Craig Churchill: Regional Social Development Ministry Commissioner on beneficiaries cleaning up flood damage in the upper South Island

600 Tasman jobseekers have the opportunity to help clean up flood damage in the upper South Island. 

The Government's activated a beneficiary task force in Tasman and Marlborough.

Ministry of Social Development regional commissioner, Craig Churchill, says they're targeting jobseekers closest to the area. 

"We've actually had a lot of jobseekers register interest to help in events like this. And this is a significant event that's going to take quite some time to recover from, people are really willing to help."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Job Seeker beneficiaries could soon be sent to Tasman Marlborough
to help with the cleanup after the floods. They'll be
paid to do things like clear debris and repair buildings
and waterways, et cetera. Craig Churchill with MSD joins me Now.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi Craig, Hi Ryan, how's it going? Yeah? Good?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Thank you. This sounds like a great idea, great initiative.
Have you had any takers at this point?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thanks for your question, Royan.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yes, it's a really great initiative and something we've been
using in past emergency responsible invents and to answer case
and yes we've had a lot of interest to come
and help clean up the devastating impact in Tasman from
job seekers, from job seekers, people currently on job seeker
benefit and actually people just wanting to help the community
that's been impacted.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Great. How many job seekers have you had you apply?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Look, I don't know exactly how many.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I know there's sort of been half a dozen that
have been flagged through to me before I came on here,
but we currently have six hundred work ready job seekers
in Tasman, so there's a lot of opportunity to get
some people out to help the community.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
So you've got six hundred job seekers in the region
and six have put their hands up.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
No, we've only had six that's been flagged to me
so far.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
But I know our teams and serber centers have been
working with job seekers that want to help, and I
know from the community meetings that I've been attending over
the last week there's been a lot of interest by people,
including our job seekers.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Okay, that's good.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
What about accommodation, transport and stuff of people? If job
seekers want to actually go there and do work, do
you provide help with that stuff?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
We certainly do, although we'll be certainly targeting job seekers
that are willing to help in the area. So we
do have a lot of job seekers close to the area,
and we're talking motor Wacre up Tapleware in Atomoti Valleys
and bright Water and Wakefield, so we'll be working for
those that are closest.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
First, Craig, what happens if you know you've got six
hundred job seekers, what happens if there are only six
who actually put their hands up and do the Does
that mean that the others really aren't seeking jobs?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
A great question.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Look, we know from past experience, and unfortunately, we've had
a bit of practice at this with Marlburgh and Bailer
on the West Coast. We've actually had a lot of
job seekers register interests to help in events like this,
and this is a significant event that's going to take
quite some time to recover from. People are really willing
to help, including a job seekers. They're often the first
to put their hand up.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
Okay, all right, Craig, Well, hopefully you get that number
multiplies quickly, rapidly to meet the six hundred who are
obviously on this job seeker benefit right now.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
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