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The Muster- Grant McMaster: Rural Civil Defence Issues · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: And I'll make a wish, take a chance.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: It's a busy old show and it just gets busier
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: as we catch up with Grant Disaster McMaster out of
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Closeburn Station.
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  Speaker 1: And he's brought to us by Arby Rural. Good afternoon, Grant.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Situation at Closeburn since last week. What rain have you seen?
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Well, we've had 25 mils and we had a 20
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: mil and then a 5. So that's been OK. And
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: we had a lot of snow on Saturday night. So
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Sunday the snow was right down just about to lake
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  Speaker 3: level and, yeah, very cold. yesterday was, you know, the
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: snow's still about, it's gone, it's lifted a bit now,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: but man, it was a cold breeze yesterday. But today
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: it's sitting at 12 degrees and our soil temperature is
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: at 7.3.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Laming date, can't be far away.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: No, about the 8th of October, so that's the year,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: just as we've been speaking, I've just been sorting a
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  Speaker 3: few more paddocks out, taking a few sheep out, adding
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  Speaker 3: a few here and there. Cows are starting to get
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  Speaker 3: a few calves now, which is about on time. So
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: with all the sheep set stocked and the cattle set
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  Speaker 3: stocked now, they've picked up a bit since we've spread
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  Speaker 3: them out. There's been more sun than we've had for
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  Speaker 3: a long time. So it doesn't take much for them
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  Speaker 3: to get that bit of a pick of grass and
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  Speaker 3: start getting along. We see them sort of bagging up
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  Speaker 3: a bit. So yeah, just ready on the countdown.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Well, it's good to see the sun's been out somewhere.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I think tomorrow is not bad for the south ground,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: but since we spoke last, it's just been the same old,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: same old. So at least up there in central Otago,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: you're seeing some yellow.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Oh, no, absolutely. And while, you know, 12 degrees today,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: last weekend on Saturday over in Alexandra, it was 20 degrees.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: And the next day here, and it was about 14
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: or 15 here, and then the next day she was
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  Speaker 3: down to three with that snow. So just that spring
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: weather that gets, you know, every spring it happens. And,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes we have had our biggest snowfalls in
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: late spring over the years. And, you know, it wasn't
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: too bad the other day, but there was, you know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Kynette Peak got another covering, and so did the Remarkables. It's, yeah,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: at least good for the skiers, I suppose.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Well, I've got James Edgar on the show tomorrow based
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: at Moa Flat, and they're just getting snowfall after snowfall.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that Moa Flat area, if there's anything going,
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  Speaker 3: they collect it, don't they?
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, you want to talk today about community resilience and
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  Speaker 2: group meetings regarding it. I mean, this is something when
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: you're living rurally you think about, but you don't really.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And when it comes to being organised, what have you got?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's quite interesting. We had a meeting on Sunday
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: in our barn for the community. So that's from like
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Alpine Retreat and up to Bob's Cove and close turns
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: in the middle of that. So, you know, there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of people live up in Alpine Retreat and through
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  Speaker 3: Bob's Cove, places like that. So they held a meeting
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  Speaker 3: with civil defence and a community group. And Craig from
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Civil Defence, I found it very interesting, he said to
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: the group, there's about 40 people attended it, and he said,
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  Speaker 3: you know, who is Civil Defence? And sort of, oh, well,
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  Speaker 3: people that sit in an office and sort of with
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  Speaker 3: a whiteboard, as I'm thinking. He said, well, actually, he said,
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  Speaker 3: you are Civil Defence, the public of Civil Defence, the plumbers,
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  Speaker 3: the guys on the road, the fire crews, the ambulance,
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  Speaker 3: you know, he said, you are all there to man
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  Speaker 3: what you can and so the idea of these community
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: resilience groups they're doing them throughout the country and at
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  Speaker 3: the moment there's 18 of these groups that have been
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: set up in Queenstown so like the Talbot Heights Fern
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Hill and the various other places so basically it's just
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  Speaker 3: to get to have an idea of what and this
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  Speaker 3: sounds pretty basic but what to do in an emergency
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  Speaker 3: in a community so You know, he said, he gave examples.
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  Speaker 3: He said, like, it's all very well someone coming down from,
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  Speaker 3: or over from Dunedin and saying, right, you need to
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  Speaker 3: do this, this, this, and they put in a bit
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  Speaker 3: of paper and they go away and it's in a
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  Speaker 3: file somewhere. He said, it's got to be, it's sort
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  Speaker 3: of a living document. He said, so, you know, within communities,
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of people that have lots of skills. Now,
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  Speaker 3: you sort of think of it, you know, this is
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  Speaker 3: slightly different than being in the country where, You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're used to that. If something happens, you try and
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  Speaker 3: get it fixed, and you deal with nature all the time.
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  Speaker 3: But you sort of think of in towns, and the
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  Speaker 3: big three things in Queenstown, and especially at this end,
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  Speaker 3: is fire, flooding, and earthquakes. And we've had a few
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: earthquakes of late, and I'm sure at some stage there'll
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  Speaker 3: be one. It's just to have people that know what
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  Speaker 3: to do in situations like that. as the result of
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  Speaker 3: this meeting. Everybody gave them their number, and they're going
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: to hold another meeting to get a nucleus of people
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: and to sort of say, right, oh, well, what do
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  Speaker 3: we need? And so-and-so's got a generator, someone's got a chainsaw.
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  Speaker 3: And they have sort of a checklist of when a
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  Speaker 3: group of people get to a hall or a church,
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  Speaker 3: and that's something we don't have around here, So you
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: need a meeting place that people can get to, and
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: that can change depending on what the emergency is. But
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  Speaker 3: he just pointed out that you arrive and someone says, right,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: what do we need? And the guy from Civil Defence said,
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  Speaker 3: they're sitting in their headquarters, and until you ring up
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  Speaker 3: and say, hey, look, we've got no power. We need
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: a generator, or the road's out, or the bridge is out.
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  Speaker 3: He said, people, you know, they don't know. And then,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they can then form their plans. He said,
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  Speaker 3: but it's so important that you've got people. And it's,
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  Speaker 3: you know, you're not having a lift as long as
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  Speaker 3: you are. It's just the basic things that people can
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: go somewhere and then people can take charge and let
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  Speaker 3: the authorities know what happens. And, you know, it sounds
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  Speaker 3: pretty simple, and it is really. And you think about
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: an earthquake or whatever, you don't know what it's going
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  Speaker 3: to chuck at you. But I think people went away
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  Speaker 3: from that with a little bit of peace of mind,
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  Speaker 3: and that's the main thing. And the other thing he
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: said now was communication. So, like, we've always had poor
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: cell phone coverage around this area. Well, with Starlink and
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: satellites now, you know, that's not a problem. And he
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: said one of the biggest things that people worry about
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  Speaker 3: is letting their families know, hey, we're okay. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you've got all those things now. And, yeah, I think
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  Speaker 3: it was really good. I was just thinking about it
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  Speaker 3: and thought, well, you know, it's worth talking about because,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: A lot of people in towns, you know, they can be,
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  Speaker 3: something happens and, you know, what do we do?
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  Speaker 2: We just had the situation last October with the wind
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  Speaker 2: events grant and every single generator in the South Island
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  Speaker 2: being used. And it just does bring the bigger question
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  Speaker 2: to mind as well. Are we prepared for an emergency?
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  Speaker 3: That's right. And at this meeting, you know, because you
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: were individuals, someone can get a chainsaw and use it. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, you haven't got to wait for authorities to
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  Speaker 3: be there and have bloody tickets to drop start the
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  Speaker 3: old pole land you know you just can get in
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  Speaker 3: and do things and people in communities you know you
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  Speaker 3: have your electricians and your carpenters and women you know
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  Speaker 3: forestry workers or whatever it may be that everybody's got
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  Speaker 3: skills and it's just a matter of basically you know
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  Speaker 3: saying like this is what we have got and if
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  Speaker 3: we need it this is what we can do and
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  Speaker 3: um it's just something that uh you know i think
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  Speaker 3: it would be you know i think it's really good
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  Speaker 3: and and uh I know, like they said, Wanaka have
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  Speaker 3: them set up. And Wanaka, they've got a big trailer
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  Speaker 3: that has generators in it and this and that. But
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  Speaker 3: then you get into the situation. You know, money for
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  Speaker 3: that you've got to raise. And, you know, you need
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  Speaker 3: warranted fitnesses and stuff like that. But just for the
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  Speaker 3: individual thing, to get things going and basically to let
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  Speaker 3: people know what's happening, what you need, it's pretty simple steps, really.
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  Speaker 3: And as I say, everyone sort of felt pretty good
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  Speaker 3: after the meeting.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, now really wise words today as always, Grant. We'll
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  Speaker 2: catch up with you next week.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, and let's hope it stops raining down south.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Grant the Master, weekly here on the muster, thanks to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Arby Rural. Up next, Graham Butcher, farm consultant. We're going
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: back to talk about lambing dates, which Grant talked about
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: two weeks ago, and certainly has been a conversation starter
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: by the sounds of it.