Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 36
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed May 04 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 36
Wednesday, 4 May 2011, 1:38 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
4 May 2011
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 36
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: Last night we had the first cross-party MPs briefing under the CERA regime from Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee. Labour MPs raised a number of crucial issues, including home heating, emergency housing, community engagement, geotech mapping and the high level of stress being experienced by many individuals and families. We remain very concerned that it appears that thousands of heating appliances won’t be installed till the end of July. We have already had sub-zero nights, and by the end of July we will have had two months of winter. We also understand that temporary or emergency housing may not be completed until the end of winter. That will also create serious problems. We are continuing to talk to Mr Brownlee about how he envisages community engagement working in practice. It clearly needs to go well beyond his concept of a hand-picked 20-member community forum. We have told Mr Brownlee we want to see a formal community engagement plan developed --- and I am surprised we have yet to see one so long after the first quake last September. Residents also want a timeline on when geotech mapping information will be ready for release. Mr Brownlee says he can’t provide this timeline at the moment, but we have made a very strong recommendation to him that there needs to be a detailed and formalised communications plan for the release of this information to affected households and families. This information has the potential to be extremely stressful, and how it is explained and delivered will be critical. People who are very stressed need to receive timely information complete with a pathway giving them milestones for the future.
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RUTH DYSON: After our first meeting with Gerry Brownlee following the CERA legislation, I am still not confident that we have a clear pathway for the voice of the community to be heard in the recovery process. This is certainly the most important part of a successful process in my view. We will keep trying! Meanwhile, our communities are certainly just getting on with things, despite the challenges, some of which are huge. There has been a lot of interest in nominations for the community forum which close this week and I certainly hope that we end up with a forum that is more than just a sounding board, particularly given that people will be donating their own time and energy for this forum. There has been a lot of discussion about how to capture the history of our areas, particularly when we have lost so much in terms of the physical buildings, and how we can build this history into the future. Some of the key features of our heritage and historic buildings have been kept during the demolition/deconstruction and stored safely so that they can be used as a feature in future. I am also keen on the Christchurch City Council having story boards, with photos and information about what buildings were in certain areas previously, so that our history can move forward with us.
LIANNE DALZIEL: I am looking forward to Saturday 7th May 2011, because it is “I Love New Brighton Day”. After I have volunteered putting together some emergency kits for my local Rotary (yes I am a Rotarian!) for a couple of hours, I will be down to Thompson Park for the free family fun day, which I know will be a huge success. It is about celebrating our resilience as a community and just enjoying each other’s company. From 11am - 2pm Thompson Park will have all sorts of activities for the young and not-so-young, including music, Tiddlers races, 3 bouncy castles, sport, a free BBQ and a skate jam. Thompsons Park already has a flying fox, playground and skate park so it is an ideal location for this event. The day will also see the launch of The Switch Saturday Solo Sessions; and reforming for the event is Smokin’ Jacket, a band that is as synonymous with New Brighton as the pier! They will perform on the band rotunda along with Pacific reggae band NiuSeiLAH. The Mall will feature an old tradition and hold The Pancake Races as part of the community market day. The market starts at 9am with the pancake races from 11am. Sign up on the day! If it is wet on the day, the event will be postponed by one week – so fingers crossed for a sunny day.
BRENDON BURNS: Access to capital will be an essential ingredient of the rebuilding of Christchurch. To date we’ve seen little public discussion about how this vital funding might best be provided. Banks are not always going to be forthcoming with finance to rebuild, some insurance companies will play hard ball and insurer Western Pacific’s collapse has caught out a number of building owners. We may have to look at using the capacity of the state (or council) to borrow at the most competitive-possible rates and on-provide capital. The ICONIC group which I chair, bringing together CBD building owners and heritage advocates, has also been briefed by one member about the work he has commissioned to investigate what have in the past been war bonds. It’s an interesting idea that deserves consideration. Certainly we do not want to go down the track of selling city council assets; that’s guaranteed to impose higher costs and ratepayers, and more particularly businesses, who use the services of Orion, the airport and port. Gerry Brownlee again had the opportunity in the House yesterday to rule out forcing any such asset sales but declined to give any such assurance. It is a matter of regret because I am firmly of the view that the vast majority of Cantabrians would be against selling off their assets to part-fund the recovery. They know that’s simply a short-term gain at long-term cost.
ENDS
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