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The Muster- Rob Scott: Southland Rural Support Trust Events · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Rob Scott is Southland District Mayor and joins us this
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: afternoon on the muster in conjunction with the Southland Rural
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Support Trust as we're looking at the spring that we've
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: had and speaking to various speakers from different parts of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the southern region. Coincidentally, 12 months since those wicked winds
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of last year, Rob. Good afternoon. When you think back
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: 363 days, what's your first reaction?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good afternoon, Andy. Yeah, it's... It shows how fast
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the year's gone. It's hard to actually think back to,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, particularly for me personally, it was that first
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: week back in the role of mayor after being re-elected. And, yeah, boy,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: did that after that week certainly shape up to be
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the start of something quite long. Yeah, it's been a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: big year. And, yeah, certainly that weather event certainly started
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: it off with a bang.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Is it fair to say that seven days of the
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  Speaker 1: wind was probably the busiest of your life as far
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: as the workings component?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty intense. And I think, I mean,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: for me, it was nothing compared to what a lot
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: of our rural farmers and the like went through. So,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I had it pretty easy, but she was
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: a big time for Southland and a lot of our
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: important people.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of farmers are still going through and sorting
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: out fence lines, firewood for Africa in certain areas. And
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to coincide with the spring that we've had recently, third
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  Speaker 1: spring in a row that's been cack, let's be pretty
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: blunt about the situation. I suppose it's a chance just
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to reflect on where we've been and where we can
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: go next.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, mate. I mean, you still see the trees down
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: around Southland, around in those sort of, those rural areas
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and I'd quite like to have a word with Mother
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Nature and find out what we did to annoy her.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It seems to be one after the other and yeah,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: like you said before, the sunshine that we've got now
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: is certainly welcome and I saw as soon as we
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: had those two or three days in a row, it
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: certainly lifted up everyone's spirits and it helps a lot
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: but that doesn't change the fact that there's still, not
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: only from that very, very, very wet spring but also
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  Speaker 2: we've still got the residual damage from a year ago
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  Speaker 2: as well so quite a lot to deal with. But
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  Speaker 2: as Southlanders are, we've just got it rolling up the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: sleeves and getting on with it as well.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: From a council perspective, what have you had to change
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: in relation to these weather events? What's been different for you?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the one challenge for us was, and it's
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: quite unique that it took out, well, I mean, I
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: guess you could say it's unique and maybe say it's
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: not in case of a big earthquake or something, but
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: it took out the whole the whole area in one hit.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: So we didn't just lose one water plant and one
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: wastewater plant. We lost the whole lot. So you've got
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: a bit of backup with your generators and everything, but
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: you haven't got enough to cover the whole lot all
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: at once. So we've had to have a look at
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  Speaker 2: kind of the, I guess, the redundancy and all of
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: those sorts of things and how we cope with that
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: if that happens again. But in saying that, look, the
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: team actually did a fantastic job in keeping everything going.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, they were shifting... generators between plants and going
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: backwards and forwards and managed to do quite a good
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: job so it was a good test of how everything
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  Speaker 2: works and yeah we had a lot of people working
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: around the clock to keep things moving so yeah in
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: terms of that that side there's probably not too much
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to change but the emergency management side and the communications
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: when you lose your your communications and that's one thing
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  Speaker 2: that I think we all take for granted the phone
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: in our pocket that always seems to work until it doesn't. And, yeah,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: we have to go back to some old-school approaches in
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  Speaker 2: some of those areas, and I think we need to
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: make sure that we've got good redundancy there as well.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: An interesting point you bring up there. I was going
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: to raise it, Rob. 3G is null and void. That
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: was the system that got south and through last October.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting one, and I'm still asking questions
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: around our cell phone towers, and, I mean, some of
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: those didn't last very long at all. I know our
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: one whatever, one serves lumps and that went down relatively
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: quickly and some of them didn't last long as well. So,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know myself, I've switched over to One
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: New Zealand to get that satellite connection, at least having
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  Speaker 2: in our communities an area that people know that they
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  Speaker 2: can actually come in and get some form of connection
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: to connect with their people and touch base with the world.
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  Speaker 1: When you're speaking to other mayors around the country, do
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: they share these concerns around connectivity?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they do, and it's a little bit frustrating that
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: we don't, I guess, learn from each other enough. Like
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: when you look at Gabriel and what happened there, we've
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: had enough of these events up and down the country,
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  Speaker 2: and I think as a country we need to take
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  Speaker 2: lessons from no matter how far away it is from
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  Speaker 2: where you are and actually put in place some proactive
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  Speaker 2: steps from what's happened elsewhere so that we can be
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: more resilient as a country.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Do you think, I won't say learnings, we'll say lessons.
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  Speaker 1: I like the way you phrased that. In your view,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: do you think Southland is taking on these lessons in
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  Speaker 1: regard to being prepared for the next event?
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  Speaker 2: I hope we are. In my mind, probably not quite
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: as fast enough as we should be because you don't
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: know when the next event's going to come and I'd
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: like to be as prepared as I can be, but
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: we are conducting, we're going through a review from emergency
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: management at the moment and it's going to come through
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: at our next meeting. So, yeah, I think this is
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  Speaker 2: the most important part to look back and reflect and
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: learn and put in place any necessary steps that we
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: need to because you just never know when your next
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: event's going to come.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: We catch you up on Wellington today. You're at an
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  Speaker 1: airports conference. You're speaking to us from Te Papa. Tell me,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: does Te Papa still have that barcode sheet that you share?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Any intel?
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  Speaker 2: I haven't seen it. I'm going to have a look
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: and see. I haven't seen it, Andy, the whole time.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: I'll make that my mission when I finish talking to
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  Speaker 2: you to go find it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: That's the one thing I've done. I remember from Te Papa,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I went there many years ago. Airports conference as well,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: just quickly, what's the vibe there? How's it going?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. Look, I think regional New Zealand is
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: constantly facing the challenges and we're competing with the big
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: cities where all the politicians seem to make all the
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: decisions on. And I think, yeah, showing the value of
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: our regional New Zealand, what it does for our economies
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: and from an airport point of view, that connection piece.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I'm up here for our fantastic Te Ara Manapōuri Airport
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: and we're doing a lot of work around that. But
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: I think it just highlights the importance of regional New
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Zealand and what we actually do for the economy. I
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: think we need to keep reminding the government that they
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: need us.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much for your time, Rob. Go and find
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that barcoded sheep.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Andy.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Rob Scott, Southland District Mayor, reflecting on the springs that
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  Speaker 1: we've endured as well as just on a year ago
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: since the wind events down here in the south. Remembering
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Southland Rural Support Trust 0800 787 254 for a free
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: confidential chat. We'll carry on, have a few more speakers
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  Speaker 1: as well over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Southland Rural Support Trust. Don Morrison's up next based at Willowbank.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Muster.