Mark Mitchell

And there's no question about it being woke.

And what happened when I was watching the supercars on Saturday when they called the state of emergency in the middle of the North Island?

at a time when even the forecasters, who were wrong anyway, were forecasting something very coastal, I thought, hold on here, they're calling this because somebody else called it.

And clearly that's what happens.

Every mayor rings up every mayor and they go, hey, look, we're about to call a state of emergency.

Do you think you'd like a state of emergency?

Well, yeah, I suppose seeing you're calling a state of emergency, we should have a state of emergency.

I wouldn't want to be seen without a state of emergency.

If you've got a state of emergency, that's how it works, isn't it?

Whether you need one or not, it's all preemptive.

And as Craig Little said yesterday, quite rightly, I looked at it and I thought, this is a faff.

It's too much energy, it's too much work, and it's not needed.

And God bless him for that.

Not every time, but you've got to back yourself and believe in what you believe in.

Anyway, the point being, Mitchell wandering around the country with his raincoat on is very much into the state of emergency.

And what I did like about what the Prime Minister said the other day to stand up in hitting back at Little was that they've got better at the response.

And in that part of it, I agree.

Because if you respond and if you practice and you oil the machinery, you will actually get good.

Because one of the great problems we had every time something happened in this country, all the dumpty-doos from civil defense and emergency management didn't have a clue what they were doing.

They couldn't find their axe.