Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 113

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.

[CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY PLAN Labour will:
* Purchase 1500 properties and sell them at cost to red zoned residents
* Ring-fence $100 million as compensation for home improvements
* Release all available geotechnical information
* Resolve the insurance gridlock
* Intervene in the insurance market as a last resort
* Make community engagement a priority
* Use youth unemployment to fill the skills gap
* Establish an independent insurance commissioner

For full policy details go to: http://www.labour.org.nz/news/leadership-needed-to-rebuild-canterbury

CLAYTON COSGROVE: Yesterday Labour Leader Phil Goff, my colleagues and I announced Labour's policy to kick-start the Canterbury rebuild. A year on from the first quake not enough progress has been made. Our policy (attached) gives residents and businesses the certainty they need in areas which have been ambiguous for far too long. Labour is not prepared to sit back and leave the recovery to market forces. We will actively intervene and act decisively to get Canterbury moving. It was frustrating to hear John Key on Breakfast television this morning talking about Labour parading about the eastern suburbs. For a start we were in Kaiapoi, and there is a difference. He then went on to criticise Labour for proposing to intervene in the insurance market as a last resort, on the one-hand claiming it would be like 'writing a blank cheque', and in the same breath indicating if his government provided financial guarantees to the local insurance industry, it would be okay That's not leadership, that's called having a bob each way. It is nonsense for John Key to condemn Labour for intervening, when he is not ruling out making exactly the same decision. Cantabrians have been asked to put their lives on hold for long enough. They need to be able to get on with rebuilding their lives, homes and businesses. Labour will step up and take an active role to ensure that happens.

BRENDON BURNS: It is galling to hear the Prime Minister say that Labour doesn't understand the situation in Canterbury. My colleagues and I have been on the ground, listening to constituents and advocating, rarely in front of television cameras, for solutions for over a year now. Yesterday's recovery plan was our considered, practical response. Labour is not writing blank cheques or wringing its hands at some of the tougher issues. We are not afraid to acknowledge the market does not always work, and judicious intervention can produce better outcomes for ordinary people affected by extraordinary circumstances. Our plan to purchase 1,500 properties and to kick-start insurance does just this. We are not planning to bail out insurance companies but intervention in the short term, as a last resort is a responsible approach. Even John Key has admitted as much. As the MP for Christchurch Central, I was proud to announce our policy around auditing remaining heritage stock. The Government has sat idly by for months as heritage buildings have become rubble, often pre-emptively and Labour will work with haste to assess what remains. Similarly, our policy to encourage government departments to relocate to the CBD will assist building owners make the decision to stay in Christchurch. Despite the Government's weak criticisms Labour's earthquake recovery plan was well-received in Christchurch. It is providing hope for many people. That's important for our city.

LIANNE DALZIEL: I was surprised to see that Cabinet papers were released by the Government (http://cera.govt.nz/land-information/cabinet-papers), with no media statement, at the same time the Minister returned from his meeting overseas with reinsurers. These papers confirm that in June the Minister regarded the Red Zone offer as meeting the commitment to preserving equity. This is despite there being no detailed analysis of why they chose the rating valuation, how that divides between land and improvements or how that compared with market values (then or now). Interestingly, 63% of Kaiapoi properties sold slightly above 2008 RV in the last year. In the original paper the Minister makes it clear that there would be a process for people to raise concerns about the offer if there were a material discrepancy between the rating valuation and the market valuation (e.g. due to subsequent improvements). Why they changed their mind is not clear. The EQC valuation for the land was supposed to have been set at the minimum section size. Work that was still to be done included a dispute resolution service to assess market valuations and to help people with their insurers in dispute over whether the house is a repair or a rebuild. And finally the mechanics of supporting people through the process of settling with their insurer and rebuilding elsewhere were supposed to be put in place. I found it extremely frustrating to read the Cabinet papers and find out that the government hadn't done what it decided to do.

RUTH DYSON: I attended the ceremony of thanksgiving and farewell to St Joseph the Worker Church in Lyttelton, a church which opened in 1865 and has been at the heart of the Catholic community in Lyttelton since. The Vicar General Fr Rick Loughnan and Father Denis Nolan led the service, which was similar to a funeral for an old friend, full of memories and admiration. The bagpiper's Lament by Rev Neil Struthers, who has also lost his parish church across the road, echoed around Lyttelton and brought the very large crowd to tears. It was a fitting farewell for a beautiful church. The Woolston Bowls Club opened its season over the weekend, and it was wonderful to see the hospitality the club has given to several neighbouring clubs who have lost their buildings and greens as a result of the earthquakes. I know that the visitors to the club will enjoy the excellent facilities and I hope that they make lots of new friends and have a great bowls season ahead of them.

Authorised by Clayton Cosgrove, Parliament Buildings Wellington.

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