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Waikato fatal crash that killed five ‘grim’ and ‘heartbreaking’ – Waipā mayor
It has been a tough night for the district following a multi-fatality crash on Waikato’s State Highway 3, Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan says.
Two vehicles crashed head-on, killing all five occupants at the scene in Ōhaupō, north of Te Awamutu, about 4.44pm on Tuesday.
Three people were in one vehicle, and two in the other.
O’Regan said her first reaction, like many in the community, was to check if it was her family caught up in the crash.
“The heartbreaking part is that there will be a number of people, possibly in our district – I’m not sure where these people resided, but certainly there will be families that will be entering a really unbearable period of pain right now,” she said.
O’Regan had confirmation on Tuesday night that no Waipā council staff had been involved in the crash, but that paled in comparison to the big picture.
The crash site would have been horrendous for those first on the scene and emergency services had done an amazing job of responding to the “grim” circumstances, she said.
“I just want to thank them for their service and for the people who came across this particular accident, the first people on the scene … those who didn’t invite [themselves] to be in that situation. I want to say on behalf of the community, thank you for acting promptly and doing the right thing.”
Police say it was a head-on collision. Photo: Supplied/NZ Police
The road where the crash happened was a busy, main arterial route, that she thought was reasonably safe.
Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Ward councillor Lou Brown said the Waipā community had been rocked by two fatal crashes there in less than a week.
Former Waipā councillor James Charles Parlane died further up the same stretch of road in a two-vehicle crash on Friday.
Brown believed Tuesday’s crash may have happened where two lanes merged into one.
“What we’re talking about here is there has been supposedly a head-on crash, which surprises me incredibly. It is an easy piece of road. There’s no tight corners, no blindspots as I’ve come to understand it,” he said.
He regularly drove on the route and had been scratching his head as to how two horrific accidents could have happened there.
“It’s quite an open piece of road, with dual carriageways going in both directions [in places]. So it’s quite unusual to think of anybody coming to grief there,” Brown said.
Police did not consider the stretch of road where the crash happened to be a high-risk area, Waikato road policing manager inspector Jeff Penno said.
While the police investigation into the crash was only in the early stages, the initial indication was that environmental factors did not appear to be major contributors to the crash, he said.
“There is a large scene we need to work through and our priority at the moment is understanding what has occurred to cause this tragedy,” Penno said.
He said police were also providing support to those who needed it.
RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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