Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has set a deadline for the implementation of suggestions made by a review into the Council’s Anniversary weekend flood response, saying leadership will be subjected to an “unscheduled drill”.
The independent review, conducted by former police commissioner Mike Bush, was highly critical of the council’s handling of the situation.
It covered the first 48 hours of the response and found a lack of communication from key players, a lack of preparedness, and poor leadership exacerbated the crisis and made things worse than they could’ve been.
It slammed the organisations involved for a lack of leadership from the chief executive down, painting a picture of a council that was underprepared and poorly coordinated.
These failings came from the Mayor, the chairwoman of the Council’s Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Committee, the chief executive and emergency management staff, it read.
The report made clear that Brown should have been more active in demanding information from his emergency management team.
It added further that relationship and communication protocols between key players in emergency management roles weren’t "sufficiently inclusive in the critical early stages of the event".
The problems Auckland faced aligned to create "system failure", particularly in the first 12 hours of the floods, the report stated.
A total of 17 recommendations were made to the Council so they can be better prepared should more extreme weather strike Auckland, including:
- A separate review be undertaken into Auckland Emergency Management’s prevention, preparedness and planning
- New standard operating procedures for emergency response in Auckland should be revised and developed
- Ensuring all emergency management members have the proper resources, training and capability to "exercise their function relating to internal and external communications"
- Deliver more frequent emergency management training exercises, which should involve the mayor
- A revised induction process for a new Mayor and Mayoral Office staff, including advice and briefing materials on management systems and how to inform, advise, and provide assurance
Brown accepted the findings of the report and today announced that the Council will be holding an "unscheduled drill" to test their preparedness for more extreme weather.
He said that the drill would be held no later than Friday, October 13 of this year.
"While I acknowledge that the problems identified by Mr Bush are systemic and not the fault of any individual, it is the responsibility of senior management to ensure that Auckland Emergency Management is fixed and ready for the next event," he said.
"Finalising the Group Plan must be an urgent priority. I have advised chief executive Jim Stabback I expect the recommendations of the review panel will be fully implemented within the next six months."
Following the release of yesterday's report, Brown said he "dropped the ball" and he was "focused on making sure that we all do better".
"The tragic events of January 27 have affected us all deeply. Four people lost their lives, and hundreds have lost their homes. I have acknowledged that I dropped the ball that night – the communications weren’t fast enough, and I was too slow to be seen. I stand by my previous apology to Aucklanders," he said.
"I accept that I should have been more assertive in demanding information so that I could provide Aucklanders with public safety advice, practical support, and reassurance. I assumed that the systems were better than they were."
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