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Download AudioMāori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says the government’s emergency response to this week’s flooding ignores roads leading to Māori townships in favour of fixing roads to mainstream towns.
She says they’re not doing enough.
“We need to see a real emphasis on Māori roads and pathways. It’s not just about the road. We are seeing urupa that have been displaced and flooded, so there needs to be more done to recognise tangata whenua wāhi and recognition of our wāhi tapu,” she says.
Teams are scrambling to fix a stretch of State Highway 35 on the eastern approach to the Motu River bridge which collapsed into the river, and there are also major repairs needed at Te Puia Springs.
In Otago, State Highway 1 from Palmerston to the Kilmog north of Dunedin was reopened yesterday afternoon after river levels fell, and access was also restored to Oamaru via a diversion after the Waitaki River flooded.
In South Canterbury, Waka Kotahi will decide this morning whether it can reopen SH82 from Ikawai to Kurow, which was closed by flooding.
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