MPI's warnings over kauri dieback revealed in documents

Friday, 10 August 2018

Kauri dieback disease has been confirmed in a young tree just 60 metres from Tāne Mahuta, local iwi has confirmed to Stuff.

The Government was warned repeatedly the kauri dieback programme was 'not delivering' the protection kauri forests need, official documents released to Newshub reveal.

Forest & Bird says the documents confirm what the group has known all along: 'There is a major problem with the kauri dieback programme,' chief executive Kevin Hague said.

Kauri dieback, a fungus that attacks the tree's roots, is fatal to kauri and is spread through soil movement, largely by human visitors to the bush who do not clean their boots properly.

The Minister for Biosecurity has been warned repeatedly the kauri dieback programme is 'not delivering' the protection kauri forests need.

The kauri dieback programme was established in 2009, when widespread evidence of the disease was evident in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges.

**READ MORE:

Kauri dieback is spread through soil movement, largely by human visitors to the bush who do not clean their boots properly.

* Kauri dieback: The battle against the 'biological bulldozer'

* Tāne Mahuta could soon be infected with fatal Kauri dieback disease

The memos, obtained by Newshub, outline repeated warnings about the failure to protect kauri from December 2017 to March 2018.

* Call to sack MPI from leading the fight against kauri dieback

* Forest & Bird closes all kauri reserves to the public until 'crisis situation' is over**

The memos obtained by Newshub outline repeated warnings from MPI to its minister about the failure to protect kauri, delivered in briefings from December 2017 to March 2018.

Minister of Biosecurity Damien O'Connor was told in December 2017 the programme needed a 'fundamental change in approach' in terms of management and delivery, in order to successfully slow the spread of kauri dieback disease, Newshub reported on Friday.

'There is a general acknowledgement that the kauri dieback programme is not delivering the protection for kauri, nor is it meeting stakeholders' expectations,' documents dated December 2017 said, Newshub reported.

'Partner agencies are frustrated with the decision making process and it is becoming increasingly ineffective and inefficient.'

In March, the documents again warned the kauri dieback programme was not delivering the increased level of protection now required for kauri forests.

The disease has a wide, patchy, distribution across the Waikato, Auckland and Northland regions, from suburban forests in Auckland to a young tree less than 60 metres from T ā ne Mahuta.

This means New Zealand's largest remaining kauri tree, could be infected with the fatal dieback disease in less than a year.

Following the release of memos, Forest & Bird said MPI needed to front up to New Zealanders on the dire state of the kauri dieback programme.

Last week, the ministry defended itself against what it called inaccurate claims made by Forest & Bird, which had labelled MPI's national programme 'dire' and 'slow'.

'Now we know MPI have been telling their minister the same thing,' Hague said on Friday.

'At the same time, they seem to want to minimise the scale of the crisis in public.'

Hague said MPI needed to be clear the current programme for controlling kauri dieback had failed and that a 'fundamentally new approach is needed'.

MPI chief operations officer and head of Biosecurity New Zealand Roger Smith told Newshub: 'There have been no delays by Government, there have been delays getting everyone to agree on the right solutions, we've done that now.'

He said he had made a commitment to the Government to have a proposal around a new management agency by the end of the year.