working on a suite of measures to support New Zealanders by building back better, building back safer, and building back smarter.”
The minister of immigration will progress his work to ensure skilled workers are able to come from overseas and work in affected regions, and ensure the wellbeing of and ongoing work for Recognised Seasonal Employees.
State of emergency extended Ministers also agreed to extend the national state of emergency for another seven days.
“The declaration continues to apply to seven regions: Northland, Auckland Tai Rāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Tararua … meaning that they’ll get all of the support on offer from a nationally supported recovery,” Hipkins said.
A lead minister will be appointed for each of the affected regions.
“I’ll finalise a list of lead ministers tonight and I’ll be tasking them with reporting back, working with their communities within a week on the local recovery approach that’s best going to meet the needs of their regions,” Hipkins said.
A new cyclone recovery taskforce headed by Sir Brian Roche and with regional groups, modelled partly on a Queensland taskforce established after their floods, will be set up. Terms of reference for the taskforce will be made public in coming days.
A new Cabinet committee will be established to take decisions relevant to the recovery, chaired by Grant Robertson, who will also take on the new role of Cyclone Recovery Minister, with Barbara Edmonds appointed as an associate minister.
15,000 customers without power Hipkins said there were 11 people dead and 6517 people unaccounted for, although 4260 were okay and police continued to work to urgently reconcile the others.
About 15,000 customers are still without power — the bulk in Napier and Hastings. Hipkins said about 70 percent of Napier had been reconnected.
“Work continues to prioritise reconnecting the rest.”
Council supplied drinking water in Hastings and Napier, and Northland is safe. Water supplies are safe in Wairoa, although there is a boil water notice. In Gisborne, the main treatment plant is operating, although there are still restrictions in place.
Where power supply to pumps remains a problem, bottled water or large water tanks are being supplied.
Fibre connections have been restored to all affected areas and is running at pre-cyclone capacity where the power is on.
Cell tower coverage is about 95 percent across the affected areas. Some are on a generator and able to support phone and text only.
“As power comes back on those towers will be able to be supported by fibre to provide data connections.”
NEMA has provided 60 Starlink units in Hawke’s Bay and Tai Rāwhiti, with 30 more in transit to Gisborne today.
The NZ Defence Force has more than 950 people involved in the response, with multiple activities.
The HMNZS Canterbury departs Lyttelton this evening and is expected to arrive in Napier on Tuesday, with supplies including bailey bridges, generators, gas bottles and emergency packs.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
At least 2500 people have been displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle this week, says Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty.
About 1000 of those are in the Far North and another 1000 in Hawke’s Bay. The rest are mostly from Auckland, with some also in Bay of Plenty and Waikato.
But little is known about the situation in the east, with communications minimal and access hampered due to continued high winds and rain.
Wairoa is of particular concern, with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) “working very hard” to find out what is happening in the northern Hawke’s Bay region.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (left) and Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty . . . Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event in New Zealand so far this century. Image: RNZ News
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, speaking to media yesterday with McAnulty, said the Telecommunications Emergency Forum “has been activated and is working closely with NEMA and local Civil Defence organisations”.
“The first priority… remains the restoration of regional cellphone signals. High winds and ongoing poor weather is hampering progress in that area.”
There has also been a fibre cut affecting Taupō, Hastings and Napier and other areas.
‘Completely isolated’ Wairoa only has one day’s food, Civil Defence says https://t.co/UBjWe4suda
Comparisons to Cyclone Bola Hipkins called Cyclone Gabrielle the most significant weather event in New Zealand so far this century.
“The severity and the breadth of damage we are seeing has not been seen in a generation.”
Manukau Heads Rd in the Awhitu Peninsula slice in half. Image: Hamish Simpson/RNZ News
Asked how it compared to 1988’s destructive Cyclone Bola, Hipkins said he “wasn’t around in this kind of role” then so could not immediately compare the two. Officials were still building a picture of the impact of the cyclone, he said.
“In the last 24 hours or so, Fire and Emergency New Zealand have 1842 incidents related to Cyclone Gabrielle in their system . . . Two-hundred defence force personnel have so far been deployed and there are more on standby.”
Transpower had announced a national grid emergency, following the loss of power to the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, with potential for extended periods of outages, Hipkins said.
“This is a very significant event for the electricity network and the companies have not seen this level of damage since Cyclone Bola . . .
“The situation is changing rapidly and the lines companies are expecting more customers to be affected. They are working to restore power as quickly as possible… but restoration in some parts may have to wait until weather conditions improve.”
Many supermarkets in Northland have been affected and closed. People were asked to only buy what they needed, Hipkins said, urging people to avoid non-essential travel. If it was unavoidable, people should let friends and family know where they were going, he added.
“A high number of roads have been affected by surface flooding and by slips.”
The latest available information is on the Waka Kotahi website, which remained the best source of information for anyone having to travel, Hipkins said.
“On behalf of all New Zealanders I want to extend all of our gratitude to our emergency responders. They are putting in the hard yards and their lives are on the line in the service of their communities.
“To the families of the volunteer firefighters who responded to events in Muriwai last night and to the wider Fire and Emergency New Zealand family, our thoughts and hopes are with all of you.”
“To the men and women of the Defence Force, the linemen and women, the communication companies, the supermarkets, the transport companies getting goods to where they are needed, the roading crews that are making that all possible, thank you to you also.”
Danger remains The good news is the weather is expected to ease overnight, Hipkins said. But that did not mean the danger would ease as quickly.
“People should still expect some bad weather overnight, particularly on the East Coast . . . as we know from experience over the last few weeks, even if the rainfall eases off a bit, more rainfall can compound on top of the rainfall that we’ve already seen.
“So when it comes to slips and so on, we could still see more of that even as the weather starts to ease. We’re still in for a bumpy time ahead.”
The prime minister declined to put a figure on what the recovery might cost, but said insurance companies would cover a “significant portion”.
“People will pick numbers out of thin air and they may be right or they may be wrong. It’s really too early to put an exact number on it.”
A slip across the road at Sailors Grave, near Tairua, during Cyclone Gabrielle. Image: Leonard Powell/RNZ news
He said it could impact on already fast-rising food prices, and would not rule out seeking international assistance.
Hipkins said something would definitely need to be done to lessen the risk of slash destruction in the future.
Climate change’s contribution As for climate change’s impact on the sheer scale of the storm, Hipkins rejected a suggestion that his actions since taking over as Prime Minister have weakened New Zealand’s efforts towards reducing emissions.
As a part of his policy reset, Hipkins canned a planned biofuels mandate and extended subsidies for fuel, a major contributor to warming.
“There is significant debate about whether the biofuels mandate was the right way of reducing our emissions from transport, when there are the other alternatives and other things that we can look at,” he explained.
“In terms of extending the fuel subsidies, we have to acknowledge that actually, there are people still having to get in their cars every day to drive to work, and we need to support them through what is a very, very difficult time at the moment.
“That does not in any way — I don’t believe — undermine our commitment to tackling the causes of climate change.”
He said Gabrielle’s impact would have “underscored” the need to keep reducing emissions.
“It is real, it is having an impact and we have a responsibility to do something about it.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Cyclone Gabrielle: Rural Hawke’s Bay residents scramble onto roofs to avoid flooding https://t.co/7qEDU7dSkh
A national state of emergency has been declared today after Cyclone Gabrielle unleashed fury across the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.
There has been widespread power outages, flooding, slips and damage to properties.
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said both the prime minister, and the Opposition spokesperson for emergency management were supportive of the move.
He said this was an unprecedented weather event impacting on much of the North Island.
This is only the third time in New Zealand history a national state of emergency has been declared — the other two being the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and the covid-19 pandemic.
The national state of emergency is declared. Video: RNZ News
The declaration, signed at 8.43am, will apply to the six regions that have already declared a local State of Emergency — Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawkes Bay.
A national state of emergency gives the National Controller legal authority to apply further resources across the country and set priorities in support of a national level response.
Speaking to media at the Beehive, McAnulty said Tararua District had also declared a state of emergency.
‘Significant disaster’
“This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders,” he said.
“Today we are expecting to see more rain and high winds. We are through the worst of the storm itself but we know we are facing extensive flooding, slips, damaged roads and infrastructure.
“This is absolutely not a reflection on the outstanding work being done by emergency responders who have been working tirelessly, local leadership, or civil defence teams in the affected areas.
“It is simply that NEMA’s advice is that we can better support those affected regions through a nationally coordinated approach.”
He said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) met with local civil defence teams early this morning and heard that a national state of emergency would be beneficial for them.
It allowed the government to support affected regions, coordinate additional resources as they are needed across multiple regions and help set the priorities across the country for the response, he said.
“Our message to everyone affected is: safety first. Look after each other, your family and your neighbours. Please continue to follow local civil defence advice and please minimise travel in affected areas.
‘Don’t wait for services’
“If you are worried about your safety — particularly because of the threat of flooding or slips — then don’t wait for emergency services to contact you.
“Leave, and seek safety either with family, friends, or at one of the many civil defence centres that have been opened.”
He said iwi, community groups and many others had opened up shelters and were offering food and support to those in need.
“I also want to acknowledge that there have been reports of a missing firefighter – a volunteer firefighter — who is a professional and highly trained but left their family to work for their communities and the search continues.
“Our thoughts are with the FENZ staff and their families.”
Acting Civil Defence Director Roger Ball said we have had multiple weather warnings and watches in place and the effects of the cyclone will continue to be felt across the country today.
He said that if other regions or areas declared local states of emergency, they would be added to the national declaration.
“Under a state of national emergency, myself as the director and my national controller have authority to direct and control the response under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act, including allocation of resources and setting priorities.”
He said no effort would be spared.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaking at a media briefing today. Image: 1News screenshot APRFlooding on a main road near Waimauku in the Auckland region. Image: Marika Khabazi
Images of Hikuwai River bridge north of Tolaga Bay with the water level at more than 14m. Source: Manu Caddie FB
