Sage Eugenie: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18544. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]EUGENIE SAGE (Green):One of the few things that I would agree with Nicky Wagner on is that things have been tough in Christchurch. Research out today from Healthy Christchurch shows that 65 percent of Christchurch residents reported feeling tired in 2014 and that is a 10 percent increase on 2012. Certainly dealing with the Earthquake Commission and with insurance claims has contributed to that feeling of tiredness particularly when often you have got very poor communication by the Earthquake Commission so that at least 5 percent of Christchurch households have had to resort to the Official Information Act to try to get some basic information out of the commission. The commission has got a very ambitious target of completing all repairs on earthquake-damaged homes by the end of this year. That is another more than 25000 full repairs that it is yet to do. The claim that that will be done by the end of this year makes many Christchurch residents laugh out loud when they are still dealing with that dance and interaction with the Earthquake Commission.If we had a Green Party in Government we would have had the Earthquake Commission and Housing New Zealand working alongside each other to tackle the housing crisis. We know that the Minister has denied that there is a housing crisis in Christchurch despite the fact that there are regular reports in the press of people surfing on friends’ couches sleeping in garages and sleeping in cars. We do have a housing crisis because so many people have had to move out of their homes in the red zone or because their homes are uninhabitable because of earthquake damage or flooding vulnerability. If we had more joined-up thinking we would have had Housing New Zealand building more State houses. We would have had a progressive homeownership scheme where people in those homes could progressively buy them from the State during their time in the house without getting a big mortgage and without heavy debt just as many of our parents did using the former family benefits. If we had joined-up thinking we would have had the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme going at full strength not being savagely cut as National has done.The Earthquake Commission has a winter wellness programme and that is a response to the fact that many homes in Christchurch have lost their primary heating source through damage to chimneys fireplaces and woodburners. Certainly the Earthquake Commission programme has meant that several thousand homes across Christchurch have had new heat pumps installed.Hon Gerry Brownlee: 20000.EUGENIE SAGE: All right 20000 Minister—thank you. But the Earthquake Commission and the Government have missed the opportunity to substantially improve the housing stock in Christchurch through a full Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme. It has missed the opportunity to substantially reduce the 600000 homes across New Zealand that are cold that are draughty that contribute to health issues for children and that see kids being sick and off school and their parents taking time off work. We want to ensure that all our homes are warm dry secure and healthy. The Government gave the cold shoulder to Christchurch by making a major cut in the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme so it was not working alongside the Earthquake Commission to make the most of the crisis in Christchurch. It could have ensured that there was more subsidy assistance available so that people could insulate their homes at the same time as they were undertaking major earthquake repairs. The Green Party’s Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme would do that by providing subsidies for wall insulation.Instead what did the Earthquake Commission do? Initially it opposed the betterment of homes and then it allowed it but homeowners have to cover the cost of putting in wall insulation while full repairs are under way. The Green Party would provide assistance to enable that to be more affordable. That whole scheme would cost about $35 million in Christchurch for making sure that we improve our housing stock we build it back better post-earthquake and we do not simply replace like with like and miss the opportunity that we have to create much warmer drier and more healthy homes. The Earthquake Commission has done a bit with the heat pumps but it has not used the opportunity that the earthquakes have provided to provide more insulated homes so that everyone has a warm dry and healthy home.National has significantly reduced the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart scheme. Initially in the first 3 years there were over 200000 houses insulated; now its target is only 46000 homes.