Search-and-rescue organisations ‘bootstrap’ to get their jobs done
NZ has responsibility for one of the world’s largest search-and-rescue regions – spanning 30 million square kilometres. It also has one of the highest rates of volunteer involvement, and the sector is chronically underfunded. Should we rely more on the Government and less on goodwill? Mariné Lourens reports.
Southlander Jolie Hazley became involved with Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) thanks to her father. She was captivated by the stories and “mysteries” of his search operations and couldn’t wait until she was 18-years-old and allowed to join him as a LandSAR volunteer.
Fast forward eight years to 2008 and she suddenly found herself on the other side of a search-and-rescue operation. Her father had failed to return from a hunting trip and a search party set off to look for him.
His body was found the following morning where he had slipped and fallen off a bluff, resulting in a fatal injury to his neck and pelvis.
Hazley was devastated, but said knowing what had happened in his final moments and being able to visit the spot where he died gave her “absolute peace”.
Today she continues to be actively involved as a LandSAR volunteer, having both the skills of a search-and-rescue worker and the lived experience of having to anxiously wait on news about a lost family member. “I want to bring the person home to their family or if I can’t do that, then bring their story home because I know how important that is.”
91% of work force unpaid
Hazley is perhaps the perfect example of the dedication and commitment of the more than 10,000 unpaid volunteers carrying out frontline searchand-rescue operations across New Zealand.
About 91% of the operational people involved in the sector are volunteers, one of the highest rates of volunteer search-and-rescue involvement in the world.
A Ministry of Transport review into the country’s recreational safety and searchand-rescue systems done last year found most of the sector’s volunteers did so because they wanted to give back to their local communities, and many had longstanding family connections to the sector. In fact, 10% of those volunteering have done so for over 30 years.
“Our volunteers are the backbone of our organisation,” says LandSAR CEO Carl McOnie. “Their dedication and sacrifice is the driving force behind our achievements.”
But the search-and-rescue volunteer model is under pressure with heavy workloads, recruitment gaps, a monocultural and ageing workforce, insufficient and inequitable funding, and no or limited recognition of the contributions of the volunteers’ support networks.
Search-and-rescue on land and sea
Search-and-rescue services are provided by a wide array of agencies and non-government organisations.
Category I operations are coordinated by police, either when a person is reported missing, or when they call 111 asking for help. These include searches on land, in caves, rivers, lakes and waterways, including the coast and marine areas within 12 nautical miles of New Zealand. Category II operations are co-ordinated by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ), who can call upon national or international resources depending on the situation. These include searches for missing aircraft or aircraft in distress, searches initiated by a distress beacon, and offshore marine searches.
LandSAR works closely with both the police and RCCNZ to assist with rescue operations. It has 65 local groups across New Zealand, 3400 trained volunteers, and a number of specialist teams that include search dog teams, swift water and river, canyon, cave, and alpine cliff rescue teams.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, LandSAR was involved in 456 search-and-rescue operations, contributing over 102,000 man-hours to rescue 356 people and bring 43 deceased back to their families.
With only 40 paid staff, McOnie believes LandSAR is likely the most understaffed of the search-and-rescue NGOs.
But operating with only paid staff and no volunteers was not realistic, he said. “In order for us to have 24/7 coverage across the country, we would need about 2500 to 2700 people ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“The average search-and-rescue operation is about eight hours, but it can go as long as nine or ten days.
“So having 2500 people on standby … we just couldn’t afford to fund that many full-time staff.”
McOnie said LandSAR volunteers often not only gave up their time, but also their money.
The cost of keeping the LandSAR engine running is roughly $16.5 million a year, but only a fraction of this money comes from the Government.
In the past financial year, the organisation received $2,661 million from central government, approximately $1.7 million in funding from Lottery Outdoor Safety, income from delivering its accredited training programs, and another $640,416 in fundraising and grants, totalling about $6.5 million.
“Which meant the other $10 million came from our volunteers, either putting their hand in their pocket or giving up time,” said McOnie.
The government committed to a boost in funding for the current and next financial years, giving LandSAR about $5.6 million annually to deliver search-and-rescue operations. There was no guarantee that the same level of government funding would continue beyond June 2025, although McOnie said he was hopeful.
“We are really appreciative of the support we are getting, absolutely. The ultimate goal would be for us to be fully funded by the government so we don’t have to ask our volunteers to give up their money, only their time.”
Although LandSAR tries to fundraise as much as possible, from approaching corporate partners to doing “sausage sizzles to save lives”, volunteers are often left paying for gear, equipment and training themselves, he said.
It costs about $3500 for volunteers to be fully equipped to assist in searches, which they often have to fund themselves. This could be a barrier to people volunteering, said McOnie.
“[Funding] is severely lacking, but it is not just us. It is across all of the searchand-rescue NGOs. We bootstrap to get things done, but the demand is continuing to increase.”
Findings in the Recreational Safety and Search and Rescue Systems Review highlight the increasing financial pressure on NGOs in the sector and the need for increased government funding in the face of a rising demand for search and rescue services. It also acknowledged NGOs were facing “problems relating to the sustainability of the volunteer model”.
The report included a number of recommendations, including streamlining governance in the sector by disestablishing the NZ Search and Rescue Council and establishing a System Steward within the Ministry of Transport to provide strategic policy advice and coordination.
The implementation of a “volunteer plan” was also recommended, which would provide more support to volunteers by addressing workload pressures, reimbursing them for expenses related to their role, and funding training.
Because the review found a culture in parts of the system was not welcoming to women, young people and ethnic minorities – “the prevalence of the ‘old boys club’ makes some people feel like they have to fight their way in” - there was also a recommendation for funding for the employment of kaihautū, cultural, and/or diversity advisors.
After the findings of the review were released, the Ministry of Transport said it would begin developing an implementation plan to action the recommendations, including putting into practice the suggested volunteer strategy.
The Press asked the Ministry specific questions about the progress made in implementing the recommendations, and what consideration was being given to the NGOs’ requests for more government funding.
A spokesperson did not answer these questions but rather provided a general statement saying there was a Government inquiry underway into the response to the North Island severe weather events that was due to report back at the end of March. “Ministers will then consider this review’s findings alongside other recent reviews of emergency response services and make recommendations on how New Zealand can best respond to future emergency events.”
Meanwhile, McOnie said LandSAR has already seen a 5% increase in demand for its services this year compared to the same time last year. That was on top of an 18% increase in demand from the year before.
The aim would never be to do away with volunteers as they are the searchand-rescue heartbeat within our communities, he said. “But could we as a nation do better? I believe so.”