Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 157
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed Dec 07 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 157
Wednesday, 7 December 2011, 12:16 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
7 December 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 157
A regular bulletin started by the Labour Party’s Christchurch team to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at a grass roots level.
It is time the State Services Commission stepped in and reviewed whether the millions of dollars of taxpayer money for earthquake recovery in Canterbury is being spent wisely and appropriately.
There is growing anecdotal and sometimes detailed evidence that some of the spending is at least questionable. This includes on-going concerns about Fletchers’ capacity to clip the ticket on the hundreds of millions of dollars it is managing in building repairs and demolitions. Increasing numbers of complaints about the quality of Fletchers’ supervised work are also emerging.
There is also emerging disquiet about EQC’s management of the assessment and estimation of repairs. This is not to say EQC has not broadly done a reasonable job, considering the scale of disaster it has faced and having to gear up to employ hundreds of staff from a core base of around 20 employees.
While some of our constituents have faced difficulties getting through to EQC – a call centre in Brisbane has not been ideal – as MPs we have had been provided with good channels to progress issues and reduce the anxieties.
However, EQC’s hiring practices continue to raise questions. In September, written Parliamentary questions to Minister Brownlee confirmed that dozens of overseas-based people, mostly former Australian police officers with no trades background, were being used to do repair assessments when more than 200 Canterbury applicants had been turned down, including those with trades skills.
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This week, The Press has reported that these employees, employed at $75 an hour plus expenses, may be bringing their recruitment agency more than $30,000 a week in fees. Today it reports that at least three sons and daughters of senior EQC staff are among those being employed as assessors. At the same time, we as MPs are getting more constituents reporting that EQC is dragging the chain on payments, with some suggestions that this is because of the fiscal constraints required having spent all its reserves.
In that environment, reassurance is needed that every dollar is being spent appropriately. EQC may have processes in place to ensure the interests of those who’ve paid their levies and of taxpayers are protected. That needs to be confirmed by independent assessment to give confidence that EQC and Fletchers are providing the value for money that we expect, most especially when literally billions of dollars are being spent. The State Services Commission, as the master agency for the state sector, should now step in and provide that assessment.
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