Bill's First Real turn

Bill English as Deputy PM had his first real turn as Acting PM these couple of weeks as PM John Key was in the US on Official and Ministerial Business. The opening of the General Assembly and Addressing the Assembly: Meetings with President Obama and other State Officials.

Ringing of the Stock Exchange Bell, and an Appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, jacked up by the Ministry of Tourism: - The PM read out 10 reasons why you should visit NZ - as prepared by Lettermen Staffers.

The PM and has family were reported to then have travelled on to Florida for a Family Holiday:

Meanwhile Tragedy unfolds as a massive Earth Quake erupts near Western Samoa: And a huge Tsunami Tidal Wave strikes the coast of Western Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, wreaking huge damage and claiming many lives sweeping away many, many still lost: An Absolute Tragedy:
Alerts and warning were sent out, Hawaii was in action, and NZ was on Alert!

Cabinet and the Foreign Ministry were in response straight away, they were working on getting aid and what to do for the Islands, the Military was sent into response and crew and supplies began the Logistical process of getting loaded and shipped to the Islands via Navy and Air Force.

Cabinet kept the pressure on and maintained the flow of information: and also looked at what further they can do:

Result: 1 Million Cash up front to relieve the Effort in the Islands, direct to those Ministries in the Islands, and to NGO's such as Red Cross who are also in the area:

Australia sent off a Big Plane with lots of stuff and it was there super fast: Good for them that's great:

Little Old New Zealand got one of our old trusty Hercules there, and we had an Orion doing Re Con:
And we have one of our New Ships On Dock now waiting to go getting loaded, taking a Helicopter or two, with capacity for more:

Public Information has been pretty good, it was made well known early where you could donate to the effort: And $20 for most people isnt very hard, and although it might seem small if we all put in together we can help alot:

People are also able to donate items for Families who have lost everything.

So yip Mr English done well, NZ doesn't have Rapid response we are more Infrastructure, our focus needs to focus on doing the Mahi do it Properly no rush have all the right tools, equipment and support systems in place:

Australia has proved they can be first unit in, their can get emergency teams there fast, asses damage and give immediate relief: Where New Zealand is the second wave with the full back bone support systems:

So Cabinet and Acting PM English done well, they have out guys doing our thing in the back ground and we are deploying in the area, but we left the immediate reaction up to Aussie. and we sent Money which is more useful, I think if we build on this relationship we can know where we can fit in and compliment each other.