Kerre Woodham: Poor decision making or the nature of the beast?

She's been a tough few months for Northland businesses and residents.   

First, we had the Brynderwyns closing. State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyn Hills is finally set to open ahead of Matariki weekend after 17 weeks and three days. Lots of diversions, lots and lots of trucks on roads that where they really, really shouldn't be, and the crews have been working as hard as they can, but it's been slip after slip after slip. They've been trying to clear those and strengthen the road and shore up the hills.  

And then yesterday, we had the massive power outage. Nearly 100,000 people spent the day without electricity in Northland after a transmission tower linking the region to the rest of the country fell over. And like, quite literally, fell over - collapsed. Power was restored to most of the region last night, but consumers were asked to conserve electricity and warned that their hot water cylinders would remain off while the amount of energy getting into the area was limited. Transpower said this morning that while power has now been restored to the majority of residential customers, full power would not be restored until over the weekend. Having a place in the Hokianga I'm used to power outages occurring, you know relatively often, but they're usually sporadic, they’re usually easily resolved.  It's a bit of fun camping until the power comes back on, not so much fun when you're a business that is utterly dependent on power.  

The transmission tower collapse, which happened in Glorit, about 45kms west of Warkworth, happened at the same time as another circuit connecting Northland to the grid was down for maintenance. So basically, the whole region was completely and utterly on its own. Northland MP Grant McCullum said this highlights how fragile the infrastructure in Northland is and he said it was the very last thing that Northlanders needed, which was a sentiment echoed by Darren Fischer, North Chamber CEO, Chamber of Commerce. 

“Spoke to some of our more regional business associations yesterday and how they described it is, this not the knockout blow for a lot of small businesses, it's certainly a standing 8 count. You know it could be very well one of the things that just keep piling on top of some of these small employers you know.” 

Yeah, it's tough. Thank heavens the Brynderwyns road will be open, thanks to NZTA, for Matariki weekend to give the businesses a much-needed boost.  

But is it just the nature of the beast? Is it the nature of nature, if you will? There's not much you can do when there are massive landslips, or is there? Should there have been more investment in shoring up the sides of the hills and strengthening the roads before you absolutely had to? Have we been putting infrastructure on the back burner right around the country, but for far, far too long? Putting it off where we can, generation after generation. This is not on one government; this isn't even really on one generation. Have we been taking infrastructure for granted? And now we're seeing the result of that. I mean Northlands suffering at the moment, but there'll be other regions of that you can be sure.  

When you are utterly dependent really on one road, one major highway in and out for the transportation of goods and the transportation of services, when there are any frailties or when nature decides that it's going to have its say, there's not much you can do. You have to cobble together detours and patch in highways. When you are utterly dependent on one or two sources of power when one goes, you’re stuffed.  

Are we too small to be able to have even a 98% confident reliance on our infrastructure? Are we simply too small? Our population mass is too small. We certainly don't have the money right now, but then what were we doing in the pre

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Mornings podcast from News Talks.
He'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
She's been a tough few months for Northland businesses and residents.
I meant, first we had the Brian Durwin's closing. State
Highway one over the brin Durwin Hills is finally set
to open ahead of Matariki weekend after seventeen weeks and
three days. Lots of diversions, lots and lots of trucks

(00:34):
on roads where they really really shouldn't be and you know,
the crews have been working as hard as they can,
but it's been slip after slip after slip. They've been
trying to clear those and strengthen the road and sure
up the hills. And then yesterday we had the massive
power outage. Nearly one hundred thousand people spent the day

(00:56):
without electricity and Northland after a transmission tile linking the
region to the rest of the country fell over and
like quite literally fell over. List Power was restored to
most of the region last night, but consumers were asked
to conserve electricity and warned that their hot water cylinders

(01:16):
would remain off while the amount of energy getting into
the area was limited. Transpower said this morning that while
power has now been restored to the majority of residential customers,
full power would not be restored until over the weekend.
Having a place in the whoky younger, I'm used to

(01:36):
power outages occurring, you know, relatively often, but they're usually sporadic.
They're usually you know, easily resolved. It's a bit of
fun camping until the power comes back on. Not so
much fun when you're a business that is utterly dependent

(01:57):
on power. The transmission to collapse, which happened in Gloriate,
about forty five k's west of Warkworth happened, of course,
it would at the same time as another circuit connecting
Northland to the grid was down for maintenance, so basically
the whole region was completely and utterly on its own.

(02:18):
Northland MP Grant McCullum said this highlights how fragile the
infrastructure in Northland is and he said it was the
very last thing that Northland is needed, which was a
sentiment echoed by Darren Fisher. North Chamber CEO Chamber of Commerce.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Spoke to some of our more regional business associations yesterday
and how they described it as if you know this
is not the knockout blow for a lot of small
businesses that certainly a standing eight count you know, it
could be very well one of the things that just
keep piling on top of some of these small employers.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know, Yeah, it's tough. Thank heavens, the brin Durwins
Road will be open thanks to NZTA for Matariki weekend
to give the businesses a much needed boost. But is
it just the nature of the beast? Is it the
nature of nature? If you will, There's not much you

(03:11):
can do when there are massive landslips, or is there?
I mean, should there have been Should there have been
more investment in shoring up the sides of the hills
and strengthening the roads before you absolutely had to have.
We been putting infrastructure on the back burner right around
the country, but for far, far too long, putting it

(03:33):
off where we can generation after generation. This is not
on one government, This isn't even really on one generation.
Have we been taking infrastructure for granted and now we're
seeing the result of that. I mean, Northland's suffering. Northland's
the one that's suffering at the moment, but there'll be

(03:56):
other regions of that. You can be sure. When you
are utterly dependent really on one road, one major highway
and out for the transportation of goods and the transportation
of services, then when there are any frailties, or when

(04:17):
nature decides that it's going to have it, say, there's
not much you can do. You have to cobble together
detours and patch and highways. When you are utterly dependent
on one or two sources of power, when one goes,
you're stuffed. Are we too small to be able to

(04:39):
have even a ninety eight percent confident reliance on our infrastructure?
Are we simply too small? Our population mass is too small.
We certainly don't have the money right now, But then
what were we doing in the previous years? Or is
it just Northland that is the forgotten child, the one

(05:03):
who's been left behind while the rest of the country
has agitated for more power, more resources, more money. I
think there'd be plenty of regions that would argue they've
been forgotten, So I don't think that's the auntswer. Northlanders
might feel a bit bereft, having been promised bridges that

(05:24):
didn't turn up, having been left pretty much isolated from
the rest of the country with the BRN Durwins closed.
Is it just the nature of New Zealand's ter rain
or has it been poor decision making from those who
should know better.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
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