Speech to announcement of new expectations to empower survivors of national disasters

Kia ora everyone, especially the survivors.

In New Zealand we help each other out.

We’re there for our friends and neighbours with a mug of tea and a listening ear when they need it.

Some call it manaakitanga.

And we believe in a fair go, no matter who you are or where you come from.

This is our national character. It’s in our blood.

We also have the world’s first-equal most trusted public service (alongside Denmark and Finland).

People who work in our public service are, by and large, motivated by a spirit of service. Our officials work to make New Zealand a better place for our people to live in.

Mostly public servants are engaged in understanding and mitigating risks so that we can all prevent disasters from happening. And they do. That is part of why our officials deserve our trust.

But disasters do happen. It’s a fact of life.

New Zealand sits on the ring of fire. We have rains and snows. We have workplaces carrying out dangerous work to build the goods and services that sustain and improve our quality of life.

And when disasters do happen it’s often the local community and businesses that wrap around to support survivors. As I said, it’s who we are as Kiwis, it’s just what we get on with when we’re called.

But every so often something bigger happens. Something that shakes us all.

Tangiwai, Wahine, Aramoana, Cave Creek, Pike River, CTV, March 15th, Whakaari/White Island, forestry deaths. And others.

There are events that move us. For what they mean, for the loss they represent, for the responsibility we feel for the survivors – whether they are physically injured or psychologically affected; the bereaved and affected whānau; and members of the wider community including those based offshore.

And in those times, in those darkest days of national tragedy, it ultimately falls to the state to wrap around and do what needs to be done. To do what is right. The Kiwi way.

I acknowledge that hasn’t always happened in New Zealand. We haven’t always lived up to who we are as a people after major disasters.

Often that has been unintentional. It has been good people trying to do their best in the most trying of circumstances – people who truly empathise, but can’t truly know what it means to be a survivor that day.

Sometimes doing “the right thing” - according to the way things have always been done before – has actually caused harm.

It’s things like how we go about necessities such as evidence protection, and record keeping, and clear chains of operational command – which are all important.

But sometimes how those processes have been carried out have left survivors feeling disempowered, shut out, and even disregarded.

Actually that’s not what our public servants want or try to do.

So it’s essential that the protocols our public servants use to ensure “the right thing” is done have been designed with survivors; that the expectations we place on our public servants allow them to be their best selves, and live the spirit of service, to demonstrate our national values such as manaakitanga.

That’s why these Model Standards matter. That’s why today is a new start. There are new expectations in place.

Because it is not for the people of Greymouth or Christchurch or Tokoroa or anywhere really to have to be experts in Wellington Beltway ways.

It is not for the victims and survivors to bend to accommodate bureaucratic protocols.

And it is not for the state to move on to tomorrow’s big issue without remembering the responsibility we have - to those people for whom tomorrow will never be quite the same as yesterday was.

That’s what the completed Pike River re-entry project was about. It was fulfilling the commitment the government of the day made to the families on behalf of all New Zealanders.

A fundamental purpose of the Pike River re-entry was to give the survivors closure and promote accountability. That required every part of the project to be conducted in partnership with the Stand With Pike Families Reference Group (FRG) and the wider families.

That new approach was the genesis for the Model Standards – the new expectations.

Because what is different about these Model Standards is they have been crafted in true partnership.

The Standards are co-authored by the FRG and Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission.

They were not imposed by officials, but were strengthened with the benefit of officials’ policy expertise and understanding of machinery of government in their co-design.

This means the expectations are practical and can be implemented.

In a true spirit of partnership, the FRG led consultation with survivors – not just from Pike River, but also from Aramoana, Cave Creek, the CTV Building, March 15^th, Whakaari/White Island, and the forestry sector.

The Public Service Commission took responsibility for consultation with public service agencies including Police, and Victim Support. Can I acknowledge our Public Service Commissioner, Peter Hughes, for his and his team’s efforts in this.

The Model Standards – the new expectations - are a start. They are not the end. The expectations will be living, and they will be adapted over time as we listen to and learn from each other.

Finally can I directly speak to Anna, Sonya, Rowdy, and to all the Pike Families.

It has been such a privilege to walk alongside you. Thank you.

Milt, Ben and Daniel would be so proud of you today.

And to all the survivors – all of you - thank you too. Thank you on behalf of New Zealanders for what you have given in the creation of these expectations.

You are leaving a legacy. Those you have lost are leaving a legacy for all New Zealanders.

Because of your efforts in bringing to us to this point – here today, in that national spirit of manaakitanga - other survivors might have an easier path than you had to walk.

No rei ra, tēnā tatou katoa.

Click here for more information about the Working With Survivors Model Standards