Chris Hipkins commits to ‘build back better’, anticipating billions needed for cyclone recovery

Making his first speech to Parliament as prime minister, Chris Hipkins has focused on the cyclone recovery, paying tribute to the bravery of many, and promising his Government would “build back better”.

Facing pressure to cut Government spending amid inflation concern, he said “this is not the time for austerity”.

He said cutting certain projects, such as the TVNZ-RNZ merger and delaying the income insurance scheme, was the right choice – but said infrastructure projects, climate resilience, health and eduction were in need of major investment.

“We have to accept that billions of dollars of additional investment is going to be required not just to fix up what has been damaged, but to build more resilience so that we can better cope with these types of events in the future,” he said.

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On infrastructure, his statement for the year said the Government wanted to see urban and provincial investment in roads but also projects such as Auckland Light Rail and “mass rapid transport” in Wellington and Christchurch.

He also said the recent floods had shown the need for water reform, with the ongoing Three Waters programme.

“[We] need to tackle the challenge ahead of our water infrastructure. It has been tested and it has been found badly wanting. Just patching up ageing pipes and water treatment facilities isn’t going to cut it,” he said.

Parliament started on Tuesday with speeches from all the party leaders, after Hipkins laid out his plan for the year ahead.

Speaker Adrian Rurawhe also confirmed that former prime minister Jacinda Ardern had set her resignation date for Saturday, April 15.

Opposition leader Christopher Luxon wasn’t impressed with Hipkins’ first speech as prime minister. However, he said he would work “constructively” on the cyclone rebuild and agreed many billions would be required to fund it.

“I have to say, Mr Speaker, that statement was written for Jacinda Ardern and read by Chris Hipkins. That’s what happened. We got the same laundry list, the same slogans, the same spin that we’ve seen,” he said.

On the topic of slogans, Hipkins finished his speech with the call: “Let’s get cracking.”

While Luxon concluded with a pitch for October, “We’ll get the job done.”

All party leaders paid tribute to the first responders, volunteers and communities who had come together after January’s flooding and then again for Cyclone Gabrielle.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer​ said many iwi and marae had become all too familiar with how to roll out an emergency response.

“For many, this was not their first storm. For some it’s their second or third. In Tairāwhiti and Tai Tokerau, many marae have been dealing with floods year after year,” she said.

“They are the same marae and people who stood up Covid-19 responses and manaaki vaccination kaupapa.”

Hipkins took the prime ministership during Parliament’s summer break.

The House then delayed its full reopening last week, as Cyclone Gabrielle closed airports and made its way towards the East Coast.

Hipkins said the two extreme weather events he’s seen in the past few weeks showed that the country would need to commit to a climate change adaption programme, and fund more resilient infrastructure.

“New Zealand is now without question, experiencing the effects of climate change. And we are well past the point where we should question the impact of human beings on climate change.”

Just hours earlier, National MP Maureen Pugh said she was “waiting for evidence” about whether human action had fuelled climate change.

In a statement released shortly before she was due to face reporters again, Pugh said did believe greenhouse gas emissions caused climate change.

Greens’ co-leader and climate minister, James Shaw criticised Luxon for omitting any mention of “climate change” during his speech on Tuesday. He said climate change needed to be front of mind this year.

“We haven’t even finished recovering from the last set of disasters before the next one hits – that is the scale of the emergency that we face,” he said.

”These events are related to climate change.”

ACT leader David Seymour said the Government should focus more on adapting to climate change, and criticised Shaw’s recent attempts to reduce greenhouse emissions. He said they had not made an impact.