Christchurch

LABOUR MPs

12 July 2011

MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 74

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: I have been receiving reports from some Kairaki Beach residents bemused at the level of activity by ‘geotechs’ in their area in the past few days. When the Kairaki Beach residents asked to be shown the geotech information after they were red-zoned in June, CERA promised to provide it. Now people living there are beginning to wonder if the information they will be provided with will actually turn out to be retrospective. I am told ‘geotechs’ have been spotted all over the place in the past few days, apparently testing this and testing that, making some residents wonder whether the Government actually had relevant geotech information before the zoning of Kaiaraki Beach was changed so dramatically. We will wait and see. We will also wait to see whether Gerry Brownlee has any information with which to brief cross-party MPs at our meeting tonight. At the last meeting Maurice Williamson stood in for Mr Brownlee, and had nothing to brief us on at all. We found that rather odd when CERA was at the same briefing local authoriites in Christchurch. Tonight we trust Gerry Brownlee will have a response to two pressing and repeated requests: a) whether the Government will provide residents who need it with access to affordable legal advice when settling claims or reviewing contracts; and b) whether he will action the request of Labour MPs, now supported by National MP Nicky Wagner, to be allowed to attend CERA’s local authority briefings. People who can’t afford it need access to legal advice; and Labour MPs need to be able to attend the detailed local authority briefings so that we can pass information on to our constituents. The requests are more than reasonable. Why the lengthy silence? We also hope to hear from Gerry Brownlee tonight on progress on the colour zoning of all of Canterbury.

RUTH DYSON: I am in Christchurch for part of the day today to attend two Computers in Homes presentations (http://www.computersinhomes.org.nz) at Bamford and Bromley Schools. This should lead to some positive assistance for the technology needs of the schools. On the subject of education, I had Sue Moroney visiting my electorate yesterday. It is really useful for my colleagues from outside Christchurch to come here and see and hear for themselves the impact of the quakes locally. Sue Moroney is Labour’s spokesperson for Education and Early Childhood Education, so we targeted visits in those areas. Pressures faced by the Christchurch teen parenting unit and local ECEs are unique. The visits enabled Sue to see first-hand the impact of the Government’s cuts in a quake-ravaged setting and to talk to affected parents about the challenges they face, and the lack of support from government. Many ECE centres are not operating in their usual facilities, thus increasing enhance financial pressures for families. While the Red Cross has stepped up in this sector offering grants for families the Government is nowhere to be seen. On another issue today, as many as 500 homes in the Port Hills have their red sticker classification expire despite the fact that their homes are still deemed too dangerous to return to. I have had concerns raised with me about whether insurance companies will recognise this and continue to honour their accommodation payments to affected families. I have raised the issue with Gerry Brownlee with no response. We need a clear statement from insurers to reassure people that their needs will continue to be met despite the expiry date. I intend to put this on the agenda for our cross-party briefing tonight with the Minister.

LIANNE DALZIEL: I made an intervention at the 3rd Japan New Zealand Partnership Forum about the need to look for opportunity from our shared adversity I believe that the strength we could gain from collaboration in the field of natural sciences would help us both learn more about the seismic environments we live in. Many a mention was made about our sharing the ring of fire. I took from the presentation that earthquake preparedness was second to none in Japan. A 10 second warning was enough to shut down nuclear power plants and slow the bullet trains. But there was nothing that prepared them for such a massive tsunami generated so close off shore. The images will remain with us for a long time. The scale of damage is unbelievable and we received mixed reports about the recovery being better in some parts than others. We need to know much more about the environment we live in and be prepared for the worst at all times. We have excellent universities and research institutions in both countries and collaborative research will increase our knowledge. The second area for collaboration is the built environment. Wood was a major feature of several presentations and with our combined research and natural resources I was inspired to see a new future with Christchurch leading the way. Finally the role of the community in the recovery was emphasised with reference to a Buddhist saying which went something like this - you can carve a statue of Buddha but it will not have his spirit unless you are thinking of him while you carve. Our communities must be the heart and spirit of recovery.

BRENDON BURNS: Following on from what I said yesterday about the official-looking exit packs--- which were labelled ‘red zone’ but delivered into orange-zoned Cowlishaw Street in Avonside--- I am astounded to hear that the Lifetime Group is defending the delivery of the packs, and rejecting suggestions that their delivery was ill-conceived. The company really must front up to the misleading nature of the packs and admit that care must be taken when dealing with stressed and concerned residents. Simply defending the pack as good business and calling it ‘appropriate, regardless of zoning’ baffles me. Last night’s ICONIC meeting discussed the growing casualty list of the CBD building stock following the quakes. There is mounting concern that steep insurance premiums and access to capital will condemn the viability of many heritage buildings. The 13 June aftershocks have compounded problems, but the way things are going we will faced with Mr Brownlee’s scenario of only four heritage buildings being retained in the CBD—only about one third of the ‘must keep’ list of building/sites that ICONIC drew up. Mr Brownlee thought this list was realistic and reasonable. While costs may be crippling in the short term, the Government must recognise the competitive advantage heritage has given our city. I have written to Gerry Brownlee suggesting a meeting with the city’s business community and intend to raise these issues at the cross-party briefing tonight. While it is pleasing the two major single sex state schools in my electorate are now confirmed to reopen --- Avonside Girls’ High next year and Shirley Boys’ High School next month --- questions remain about their future on their current sites. The Government is giving a two year temporary timeframe to the schools once they reopen. Obviously we want a resolution well ahead of that two year timeframe and any on-going questions about the viability of the land need to be resolved most urgently. Lastly, I want to pass on a big thank you to the Mormon Church who has provided Linwood College students, currently sharing the Cashmere High School site, with free lunches for the past nine weeks. The church’s generosity has been gratefully received and has made a real impact on the ability of the students to focus on their studies in such trying times.

ENDS

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