Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 75

13 July 2011

Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 75

The Labour Party’s Christchurch electorate MPs, Earthquake Recovery spokesperson 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: At last night’s cross-party briefing with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, Labour MPs raised a number of issues we have been seeking answers to for some time. 1) Will the Government fund legal advice for residents before they sign off on claims or contracts? Mr Brownlee said that’s still under consideration. 2) Will Mr Brownlee allow MPs to attend CERA’s briefing with local authorities so that we can keep our constituents informed? Mr Brownlee said no, they are his meetings, not CERA’s meetings. 3). Can he give us a timeframe for further zoning information for greater Canterbury? Mr Brownlee said that’s yet to be determined. We will keep asking on behalf of our constituents. On a local issue, I raised with Mr Brownlee the fact that at CERA’s meeting with the now red-zoned Kairaki Beach residents, chief executive Roger Sutton promised to release all geotech information to local residents so they could have it reviewed. The residents have not yet received this information. I asked Mr Brownlee if he could facilitate or expedite the release of this information. Mr Brownlee said he would look into it. I certainly hope that’s the case, and that no obstacle is put in the way of Mr Sutton honouring his promise. I note that Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend says that an insurance freeze is crippling Christchurch’s recovery, and adds that urgent Government intervention is needed. Labour MPs agree with Mr Townsend. We have been noting difficulties faced by our constituents, who are telling us the same things Mr Townsend is saying. Mr Brownlee should do what I did a couple of weeks ago --- get insurance leaders into his office and facilitate action.

RUTH DYSON: With the expiry of the civil defence emergency status of the red placards yesterday, I am still waiting to receive confirmation that insurance companies will honour the accommodation payments of people who cannot safely return to their homes. I am also keen to hear what the process for giving clearance is once the rockfall risk is removed above homes. There are great groups of “rockfall risk homes” set up around my electorate and they have been very pleased at the information flow from the Port Hills geotech teams, but the decisions that are outside the mandate of the geotech teams don’t seem to have such a good communication flow! I have also been hearing concerns about lengthy delays in getting building consent applications granted through the City Council. Where people have rented residential properties, and they are in need of repair before they can be occupied again, they will have limited (if any) insurance covering the rentals which are no longer being paid. So they need the repairs done as soon as possible! I know council staff have been working very hard on a wide range of earthquake related issues, but if there are big delays in the consent processes, then perhaps this is an area that might be able to now have additional resourcing moved to it. I notice that Local Government Minister Rodney Hide has proposed that all the Canterbury Councils amalgamate into one, in the same way that Auckland has done. My message to him is: Give us back our elected Regional Council and then keep his nose out of our democracy! If he can’t offer support and help, he can just stay out of it as far as I am concerned. The last thing we need now is greater turmoil with this sort of proposal!

LIANNE DALZIEL: I have met some Japanese MPs while here for the 3rd Japan New Zealand Partnership Forum. A member of the House of Councillors in the Diet, Hiroe Makiyama, told me an interesting story about the Skilled Veterans Corps, led by a 72 year old, which was formed when he saw the situation at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima. Their motive was to use their skills as engineers and other professionals (over 900 have volunteered) so that younger people did not need to be exposed to the radiation risks the damaged plant posed. So not only did they have skills, but they felt due to their age that they were at less risk of getting cancer and other diseases that develop slowly from exposure to high levels of radiation. Hiroe Makiyama told me how much they inspired her. She has been advocating for them, but so far their offer has not been taken up. (NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/asia/28fukushima.html). I mention this as yesterday I talked to the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and the SMRJ (Organisation for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation Japan). I was particularly interested in the impacts of the earthquake and tsunami on business. One major impact was reputational damage arising out of the damage to the nuclear power plant and fear of radiation. This has affected tourism, even as far south as Tokyo. It has also affected the sale of produce both within Tokyo, but also in export markets. The second impact related to Japan’s place in the world supply chain for highly-specialised componentry; so the destruction of factories in the Tohoku region meant plants assembling cars in Korea and mobile phones in Finland were affected. Getting these supply chains restored quickly became a major priority. They report 90 per cent now restored, which, given the scale of the event, is an incredible achievement.

BRENDON BURNS: A report tabled in Parliament confirms the Government has given itself powers to allow the sale of assets held by the Christchurch City Council. The report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee covered questions I asked last month of Finance Minister Bill English when he appeared in front of the committee. The report accurately reflects the tone of my questions and his replies. It says: “As the Canterbury Earthquake Act 2011 allows the sale of Christchurch City Council assets to fund the rebuilding of the city, we asked the Minister of Finance whether he could guarantee that this would not happen. The Minister said that this was a matter for the city council to decide.” The FEC report says the Minister said cost-sharing discussions were just beginning. His comments came before the 13 June aftershocks and before the end of insurance cover for Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn councils. Those recent events will be seen by National as opportunities to put even more pressure on councils to sell our assets to fund quake repairs. Mr English backs state asset sales to reduce debts so he won’t hesitate to steer councils towards such options to fund ratepayer debts. Selling assets such as Orion, Christchurch Airport and Lyttelton and forestry holdings would bring short-term benefits but at huge long-term costs. Cantabrians should press their MPs to state their position. It was good to hear last night how the quakes have brought benefits to home-based healthcare. A presentation was held in Wellington by the three major home-help providers – Nurse Maude, HealthCare and Access. Damage to Christchurch Hospital and other damage caused them to fast-track the creation of new Community Rehabilitation, Enablement and Support Teams (CREST.) Six teams, staffed by around 3 nurses and 13 support staff, are catering to some 240 clients a day who’ve been released earlier than usual from hospital. This has freed up 11 hospital beds when local hospitals are short of beds. Those sent home get up to four visits a day when first released. There are major savings --- a day in hospital costs about $700; daily visits less than $90 per person. The three home health care providers commend the Canterbury DHB’s support for the new service and are now working to see if the scheme can be extended to elder care.

ENDS