National’s hollow promise to ‘fix the basics, build the
future’ was sharply exposed last night as its government’s
cuts left New Zealand without its 24/7 geohazard monitoring
centre for the first time since it opened.
Earth
Sciences NZ confirmed last night that the National
Geohazards Monitoring Centre was temporarily closed. It said
‘some of our usual products and services may be delayed or
limited until the centre re-opens.’
The eight-hour
closure from 2pm to 10pm because of staff shortages left the
country less prepared for earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic
eruptions and landslides.
“Monitoring for earthquakes
and tsunami is as basic as it gets in a country like ours.
If this government can’t keep the lights on at the
geohazards centre, it isn’t fixing the basics. It’s
breaking them,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary
for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga
Mahi.
“Geohazard monitoring is not a nice to have. The
temporary closure of the monitoring centre is a scandal and
a national tragedy waiting to happen. Irresponsible cuts by
this government are to blame.
“We warned the
Government last year these cuts would mean the centre might
close at times. Now the chickens have come home to roost and
Kiwis are less safe.
“New Zealand has significant
geohazards that must be constantly monitored, and last night
New Zealand was less prepared as a result of this
closure.
“This is the first closure of the centre, but
it will not be the last unless funding is urgently
restored.”
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The centre opened in 2018 so that analysts
would watch the screens around the clock. The alternative
was relying on scientists on call from home, which was
criticised after the Kaikōura earthquake. Since then, the
team monitoring live earthquake data has been cut from 20 to
15.
Scientists saw this coming. Former geohazard
analyst Caleb Rapson Nuñez del Prado took redundancy after
his team was cut by a quarter. In the Save
Science Coalition’s report Underfunding our Future, he
warned that New Zealand’s monitoring would at times “step
backwards from a live monitoring system to an on-call
system”. Last night, that warning came true.
This
government, if re-elected, is embarking on yet another round
of cuts. Once again there is no plan for the services New
Zealanders rely on to stay safe, and no thought for the
consequences. Last night’s closure shows exactly where
that leads.
“The PSA has warned the Government all
along that you can’t restructure the public service like
it’s a consumer brand, treating each function as an isolated
cost to be cut. Some redundancy is resilience. Pare back
your marketing department to the bone in the private sector
and you may risk a weaker campaign; cut the number of people
monitoring natural hazards and you put the whole country at
risk.
“This Government never listens.
“The Prime
Minister should front up to New Zealanders, admit that these
cuts should never have occurred, and take responsibility for
the centre being closed last night.
“This government
can’t even get the basics right – to keep Kiwis safe. The
consequences of their cuts have gain been laid bare. This is
another reason why we must change the Government. We can’t
keep dismissing the workers who keep our country
safe.”
