Carter welcomes new Civil Defence chief

National Party Civil Defence spokesman John Carter has welcomed the appointment of new Civil Defence chief John Hamilton, but warns he has a tough road ahead to rebuild public confidence in the organisation.

“Recent emergencies from the tsunami-that-wasn’t to snow storms in the South Island, as well as a number of botched test runs, have shown that Civil Defence suffers a litany of serious organisational problems.

"There is a serious lack of co-ordination between national headquarters and civil defence at local government level.

"I am also aware that the voluntary network that is meant to be in place to support civil defence at local government level does not exist in most cases, and is severely understaffed where it does exist.

“What makes the situation worse is the bumbling Minister at the helm.

“Civil Defence needs a new broom. I look forward to working with John Hamilton to ensure the organisation’s huge problems are fixed before it’s too late and disaster strikes,” says Mr Carter.

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