Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition fifteen
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed Mar 30 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition fifteen
Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 12:09 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
Wednesday 30 March
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition fifteen
The Labour Party’s Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) have started a regular bulletin to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.
CLAYTON COSGROVE: Labour will continue not to play politics on quake issues, but we won’t stop raising issues on behalf of constituents. In that respect, I am very worried about the decision announced by Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee yesterday to appoint a 20-member community forum to advise him on quake issues. Twenty members hand-picked and appointed by Gerry Brownlee cannot represent more than 400,000 Cantabrians. What the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority needs to do is to drill down to the grassroots of what people are saying and what they want, as the Waimakariri District Council has done. It is not appropriate to filter views and initiatives through a forum of 20 hand-picked and unelected members appointed by the Government.
The forum won’t be able to represent the views of what is happening in every Christchurch suburb, let alone what’s happening in wider Canterbury. I also have little confidence that the so-called Canterbury MPs’ forum will be able to influence the Government in any formal way. A quasi-forum has existed since the September quake, though it used to take the form of MPs’ briefings. The trouble is that Gerry Brownlee hasn’t listened to any of our recommendations --- based on what various Christchurch communities are telling us --- but has accused us of being political and impeding progress. He can’t have it both ways.
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Either he wants to hear from us and our constituents, or he doesn’t. Of course, Labour will participate in the forum because we owe it to our community to give it a go, but we don’t have any confidence it will be any more effective than a glorified briefing or that Gerry Brownlee will listen any more than he has in the past. Initial community and business feedback on this week’s announcements has been focused on continuing concern about a bureaucrat-driven recovery process, on access issues for businesses to the CBD and on government support for businesses being axed after just 12 weeks. I am continuing to try to get urgent information from the Civil Defence Controller on home heating issues as the chill of autumn/winter begins to bite, particularly for elderly people.
RUTH DYSON: Last night I attended another community-led recovery meeting, this time in Heathcote Valley. Their demonstrated resilience never ceases to amaze me. Despite considerable dislocation and trauma people are coming together wanting a say in the future of their community. People already have a number of practical suggestions to get local families and businesses back on their feet and they have the drive and enthusiasm to see things through. Following yesterday’s announcement of CERA, to oversee the rebuild of Christchurch, it is essential that the resolutions of these community groups are considered up-front. In the face of looming state-sector cuts I want to reiterate Labour’s position as to the importance of keeping as many people in paid work as possible, state sector or otherwise. We have a housing sector in dire need and Housing New Zealand and the Department of Building and Housing are examples of agencies we need to support and strengthen in coming months. There is a lot of overcrowding in Christchurch as families relocate and tensions are high. We must support the social sector in dealing with these issues. Social and community workers will be in demand and community health needs to remain a focus.
LIANNE DALZIEL: Today’s concern for me is whether the Christchurch City Council will have the foresight to re-think some of their pre-quake decisions in light of the significant land damage that has occurred. Many constituents have been in a state of limbo for nearly 7 months, and the Prime Minister’s statements about some areas not being able to be rebuilt has caused considerable anguish. I have had constituents telling me they don’t want to be shipped over to Rolleston. This means the Council has to re-open the option of further development in the eastern suburbs.
The Prestons Development which is being promoted by Ngai Tahu must be allowed to proceed especially in light of the lack of liquefaction in both events due to the different soil type. I know that it is outside the agreed Urban Development Strategy, but the Council has to face up to the reality that these sorts of strategies have to be re-thought in light of what has happened. Who would have thought we would have faced this amount of land damage in two such events? I am hoping that the Council will see that they need to think outside the square and that they cannot continue to hang onto the past. I will be writing to them today to say:
• My constituents want to stay in the east because they like it there
• The Council must rethink its strategy because the landscape has changed
• We cannot have a repeat of the Variation 48 debacle which saw the Council pushing through a flood risk management plan without taking into account the effect of the first earthquake.
BRENDON BURNS: CERA will be established by legislation next month. Where the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission (CERC), set up after September, had no real power, CERA will. For one thing, it will control the Government’s huge share in funding the $30b rebuild of Christchurch. Its first and primary task is to write a recovery strategy by October. That will be become a recovery plan, which the Christchurch City Council will play a lead role in implementing for the CBD (why not more widely is not yet explained). Labour does not want to be political here, but if local voices are not heard on key issues it will quickly become political. People have a real and valid contribution to make. For the rebuild to be a success local communities, local MPs, councils and central government need to work together.
That is why Labour supports the agency---with a proviso, that it must listen to the people of Canterbury. Today I am writing to the Civil Defence Controller and consulting with local Councillor Yani Johanson to set up a meeting for CBD residents. Tonight I am attending a meeting arranged by the Office of Ethnic Affairs for the Ethnic community. The ramifications of the earthquakes have hit the ethnic community hard. Many have never experienced earthquakes and some refugees carry trauma with them which has been exacerbated by the situation in Christchurch. I want to give a special thanks to all those in the ethnic community who have helped provide essential services since the quake. I know the Somali community helped feed those working on the cordon’s parameter and the Muslim community helped with food in welfare centres. What we need to ensure is that these communities themselves are supported in the next phase going forward. Today I will be at the corner of Aldwins Rd and Marlborough St between 4-6pm.
ENDS
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