Taking your eye off your knitting

"Could [government, central or local] have mitigated [the damage caused by Cyclone] Gabrielle? Lurking behind that question is the abolition of Catchment Boards when they were merged into Regional Councils [by Michael Bloody Bassett] in 1989. We were told at the time that their task to restrain the rivers from flooding was largely over. I wonder if the residents of Esk Valley think that today. Dropping a responsibility down in the bureaucratic hierarchy often results in reducing its ability to do its job....
    "I wonder whether central government has yet learned that its propensity for centralisation does not always work. Many Cantabrians loathed the way they were pushed around or ignored by Wellington [after the Christchurch earthquakes]. Centralisation is a powerful force in New Zealand politics. While there may be a little difference between Labour and National on this dimension, it was National which was in charge dealing with the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes....
    "[T]here is a tendency in central government to see itself as much more competent that local government, underestimating local competence and overestimating its own. Additionally, Wellington bureaucrats have a tin ear to local aspirations. We will see whether Labour gets the balance better in 2023 than National did after 2011."

~ Brian Easton getting some things right in his otherwise lacklustre post 'Gabrielle’s Trumpet challenges fiscal stability' [hat tip Point of Order]