David Williams

And so they went through this restructure and I guess the news this week is that we've finally, after 609 days of an ombudsman's complaint, been released documents that highlighted some of the risks that people thought might happen back in May 2024 about this restructure and what it might mean for conservation.

People were really worried.

They didn't think that there was enough expertise or enough staff on the ground to do the work.

And so the follow up is people are saying that is very much the case, unfortunately.

I think the more important thing on the Chathams and certainly the people on the island who I speak to say is they want a deep connection to DOC and they feel like DOC is less visible.

They are doing better.

what appears to be less work, and there are real problems.

A bloke I spoke to called Brent Mallinson, he runs Flowerpot Bay Lodge on Pitt Island.

He says there are years and years and years of fencing to be done and it's not being done.

Is this predator-proof fencing?

Certainly some of it, yeah.

Important reserves that protect our native species are not being done and there are problems.

There are certain species that are being munched by cats and that's not good enough.

Doc acknowledges that fencing has been an ongoing issue and it's something that's a real priority for them.

But, you know, people are being sent from the mainland and they might not know exactly where they're going or they might not know exactly what type of species are important.

And so there is, in terms of there was a disconnection before, well, it seems like there's a different kind of disconnection happening now.

To give Doc their dues, they said, OK, well, we're going to reduce the number of people on island

But we're going to bring in people in summer.

We're going to bolster that summer workload because that's where the majority of our work is.

And so we'll fly people in for short periods or sustained periods over summer and we'll get the work done that way.