Resignation highlights ongoing leaky homes debacle

new-zealand-national-party

Wed Aug 15 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Resignation highlights ongoing leaky homes debacle

Wednesday, 15 August 2007, 2:36 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Hon Dr Nick Smith MP
National Party Building and Construction Spokesman

15 August 2007

National Party Building spokesman Nick Smith says he is not at all surprised by the resignation of Auckland City Councillor Douglas Armstrong over the council's problems with leaky homes.

"This resignation is a sign of the pressure the Auckland City Council is under from the Government's poor handling of leaky homes.

"The Auckland City Council should come clean with the scale of its overall liability so its ratepayers realise just how serious a problem this is.

"The madness of the Government's response is that over $85 million has been spent on the bureaucracy of the Weathertight Homes Tribunal, and after five years, only 15% of cases have been resolved.

"This amounts to $110,000 on the bureaucracy surrounding settlement, when the average settlement is only $70,000.

"The current process is costing ratepayers and taxpayers millions on lawyers and consultants with too little actually being spent on fixing the houses.

"Three times Labour has tried to fix the leaky homes problem and three times it has failed. Thousands of leaky-home owners are still waiting for justice, councils have been left carrying the baby, and the Government's Weathertight Homes Tribunal is buried ever deeper in bureaucracy.

"Government policy on leaky homes is failing homeowners and councils. National is developing, in consultation with affected homeowners and councils, a fresh new approach to resolving this critical issue for Auckland."

ENDS

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