Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 27
new-zealand-labour-party
Fri Apr 15 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 27
Friday, 15 April 2011, 1:25 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
15 April 2011
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 27
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: The botched handling of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority legislation, which essentially gives the Government wartime powers, raises grave concerns that it will not deliver for Cantabrians. Labour supported the legislation but remains deeply concerned about the obscene way it has been rushed through Parliament by Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee without the proper checks and balances. Another 24 hours would have changed nothing, but it would have allowed more decent scrutiny of the bill. We had a chance to get this critically important piece of legislation right. That opportunity has been wasted by Gerry Brownlee who was just hell-bent on ramming through the law.
Experts were only given a few hours to prepare their evidence on the bill. Their submissions were rushed through in just 4 hours and 40 minutes. Gerry Brownlee rejected every one of Labour’s amendments, which focused on checks and balances and ensuring engagement with the Canterbury community. He only gave MPs a copy of his own proposed changes four hours after the detailed debate had already begun, leaving little time to actually scrutinise the Supplementary Order Paper. Gerry Brownlee has steamrollered over everyone who has tried to make sure this legislation delivers for Cantabrians.
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He will be held accountable for this and must accept responsibility for any future failure. The final legislation is firmly and squarely Gerry Brownlee’s legislation. The recovery as he sees it is very much a top down recovery, not one based on engagement. It’s his way or the highway. The experience we have had with the Waimakariri District Council proves that engagement doesn’t slow things down. Labour has approached this process in good faith. We want the best outcome for Cantabrians and despite our grave concerns, we will continue to work with the Government to try and make this legislation work for the good of all our communities. Canterbury people expect nothing less. To view the committee and third reading stage of the legislation go to: http://inthehouse.co.nz/video_archive
RUTH DYSON: This morning we are back to the real world. After a week in Parliament I am pleased to be back in Christchurch. I am disappointed that the Minister didn’t take our amendments more seriously yesterday. It was a missed opportunity for the Government. This morning we have our MP and Councillors meeting and I will raise questions as to the process for the transition from the local authorities to CERA now the legislation has passed.
I have heard the Minister will have his office in the CERA building, which is unusual. Having the Minister at the operational centre in a very hands-on way will be interesting. I have received a large number of emails and calls in support of our position which raised strong reservations, but ultimately supported the Bill if only to get things going for Canterbury. It has not been an easy week, and we will continue to work for the best outcome for the people of Canterbury.
LIANNE DALZIEL: Last evening, I returned to Christchurch for my community meeting at Chisnallwood School. I wasn’t present for the third reading of the CERA Bill, wanting instead to get back and update constituents at my public meeting, which was well attended. People came with really valid questions. We had a detailed presentation from EQC around the claims process, which of course involves two separate events. People were reassured that although some matters regarding multiple claims were still being worked through with the Insurance Council, the owner should be covered as long as insurance is in place, it is just a matter of by who.
At the end of the day, claims will be either project managed by the EQC project management team, or managed by the insurer’s project management team. It is almost irrelevant to the homeowner which organisation ends up paying. We also had a useful presentation from AMI. An AMI insurer fronted up to people’s concerns and there were again some really relevant, detailed questions being answered. One man in his 80s was concerned that his home had been red stickered and as such inspectors were unable to get access to assess it.
His question was around how assessment would take place and who would pay for the structural engineer. All he wanted was to reclaim some of his belongings and be reassured that there was a process in place. It may be that the insurer will pay and we intend to follow this up. People were also concerned about the future of the land. In this area we are still waiting on the land reports. It was a very successful meeting and as more information comes to light we will continue the sessions.
BRENDON BURNS: Today I have Phil Goff in Christchurch. We have been to the regular Civil Defence briefing and have a series of meetings this afternoon to discuss quake issues. We will head back to the Avon loop to see how residents are getting on. I want to reiterate how disappointed I am that we have lost what I believe was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Christchurch people to have a real say in the reshaping of their city. They deserve to have more than simply a panel hand-picked by Gerry Brownlee. Why not, for instance, establish a community forum, inviting anybody who wants to come, and allow them to decide who the community’s representatives might be?
Even if the Minister wants to still have veto powers or the right to appoint others to his forum, he could actually allow the community to decide who its representatives are. That would really be a representative body, not his hand-picked panel. I represent suburbs that have been hard hit, and twice in some instances—suburbs like Avonside, Richmond, Phillipstown, Linwood, Shirley, and St Albans. They want a say in the rebuilding of their communities and their suburbs. They must be given a chance to say what sort of Christchurch they want to see. However, I doubt that the Brownlee way will encompass that sort of engagement.
We want to see a sustainable city, a strong city, a safe city, and we want to see a city that we can all have a say in, in terms of shaping its future. If people do not feel a part of it, if they do not feel included in it, and if they do not feel empowered by a process or by a decision, they will not buy into it. Last week’s DBH meeting revealed that about 1000 people have identified themselves as needing some form of temporary accommodation. But this week Housing Minister Phil Heatley suggested that number would be around 5000. Yesterday DBH announced the Government’s preferred Kiwi contractors to build the first 300 portacabins, with other contractors on hand in case demand escalates.
We welcome any housing assistance, but hope the DBH will be flexible enough to allow people, where possible, to site portacabins onto the sections of their damaged houses. As I have said, this option is the best in terms of minimising dislocation for children and maximising the security of a property. Lastly, an engineering report released this week revealed it could take ten months to secure the Clarendon Tower. Business owners in the drop shadow of Clarendon or any other high rise need reassurance that this would not mean they have to wait 10 months go get into their premises. Many businesses are at their wits end, and are struggling to stay afloat. Months and months of further delays are not acceptable.
ENDS
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