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Stuart Black (MCDEM) thanked the Chair for having them at the
meeting. The aim is to visit the Committee at least once a year.
Further discussions traversed:
·
Apologised for the Minister of Civil Defence
as he was unwell and could not attend.
·
Ms Stuart Black explained that there have been
a number of emergencies during the last year (14 emergencies in total where
NZ had 4 ex-tropical cyclones and 3 different storm events) and predicts that
2018 will be a busy year.
·
There has been an accumulative nature in
emergencies happening and in the way emergencies are playing out, some
communities are facing the same and multiple emergencies each year. The
Minister is aware of what is happening in local communities and he is still
reporting on the recovery effort for the Nov 2016 Kaikoura earth quake and
the Edgecombe’s floods from last year.
·
New technology and systems have been
implemented including the Emergency Mobile Alerting system. Had a test
warning November 2017 and has been used 4 times since the launch in
emergencies. Important to recognise that it is an IT solution that was
delivered on time, to the specifications and within budget. It is available
for CDEM groups and Ministry of Civil Defence Emergency Management, The
Ministry of Health as well as Police and Fire Services.
·
Introduced a National Warning system to
streamline the way MCDEM communicates with CDEM groups, Government Agencies
and the media.
·
Progressing in areas such as communication and
public information sharing – the new Public Information course has been
rolled out across the country to ensure that PIMS feel supported ahead of any
emergency that might happen.
·
Continuing with National Campaigns currently
running (“Long or Strong, Get Gone-Campaign” as well as the
“Drop, Cover and Hold-campaign”). The focus will be on working
with ethnic communities that are either relatively new to NZ or with language
or cultural differences to ensure that emergency messages as communicated to
them.
·
Will be running another
“Shake-Out” in Oct 2018 which will involve schools, Government
Agencies and key partners to envisage the message. Planning to have
this as an annual activity rather than once every 3 years as the yearly
occurrence is not sustainable.
·
Amongst the work in area of growing capability
include reviewing the Coordinating Incident Management System which was due
for review (5 year cycle) and the implementation of the TAG report, Port Fire
review, Bay of Plenty review have all been undertaken as part of the CIMS
review.
·
Looking into the future of Volunteers and what
model is needed to ensure that they are valued and appreciate and to ensure
to retain volunteers and that they are utilised properly.
·
A new and updated MOU signed with Broadcasters
in 2017 to ensure media cover all broadcasting during and after emergencies
and to ensure critical public information is able to be communicated directly
after any emergencies to all communities. The previous MOU did not take
into account digital media or any other online channels.
·
MCDEM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
during May 2018 with Deaf Aotearoa about using
interpreters to better engage with and inform Deaf communities about what to
do in emergencies. In the trialling phase where MCDEM will be paying
for the interpreters for Group-led emergencies, for up to for sessions per
emergency.
·
A National MCDEM Conference will be held on
30-31 May 2018 and will have their Annual Awards dinner where 20-30year and
40-50year Certificates of Service will be awarded to staff and volunteers for
Long Term Service with MCDEM.
·
The Minister’s Technical Advisory Group
Report (TAG) and Ministerial Review reports from last year brought particular
consciousness around the Kaikoura response, the Port Hills and a number of
smaller emergencies and whether their arrangements are fit for purposes
around all natural disasters
·
The Minister Faafoi released a “Ministerial
Review on Better Responses to National Disasters and Other Emergencies”
report on 18 Jan 2018 and has been meeting with Mayors, Groups and other
stake holders to discuss the findings and recommendations of the TAG’s
report on the Ministerial Review on Better Responses to Natural Disasters and
Other Emergencies continue.
·
The Minister is meeting directly with Iwi to
involve Iwi in Governance Decision making processes at a practical level.
Those views are being taken into account and a small team has been providing
the Minister with support and advice and has been doing an analysis on how
the recommendations can be implemented, what the cost and timeframe will be.
·
These advisors to release a report to the
Minister by the middle of 2018 where after it will be presented to the
Cabinet before any decisions will be announced.
·
There is a number of mixed recommendations in
the TAG report. Some are the high cost (i.e new National Crisis Management
System and creating a National Emergency Management Agency, which will
replace the MCDEM under the current structure) and other legislative change
recommendations. It will depend on whether or not the Government would
want to put these into place, specifically around Legislative change.
·
The biggest interest to the Committee, will be
the Regional arrangements between Councils and what appetite there is for
change. The Minister would like to re-engage with Councils here to understand
Council’s views.
·
A number of Working Groups have now been set
up through LGNZ, which includes Elected officials, CE’s and their
senior officials. Their role is to provide input into this small team (led by
Clare Ward and DPMC) to work through some of the recommendations of the TAG.
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