Wagner Nicky: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19057. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NICKY WAGNER (Associate Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery):I am very pleased to be speaking on this Appropriation (2014/15 Estimates) Bill. I want to start by thanking the Prime Minister and the National Government for their consistent ongoing and future support for the recovery and rebuild of greater Christchurch. The appropriations for 2014-15 are $570.4 million as part of a multi-year appropriation of over $15 billion with the total expenditure on the Canterbury rebuild including insurance payouts private sector investment and local government expenditure being $40 billion. That sort of investment in our community over the next few years underpins a very positive future for Christchurch and the Canterbury region.After the earthquakes there were some very dire predictions about Christchurch—that people would leave the city in droves that businesses would close that insurers would pull out and that the city would die. Thanks to some very careful and hard work by this Government 3 years later it is a very different story. The population of greater Christchurch is growing there are 11000 new businesses registered GDP growth is more than 6 percent and unemployment is just about 3 percent. The rebuild is well under way—in fact the city is pumping.Just before I talk about the tangible signs of restoration and rebuild in Christchurch I want to look at the human dimension—to look at the restoration and the rebuilding of individual and community well-being. Christchurch people have supported each other throughout the earthquakes and on into the recovery period. Funded by the Ministry of Social Development—and I want to thank the Hon Paula Bennett—local and central government community organisations and neighbourhood groups have collaborated and worked hard together to support anyone and everyone who needed it. This is set to continue with the new Community in Mind Strategy and $13.5 million for ongoing services to make sure that all those people who are still adversely affected by the earthquakes are supported as they recover.Let us get back to bricks and mortar. The number of homes that have been repaired and rebuilt has accelerated recently. The Earthquake Commission has rebuilt 60000 homes and that is nearly 80 percent of the claims. Families are moving into their new homes every day. I just want to make the point that although there has been pressure for temporary housing the Government has built four temporary villages and introduced—The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. I advise members on my left to have a look at Speaker’s ruling 60/5. Interjections are to be rare and reasonable and if at all possible witty.Hon NICKY WAGNER: Just to reinforce for temporary accommodation four villages have been built and we are entering into a housing accord with the city council for 200 more units.Let us look at SCIRT—the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team. That has been a very innovative and successful project. It works on the city’s underground infrastructure and the roads above it. Almost 50 percent of its work has been completed and the rest is well under way. That is good news because we all know that the long-term prosperity of Canterbury and of the South Island around that is based on the rebuild of Christchurch as it is the tourist gateway and the export shipping hub for the whole South Island. But right now the central business district is full of cranes diggers hard hats and high-vis vests. Over 200 building projects are complete or are under way within the four avenues. The publicly funded Avon Ōtākaro River Project is almost completed and that will provide a people-friendly public space and a waterfront for the central business district.The Re:START Mall which has actually become world-renowned as a symbol of Christchurch coming back has for the last 3 years provided the retail anchor for the city and ensured that people have come back into our city. Now it has been relocated because new construction dominates the three blocks round that area. The future for retail looks very bright in the central city. Thank you.