Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 49
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu May 26 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 49
Thursday, 26 May 2011, 11:53 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
26 May 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 49
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 speed and arrogance with which John Key is abandoning pledges is astounding. The Government has already started the process of selling off state-owned power companies despite promising to seek a mandate for the sales in the November election. It’s less than a week since John Key promised to seek a mandate from Kiwis on the sale of electricity generators Meridian Energy, Might River Power, Genesis Energy, Solid Energy and carrier Air New Zealand. Yet today, just six days after the Budget, the Government is seeking a project manager and adviser for what it hopes will be a $5 to $7 billion sell-down Kiwis are being taken for a ride by a government and Prime Minister who don’t take the widespread opposition to asset sales seriously. If John Key can’t keep a simple promise to seek a mandate, how can he and National be trusted to keep their promise to sell the assets to Kiwi Mum and Dad investors, and that they won’t end up in foreign hands? As soon as the companies go on the block, foreign interests will be loosening their wallets ready to pounce. John Key knows that, and Kiwis know it too from past experience. Kiwis will have a clear choice this November, we can retain control of the strategic assets we already own under Labour, or let National flog them off putting New Zealand in a position where we will never be able to buy them back again.
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RUTH DYSON: As expected, community leaders have expressed considerable disappointment that the Port Company is now able to dump earthquake rubble into the harbour with no environmental impact assessment, and no traffic management plan in place. This process, which was fast-tracked using Gerry Brownlee’s extraordinary earthquake powers, means there is going to be approximately an additional 200 trucks a day coming into Norwich Quay, Lyttelton, which is a huge number on an already problematic stretch of road. There is also a lot of demolition work going on along the Quay and locals are very anxious about safety measures, or the lack thereof. My Labour colleagues and I wrote to Gerry Brownlee about this when the dumping provisions were being considered, and asked for two things – firstly, for an on-going environmental impact assessment to be conducted independently, and secondly, for a traffic management plan. Unfortunately, he wrote back and said thanks for your letter, but no such provisions would be made. Last night I attended the citizenship ceremony, where 100 people from many countries, were made New Zealand citizens. These ceremonies are always very moving, but it was particularly the case last night, given the earthquakes and the fact that these people are still passionate and committed about making New Zealand and Christchurch their home. I also called into The Press 150th anniversary celebration, which was just a magnificent event. It was just a shame that both were held simultaneously. There are increasing numbers of people asking about the timetable for the announcement for the Government’s community forum membership. It was meant to have been the Monday before last, according to a press statement from Gerry Brownlee, but when he was asked about this on radio this week, he seemed quite stunned and said that he didn’t know where that timetable had come from! I hope that it is soon, because so many decisions seem to be already underway, and Christchurch people deserve to have their say.
LIANNE DALZIEL: Everywhere I go I hear concerns about the future of the land. People feel that they can’t focus on the future until they know whether they can rebuild or not. The same applies whether it is fear about their individual properties, streets or suburbs. The words I hear most are “when will we know” and “we are in a state of limbo”. It is really holding people back. I am not criticising the government or the engineers that are pulling all the information together for the government. I agree that the work has to be thorough, because important decisions need to be made. But when there is a lack of information – when people are being told nothing – the rumour mill starts to fill the vacuum. As an avid Facebook user I know the stories that are circulating in my community. They indicate that trust and tolerance levels are much lower following February’s quake particularly in the areas where the homes have been hit hard twice now. The Government handled the communication around the Stage 1 & Stage 2 reports very badly last year and this is the price they are paying. I wrote to the Minister a month ago about the need for transparency around the suitability of the land for rebuilding. I have personally advised him to make as much information available as possible before the government makes final decisions. I have suggested that this should be done with experts on hand to talk us through what has happened to the land. People will understand what the options really are if they are given this information in an empathetic way. It’s about respect and dignity. I haven’t had a reply to my letter yet, but hope that the government takes up my offer of assisting them in this task. I received some good news yesterday around the provision of free influenza vaccinations for people with mental illness. I was recently approached by a constituent who was concerned that vaccinations were not free for those suffering from enduring mental illness. We were both worried that many people in this situation would not be able to afford $25 for a vaccination. I wrote to the Canterbury District Health Board questioning whether vulnerable members of the community such as those suffering from mental illness would be entitled to free vaccinations. I am pleased to report that thanks to the initiative of this constituent and my office, DHB policy has now been amended to ensure that all people with enduring mental illness are eligible for free vaccinations.
BRENDON BURNS: I have asked for an urgent briefing from Gerry Brownlee’s office on the time frame for the demolition of the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Gerry Brownlee’s announcements yesterday were made without any prior advice from those who have a key stake in the future of the CBD. We have already had the experience of the Manchester Courts building which took months to bring down after the September earthquake, paralysing hundreds of inner-city businesses while the demolition took place. It may be that we are now seeing parallels with the Hotel Grand Chancellor demolition which is the first of the number of high rise buildings which have to come down. I have already been made aware of other tenderers who apparently had much shorter timeframes than the 10 months announced by Brownlee yesterday. Some of them were shorter by a considerable amount, perhaps by as much as a half. Mr Brownlee needs to provide assurances that his announcement represents the best possible outcome and the best possible timeframe. Since yesterday there has already been plenty of comment from businesses within the drop zone who now face a bleak future or no future at all, because of the time the demolition will take.
ENDS
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