Dyson Ruth: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDyson Ruth: General Debate[Sitting date: 04 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13251. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): It is 4 September today and for those of us from Canterbury it is time for us to recall that on this day 3 years ago we started our series of very significant earthquakes. For the rest of the country I think most people think “I wish you’d get over it.” but actually as I think Wellingtonians are starting to understand it is not the quakes that have the huge impact on people; it is dealing with the bureaucracy. That has been the hardest part. I have a friend who has a T-shirt that says on the front: “I survived 10000-plus quakes.” and on the back it says “But dealing with EQC and IAG is killing me.” Actually quite literally that is the case for so many people. I want to acknowledge the citizens of Canterbury the emergency services the military our social services our health care workers and our community leaders. They have been extraordinary throughout a very very long and hard 3 years. I know also that for many this 3-year anniversary today triggers the hardest and saddest of memories for many people in Canterbury.It was not just the people of Canterbury who responded so well in the initial period after both our September and February quakes—looking after each other even letting cars in ahead of you in traffic which as you will know Mr Speaker is an extraordinary occurrence in Canterbury—the way that people in our towns and cities throughout New Zealand and actually internationally responded was overwhelming. The outpouring of support for us was huge and it was greatly appreciated. It came from many people who could barely afford to support themselves but they were so generous that they supported us in our hour of need.The Prime Minister came to Christchurch and he said to people in one of the most broken suburbs that nobody would be worse off in Christchurch as a result of these quakes. Those words had huge significance for people. People clung on to that as a commitment from the Government that nobody would be worse off. On reflection I think it was a poorly chosen phrase to use when I guess not many people envisaged the challenge ahead. But the Prime Minister did say that and people clung to that throughout a lot of hard times.One of the areas where people are worse off is with the offer that the Government has made to people who are in the red zone who have bare land or commercial property. The Government has offered those people in the red zone 50 percent of the rating valuation of their land—the 2007 rating valuation of their land. They took that offer to court because they did not think it was fair and the judge just last week came back and said that that is true that that is not a fair offer and he told the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery to go back to the drawing board and start again. He also said that the zoning which has caused such trauma for so many people was done outside the law. These are very big and significant issues for people.The Prime Minister was then confronted by media about JusticePanckhurst’s decision overturning the 50 percent bare land offer and the zoning and noting the zoning as being made outside the law. The Prime Minister said: “Oh well we could just walk away. We could say that it has been a bit of fun but now we are over it and the Government could walk away.” That expression—the Prime Minister saying to Cantabrians that the Government might walk away and saying that “It’s been a bit of fun.”—was one of the most insensitive hurtful and actually cruel comments that he could have made because it has not been fun for any of us. If anyone thinks that we are bleating they are wrong. It certainly has not been fun.In the paper this morning Kendra Street was quoted. She said: “I am cold. I am tired. I am frustrated. My government has forgotten me and my insurance company is slower than snails racing through peanut butter.” And she does not speak alone. She said: “This is not what I wanted for my child. But it is what he got. I cannot blame mother nature—we survived the earthquakes. It is our government and our insurance company’s lack ofempathy and stalling stalling stalling that keep us in this stress.” What she said is “What I want is a warm house to live in. What I want is my child to not be afraid of [our arguments or] the dark … I want to not fight with my husband about money the insurance and when to turn the heater on.” Kendra Street said: “I want my life back.” Her son was just 22 months old. He is now nearly ready to start school. The difference is that in the first quake her son was 22 months old and now he is about to go to school—there is no progress. It is time for the Government to step up and help.