Farm Safety Improves Through 'Incremental Gain', Says Birkett
Improving health and safety is about incremental gain rather than a sudden decision, says Leeston farmer and Federated Farmers health and safety spokesman David Birkett.
That's the message from Federated Farmers president for Wairoa and Gisborne, Charlie Reynolds, to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council (HBRC) for not opening the bar at the river mouth which led to many residents in the township being flooded out.
Reynolds says while the recent flood affected mainly the township of Wairoa, there were problems for farmers. He says the local Affco freezing works ran low on water supplies for a time, which meant they could not operate at full capacity.
He says he's heard from farmers who had their processing dates rescheduled. "Answers need to be had quickly from HBRC and I don't mean sitting down and having a review and getting another group of people to sit down and eat sausage rolls. There needs to be an admission from the chair of HBRC that they stuffed up and caused the flooding," he says.
Reynolds believes part of the problem for Wairoa is that the HBRC is not based in the town and that it tends to focus on issues in the greater Napier and Hastings area. He says, for Wairoa farmers, the recent rains affect morale. He says one day they repair a fence and two days later it's washed away.
From what he's heard, some Wairoa farmers have suffered washouts and he also points to the fact that the Tiniroto road - the inland route that links Wairoa to Gisborne - has been out for much of the past year and the alternative route he describes as "not very nice".
While Wairoa farmers appear to have dodged a bullet with the recent rains, those around Gisborne, especially those on and around SH2 between Gisborne and Opotiki, have been badly affected.
Reynolds, who lives in that area, says the recent storm was worse for many farmers there than it was when Cyclone Gabrielle struck. He says access to some farms has been cut and infrastructure on these farms damaged.
He says he's got a personal beef with the Gisborne District Council over the clearance of logs from the Waimata River. He claims the logs were dragged out of the river and stacked on the banks. "But when the recent rains came, the logs got washed back into the river again and have ended up on local beaches," he says.
Overall, Reynolds says he's very pleased with the way the Government has responded to the plight in Wairoa. He says they acted quickly and provided much needed financial assistance and have tried to get answers from HBRC as to why the mouth of the Wairoa River was not cut in time to avoid the disaster that eventuated.
