Labour's Carmel Sepuloni and National's Simeon Brown Photo: RNZ
National's Simeon Brown and Labour's Carmel Sepuloni have butted heads over the recent deadly storms and funding set aside for resilience.
Brown - standing in for National deputy leader Nicola Willis - picked up her baton in accusing Labour of trying to politicise the tragedy while defending the coalition's decision to scrap a $6b climate resilience fund.
Sepuloni meanwhile was on the back foot over Labour leader Chris Hipkins holding a campaign rally in the hours after the slip.
Nine people are dead or presumed dead after the severe weather last week; six unaccounted for after a landslip swept into a Mount Maunganui campground, two more dead from a separate slip in Welcome Bay, and one man found dead after being swept downriver near Warkworth.
Recovery crews work at the site of the Mount Maunganui landslide. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Another man remains missing after being swept downstream after falling from a boat near Ōpōtiki.
After a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced $1.2 million for mayor relief funds and $1m for marae whose resources had been depleted by the response, and the appointment of Chris Penk as Associate Emergency Management Minister with responsibility for reporting back on setting up a government inquiry.
In an announcement Wednesday morning, a further $200,000 is also being provided to rural support trusts.
Joining Morning Report's weekly political panel, Brown highlighted the tragedy in his own electorate of Pakuranga where two students of the local college were among those in the Mount Maunganui slip.
"It's really hit quite hard. There was a vigil on Monday night which I attended with many of the students coming together to just show each other support and compassion and to spend that time together," he said.
"Also that's why we're now working towards an independent inquiry, because these families need answers."
Sepuloni said Labour had been offering backing for such an inquiry "from the start".
"This is absolutely devastating for the particularly the families that have lost loved ones. But for all of New Zealand, I don't think anyone in the country could look at what was happening and not feel a deep sense of empathy and loss."
Flowers and tributes placed at the Mt Maunganui cordon,on 24 January. Photo: Nick Monro
She was asked about what had been done since Labour's own response to Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023.
"Interestingly, I woke up this morning and Facebook memories popped up ... three years ago we had the Auckland anniversary flooding," she said. "Unfortunately, with climate change, we're going to see more of these occurring, more families across New Zealand that are affected."
She said the inquiry needed to be focused on Mount Maunganui, but the wider response across the country also needed to be in scope - including the timeliness of alerts.
Brown was questioned about the $6b fund Labour had set up after Gabrielle - part of the party's promise to "build back better" - but which the coalition scrapped.
About $3.2b of the fund was returned to the government's coffers as part of Budget 2024, and Luxon on Monday stood by the decision to scrap it, arguing the money was still being spent via normal budget processes.
Brown said the government was "always spending money on resilience".
"We've spent significant amounts of money on resilience and upgrading infrastructure," he said. "What Labour put out was a press release. It was very good, that was exactly what they were very good at, putting out a press release.
"There was no plan. There was no projects. It was just a press release put out by the government of the day saying we're going to spend X number of billions of dollars but the reality is, they didn't have a plan for that. We've actually got a focused plan."
Like Willis on Tuesday, Brown pointed to the Land Transport Fund - saying hundreds of millions were spent there on road resilience.
Sepuloni interrupted to the cancellation of the fund was "really disappointing" and "showed that this government doesn't recognise the reality for us ... that these weather events are going to become much more regular and much more severe".
Morning Report host Ingrid Hipkiss tried to move on but Brown insisted on responding.
"The point there is the first thing Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party decided to do in response to this disaster is seek to politicise it when we're focused on recovering the bodies of those people who've been lost," he said.
The accusation mirrors Willis' own such claims after Hipkins said the government had dragged its feet on climate to the point the government was two years behind where it should be.
Sepuloni could be heard muttering "that's not true", and "that isn't the case, Simeon" as Brown continued to speak.
She then faced questions on Labour's decision not to cancel a campaign rally following the party's caucus retreat in early January, which Hipkins has since admitted he would have cancelled if he had more information.
"Five regions were in states of emergency. A couple of hours before, police had confirmed that people were unaccounted for, and the prime minister was on the ground," Hipkiss put to Sepuloni.
"If he'd had more information, then he certainly would have called the rally off," Sepuloni insisted, "he has expressed his absolute devastation alongside all New Zealanders."
"Going back to what Simeon was saying about any politicisation of this, that's simply not the case. We've supported the government in the fact that they got out when there were questions asked about where the Prime Minister was.
"Boots on the ground was absolutely the right thing to do, but it is the right thing for us as the opposition to ask some questions, and certainly pointing to climate change and the government's commitments."
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