Hon Peter Dunne
MP for Ohariu
Leader of UnitedFuture

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Dunne: Council needs to take earthquake interest seriously

Ohariu MP and UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne has called on Wellington City Council to stop “dragging its heels” on the public's interest in knowing about earthquake-prone buildings and to provide “proactive and up-to-date information” online for Wellingtonians.

“The council is not just here to take our rates and collect the rubbish. It is not a big ask for them to regularly update their list and put it online.

“I understand that some sources in the council have simply dismissed it all as ‘scaremongering’. It is time that arrogance was dropped.

"There are two important things here.

“First, people have the right to know the status of public and commercial buildings, and second, from the huge response when we put the council’s list on the UnitedFuture website last week, it is very clear that people actually want to know and feel they have the right to know,” Mr Dunne said.

He said it was a concern that the council is not keeping its earthquake-prone building database fully up to date, and as a result some addresses listed in it and released by the council as recently as last week would have had remedial work done.

“Again, this comes down to the council actually needing to make this information a priority and people are telling them that it should be,” he said.

“The council has clearly been dragged into this against its will and seems almost affronted that people actually want this information.

“It now needs to step up and realise that at this time – and I would say, from now on – people are going to want to know these things.

“What has happened in Christchurch has raised concerns and awareness about earthquake preparedness generally, and that is actually a good thing, even if it feels inconvenient for some in the council.

“Christchurch has changed the ball-game for any forward-thinking council, but particularly for one with a large population sitting on major fault lines.

“If people want to know how well equipped the buildings they use are to withstand an earthquake, the council should be helping them do that, not hindering them or discouraging them with a ‘we know best’ attitude,” he said.

Mr Dunne said he has written to Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown seeking a meeting with her and calling on the council to get current and regularly updated information the earthquake preparedness status of Wellington commercial and public buildings on its website.

Ends

© Scoop Media